Method and system for route table minimization

Abstract

A method and system that includes an IP flow monitor in conjunction with an IP route comparator and an IP route injector to minimize the size of routing tables that need to be stored in a router of an IP network. The IP flow monitor monitors information, such as destination information that identifies and differentiates one IP flow from another. The monitored information is passed to the IP route comparator, which determines if it has stored preferred path information for the IP flow identified by the monitored information. If so, the preferred path information is passed to the IP route injector, which in turn passes it to the router in the edge network. The router updates it routing table in accordance with the new routing information. Other described embodiments include an embodiment having a cache and embodiments in which one or both of the IP route comparator and the IP route injector are local to the network (instead of being local). Still another embodiment includes a local IP route comparator that accesses preferred path information stored on a remote database.