Interface for extending service capabilities of a network device

摘要

An example network device includes a network interface and a control unit that receives a packet having header information. The control unit includes a forwarding structure having a plurality of entries that each refers to one of a plurality of logical interfaces, a forwarding engine configured to access the forwarding structure to select a first logical interface to which to forward the packet based on the header information, wherein the first logical interface comprises a pseudo-device interface (PDI). The control unit also includes a PDI module that tunnels the packet to an external service complex (ESC) by at least applying a set of metadata to the packet, encapsulating the packet with a header, and forwarding the packet to the ESC via the network interface, and wherein the metadata allows the ESC to determine a set of services to be applied to the packet based on the metadata.

主权项

1. A method for providing one or more services to a packet traversing a service provider network, the method comprising:
receiving, with a network router of the service provider network, a packet associated with a client device of the service provider network; determining, with the network router, to apply one or more services to the packet associated with client device; accessing, with a forwarding engine of the network router, a forwarding structure to select a first logical interface to which to forward the packet, wherein the forwarding structure comprises a plurality of entries that each refer to one of a plurality of logical interfaces, wherein the first logical interface comprises one of the plurality of logical interfaces, wherein each of the plurality of logical interfaces correspond to a respective internal service component of the network router, and wherein the first logical interface corresponds to a particular internal service component of the network router; forwarding, with the forwarding engine, the packet to the particular internal service component; applying, with the particular internal service component, a tunnel header and metadata to the packet to form a tunnel packet, wherein the metadata specifies at least one network service to be applied when forwarding the packet within the service provider network; and forwarding, by the network router and through a network tunnel, the tunnel packet from the network router to a service complex external to the network router, the external service complex comprising a plurality of network devices for application of the one or more network services to the packet in accordance with the metadata.