Devices, systems and methods for service chains

摘要

Routers using virtual routing and forwarding nodes to implement a service fabric of service chains. The router may configure M+1 virtual routing and forwarding instances, M being an integer representing a number of a plurality of service appliances in a data center network. Each virtual routing and forwarding instance may be associated with a routing table of routing rules to define various service chain routing paths. The routing rules are based on destination addresses in data packets.

主权项

1. A router comprising:
an ingress port for receiving network data packets from a plurality of source nodes of a plurality of networks, each network data packet having a destination address; an egress port for transmitting the network data packets to at least one destination node; M+1 virtual routing and forwarding instances, VRFIs, for routing at least one of the network data packets to at least one of M service appliances, M being an integer greater than one; and a persistent store for storing a plurality of routing tables, each routing table defining a plurality of routing rules for a VRFI of the M+1 VRFIs based on the destination addresses of the network data packets.