Patent · US Active

Overlay network hardware service chaining

US11025539B1 · kind B1 · utility

0Cited by
3References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 14, 2018
Grant dateJun 1, 2021
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 26, 2038

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L45/74591
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Presented herein are techniques to support service chains in a network, such as a spine-leaf switch fabric network, that also uses overlay networking technology. More specifically, in accordance with the techniques presented herein, a linecard at an ingress network node for an overlay network is configured to receive a packet. Using information obtained from the packet, a hardware lookup is performed at the linecard to identify a service chain with which the packet is associated. An entry corresponding to the identified service chain is identified within a memory location of the linecard, where the entry includes overlay network information for forwarding packets along the identified service chain via an overlay network. Using the overlay network information included in the identified entry, the packet is encapsulated with an overlay packet header for use in forwarding the packet via the overlay network.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.