In one embodiment, an offload platform is an compute platform, adjunct to a router or other packet switching device, that performs packet processing operations including determining an egress forwarding value corresponding to the next-hop node of the packet switching device to which to send an offload-platform processed packet. The offload platform downloads forwarding information from the router, and augments it, such as, but not limited to, representing interfaces of the router as identifiable virtual interface(s) on the offload platform, and including each of one or more next-hop nodes of the router represented as an identifiable virtual adjacency and identifiable tunnel (e.g., identified by the egress forwarding value). In one embodiment, the egress forwarding value is an Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) label or Segment Routing Identifier. The router identifies packets of certain packet flows to send to the adjunct offload platform, rather than processing per its routing information base.

In one embodiment, an offload platform is an compute platform, adjunct to a router or other packet switching device, that performs packet processing operations including determining an egress forwarding value corresponding to the next-hop node of the packet switching device to which to send an offload-platform processed packet. The offload platform downloads forwarding information from the router, and augments it, such as, but not limited to, representing interfaces of the router as identifiable virtual interface(s) on the offload platform, and including each of one or more next-hop nodes of the router represented as an identifiable virtual adjacency and identifiable tunnel (e.g., identified by the egress forwarding value). In one embodiment, the egress forwarding value is an Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) label or Segment Routing Identifier. The router identifies packets of certain packet flows to send to the adjunct offload platform, rather than processing per its routing information base.

A first network device associated with a network may establish an Internet protocol version 6 Multiprotocol BGP session with a second network device associated with the network. The first network device and second network device are both capable of forwarding both IPv4 and IPv6 packets with only an IPv6 address configured on the interface of both the first network device and second network device. The first network device may exchange Multiprotocol Reachability capability with second network device for corresponding 2-tuple Address Family Identifier/Subsequent Address Family Identifier. The first network device may advertise Internet protocol version 4 network layer reachability information and may advertise Internet protocol version 6 network layer reachability information with IPv6 extended next hop encoding using Internet Assigned Numbering Authority assigned capability code value 5 to second network device.

A first network device associated with a network may establish an Internet protocol version 6 Multiprotocol BGP session with a second network device associated with the network. The first network device and second network device are both capable of forwarding both IPv4 and IPv6 packets with only an IPv6 address configured on the interface of both the first network device and second network device. The first network device may exchange Multiprotocol Reachability capability with second network device for corresponding 2-tuple Address Family Identifier/Subsequent Address Family Identifier. The first network device may advertise Internet protocol version 4 network layer reachability information and may advertise Internet protocol version 6 network layer reachability information with IPv6 extended next hop encoding using Internet Assigned Numbering Authority assigned capability code value 5 to second network device.

Systems and methods for incrementally eliminating Border Gateway Protocol—Labeled Unicast (BGP-LU) in a multi-region network include receiving BGP-LU updates from one or more Area Border Router (ABR) nodes in a multi-region network with the ABR nodes between two areas including a first area utilizing Segment Routing without utilizing BGP-LU and a second area utilizing BGP-LU; and, responsive to a request from a first node in the first area to reach a second node in the second area, providing a Segment Identifier (SID) list to the first node where the SID list is determined based on the Segment Routing in the first area and the BGP-LU updates from the second area.

Systems and methods for incrementally eliminating Border Gateway Protocol—Labeled Unicast (BGP-LU) in a multi-region network include receiving BGP-LU updates from one or more Area Border Router (ABR) nodes in a multi-region network with the ABR nodes between two areas including a first area utilizing Segment Routing without utilizing BGP-LU and a second area utilizing BGP-LU; and, responsive to a request from a first node in the first area to reach a second node in the second area, providing a Segment Identifier (SID) list to the first node where the SID list is determined based on the Segment Routing in the first area and the BGP-LU updates from the second area.

Example packet control methods and apparatus are described. One example method includes detecting, by a network node, a packet in a packet flow causing a congestion from an upstream node. The network node reduces a scheduling priority of the packet in the packet flow and generates a congestion isolation message, where the congestion isolation message includes description information of the packet flow. The congestion isolation message is sent to the upstream node to instruct the upstream node to reduce the scheduling priority of the packet in the packet flow.

Disclosed are a method and system for implementing an X2 proxy. The method includes that a function of a next-hop node serving as an X2 proxy of a previous-hop node (300) is activated; and X2 message interaction between an initial node and a target node is implemented through more than one X2 proxy including the previous-hop node and the next-hop node (301).

A method and application function for managing data flows in a network comprising a plurality of nodes. The method comprises generating a number N of network load representatives (NLRs) of an expected loading of the network, identifying a path selection configuration for the data flows for each of the N NLRs and mapping a prevailing network loading to a selected one of the N NLRs. If the selected NLR is different from a currently selected NLR, the method triggers traffic engineering (TE) by implementing the path selection configuration of the selected NLR at nodes affected thereby. The application function may comprise an NLR generator, a path optimizer and an NLR mapper.

A data packet forwarding method including receiving, by a network node, a data packet that comprises a bit string, a BFIR identifier (ID), and a multicast replication path (MRP) ID, wherein the BFIR ID identifies an ingress network node for a multicast group, and wherein the MRP ID identifies the multicast group, identifying an entry in a BIER Replication Path Cache Table (BRCT) using the BFIR ID and the MRP ID, wherein the entry identifies a replication neighbor (NBR) list associated with the BFIR ID and the MRP ID, and forwarding the data packet in accordance with the replication NBR list.