Abstract: Embodiments include methods to manage caches in a network device. In one embodiment, a method is performed by a network device and the method comprises determining a first cache of the network device is overloaded, where the first cache is within a cache hierarchy including a plurality of caches, each cache including a set of forwarding table entries for the network device to forward packets of traffic flows, and where one cache lower in the cache hierarchy is to be checked earlier in flow lookup than one higher in the cache hierarchy. The method further comprises upon determining that the first cache is overloaded, disabling the first cache from the flow lookup, where the flow lookup skips the first cache and is performed at a second cache higher in the cache hierarchy and disabling the first cache from forwarding table entry insertion when the forwarding table entry insertion is performed in one or more caches of the plurality of caches.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for flexible Mobile IP foreign agent architecture for enabling converged services are described herein. According to one embodiment of the invention, a packet is received over a circuit bound with a converged services domain of a network element. The converged services domain enables forwarding of wired and wireless traffic to a plurality of destination network elements. Upon determining that the circuit is capable of carrying Mobile Internet Protocol (IP) packets, the packet is processed according to an entry in a Mobile IP forwarding information base upon determining that the packet has a corresponding entry in the Mobile IP forwarding information base, and the packet is processed according to a different entry in an IP forwarding information base upon determining that the packet does not have an entry in the Mobile IP forwarding information base. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Abstract: Techniques for recovering Mobile Internet Protocol (IP) session(s) of a mobility agent in a Mobile IP network are described herein. In one embodiment of the invention, for each mobility session associated with a mobility agent, the mobility agent distributively backs up mobility agent specific information to the mobility agent peer associated with that mobility session. The mobility agent specific information is not used by the mobility agent peer. Upon the mobility agent inadvertently losing at least one mobility session, the mobility agent recovers the stored mobility agent specific information associated with those sessions from the mobility agent peers respectively associated with those sessions. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Abstract: Techniques for recovering Mobile Internet Protocol (IP) session(s) of a mobility agent in a Mobile IP network are described herein. In one embodiment of the invention, for each mobility session associated with a mobility agent, the mobility agent distributively backs up mobility agent specific information to the mobility agent peer associated with that mobility session. The mobility agent specific information is not used by the mobility agent peer. Upon the mobility agent inadvertently losing at least one mobility session, the mobility agent recovers the stored mobility agent specific information associated with those sessions from the mobility agent peers respectively associated with those sessions. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Abstract: Transferring a mobile node from one ASN-GW (anchor access service network gateway) to another ASN-GW is referred to as a hand-over. To facilitate transfer of data for the hand-over, a GRE (generic routing encapsulation) tunnel is established between the two ASN-GWs. Traffic through the GRE tunnel arriving at a line card of an ASN-GW is redirected from the arrival line card to the one line card that contains information for the mobile node. The redirection is based on traversal of one or more tables on the line cards. These tables are indexed according to GRE keys corresponding to the mobile nodes. Therefore, the appropriate line card for the traffic can be identified quickly and efficiently using a distributed forwarding plane with minimal provisioning overhead, resulting in lower latency during the hand-over.

Abstract: According to one embodiment, in response to at least one of a link failure and node failure of a protected label switched path (LSP), network traffic is switched onto a protection path according to a fast re-reroute (FRR) scheme. A HELLO session is established with the remote node that is not immediately adjacent to the network element, including exchanging one or more HELLO messages with the remote node, each HELLO message having a time-to-live (TTL) value of greater than one if IP forwarding is used. The TTL value of the HELLO message is set to one if the HELLO message is sent via tunnel. In response to a request to restart, a resource reservation protocol (RSVP) traffic engineering (TE) graceful restart (GR) procedure is performed using information obtained from the one or more HELLO messages exchanged with the remote node during the HELLO session.

