Cisco Technology, Inc.

Kedar Karmarkar

Sanjay Kumar Hooda

Shyamsundar Nandkishor Maniyar

Muninder Singh Sambi

Anand K Oswal

Gangadharan Byju Pularikkal

Rajeev Kumar

Nikhil Sharma

Himanshu Mehra

This technology enables directed broadcasts in network fabrics. A control plane node is configured to resolve directed broadcast addresses by mapping the directed broadcast address to a subnet address. A fabric border node receives a directed broadcast, extracts a destination address, and transmits a request to the control plane node to resolve the destination address. The control plane node retrieves the stored mapping and generates a map reply with a multicast destination. The fabric border node encapsulates and forwards the directed broadcast to fabric edge nodes, which decapsulate the directed broadcast and deliver a data set from the directed broadcast to appropriate end point devices. Each fabric edge node may be enabled to determine if the fabric edge node may be connected to a silent host and, based on that determination, request the fabric border node to be added to the multicast destination to receive the directed broadcast.

Directed broadcast in network fabric

Secure network segmentation using logical subnet segments is described. A single network segment or subnet provided by a third party is mapped into multiple layer-3 virtual or logical segments without requiring separate subnets. This mapping is accomplished by using virtual routing functions (VRFs) per logical subnet segment while retaining a single subnet across the segments. The logical subnet segments interact with the single network segment provided by the third party (ISP). The layer-3 VRF instances are created without the need for separate IP subnet pools per layer-3 segment. Each VRF instance for the various logical subnet segments is mapped to an identifier and tag.

Micro and macro segmentation in enterprise networks without a per segment layer-3 domain

Techniques for automated configuration are provided. A first device detects a new device connected by one or more new links in a network, and the first device transmits, to a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server, a request for a first new subnet. The first device then assigns a first address of the first new subnet to a first new interface of the first device. The first device additionally transmits a second address of the first new subnet to the new device, where the new device uses the second address to establish connectivity to the network.

Secure onboarding of network devices

Secure network segmentation using logical subnet segments is described. A single network segment or subnet provided by a third party is mapped into multiple layer-3 virtual or logical segments without requiring separate subnets. This mapping is accomplished by using virtual routing functions (VRFs) per logical subnet segment while retaining a single subnet across the segments. The logical subnet segments interact with the single network segment provided by the third party (ISP). The layer-3 VRF instances are created without the need for separate IP subnet pools per layer-3 segment. Each VRF instance for the various logical subnet segments is mapped to a Virtual Network Identifier (VNI) and Scalable Group Tag (SGT).

This technology enables directed broadcasts in network fabrics. To enable a directed broadcast, a control plane node is configured to resolve directed broadcast addresses by mapping the directed broadcast address to a subnet address associated with the network fabric. A fabric border node receives a directed broadcast, extracts a destination address associated with the directed broadcast, and transmits a request to the control plane node to resolve the destination address. The control plane node retrieves the stored mapping and generates a map reply to the fabric border node with a multicast destination comprising the network fabric subnet address. The fabric border node encapsulates the directed broadcast with a header comprising the multicast destination and forwards the encapsulated directed broadcast to fabric edge nodes, which decapsulate the directed broadcast and deliver a data set from the directed broadcast to appropriate end point devices.

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Kedar Karmarkar