Abstract: A router advertises an aggregated service or route that can be evaluated by other routers as a unitary segment rather than as a group of individual links/paths associated with the aggregated service or route. The aggregated service or route can be based on service and topology state information received from one or more other routers and can be advertised with the router as the nexthop for the aggregated service or route. The router can advertise an aggregated metric for the aggregated service or route for use in such evaluation. An aggregated route can be associated with different aggregated metrics for different services.

Abstract: A routing system for distributing multicast routing information for a multicast service includes a plurality of routers including a multicast source router and a plurality of multicast receiver routers, the plurality of routers providing a multicast service, wherein the routers are configured to exchange multicast information associated with the multicast service including identification of multicast sources and the multicast receivers.

Abstract: A routing system for implementing a service and topology exchange protocol (STEP) includes a primary STEP server configured to maintain a STEP repository and a plurality of routers, with each router including a STEP client in communication with the primary STEP server. The STEP client of each router is configured to transmit, using STEP, STEP documents containing service and topology state information for at least one route or service available through the router to the primary STEP server for storage in the STEP repository. The primary STEP server is configured to transmit to the STEP client of each router, using STEP, service and topology state information from the STEP repository for at least one other router based on configured relationships between routers. Each router is configured to make routing decisions based at least in part on the service and topology state information from the at least one other router.

Abstract: A routing system for implementing a service and topology exchange protocol (STEP) comprises a primary STEP server configured to maintain a STEP repository and a plurality of routers, each router including a STEP client in communication with the primary STEP server. The STEP client of each router is configured to transmit, using the service and topology exchange protocol, service and topology state information for at least one route or service available through the router to the primary STEP server for storage in the STEP repository.

Abstract: A routing system for providing multicast access control includes a plurality of routers including a multicast source router and a plurality of multicast receiver routers, the plurality of routers providing a multicast service, wherein the routers are configured to enforce multicast access control policies for the multicast service including a receiver access policy that controls which multicast receivers are allowed to receive packets from the multicast service and a sender access policy that controls which multicast sources are allowed to send packets to the multicast service for distribution to the multicast receivers.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for routing a plurality of session packets across a network toward a destination modifies each packet to include a sequence number that is different from the sequence number of other packets in the plurality of packets. Accordingly, at this point, each of the plurality of packets is transformed into a corresponding plurality of processed packets. The method also duplicates the plurality of processed packets to produce a corresponding plurality of duplicated packets. Next, the method forwards the plurality of processed packets toward the destination using a first stateful path through the network, and correspondingly forwards the plurality of duplicated packets toward the destination using a second stateful path through the network. In preferred embodiments, the first stateful path is different from the second stateful path. For example, the two paths may be entirely distinct in that they share no common intermediary elements.

Abstract: Methods and systems are described for monitoring communications in a packet-switched network. More specifically, the system initiates a communication between a network endpoint associated with a call mediator and at least a second network endpoint; records, at the call mediator, information associated with the communication; and upon termination of the communication, communicates, from the call mediator to an enterprise gatekeeper, the information associated with the communication.

Abstract: A packet routing method and apparatus for managing packets of a bi-directional session between a first node and a second node in an IP network receives a mid-stream packet at an intermediate node. The intermediate node is not part of the bi-directional session. Next, the method identifies the bi-directional session (“identified session”) from which the mid-stream packet originated. The identified session includes a bi-directional path between the first node and the second node, while the bi-directional path includes a plurality of nodes for bi-directionally forwarding packets between the first node and the second node. The method then directs that one or more packets of the identified session be routed to at least one of the plurality of nodes of the identified session.

Abstract: A routing method checks a network path selected for transmitting a stream of packets between a first routing node and a second routing node in a computer network. The stream of packets complies with a first transport protocol. The method forwards, from the first routing node toward the second routing node, a set of handshake packets. The set of handshake packets includes change information indicating a change in the transport protocol for a plurality of the packets in the stream. The method modifies the plurality of packets in the stream (“modified packets”). Specifically, the method modifies the first transport protocol header in the plurality of packets in the stream to have a second transport protocol header of a second transport protocol. This modification preferably does not increase the packet size of each of modified packets.

Abstract: A method routes packets from a source to a destination across an IP network having a plurality of nodes (including the source and destination), and a plurality of network segments interconnecting the plurality of nodes. The source and destination are configured to use a given service. To those ends, the method receives information relating to the given service, and forms a path between the source and the destination. The path includes a) at least one intermediate node between the source and the destination and b) a plurality of specific network segments extending from the source to the destination. The plurality of specific network segments are a sub-set of the plurality of network segments. To form the path, the method assigns the plurality of specific network segments to the network path between the source and the destination as a function of the information relating to the given service.

