Application Controlled Path Selection Based on Type-of-Service

摘要

Some embodiments override network or router level path selection with application or server controlled path selection by repurposing the type-of-service (ToS) or differentiated services header field. A mapping table maps different ToS values to different available transit provider paths to a particular destination. A server generating a packet to the destination selects one of the available paths according to any of load balanced, failover, or performance optimization criteria. The server sets the packet header ToS field with the value assigned to the selected path. A router operating in the same network as the server is configured with policy based routing rules that similarly map the ToS values to different transit provider paths to the particular destination network. Upon receiving the server generated packet, the router routes the packet to the destination network through the transit provider path identified in the packet header by the server set ToS value.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
identifying a plurality of different transit provider paths connecting a first network first server to a different second network second server; mapping a different type-of-service (ToS) value to each transit provider path of the plurality of transit provider paths; selecting at the first server, one of the plurality of transit provider paths to send a packet from the first server to the second server; generating at the first server, the packet by setting the packet destination address to an address of the second server and by further setting the packet ToS to a first non-default value when said selecting selects sending the packet to the second server through a first transit provider path from the plurality of transit provider paths and a different second non-default value when said selecting selects sending the packet to the second server through a second transit provider path from the plurality of transit provider paths; and sending the packet from the first server to the second network through a transit provider path from the plurality of transit provider paths identified from the value of the packet ToS.