Abstract: A network device includes a statelet storage storing statelets that retain state information associated with a packet flow through the network device and that the network device can interact with to control processing performed on packets of the data flow. The network device implements a set of instructions that interpret commands in the data packets to manage and interact with statelets. The statelets in the statelet storage are organized by a statelet key that is derived from information identifying the packet flow. Responsive to the commands in the packets, the network device can create, read, write, or delete statelets from the statelet storage. The statelet storage includes multiple statelets each statelet including multiple fields. The network device may access the statelets to control/monitor a packet flow using information in a network data plane without receiving control information from a network control plane.

Abstract: A mechanism is disclosed for performing implementing an operational flow profile. An initial packet is received that is associated with a flow. The initial packet contains a header including conditional commands related to an operational flow profile. The conditional commands are executed to initialize a state of an operational flow profile by allocating memory to store results of an aggregation function applied to the flow. A subsequent packet associated with the flow is received. The aggregation function is applied to the subsequent packet. Results of the aggregation function are stored to update the state of the operational flow profile.

Abstract: The present disclosure is generally related to edge computing, cloud computing, data centers, network communication, network topologies, traffic engineering, data packet routing techniques, switch fabric technologies, and communication system implementations, and in particular, to preferred path routing techniques and traffic engineering in fabric switch topologies with deterministic services.

Abstract: A mechanism is disclosed operating a transport network function (TNF) as part of a fifth generation wireless (5G) virtualized control plane. The mechanism includes receiving a request to compute a traffic engineering (TE) path in a 5G transport network for a packet data unit (PDU) session, the request received from a 5G virtualized control plane function via a service based interface (SBI) bus. Network topology information for the 5G transport network is obtained via a northbound interface (Nn). A TE path across the 5G transport network is computed for the PDU session based on the network topology information. A TE path identifier for the TE path computed for the PDU session is returned via the SBI bus.

Abstract: A method implemented by a network element (NE) in a network, comprising receiving, by the NE, preferred path route (PPR) information comprising a PPR identifier (PPR-ID) and a plurality of PPR-Path Description Elements (PPR-PDEs), wherein a PPR-PDE describing the egress NE comprises a destination flag, an anycast PPR-ID, and an anycast group PPR-ID associated with the egress NE, and updating, by the NE, a forwarding database to include a forwarding entry for the egress NE, wherein the forwarding entry includes the PPR-ID, the anycast PPR-ID, and the anycast group PPR-ID, and wherein the forwarding entry indicates a next element on the PPR graph by which to forward an anycast data packet comprising the anycast PPR-ID.

Abstract: A mechanism is disclosed for implementing conditional commands carried by network data packets. A data flow including a data packet is received. The data packet includes a conditional command. A condition and a command are obtained from the conditional command. The mechanism determines that the condition is satisfied. Based on the determination that the condition is satisfied, the command is executed to alter handling of the data flow, alter handling of the data packet, or alter a context for the data flow.

Abstract: A method implemented by a network element (NE) in a network, comprising receiving, by the NE, an advertisement comprising preferred path route (PPR) information representing a PPR from a source to a destination in the network, the PPR information comprising a PPR identifier (PPR-ID) and a plurality of PPR description elements (PPR-PDEs) each representing an element on the PPR, receiving, by the NE, a data packet comprising the PPR-ID, and forwarding, by the NE, the data packet having the PPR-ID to a next element on the PPR based on the plurality of PPR-PDEs.

Abstract: A mechanism is disclosed operating a transport network function (TNF) as part of a fifth generation wireless (5G) virtualized control plane. The mechanism includes receiving a request to compute a traffic engineering (TE) path in a 5G transport network for a packet data unit (PDU) session, the request received from a 5G virtualized control plane function via a service based interface (SBI) bus. Network topology information for the 5G transport network is obtained via a northbound interface (Nn). A TE path across the 5G transport network is computed for the PDU session based on the network topology information. A TE path identifier for the TE path computed for the PDU session is returned via the SBI bus.

Abstract: A mechanism is disclosed for implementing conditional commands carried by network data packets. A data flow including a data packet is received. The data packet includes a conditional command. A condition and a command are obtained from the conditional command. The mechanism determines that the condition is satisfied. Based on the determination that the condition is satisfied, the command is executed to alter handling of the data flow, alter handling of the data packet, or alter a context for the data flow.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method for processing a data packet in a network node includes determining a level of deterioration of a primary path between the network node and the destination node. The determined level of deterioration is based at least on a non-congestion-related loss for a primary link associated with one or more subsequent hops of the data packet from the network node toward the destination node along the primary path. Based on the determined level of deterioration of the primary path being above a threshold, the primary path is changed to an alternate path from the network node to the destination node. The data packet is forwarded to a next network node on the alternate path.

Abstract: A method is performed by a network element (NE) in a network implementing an Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP). The method comprises generating a message comprising a header and data, wherein the header comprises a length of the data prior to compressing the data, a length of the data after compressing the data, and a compression identifier, compressing the data based on a compression scheme identified by the compression identifier to obtain compressed data, and forwarding a compressed message comprising the header and the compressed data to another NE in the network.

