A parser model may be used with software-defined applications or controllers. A network topology may be detected and based on the change in the network topology, a network device may filter certain network data traffic for processing by a software-defined network controller.

The packet processing system, according to an example embodiment, comprises a Network Interface Controller (NIC) to receive and transmit network packets; a memory unit for storing network packets; a processor for processing network packets stored in the memory unit; a cache unit to access all data to the processor from the memory unit; and an application process running on the processing unit. The NIC includes a packet processing means to process the network packets received by the NIC. The packet processing means includes a Contiguous Header Mapping/Map (CHM) header-data splitter to split said network packets into a header portion and a payload portion; a table or equivalent to store the contiguous header-data split configuration data; and a packet Direct Memory Access (DMA) unit to DMA copy said header portion and said payload portion into separate memory area/location and contiguously map said header portion of network packets in the memory unit.

A method, apparatus, and computer program product provide for updating configuration parameters of a universal integrated circuit card via dedicated network functions in a 5G system. In the context of a method, the method receives an encapsulation request from a unified data management module, the encapsulation request comprising data for at least one configuration parameter associated with a universal integrated circuit card of a user device. The method generates, in response to the encapsulation request, a secure packet comprising the at least one configuration parameter and a secure packet header. The method also provides the secure packet to the unified data management module for delivery to the user device.

There is provided an apparatus that comprises means for receiving a request from a second network function including information relating to the second network function, determining, based on the information relating to the second network function, at least one proxy function and in response to the request, providing to the second network function information relating to the at least one determined proxy function.

A method, a device, and a non-transitory storage medium are described in which a remote probing for failover service is provided. The remote probing for failover service includes receiving, by a network device at a standby location associated with a geographic redundancy, failover traffic, which originates at a primary location of a network. The network device routes the failover traffic back to a corresponding network device at the primary location. The network device at the primary location may provide the failover traffic to a network performance analyzer device at the primary location.

A novel design of a gateway that handles traffic in and out of a network by using a datapath pipeline is provided. The datapath pipeline includes multiple stages for performing various data-plane packet-processing operations at the edge of the network. The processing stages include centralized routing stages and distributed routing stages. The processing stages can include service-providing stages such as NAT and firewall. The gateway caches the result previous packet operations and reapplies the result to subsequent packets that meet certain criteria. For packets that do not have applicable or valid result from previous packet processing operations, the gateway datapath daemon executes the pipelined packet processing stages and records a set of data from each stage of the pipeline and synthesizes those data into a cache entry for subsequent packets.

In some examples, a computing device comprises a first service function instance to apply a service function and a service function forwarder to: receive a first layer 3 routing protocol route advertisement that includes service function instance data for a second service function instance, the service function instance data indicating a service function type and a service identifier for the service function instance; receive a second layer 3 routing protocol route advertisement that includes service function chain data for a service function chain, the service function chain data indicating a service path identifier and one or more service function items; and send, to the second service function instance and based at least on determining a service function item of the one or more service function items indicates the second service function instance, a packet classified to the service function chain.

In some examples, a computing device comprises a first service function instance to apply a service function and a service function forwarder to: receive a first layer 3 routing protocol route advertisement that includes service function instance data for a second service function instance, the service function instance data indicating a service function type and a service identifier for the service function instance; receive a second layer 3 routing protocol route advertisement that includes service function chain data for a service function chain, the service function chain data indicating a service path identifier and one or more service function items; and send, to the second service function instance and based at least on determining a service function item of the one or more service function items indicates the second service function instance, a packet classified to the service function chain.

A router including a communication device, a first processor, and a second processor. The communication device is configured to receive a plurality of first packets of a connection and at least one second packet of the connection subsequent to the first packets The first processor, coupled to the communication device, and configured to analyze the first packets to determine at least part of a plurality of transport-layer parameters associated with the connection, receive a traffic control rule associated with the connection, and offload processing of the at least one second packet of the connection to a second processor after the at least part of the transport-layer parameters is determined. The second processor is configured to perform traffic control on the second packet according to the traffic control rule and the at least part of the transport-layer parameters.

Embodiments disclosed include a method and apparatus for global traffic control and optimization for software-defined networks. In an embodiment, data traffic is optimized by distributing predefined metrics (data traffic information) to all controllers in the network. The predefined metrics are specific to local network switches and controllers, but are distributed to all peers at configurable intervals. “Local” as used herein implies one POP and its associated switch and controller. The method of distribution of local POP metrics is strictly in band using a packet as defined by the protocol used by the data network.