Abstract: Techniques for recovering Mobile Internet Protocol (IP) session(s) of a mobility agent in a Mobile IP network are described herein. In one embodiment of the invention, for each mobility session associated with a mobility agent, the mobility agent distributively backs up mobility agent specific information to the mobility agent peer associated with that mobility session. The mobility agent specific information is not used by the mobility agent peer. Upon the mobility agent inadvertently losing at least one mobility session, the mobility agent recovers the stored mobility agent specific information associated with those sessions from the mobility agent peers respectively associated with those sessions. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for flexible Mobile IP foreign agent architecture for enabling converged services are described herein. According to one embodiment of the invention, a packet is received over a circuit bound with a converged services domain of a network element. The converged services domain enables forwarding of wired and wireless traffic to a plurality of destination network elements. Upon determining that the circuit is capable of carrying Mobile Internet Protocol (IP) packets, the packet is processed according to an entry in a Mobile IP forwarding information base upon determining that the packet has a corresponding entry in the Mobile IP forwarding information base, and the packet is processed according to a different entry in an IP forwarding information base upon determining that the packet does not have an entry in the Mobile IP forwarding information base. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for flexible Mobile IP foreign agent architecture for enabling converged services are described herein. According to one embodiment of the invention, a packet is received over a circuit bound with a converged services domain of a network element. The converged services domain enables forwarding of wired and wireless traffic to a plurality of destination network elements. Upon determining that the circuit is capable of carrying Mobile Internet Protocol (IP) packets, the packet is processed according to an entry in a Mobile IP forwarding information base upon determining that the packet has a corresponding entry in the Mobile IP forwarding information base, and the packet is processed according to a different entry in an IP forwarding information base upon determining that the packet does not have an entry in the Mobile IP forwarding information base. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Abstract: Techniques for recovering Mobile Internet Protocol (IP) session(s) of a mobility agent in a Mobile IP network are described herein. In one embodiment of the invention, for each mobility session associated with a mobility agent, the mobility agent distributively backs up mobility agent specific information to the mobility agent peer associated with that mobility session. The mobility agent specific information is not used by the mobility agent peer. Upon the mobility agent inadvertently losing at least one mobility session, the mobility agent recovers the stored mobility agent specific information associated with those sessions from the mobility agent peers respectively associated with those sessions. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Abstract: Techniques for recovering Mobile Internet Protocol (IP) session(s) of a mobility agent in a Mobile IP network are described herein. In one embodiment of the invention, for each mobility session associated with a mobility agent, the mobility agent distributively backs up mobility agent specific information to the mobility agent peer associated with that mobility session. The mobility agent specific information is not used by the mobility agent peer. Upon the mobility agent inadvertently losing at least one mobility session, the mobility agent recovers the stored mobility agent specific information associated with those sessions from the mobility agent peers respectively associated with those sessions. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Abstract: Techniques for recovering Mobile Internet Protocol (IP) session(s) of a mobility agent in a Mobile IP network are described herein. In one embodiment of the invention, for each mobility session associated with a mobility agent, the mobility agent distributively backs up mobility agent specific information to the mobility agent peer associated with that mobility session. The mobility agent specific information is not used by the mobility agent peer. Upon the mobility agent inadvertently losing at least one mobility session, the mobility agent recovers the stored mobility agent specific information associated with those sessions from the mobility agent peers respectively associated with those sessions. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Abstract: Techniques for recovering Mobile Internet Protocol (IP) session(s) of a mobility agent in a Mobile IP network are described herein. In one embodiment of the invention, for each mobility session associated with a mobility agent, the mobility agent distributively backs up mobility agent specific information to the mobility agent peer associated with that mobility session. The mobility agent specific information is not used by the mobility agent peer. Upon the mobility agent inadvertently losing at least one mobility session, the mobility agent recovers the stored mobility agent specific information associated with those sessions from the mobility agent peers respectively associated with those sessions. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Abstract: Transferring a mobile node from one ASN-GW (anchor access service network gateway) to another ASN-GW is referred to as a hand-over. To facilitate transfer of data for the hand-over, a GRE (generic routing encapsulation) tunnel is established between the two ASN-GWs. Traffic through the GRE tunnel arriving at a line card of an ASN-GW is redirected from the arrival line card to the one line card that contains information for the mobile node. The redirection is based on traversal of one or more tables on the line cards. These tables are indexed according to GRE keys corresponding to the mobile nodes. Therefore, the appropriate line card for the traffic can be identified quickly and efficiently using a distributed forwarding plane with minimal provisioning overhead, resulting in lower latency during the hand-over.

Abstract: According to one embodiment, in response to at least one of a link failure and node failure of a protected label switched path (LSP), network traffic is switched onto a protection path according to a fast re-reroute (FRR) scheme. A HELLO session is established with the remote node that is not immediately adjacent to the network element, including exchanging one or more HELLO messages with the remote node, each HELLO message having a time-to-live (TTL) value of greater than one if IP forwarding is used. The TTL value of the HELLO message is set to one if the HELLO message is sent via tunnel. In response to a request to restart, a resource reservation protocol (RSVP) traffic engineering (TE) graceful restart (GR) procedure is performed using information obtained from the one or more HELLO messages exchanged with the remote node during the HELLO session.

Abstract: Techniques for recovering Mobile Internet Protocol (IP) session(s) of a mobility agent in a Mobile IP network are described herein. In one embodiment of the invention, for each mobility session associated with a mobility agent, the mobility agent distributively backs up mobility agent specific information to the mobility agent peer associated with that mobility session. The mobility agent specific information is not used by the mobility agent peer. Upon the mobility agent inadvertently losing at least one mobility session, the mobility agent recovers the stored mobility agent specific information associated with those sessions from the mobility agent peers respectively associated with those sessions. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for flexible Mobile IP foreign agent architecture for enabling converged services are described herein. According to one embodiment of the invention, a packet is received over a circuit bound with a converged services domain of a network element. The converged services domain enables forwarding of wired and wireless traffic to a plurality of destination network elements. Upon determining that the circuit is capable of carrying Mobile Internet Protocol (IP) packets, the packet is processed according to an entry ma Mobile IP forwarding information base upon determining that the packet has a corresponding entry in the Mobile IP forwarding information base, and the packet is processed according to a different entry in an IP forwarding information base upon determining that the packet does not have an entry in the Mobile IP forwarding information base. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.