Abstract: A method implemented by a network element (NE) in a network, comprising receiving, by the NE, preferred path route (PPR) information describing a PPR graph, the PPR graph representing a plurality of PPRs between an ingress NE and an egress NE in the network, and updating, by the NE, a forwarding database to include a forwarding entry for the egress NE in response to identifying the NE in the plurality of PPR-PDEs, the forwarding entry indicating a next hop by which to forward a data packet comprising the PPR-ID.

Abstract: A mechanism is disclosed for performing network embedded real time service level objective (SLO) validation. The mechanism may be implemented by a network device including a processor configured to generate a data packet as part of a data flow, the data packet including a service level objective (SLO), the SLO indicating a network service threshold and including a key performance indicator (KPI), the KPI indicating a network service metric to be compared to the network service threshold; a transmitter coupled to the processor, the transmitter configured to transmit the data packet toward a network; and a receiver coupled to the processor, the receiver configured to receive a message, the message indicating to the network device whether a service provided by the network has met or violated the SLO.

Abstract: A mechanism is disclosed for performing data plane based routing during a handover. The mechanism includes executing a user plane function (UPF). An uplink packet is received from a user equipment (UE) anchored to a fifth generation radio access network (5G) base station (gNB). The uplink packet includes a change destination command, a destination field, and metadata including a destination address for the uplink packet. A change destination command in the uplink packet is executed by setting the destination field of the uplink packet to the destination address in the metadata. The uplink packet is transmitted to the destination address set in the destination field.

Abstract: A mechanism is disclosed operating a transport network function (TNF) as part of a fifth generation wireless (5G) virtualized control plane. The mechanism includes receiving a request to compute a traffic engineering (TE) path in a 5G transport network for a packet data unit (PDU) session, the request received from a 5G virtualized control plane function via a service based interface (SBI) bus. Network topology information for the 5G transport network is obtained via a northbound interface (Nn). A TE path across the 5G transport network is computed for the PDU session based on the network topology information. A TE path identifier for the TE path computed for the PDU session is returned via the SBI bus.

Abstract: A Self-Describing Packet block (SDPB) is defined that allows concurrent processing of various fixed headers in a packet block defined to take advantage of multiple cores in a networking node forwarding path architecture. SPDB allows concurrent processing of various pieces of header data, metadata, and conditional commands carried in the same data packet by checking a serialization flag set upon creation of the data packet, without needing to serialize the processing or even parsing of the packet. When one or h more commands in one or more sub-blocks may be processed concurrently, the one or more commands are distributed to multiple processing resources for processing the commands in parallel. This architecture allows multiple unique functionalities each with their own separate outcome (execution of commands, doing service chaining, performing telemetry, allows virtualization and path steering) to be performed concurrently with simplified packet architecture without incurring additional encapsulation overhead.

Abstract: A method implemented by a network element (NE) in a network, comprising receiving, by the NE, an advertisement comprising preferred path route (PPR) information and backup PPR information, the PPR information describing a PPR between a source and a destination in the network, the backup PPR information describing a backup PPR between the source and the destination, the PPR information comprising a PPR identifier (PPR-ID) and a plurality of PPR description elements (PPR-PDEs) each representing an element on the PPR, updating, by the NE, a local forwarding database to include the PPR information and the backup PPR information in association with a destination address of the destination, and transmitting, by the NE, a data packet based on the backup PPR information instead of the PPR information in response to an element on the PPR being unavailable due to a failure of an element along the PPR.

Abstract: A method implemented by a network element (NE) in a network receiving, by the NE, an advertisement comprising preferred path route (PPR) information describing a path from an ingress NE to an egress NE in the network, the PPR information comprising a PPR identifier (PPR-ID) and an attribute associated with a resource to be reserved on the PPR, transmitting, by the NE, the advertisement comprising the PPR-ID and the attribute associated with the resource to be reserved on the PPR to another NE in the network, and updating, by the NE, a local forwarding database to include the PPR information in association with the egress NE in response to the NE being identified in the PPR information.

Abstract: A method implemented in a domain in a multi-domain network, comprising maintaining a link state database (LSDB) comprising information describing a topology of the domain, receiving, from a network element (NE) in an area of the domain, preferred path route (PPR) information describing a PPR from a source to a destination in the area, the PPR information comprising a PPR identifier (PPR-ID) and a plurality of PPR description elements (PPR-PDEs) each representing an element on the PPR, and constructing an end-to-end path between the source and the destination based on the PPR information.

Abstract: A method for resolving an identifier of a path between a first user plane entity (UPE) and a second UPE includes receiving a translation request comprising a network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI), a first transport interface address, a second transport interface address, and one or more quality of service (QoS) parameters associated with the transport path between the first UPE and the second UPE; selecting the identifier of the transport path from a translation table in accordance with the S-NSSAI, the first transport interface address and the second transport interface address; and sending a translation response comprising an indicator of the identifier.