Abstract: A packet routing method for directing packets of a session in an IP network causes an intermediate node to obtain a lead packet of a plurality of packets in a given session. The intermediate node has an electronic interface in communication with the IP network and obtains the lead packet through that same interface. The method maintains, in a routing database, state information relating to a plurality of sessions in the IP network. Each session includes a single stateful session path formed by an ordered plurality of nodes in the IP network, and the state information includes information about the ordered plurality of nodes in the sessions. The method further accesses the routing database to determine the state of a plurality of sessions, and forms a stateful given path for packets of the given session across the IP network as a function of the state information in the routing database.

Abstract: A packet routing method for directing packets of a session in an IP network causes an intermediate node to obtain a lead packet of a plurality of packets in a given session. The intermediate node has an electronic interface in communication with the IP network and obtains the lead packet through that same interface. The method maintains, in a routing database, state information relating to a plurality of sessions in the IP network. Each session includes a single stateful session path formed by an ordered plurality of nodes in the IP network, and the state information includes information about the ordered plurality of nodes in the sessions. The method further accesses the routing database to determine the state of a plurality of sessions, and forms a stateful given path for packets of the given session across the IP network as a function of the state information in the routing database.

Abstract: Methods and systems are described for monitoring communications in a packet-switched network. More specifically, the system initiates a communication between a network endpoint associated with a call mediator and at least a second network endpoint; records, at the call mediator, information associated with the communication; and upon termination of the communication, communicates, from the call mediator to an enterprise gatekeeper, the information associated with the communication.

Abstract: A packet routing method and apparatus for managing packets of a bi-directional session between a first node and a second node in an IP network receives a mid-stream packet at an intermediate node. The intermediate node is not part of the bi-directional session. Next, the method identifies the bi-directional session (“identified session”) from which the mid-stream packet originated. The identified session includes a bi-directional path between the first node and the second node, while the bi-directional path includes a plurality of nodes for bi-directionally forwarding packets between the first node and the second node. The method then directs that one or more packets of the identified session be routed to at least one of the plurality of nodes of the identified session.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for routing a plurality of session packets across a network toward a destination modifies each packet to include a sequence number that is different from the sequence number of other packets in the plurality of packets. Accordingly, at this point, each of the plurality of packets is transformed into a corresponding plurality of processed packets. The method also duplicates the plurality of processed packets to produce a corresponding plurality of duplicated packets. Next, the method forwards the plurality of processed packets toward the destination using a first stateful path through the network, and correspondingly forwards the plurality of duplicated packets toward the destination using a second stateful path through the network. In preferred embodiments, the first stateful path is different from the second stateful path. For example, the two paths may be entirely distinct in that they share no common intermediary elements.

Abstract: A router is configured to be part of an administrative domain having two or more networks that each have at least one router. The router has a configuration interface permitting programming of a given configuration parameter to a local configuration setting, and an input configured to receive, from a configuration manager remote from the router, global configuration settings for a plurality of configuration parameters. For the given configuration parameter, the plurality of global configuration settings includes a different setting that is different from the local configuration setting. The configuration interface has a local configuration mode that disregards received global configuration setting changes to the given configuration parameter after programming the given configuration parameter to the local configuration setting.

Abstract: A routing method checks a network path selected for transmitting a stream of packets between a first routing node and a second routing node in a computer network. The stream of packets complies with a first transport protocol. The method forwards, from the first routing node toward the second routing node, a set of handshake packets. The set of handshake packets includes change information indicating a change in the transport protocol for a plurality of the packets in the stream. The method modifies the plurality of packets in the stream (“modified packets”). Specifically, the method modifies the first transport protocol header in the plurality of packets in the stream to have a second transport protocol header of a second transport protocol. This modification preferably does not increase the packet size of each of modified packets.

Abstract: Methods and systems are described for monitoring communications in a packet-switched network. More specifically, the system initiates a communication between a network endpoint associated with a call mediator and at least a second network endpoint; records, at the call mediator, information associated with the communication; and upon termination of the communication, communicates, from the call mediator to an enterprise gatekeeper, the information associated with the communication.

Abstract: An advanced routing system and protocol (referred to herein as “Route Exchange” or “REX”) hides familiar IPv4 and IPv6 addresses and replaces traditional routing logic with words and relationships between named elements. Among other things, this makes IP routing tables significantly easier to understand. In addition, a single routing scheme can be used for any combination of private networks, public networks, IPv4 addressing models, and IPv6 addressing models. Underneath the words lie real IP addresses that move the packets from place to place. These routing addresses abstract away the underlying network.

Abstract: An intermediate node obtains a lead packet of a plurality of packets in a session having a unique session identifier, modifies the lead packet to identify at least the intermediate node, and then forwards the lead packet toward the destination node though an intermediate node electronic output interface to the IP network. The intermediate node also receives, through an intermediate node electronic input interface in communication with the IP network, a backward message from a next node having a next node identifier. The backward message includes the next node identifier and the session identifier. The intermediate node forms an association between the next node identifier and the session identifier, stores the association in memory to maintain state information for the session, and obtains (e.g., receives) additional packets of the session. Substantially all of the additional packets in the session are forwarded toward the next node using the stored association.