Juniper Networks, Inc.

Cisco Technology, Inc.

Ryan Bickhart

Wen Lin

Nitin Singh

Hassan C Hosseini

Keyur Patel

Alton Lo

SelvaKumar Sivaraj

Kaliraj Vairavakkalai

Robert Raszuk

Manoj Sharma

Disha M Chopra

Prabakaran Arumugam

For use in an Ethernet Virtual Private Network (EVPN) in which a site including at least one MAC-addressable device is multihomed, via a customer edge device (CE), to at least two provider edge devices (PEand PE), the potential problem of one of the at least two provider edge devices (PE) dropping or flooding packets designed for a MAC-addressable device of the multihomed site is solved by controlling advertisements of an auto-discovery per EVPN instance (A-D/EVI) route (or an auto-discovery per Ethernet segment identifier (A-D/ESI) route) to a remote provider edge device (PE), belonging to the EVPN but not directly connected with the CE. Such advertisements may be controlled by: (a) determining, by PE, whether or not a MAC-learning condition is met; and (b) responsive to a determination that the MAC-learning condition is met, advertising, by PE, an A-D/EVI route (or an A-D/ESI route) to the remote provider edge device (PE), and otherwise, responsive to a determination that the MAC-learning condition is not met, suppressing, by PE, an A-D/EVI route advertisement (or an A-D/ESI route advertisement).

Aliasing behavior for traffic to multihomed sites in ethernet virtual private network (EVPN) networks

A provider edge device may receive a first MAC/IP route advertisement that identifies a MAC route, or a MAC and IP route, relating to an endpoint device. The provider edge device may generate and provide a MAC/IP route proxy advertisement based on the MAC route or the MAC and IP route, detect a potential decrease in reliability of the MAC route or the MAC and IP route, broadcast a request to verify the reliability of the MAC and IP route, determine whether the reliability of the MAC route, or the MAC and IP route, has decreased, and perform an action to cause withdrawal of the MAC/IP route proxy advertisement, or to cause a second MAC/IP route advertisement that identifies the MAC route, or the MAC and IP route, to be provided, based on determining whether the reliability of the MAC route, or the MAC and IP route, has decreased.

Proxy advertisements in multihomed networks

A device may receive a network address associated with a destination device. The network address may identify the destination device based on layer 3 of the Open Systems Interconnection model. The device may store next-hop information identifying a next hop associated with the destination device based on the network address. The device may generate an auto-discovery route including a layer 3 label. The layer 3 label may permit network traffic to be routed to the destination device based on multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), and may identify a lookup table based on which to obtain the next-hop information. The device may provide the auto-discovery route including the layer 3 label.

Symmetric intersubnet traffic load balancing in multihomed networks

The disclosed method may include (1) identifying a customer edge router that is multi-homed to a provider edge router and another provider edge router, (2) determining, by the provider edge router, that the other provider edge router has identified an Internet Protocol address of the customer edge router by way of an Address Resolution Protocol, (3) learning, by the provider edge router, the Internet Protocol address of the customer edge router from the other provider edge router, and then (4) advertising, by the provider edge router to at least one gateway of at least one other customer edge router, a route that facilitates communication with the customer edge router via the provider edge router based at least in part on the Internet Protocol address of the customer edge router. Various other methods, systems, and apparatuses are also disclosed.

Apparatus, system, and method for achieving redundancy and load-balancing across communication layers within networks

A network device is configured to provide, via an Ethernet segment with a customer network, active-active multi-homing L2 virtual bridge connectivity to the customer network using an EVPN instance (EVI) and L3 routing using an IRB interface that is a L3 routing interface assigned to the EVI; to receive, from a peer PE device of the EVPN instance, an EVPN route comprising an L2-L3 binding for a customer device of the customer network and associating the L2-L3 binding with the Ethernet segment, the L2-L3 binding comprising an L2 and an L3 address assigned to the customer device, wherein the peer PE device provides, with the network device and via the Ethernet segment, active-active multi-homing L2 virtual bridge connectivity to the customer network; and to forward, via the Ethernet segment and based at least on the L2-L3 binding received from the peer PE device, an L3 packet to the customer device.

Layer 3 convergence for EVPN link failure

In general, techniques are provided for described herein that extend existing Ethernet Virtual Private Network (EVPN) protocol signaling mechanisms so that local, multi-homing PEs couple to an Ethernet segment can definitively convey their primary/backup designated forwarder (DF) status to any remote PE of the EVPN. In one example, this is accomplished by utilizing a new extended community attribute to each Ethernet A-D per EVI route advertised by each of the multi-homing PEs to specifically carry the advertising PE's primary or backup status. As such, any receiving remote PE need not rely on the arrival of individual MAC routes from a new primary PE and withdrawal of MAC routes from a former primary PE to update its forwarding information.

Update of MAC routes in EVPN single-active topology

The disclosed apparatus may include a physical link that facilitates communication for a plurality of customer networks connected to a service provider network. The apparatus may also include a network device communicatively coupled to the physical link. The network device may identify first and second route-update messages that advertise a plurality of route targets representing the plurality of customer networks to at least one other network device within the service provider network. The network device may remove a route target from the first route-update message due at least in part to the physical link no longer facilitating communication for a customer network represented by the route target. The network device may then maintain the second route-update message intact despite the removal of the route target from the first route-update message. Various other apparatuses, systems, and methods are also disclosed.

Apparatus, system, and method for preventing unintentional forwarding reconfiguration in network environments

In an embodiment, a method comprises: receiving, at a data packet router, a path advertisement comprising information about an available path; determining whether the path advertisement comprises an originator identifier of an originator of the available path; in response to determining that the path advertisement comprises the originator identifier of the originator of the available path, determining whether the originator identifier of the available path is a router identifier of the data packet router, and in response to determining that the originator identifier of the available path is the router identifier of the data packet router, not accepting the path advertisement; wherein the method is performed by one or more processors of the data packet router.

Growing community of inventors

San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Ryan Bickhart