A method for configuring performance measurement indication information and a related device. The method includes: a control node determines performance measurement indication information and sends a first advertisement packet in the communication network based on the BGP, where the first advertisement packet carries the performance measurement indication information, so that a plurality of forwarding nodes configure the performance measurement indication information on the plurality of forwarding nodes. In this way, when a data flow on which performance measurement is to be performed is transmitted between a plurality of different ASs, each forwarding node in the different ASs may obtain the performance measurement indication information from the first advertisement packet.

A method for communication between nodes, where the method includes: constructing, by a first Layer 3 node, a link local control frame; adding, by the first Layer 3 node, a destination group Media Access Control (MAC) address to the link local control frame, wherein the destination group MAC address is outside a block of destination group MAC addresses assigned for Ethernet bridging purposes; and transmitting, by the first Layer 3 node, the link local control frame to a second Layer 3 node.

Embodiments of this application disclose a method for discovering a forwarding path and a related device thereof, to discover a forwarding path. The method includes: receiving, by a first device, a packet that is sent by a second device and that is used to discover a forwarding path; searching, by the first device based on a first forwarding entry of a data plane, for forwarding information used to forward the packet; and sending, by the first device, path information to the second device based on a second forwarding entry of an autonomic control plane virtual routing and forwarding (ACP VRF) instance, where the first forwarding entry and the second forwarding entry are isolated from each other. In the embodiments, the first forwarding entry and the second forwarding entry are isolated from each other, and returning of the path information is not affected by a data plane fault.

Automated topology-discovery processes, wherein topology-related information is exchanged among the nodes of a network using data-plane headers of transmitted packets, and without relying on conventional control-plane topology-discovery protocols. For such “control-plane-less” topology discovery, a discovery-enabling Topology Discovery Header (TDH) may be encoded as an extension of the data-plane header. Such TDH can be used, e.g., to carry various types of pertinent information typically relied-upon by the relevant network entities for topology-discovery purposes. In some embodiments, topology discovery is fully migrated from the control plane to the data plane and is substantially integrated into the corresponding Packet Switching Technology. Due to this migration, some features of some conventional control protocols may not be critically needed in the corresponding communication networks. As a result, adaptation, streamlining, replacement, and/or elimination of some of such control protocols may beneficially be implemented, e.g., to meet the needs of the network operator in a cost-effective manner.

Various approaches for allocating resources to an application having multiple application components, with at least one executing one or more functions, in a serverless service architecture include identifying multiple routing paths, each routing path being associated with a same function service provided by one or more containers or serverless execution entities; determining traffic information on each routing path and/or a cost, a response time and/or a capacity associated with the container or serverless execution entity on each routing path; selecting one of the routing paths and its associated container or serverless execution entity; and causing a computational user of the application to access the container or serverless execution entity on the selected routing path and executing the function(s) thereon.

In one embodiment, a packet processing apparatus includes interfaces, a memory to store a representation of a routing table as a binary search tree of address prefixes, and store a marker with an embedded prefix including k marker bits providing a marker for an address prefix of a node corresponding to a prefix length greater than k, and n additional bits, such that the k marker bits concatenated with the n additional bits provide another address prefix, packet processing circuitry configured upon receiving a data packet having a destination address, to traverse the binary search tree to find a longest prefix match, compare a key with the k marker bits, extract an additional n bits from the destination address, and compare the extracted n bits with the n additional bits, and process the data packet in accordance with a forwarding action indicated by the longest prefix match.

A method may include obtaining a topology of an optical network. The topology may indicate multiple optical links within the optical network. The method may also include obtaining a routing metric for each of the optical links. The routing metric may be used in selecting routes through the optical network along the multiple optical links. The method may further include obtaining a signal noise tolerance of an optical signal to be routed through the optical network and adjusting routing metrics of one or more of the multiple optical links based on the signal noise tolerance of the optical signal. The method may also include after the routing metrics of the one or more of the multiple optical links are adjusted, determining a route for the optical signal through the optical network along two or more of the multiple optical links based on the routing metrics of the multiple optical links.

A method may include obtaining a topology of an optical network. The topology may indicate multiple optical links within the optical network. The method may also include determining a signal noise tolerance for each of multiple optical signal types supported by the optical network and obtaining an optical noise for each of the multiple optical links. The method may also include determining a number of the multiple optical signal types that each of the multiple optical links is able to support based on the optical noise for each of the optical links and the signal noise tolerance for each of the multiple optical signal types and ranking the multiple optical links based on the number of the multiple optical signal types that each of the optical links is able to support.

A method, operational at a device, includes receiving at least one packet belonging to a first set of packets of a packet flow marked with an identification value, determining that the at least one packet is marked with the identification value, determining to change a quality of service (QoS) treatment of packets belonging to the first set of packets marked with the identification value that are yet to be received, and sending a request to change the QoS treatment of packets belonging to the first set of packets marked with the identification value that are yet to be received to trigger a different QoS treatment of packets within the packet flow, responsive to determining to change the QoS treatment. Other aspects, embodiments, and features are also claimed and described.

Embodiments of this application disclose a packet sending method, a device, and a system, so that a specified network device does not use a backup forwarding path to forward a packet, thereby reducing, to some extent, a technical problem such as network resource waste or network congestion caused by a loop problem. The method includes: A first network device obtains a first packet destined for a destination device; the first network device adds a first indication identifier to the first packet to generate a second packet, where the first indication identifier is used to indicate a second network device to avoid using a backup forwarding path from the second network device to the destination device to send the second packet to the destination device; and the first network device sends the second packet to the second network device by using a first forwarding path.