A solution for reducing transmission pathway lengths within a distributed network, as embodied in various systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media, may include migrating a TCP socket from a request server to a data server. The solution may further include reprogramming one or more routers to recognize a new packet route based on the migrated socket. The solution may include the one or more routers subsequently communicating directly with the data server while bypassing the request server.

An autonomous network and a corresponding routing method include determining routing paths by a controller, and providing the determined routing paths to a data packet processor located remotely from the controller. The data packet processor routes outgoing data packets, based on information from the controller, through a plurality of switches remotely from the data packet processor. Each switch includes a plurality of network interfaces. For an outgoing data packet, the data packet processor determines a network interface over which to transmit the data packet, and adds an indication of the determined network interface in a header of the data packet. The data packet processor forwards the modified data packet to the switch including the determined network interface. The switch identifies the network interface based on the indication, and transmits the outgoing data packet over the identified network interface.

A method enabling symmetric routing between a first host within a first AS and a second host within a second AS is disclosed. The method includes detecting that a first routing message was received at an edge router of the first AS from an edge router of the second AS. The first message identifies the second host as a source and the first host as a destination of a forward route. The method further includes determining that the first message further comprises an indication to implement symmetric routing between the first and second hosts and generating a second routing message for propagating to router(s) within the first AS. The second message identifies the first host as a source and the second host as a destination of a return route, and indicates that data is to be sent via the edge router of the first AS that received the first message.

A plurality of network nodes are configured to form a virtual logical network over a plurality of broadcast domains. Configuring the virtual logical network includes configuring at least one of the nodes in the plurality of nodes to broadcast routes to IP addresses hosted on nodes in the plurality of network nodes between nodes in the plurality of broadcast domains. A primary workload hosted on a first node in the plurality of nodes is configured to share ownership of an IP address with a secondary workload hosted on a second node in the plurality of nodes. In response to detecting a failure indication associated with the primary workload, an IP address failover procedure for the shared IP address is performed between the primary workload and the secondary workload.

Method for use in updating a routing table of a router of a plurality of routers, said routing table comprising the route(s) to be used for at least one destination, wherein update messages with routing information are sent between said plurality of routers, typically BGP routers, wherein the following steps are performed at the router: receiving of an update message containing a path or a withdrawal of a path for a destination; determining if the (withdrawn) path is associated with a path exploration event; deciding on the updating of the routing table taking into account the result of the determination.

The technology disclosed herein enables an L3 network fabric including one or more spine switches having a leaf-spine topology to be self-expanded. In a particular embodiment, a method provides transferring one or more probe messages from each of the spine switches. The probe messages detect whether new computing nodes have been attached to the communication network. The method further provides receiving a reply to at least one of the probe messages. The reply identifies a new computing node that is not yet included in the L3 fabric. In response to the reply, the method provides confirming physical network interfaces of the spine switches indicate valid connections to one or more new leaf switches of the new computing node, using L3 discovery protocols to ensure the connections conform to the leaf-spine topology, and transferring probe packets between the spine switches and leaf switches, including the new leaf switches, of computing nodes connected thereto to confirm configuration of all connections between the spine switches and the leaf switches of the computing nodes. Moreover, the method provides configuring L3 protocols for routing communications exchanged with the new computing node.

In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a first edge device that is operatively coupled to a second edge device via a switch fabric. The first edge device and the second edge device collectively define an edge device network operating with a network-address-based protocol. The first edge device communicates with the second edge device via a multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) tunnel through the switch fabric. Furthermore, the first edge device is operatively coupled to the switch fabric such that a node of the switch fabric can be modified without coordination of the edge device network. Additionally, the first edge device is operatively coupled to the second edge device to define the edge device network such that an edge device of the edge device network can be modified without coordination of the switch fabric.

Some embodiments provide a method for implementing a logical router in a network. The method receives a definition of a logical router for implementation on a set of network elements. The method defines several routing components for the logical router. Each of the defined routing components includes a separate set of routes and separate set of logical interfaces. The method implements the several routing components in the network. In some embodiments, the several routing components include one distributed routing component and several centralized routing components.

The disclosed computer-implemented method for improving forwarding capabilities during route convergence may include (1) identifying, at an upstream network device, a set of updated routes that define network paths that have each experienced at least one topology change since the upstream network device last converged with a downstream network device, (2) determining, at the upstream network device, levels of priority for the set of updated routes based at least in part on amounts of traffic that traverse the network paths defined by the set of updated routes, (3) arranging, at the upstream network device, the set of updated routes in a prioritized order in accordance with the levels of priority, and then (4) converging the upstream network device with the downstream network device by sending the set of updated routes in the prioritized order to the downstream network device. Various other methods, systems, and apparatuses are also disclosed.

In some examples, a method includes receiving, by a first ingress network device for a network, a source tree join route message from an egress network device for the network, specifying a multicast source and a multicast group, and in response to receiving the source tree join route message, determining, by the ingress network device, whether the multicast source is multi-homed to the network via the first ingress network device and a second ingress network device for the network. The method includes, in response to determining that the multicast source is not multi-homed, forwarding traffic for the multicast source on an inclusive provider tunnel without initiating setup of a selective provider tunnel to the egress network device, and in response to determining that the multicast source is multi-homed, initiating setup of a selective provider tunnel to the egress network device and terminating forwarding multicast traffic on the inclusive provider tunnel.