In general, techniques are described for managing routing information in a hub-and-spoke network in a manner that reduces flooding of link information. A hub router of the hub-and-spoke network including a memory and a processor may perform the techniques. The memory may be configured to store a representation of a topology of the hub-and-spoke network. The processor may be configured to utilize a separate instance of a multi-instance version of a link state protocol to communicate with each of a plurality of spoke routers of the hub-and-spoke network. Each separate instance of the multi-instance version of the link state protocol may include the hub router and a different one of the plurality of spoke routers. The processor may process link state advertisements from the separate instances of the multi-instance version of the link state protocol to maintain the representation of the topology of the hub-and-spoke network.

In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a first network control entity configured to be implemented at a first edge device. The first network control entity is configured to receive a control packet from a peripheral processing device via a tunnel that is between the peripheral processing device and the first network control entity and that includes at least a portion within a second edge device. The first network control entity is configured to determine routing information associated with the peripheral processing device based on the control packet. The first network control entity is configured to send the routing information to a second network control entity such that the second network control entity routes a data unit addressed to the peripheral processing device to the second edge device without sending the data unit to the first edge device.

This application provides a peer relationship management method and apparatus, a device, and a storage medium, and belongs to the field of network technologies. In this application, when a peer relationship between a first routing device and a second routing device is interrupted, routing entries received from the second routing device are not deleted. Services may be still processed, within a time range from a time at which the peer relationship is interrupted to a time at which the peer relationship is reestablished, by using the routing entries received from the second routing device.

Methods and systems are described for automatically detecting network routing peers and establishing route peering sessions. An illustrative method includes retrieving, at a network router, route peer configuration for the network router. The route peer configuration identifies one or more network interfaces for route peering but typically does not identify an address of peer routers. The method identifies, based on the route peer configuration, a network interface from a plurality of network interfaces of the network router for route peering and configures the network interface to participate in route peering. The method then detects a peer router on the network interface and initiates a peering session on the network interface with the peer router. Using the peering session, the method exchange route information with the peer router.

Virtual network identifiers are extracted from route advertisements. A table associates virtual network identifiers with provider edge devices. When a virtual network identifier extracted from a route advertisement matches a virtual network identifier in the table, the route advertisement is propagated to the provider edge devices associated with that virtual network identifier in the table. The route advertisement is not propagated to provider edge devices not associated with that virtual network identifier in the table.

Client and server devices identify each other over a LAN or similar network through a series of unicasts. Rather than broadcasting a service announcement or discovery request as a broadcast or multicast, for example, a device instead transmits a series of unicast messages using a finite set of recipient network addresses and port numbers. Responses to the unicast messages can be collected and tracked to thereby allow subsequent communications to occur via unicasts with only the recognized addresses, with a multicast to only the recognized addresses, and/or otherwise as desired. By allowing the clients and servers to communicate with a finite set of unicast messages, a “broadcast” type message can be sent on the network without a need for router configuration. Moreover, unicasts can be sent using different protocols (e.g., TCP) than the subsequent traffic (e.g., UDP), thereby making discovery of compatible devices on the network more reliable.

Methods and apparatus relating to the use of aggregated links, e.g., links in a bundle, are described. A normal link metric and a limited operation mode link metric a determined for a link bundle, the normal link metric having a lower value than the limited operational mode link metric. The status of links in a link bundle are monitored. Based on the number of currently operational links in a link bundle and a switching threshold, a decision is made whether to advertise the normal link metric, advertise the limited operation mode threshold or refrain from advertising any link metric. The use of the limited operation link metric facilitates the use of a partially failed link bundle providing an alternative routing path in the network that would not otherwise be available.

An autonomous system (AS) comprising a topology transparent zone (TTZ) comprising a plurality of TTZ nodes, wherein the plurality of TTZ nodes includes an edge node and an internal node, wherein each of the plurality of TTZ nodes is configured to connect to another TTZ node via an internal link, and a plurality of neighboring external nodes connected to the TTZ edge nodes via a plurality of external links, wherein no link state advertisements (LSAs) describing the internal links are distributed to the neighboring external nodes.

Systems, methods, apparatuses, and software that announce prefixes associated content nodes of a content delivery network are provided herein. In one example, a method of operating a communication system comprising Internet service providers configured to exchange content requests between end user devices and content nodes is presented. The method includes assigning a content node of the content delivery network a first Internet Protocol (IP) address having an associated first short prefix and a first long prefix, and assigning the content node a second IP address having an associated second short prefix and a second long prefix. The method also includes announcing the first short prefix and the first long prefix to a first Internet service provider communicatively coupled to the content node, and announcing the second short prefix and the second long prefix to a second Internet service provider communicatively coupled to the content node.

Provided are a protocol processing method and apparatus, and a storage medium. The method includes: in a Routing In Fat Tree (RIFT), supporting an RIFT community structure to carry a Point of Delivery (PoD) field, and controlling, by a configured community structure policy, import or export of an RIFT route indicated in the PoD field.