Method and apparatus for routing and forwarding between virtual routers within a single network element

摘要

A method and apparatus for routing and forwarding between virtual routers is described. A method in a single network element comprises peering a first virtual router to a second virtual router, wherein the first and second virtual routers have separate address spaces and separate routing tables, distributing a set of one or more routes from the first virtual router to the second virtual router, wherein a first of the set of routes identifies the first virtual router as a next hop of the first route, said first route including a destination, and downloading to a set of one or more forwarding tables, the destination and the next hop.

主权项

1. A method in a single network element, comprising:
configuring a second virtual router of the single network element to learn routes from a first virtual router of the single network element, wherein the first virtual router stores routing information for a first virtual private network in a first routing table and the second virtual router stores routing information for a second virtual private network in a second routing table; inserting, by a control card of the single network element, a first route into the first routing table, wherein the first route includes a next hop corresponding to an external destination outside the single network element; distributing, responsive to said configuring of the second virtual router to learn routes from the first virtual router, the first route to the second routing table of the second virtual router as a second route, wherein the second route indicates a route to the external destination of the first route; and responsive to receiving a packet, utilizing the second route of the second routing table to forward the packet on the route to the external destination.