METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR LOAD BALANCING OVER VIRTUAL NETWORK LINKS

摘要

Techniques for load balancing network traffic over virtual point-to-point (PPP) data links at a data link layer include determining a particular group of virtual PPP data links that reach a particular local area network of one or more network nodes. A particular data link address for a particular node of the particular local area network is associated with each virtual PPP data link of the particular group. When a data packet is received that includes data that indicates the particular data link address as a destination; one virtual PPP data link of the group is determined to balance traffic among the group. The data packet is sent only over the one virtual PPP data link. These techniques enable virtual PPP data links through two or more intermediate network nodes, such as a pair of provider edge nodes, to be bundled for load balancing purposes.