LABEL-BASED FORWARDING WITH ENHANCED SCALABILITY

摘要

A method for communication includes configuring a router to forward data packets in a network in accordance with MPLS labels appended to the packets. A group of two or more of the interfaces is defined as a multi-path routing group in a forwarding table within the router. A plurality of records are stored in an ILM in the router, corresponding to different, respective label IDs, all pointing to the set of the entries in the forwarding table that belong to the multi-path routing group. Upon receiving in the router an incoming data packet having a label ID corresponding to any given record in the plurality, one of the interfaces in the group is selected, responsively to the given record and to the set of the entries in the forwarding table to which the given record points, for forwarding the incoming data packet without changing the label ID.

主权项

1. A method for communication, comprising:
configuring a router, having multiple interfaces connected to a network, to forward data packets in the network in accordance with Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) labels appended to the data packets; defining a group of two or more of the interfaces as a multi-path routing group, and storing, in a forwarding table within the router, a set of entries consisting of one respective entry for each of the interfaces in the group; storing, in an incoming label map (ILM) within the router, a plurality of records corresponding to different, respective label IDs contained in the MPLS labels, such that all of the records in the plurality point to the set of the entries in the forwarding table that belong to the multi-path routing group; and upon receiving in the router an incoming data packet having a label ID corresponding to any given record in the plurality, selecting, responsively to the given record and to the set of the entries in the forwarding table to which the given record points, one of the interfaces in the group, and forwarding the incoming data packet through the one of the interfaces without changing the label ID.