Network element federation controller and forwarding box

Abstract

A controller network device, in a network control layer of a service provider network, receives command input for providing services over a service provider network and provides, to a forwarding network device, a first control communication. The first control communication includes an initial output to implement the command input. The controller network device provides, to peer controller network devices, a verification request to verify the initial output of the first control communication; receives, from the peer controller network devices, responses to the verification request that each include a calculated output based on the command input; and applies a verification schema to determine a majority output from the responses. The controller network device compares the initial output to the majority output and sends a second control communication, with a verified output indication, to implement the command input when the initial output matches the majority output.