Abstract: Identity information is decoupled from reachability information in packets transferred between hosts of a computer network by replacing forwarding information within said packets with an identifier having a format of the forwarding information, and applying forwarding labels, derived from the identifiers, which are then used in lieu of the forwarding information for conveying the packets within the network. During such conveyance, the packets are treated according to one or more policies prescribed on a basis of the identifier, which may be an IPv6 address. The forwarding labels may be MPLS labels.

Abstract: Identity information is decoupled from reachability information in packets transferred between hosts of a computer network by replacing forwarding information within said packets with an identifier having a format of the forwarding information, and applying forwarding labels, derived from the identifiers, which are then used in lieu of the forwarding information for conveying the packets within the network. During such conveyance, the packets are treated according to one or more policies prescribed on a basis of the identifier, which may be an IPv6 address. The forwarding labels may be MPLS labels.

Abstract: To accommodate graceful offloading of connections from a port of a network element, thereby allowing the port to be decommissioned, both existing and new connections allocated to that port according to a load balancing protocol are replicated on a backup port. Thereafter, or concurrently therewith, the port is configured to drop acknowledgements of the new connections, and the port is monitored so as to eventually identify an absence of connections thereon. At that time, the port may be decommissioned inasmuch as all new connections will have been established on the backup port and no previously existing connections on the original port will remain.

Abstract: Described herein are methods and systems for automatically generating routing configuration files based on a network topology and a collection of routing configuration templates. Such automatically generated routing configuration files may be suitable for a network running one or more of the RIP, EIGRP, OSPF, IS-IS and BGP routing protocols. The network topology may be specified in a graph description language, such as DOT, and/or a graph modeling language, such as GraphML. The routing configuration templates include certain routing protocol commands or sequence of commands that are frequently repeated in the configuration of a network device. Based on the network topology, the routing configuration templates are instantiated in a certain fashion, and any placeholders therein are replaced with information specific to the network topology.

Abstract: Methods and systems for synchronizing network configuration state tables between an operating system kernel and an attached ASIC switch device are disclosed. An instruction to update a target network configuration state table in either an operating system kernel or an attached ASIC switch device is received. Data from the target network configuration state table and data from a corresponding network configuration state table are retrieved. Values of data in the two tables are compared and an instruction is sent to update the target network configuration state table with one or more values from the corresponding network configuration state table.

Abstract: Methods and systems for synchronizing network configuration state tables between an operating system kernel and an attached ASIC switch device are disclosed. An instruction to update a target network configuration state table in either an operating system kernel or an attached ASIC switch device is received. Data from the target network configuration state table and data from a corresponding network configuration state table are retrieved. Values of data in the two tables are compared and an instruction is sent to update the target network configuration state table with one or more values from the corresponding network configuration state table.