Abstract: Nodes on a link state protocol controlled Ethernet network implement a link state routing protocol such as IS-IS. Nodes assign an IP address or I-SID value per VRF and then advertise the IP addresses or I-SID values in IS-IS LSAs. When a packet is to be forwarded on the VPN, the ingress node identifies the VRF for the packet and performs an IP lookup in customer address space in the VRF to determine the next hop and the IP address or I-SID value of the VRF on the egress node. The ingress node prepends an I-SID or IP header to identify the VRFs and then creates a MAC header to allow the packet to be forwarded to the egress node on the link state protocol controlled Ethernet network. When the packet is received at the egress node, the MAC header is stripped from the packet and the appended I-SID or IP header is used to identify the egress VRF.

Abstract: MP-BGP VPN infrastructure based on IETF RFC 4364/2547 is used to configure a layer 2 VPN on an IP network. VRFs for the VPN are configured on Ethernet switches and service IP addresses are associated with each configured VRF. The service IP addresses are exchanged to enable VPN traffic to be encapsulated for transport over the IP network. To enable a L2 VPN to be established on the network, a VPN-VLAN ID will be configured for the L2 VPN and import/export route targets for the VPN-VLAN will be set in each VRF and UNI-VLAN that is part of the VPN. The VPN-VLAN will be announced to all PEs using MP-iBGP with export route targets set for this VPN-VLAN. The PE's control plane learns the VPN-VLAN on a logical port if the import RT matches the export RT received by the MP-iBGP control plane. Once the VPN-VLAN is learned on a logical port, the PE will perform MAC learning on that logical port and treat the logical port as if it were part of the L2 VLAN.

Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed of routing traffic in a network that include classifying incoming data packets using the content of the incoming data packets that remains relatively consistent during a network session. These systems and methods also include ordering the incoming traffic according to at least one internet protocol address comprised within the incoming traffic, hashing the at least one internet protocol address and the destination port within the incoming traffic, and determining a destination service module for the incoming traffic. Through these systems and methods, data can be routed without the need for complete flow tables.

Abstract: In a communications network, a cluster switch is provided, where the cluster switch has plural individual switches. An abstraction layer is provided in the cluster switch, such that an interface having a set of ports is provided to upper layer logic in the cluster switch. The set of ports includes a collection of ports of the individual switches. Control traffic and data traffic are communicated over virtual tunnels between individual switches of the cluster switch, where each virtual tunnel has an active channel and at least one standby channel.

Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed of routing traffic in a network that include classifying incoming data packets using the content of the incoming data packets that remains relatively consistent during a network session. These systems and methods also include ordering the incoming traffic according to at least one internet protocol address comprised within the incoming traffic, hashing the at least one internet protocol address and the destination port within the incoming traffic, and determining a destination service module for the incoming traffic. Through these systems and methods, data can be routed without the need for complete flow tables.

Abstract: To unify virtualizations in a core network and a wireless access network a virtual wireless network is mapped to a virtual network in the core network. Based on the mapping, data associated with a communications session can be communicated through the virtual wireless network and core virtual network.

Abstract: Nodes on a link state protocol controlled Ethernet network implement a link state routing protocol such as IS-IS. Nodes assign an IP address or I-SID value per VRF and then advertise the IP addresses or I-SID values in IS-IS LSAs. When a packet is to be forwarded on the VPN, the ingress node identifies the VRF for the packet and performs an IP lookup in customer address space in the VRF to determine the next hop and the IP address or I-SID value of the VRF on the egress node. The ingress node prepends an I-SID or IP header to identify the VRFs and then creates a MAC header to allow the packet to be forwarded to the egress node on the link state protocol controlled Ethernet network. When the packet is received at the egress node, the MAC header is stripped from the packet and the appended I-SID or IP header is used to identify the egress VRF.

Abstract: An enterprise network services architecture providing an interface to enterprise application programs, that enables enterprise application programs to define end to end network service parameters on an application specific basis, across multiple forwarding domains within the enterprise network. Communication service parameters defined by the application are enforced by software programs, referred to as network services modules (NSMs), operating on a per-forwarding domain basis. A network services protocol (NSP) provides communications between application servers and the NSMs, and a network services exchange protocol (NSEP) is used for communications between the NSMs. The disclosed NSMs enforce quality of service (QoS) levels within forwarding domains as needed to support end to end communication service parameters defined by enterprise applications.

Abstract: A new type of Provider Edge (PE) device is used to support BGP-based IP-VPNs. Each VRF instance in a PE device is associated with a dedicated IP address (Service IP address). Each service IP address is dedicated to a VRF in a PE device. The service IP address is distributed by BGP for VPN route association. Customer/VRF IP packets can be sent to a VRF instance in the egress PE device using service IP header encapsulation (with IP Destination Address=Service IP address of egress PE's VRF & IP Source Address=Service IP address of ingress PE's VRF). This obviates the need for explicit tunnels in the core.

Abstract: In a communications network, a cluster switch is provided, where the cluster switch has plural individual switches. An abstraction layer is provided in the cluster switch, such that an interface having a set of ports is provided to upper layer logic in the cluster switch. The set of ports includes a collection of ports of the individual switches. Control traffic and data traffic are communicated over virtual tunnels between individual switches of the cluster switch, where each virtual tunnel has an active channel and at least one standby channel.

Abstract: Packets are spread among a number of packet processors with load-balancing. The incoming packets are logically divided into a number of packet flows, where the number of packet flows is greater than the number of packet processors. Each packet flow is assigned to a particular packet processor. When a packet is received, the packet flow for the packet is determined, and the packet is queued for the packet processor associated with the flow based upon a predetermined queuing scheme. The mapping of packet flows to packet processors is not fixed, but rather is dynamically updated based upon the amount of data associated with each packet flow and each packet processor.

Abstract: Multiple non-conflicting actions associated with filter rules may be located and applied to a packet using a single ACL lookup by causing action records to be created from ACEs in the ACL, and then causing the ACL lookup to return the action record rather than any one particular ACE. Radix tables may be created to enable a search engine to quickly locate the appropriate action record based on a particular set of attributes associated with the incoming packet. The action record can contain multiple actions taken from multiple ACEs that apply to the particular packet. By grouping all the actions into an action record, and then searching for an action record that applies to the packet, it is possible to apply all non-conflicting actions to the packet regardless of the number of ACEs that are used to specify those actions. Since all the actions are located together, the actions of all ACEs may be applied to a packet using a single ACL lookup.