Cisco Technology, Inc.

Robert A Mackie

Walter Glenn Dixon

Chris O'Rourke

Mark Albert

Robert Michael Batz

John G White

Thomas R Bakita

Keith Richard Schomburg

Humberto M Tavares

Dwight Rodney Frye, Jr

Bhagatram Yaugand Janarthanan

Tzu-Ming Tsang

Imnaz Meher Jilani

Frank W Pittenger

Kent Kinchu Leung

Jayaraman R Iyer

Timothy Peter Stammers

Louis F Menditto

Michel Khouderchah

Christopher O'Rourke

Mahesh C Kalyanakrishnan

Showen Yeh

Hy Quoc Pham

Kevin Franklin Clayton

Gary B Mahaffey

Alpesh S Patel

Farhad P Sunavala

Michael Sutton

Richard Gray

Nathan Allen Mitchell

Dwight R Frye

Chris O'rourke

A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes communicating a message from a network element to a remote data plane element in order to request a data plane resource for hosting a session for a particular subscriber. The remote data plane element is designated to host a data plane function for a particular mobile network subscriber and the data plane resource comprises at least one of memory space and processor allocation. The method further includes discovering nodes capable of supporting the control plane functions; discovering nodes capable of supporting the data plane functions for the session; and performing a system-specific internal configuration to support separation of the data plane functions and the control plane functions.

System and method for exchanging information in a mobile wireless network environment

In one embodiment, a method includes receiving one or more packets of a communication session from one or more interfaces, such that the interface is a subscriber interface or a network interface. The method further includes associating the communication session to an end user with a source Internet Protocol (IP) address of the packet if the packet is received from the subscriber interface or to an end user with a destination IP address of the packet if the packet is received from the network interface.

System and method for associating an end user for billing in a network environment

A data flow is received at a network processor that includes a plurality of frames. A first set of frames in the plurality of frames are passed from the network processor to a general processor for processing by the general processor. A flow acceleration request is received at the network processor from the general processor based at least in part on inspection of a first frame in the first set of frames. The flow acceleration request is received subsequent to passing at least two of the first set of frames to the general processor. A particular frame in the plurality of frames received subsequent to the first set of frames is processed by the network processor such that it is accelerated relative to processing of the first set of frames by the general processor and bypasses the general processor.

Selective packet sequence acceleration in a network environment

At least one first frame of a first data flow is inspected by a general processing unit to associate the first data flow with an aggregate session, the aggregate session corresponding to a first set of aggregate data flows including the first data flow and at least one other data flow. Acceleration of the first data flow, by a network processing unit, can be authorized based on the inspection of the at least one first frame. Acceleration of the first data flow can be subject to at least a set of conditions including an aggregate trigger, the aggregate trigger defining that the acceleration of at least the first data flow be halted in response to an aggregate threshold amount of traffic being detected among the first set of aggregate data flows.

Accelerated processing of aggregate data flows in a network environment

A method is provided in one example and includes maintaining a correlation between a domain name and a plurality of Internet protocol (IP) addresses included in a domain name system ('DNS') response to a DNS request in connection with DNS exchange between a subscriber and a DNS server, wherein each of the IP addresses corresponds to one of a plurality of web servers associated with the domain name; receiving from the subscriber a packet associated with a flow; identifying an IP address within the packet as being one of the plurality of IP addresses included in the DNS response; and executing a policy decision for the subsequent flow without inspecting the contents of the subsequent flow at layer 7 based on an identity of the subscriber and the domain name correlated to the identified IP address, wherein the policy decision comprises charging a different rate for a particular flow.

System and method for inspecting domain name system flows in a network environment

At least one first frame of a first data flow is inspected by a general processing unit to at least determine whether a subsequent portion of the first data flow can be delegated to a network processing unit for accelerated processing. A deceleration trigger is defined for the first data flow from the inspection of the first frame. A first subsequent portion of the first data flow is delegated to a network processing unit for accelerated processing based, at least in part, on the defining of the first deceleration trigger. The first deceleration trigger defines at least one first condition that, when met during accelerated processing of the first data flow, prompts returning processing of the first data flow from the network processing unit to the general processing unit for further inspection of subsequent packets.

According to one embodiment, availability information describing virtual machines running on physical machines is accessed. The availability information associates each virtual machine with a physical resource used by the virtual machine. Use by the virtual machines is determined from the availability information. Availability of the physical resources is determined according to the use. Server load is balanced according to the availability of the physical resources. According to another embodiment, the following is performed until a load is accommodated: selecting a server having a load that is less than an expansion threshold; loading the server until the expansion threshold is reached; selecting a next server having a load that is less than a next expansion threshold; and loading the next server until the next expansion threshold is reached. Load of a low load server is determined to be below a contraction threshold, and the low load server is drained.

Balancing server load according to availability of physical resources based on the detection of out-of-sequence packets

A method is provided in one example and includes receiving a first packet associated with a domain name system (DNS) exchange between a subscriber and a DNS server. A correlation is maintained between a domain name and an Internet protocol (IP) address included in a DNS response. A subsequent packet associated with a subsequent flow is received and the IP address is identified within the subsequent packet. The method further includes executing a policy decision for the subsequent flow based on the correlation between the IP address and the domain name. In more specific embodiments, the correlation is stored in a table that includes a time to live (TTL) parameter associated with the IP address. The IP address within the subsequent packet can be mapped to the domain name in order to apply the policy decision for the subsequent flow.

A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes communicating a message to a remote data plane element in order to request a data plane resource for hosting a session. The method also includes receiving a response at a network element acknowledging the message. Data plane traffic is managed at the remote data plane element based on enforcement rules. The enforcement rules are provisioned in a table element at the remote data plane element, and the table element reflects a portion of a master table element included in the network element.

At least one first frame of a first data flow can be received and passed to a general processor to inspect the at least one first frame. A flow acceleration request can be received including a set of conditions for accelerated processing, by a network processor, of a set of frames in the first data flow subsequent to the at least one first frame. At least one subsequent frame in the set of frames can be processed, using the network processor, in connection with forwarding of the subsequent frame to at least one remote network node, where processing of the subsequent frame is accelerated relative to processing of the at least one first frame and based, at least in part, on the set of conditions included in the flow acceleration request.

A first set of frames is received in a data flow and tagged with respective serial numbers identifying an ordering of frames in the first set. The tagged first set is forwarded to a general processor for processing prior to being sent to a remote network element. A data flow policy is received from the general processor based on processing of the first set. A second set of frames of the data flow are received subsequent to forwarding the first set to the general processor. It can be verified, based on the assigned serial numbers, that each frame in the first set has been sent to the remote network element prior to sending frames in the second set. The second set is processed and sent to the remote network element by the network processor, bypassing the general processor, based on the data flow policy.

Preserving sequencing during selective packet acceleration in a network environment

In one embodiment, a method includes receiving, at a local node of a network, a sequenced data packet of a flow made up of multiple sequenced data packets from a source node directed toward a destination node. The flow is to be parsed by the local node to describe the flow for administration of the network. Based on sequence data in the sequenced data packet, it is determined whether the sequenced data packet is out of order in the flow. If it is determined that the sequenced data packet is out of order, then the sequenced data packet is forwarded toward the destination node before parsing the sequenced data packet. The out of order sequenced data packet is also stored for subsequent parsing at the local node.

Growing community of inventors

Cary, NC, United States of America

Robert A Mackie