A method for use in a communication network is provided. The method comprises the steps of: (i) providing a plurality of network processing units (NPU's) comprised in the communication network; (ii) establishing a replication of at least one of the NPU's; (iii) virtually arranging the NPU's and the replication(s) in a ring configuration; (iv) associating a unique primary virtual identification and a corresponding unique backup virtual identification with each active and available entity selected from among the plurality of NPU's and replication(s); (v) establishing a list of hash values, each associated with the primary virtual identification or the backup virtual identification of a corresponding active and available entity; (vi) implementing a ring consistent hashing algorithm for carrying out a search resolution for a consistent hashing; and (vii) in a case of a change in an active and available entity having a certain primary virtual identification, using the corresponding backup virtual identification to maintain the ring continuity.

Generally, aspects of the invention involve creating a data structure (a map) that reflects routing of Internet traffic to Anycast prefixes. Assume, for example, that each Anycast prefix is associated with two or more deployments (Points of Presence or PoPs) that can provide a service such as DNS, content delivery (e.g., via proxy servers, as in a CDN), distributed network storage, compute, or otherwise. The map is built in such a way as to identify portions of the Internet (e.g., in IP address space) that are consistently routed with one another, i.e., always to the same PoP as one another, regardless of how the Anycast prefixes are deployed. Aspects of the invention also involve the use of this map, once created. The map can be applied in a variety of ways to assist and/or improve the operation of Anycast deployments and thus represents an improvement to computer networking technology.

A method and network device for network traffic flooding. Specifically, the method and network device disclosed herein implement the mitigation of the lack of data-link layer (or L2 ) addressing resolutions, usually learned by or programmed manually into the network device, through the flooding of affected network traffic across identified network broadcast domains. Flooding of the network traffic in the aforementioned manner may ensure that at least the destination(s) of the network traffic receives the network traffic at least in scenarios where which it is unknown out of which particular physical network interface(s) should the network traffic be transmitted to reach the destination(s).

A method and network device for network traffic flooding. Specifically, the method and network device disclosed herein implement the mitigation of the lack of data-link layer (or L2 ) addressing resolutions, usually learned by or programmed manually into the network device, through the flooding of affected network traffic across identified network broadcast domains. Flooding of the network traffic in the aforementioned manner may ensure that at least the destination(s) of the network traffic receives the network traffic at least in scenarios where which it is unknown out of which particular physical network interface(s) should the network traffic be transmitted to reach the destination(s).

Various example embodiments for supporting stateless multicast in communication networks are presented. Various example embodiments for supporting stateless multicast in communication networks may be configured to support stateless multicast in multi-domain packet distribution networks. Various example embodiments for supporting stateless multicast in communication networks may be configured to support stateless multicast in multi-domain packet distribution networks which may be based on Internet Protocol (IP). Various example embodiments for supporting stateless multicast in a multi-domain packet distribution network may be configured to support multicast of packets based on use of internal multicast packets for multicast communication of the multicast packets within sub-domains of the multi-domain packet distribution network and use of external multicast packets for unicast communication of the multicast packets across or between sub-domains of the multi-domain packet distribution network.

A method for routing a request for content from a content provider through an IPv6 network is described, the IPv6 network being an information centric network (ICN) in which content is directly addressed using at least a portion of an IPv6 address. The method includes receiving, at an IPv6 network, a request for content, determining that the request does not comprise an ICN address. The method further includes intercepting the request, and translating the request into an IPv6 address in which at least a portion of the address is directed to or associated with the piece of content. Systems and methods described herein address problems arising from the interaction between IP and ICN networking models.

One embodiment provides a system that facilitates routing with minimum name disclosure in a CCN. During operation, the system adds a first entry to a local forwarding information base for a first name prefix and a corresponding first suffix encryption key indicated in a first advertisement. In response to receiving a first interest with a name that includes the first name prefix, the system performs a lookup in the forwarding information base for the first interest name to obtain the first entry. The system encrypts a suffix of the first interest name based on the first suffix encryption key, wherein the suffix begins from a name component following the first name prefix. The system forwards the first interest to one or more interfaces indicated in the first entry, thereby facilitating routing with minimum name disclosure in a content centric network.

A communication method and a communications apparatus, where the method includes: assigning, by a control plane device, an Internet Protocol (IP) address to a user equipment; obtaining, by the control plane device using a routing policy network element, a routing rule corresponding to the IP address; and sending, by the control plane device, the routing rule and the IP address to the user equipment, where the routing rule is used by the user equipment to determine a source IP address when the user equipment initiates a service.

A communication method and a communications apparatus, where the method includes: assigning, by a control plane device, an Internet Protocol (IP) address to a user equipment; obtaining, by the control plane device using a routing policy network element, a routing rule corresponding to the IP address; and sending, by the control plane device, the routing rule and the IP address to the user equipment, where the routing rule is used by the user equipment to determine a source IP address when the user equipment initiates a service.

Route tables may be associated with ingress traffic for logically isolated networks. A routing device at the edge of a logically isolated network may receive a route to include in a route table that is associated with ingress traffic to the logically isolated network to forward the ingress traffic to a network appliance hosted in the logically isolated network. Network packets received at the edge routing device may have a destination of a computing resource hosted in the logically isolated network. The edge routing device may identify the route in the route table to override the destination in the network packet with the network appliance and forward the network packet to the network appliance according to the route.