Methods and apparatus for providing distributed load balancing of subscriber sessions in a multi-slot gateway

摘要

A method and apparatus for providing load balancing of subscriber session in a multi-slot gateway employing utilization counts are disclosed. A process of load balancing is configured to increase the session count when a subscription or subscriber session is created in a line card coupled with an active slot. The utilization count associated with the active slot is incremented when the value of session count reaches a predefined session value such as 100,000. After updating an active slot table associated with the active slot in accordance with slot numbers and utilization counts, the content of active slot table is copied to another active slot table associated with a second active slot.

主权项

1. A network gateway, comprising:
a chassis having a plurality of slots capable of implementing plug-and-play mechanism without rebooting the network gateway; a plurality of line cards (“LCs”) coupled with the plurality of slots and configured to route network traffic for established sessions; and a network processing card coupled to one of the plurality of slots and configured to manage a plurality of active slot tables wherein each of the plurality of active slot tables indicates loading status of an active slot in the chassis, wherein each of the plurality of active slot tables includes utilization counts representing loading of the plurality of LCs, wherein the utilization counts are utilized to balance traffic loading between the plurality of LCs.