摘要 |
There is provided a software-defined networking, SDN, architecture network, comprising a first network node (100) and a second network node (300), the first network node being configured to transmit data packets comprising: user data packets belonging to two or more user data packet flows, the user data packets of each user data packet flow comprising user data plane information; and control data packets each comprising OSI layer 7, L7, information for controlling the processing by the second node of the user data packets of a respective one of the user data packet flows. The SDN architecture network further comprises an SDN architecture forwarding element configured to forward user data packets received from the first node towards the second node using forwarding information that links a forwarding address to information in an IP 5-tuple of a data packet. The forwarding element is further configured to selectively forward a control data packet received from the first node towards the second node by: receiving and storing L7 information and the forwarding information; performing deep-packet inspection of the received control data packet to extract the L7 information therein, and selecting the received control data packet for forwarding towards the second node when the received control data packet comprises L7 information matching the stored L7 information; determining information in the IP 5-tuple of the received control data packet; and, where the received control data packet has been selected for forwarding, forwarding said control data packet towards the second node using the forwarding information and the information in the IP 5-tuple of the control data packet. The SDN architecture network also includes a controller (620) configured to transmit the L7 information and the forwarding information to the forwarding element (610). |