System and method for supporting shared multicast local identifiers (MLIDs) a high performance computing environment. In accordance with an embodiment, a shared MLID range can be configured such that each subnet within a fabric can utilize an MLID within a shared MLID range without the need to utilize a TCAM, or other memory, lookup of a MGID to MLID mapping.

Provided are a packet forwarding method based on BIER-TE, a node device and a storage medium. The method includes: acquiring X bit string sub-package structures from a BIER-TE based message; and forwarding the message according to the X bit string sub-package structures, where X is greater than or equal to 1.

Provided is a remote control system and a method enabling packets, related to a control signal and simultaneously transmitted from a controller to a plurality of controlled devices, to be received by the controlled devices without a difference in delay. Edge nodes 30 that are packet transfer devices are provided on communication paths between a controller 10 provided on a network and a plurality of controlled devices 20 provided in a location. The edge nodes 30 each include a transfer processing unit 31 that transfers the packets from the controller 10 to the controlled devices 20, and a timing control unit 32 that controls transmission timing of the packets in the transfer processing unit 31 to reduce a difference in arrival time of a plurality of packets simultaneously transmitted from the controller 10 to the plurality of controlled devices 20, at the plurality of controlled devices 20.

Systems and methods for multicast send duplication instead of replication in a high performance computing environment. A method can provide a plurality of switches, a plurality of hosts, the plurality of hosts being interconnected via the plurality of switches, wherein a host of the plurality of hosts comprises a multicast sender node, the sender node comprising a system image generation module and a current message sequence module. The method can organize the plurality of switches into two rails, the two or more rails providing redundant connectivity between the plurality of hosts. The method can send two or more duplicate multicast packets on different rails. Upon a receiving node receiving at least two versions of the same multicast packet, only one will be delivered to the communication stack/clients above the layer that handles the encapsulation header.

The techniques describe forwarding multicast traffic using a multi-level cache in a network device forwarding plane for determining a set of outgoing interfaces of the network device on which to forward the multicast traffic. For example, a multi-level cache is configured to store a multicast identifier of a multicast packet and multicast forwarding information associated with the multicast identifier, such as identification of one or more egress packet processors of the network device to which the multicast packet is to be sent for forwarding to the set of one or more egress network devices, and/or outgoing interfaces of the network device toward each egress network device of the set of one or more egress network devices. The multi-level cache is also configured to store respective multicast identifiers that are to be encapsulated with outgoing multicast packets that are forwarded to the set of one or more egress network devices.

Some embodiments of the invention provide a data-plane forwarding circuit (data plane) that has a flow-size detection circuit that generates flow-size density distribution for all or some of the data message flows that it processes for forwarding in a network. The flow-size (FS) detection circuit in some embodiments generates statistical values regarding the processed data message flows, and based on these statistical values, it generates a FS density distribution that expresses a number of flows in different flow-size sub-ranges in a range of flow sizes. In some embodiments, the density distribution is a probabilistic density distribution that is based on probabilistic statistical values that the flow-size detection circuit generates for the data message flows that are processed for forwarding within the network. The FS detection circuit in some embodiments generates probabilistic statistical values for the data message flows by generating hash values from header values of the data message flows and accumulating flow-size values at memory locations identified by the generated hash values. In some embodiments, the generated hashes for different data message flows can collide, which results in the accumulated flow-size values being probabilistic values that might have a certain level of inaccuracy.

A point-to-point Virtual Private Network (VPN) tunnel is established for facilitating fully cloaked transmission of a data packet from a source endpoint device to a destination endpoint device. The data packet includes a payload portion, an inner header, and an outer header. An ‘end-to-end key’, a ‘next-hop-destination key’ and a plurality of ‘next-hop’ keys are calculated. The end-to-end key is used at the source endpoint device and the destination endpoint device respectively to encrypt and decrypt the payload portion. The next-hop keys are used to encrypt the inner header during the hop-to-hop communication from one intermediary node to another, along the incrementally constructed path connecting the source endpoint device with the destination endpoint device. The encryption of the payload portion is maintained throughout the hop-to-hop communication regardless of the number of intermediary nodes traversed by the data packet en route to the destination endpoint device.

A router node may be configured for communication of multicast traffic in a network fabric which may include a plurality of spine nodes interconnected to a plurality of leaf nodes. The router node may be configured as one of the leaf nodes and serve as a first hop router for multicast traffic. At the router node, a message for flooding the network fabric may be sent based on an indication of communication of multicast traffic for a multicast group from a source device. The message may include at least one spine node identifier of at least one preferred spine node joined to the multicast group at the router node. The message may be for indicating, to at least one of the leaf nodes, to prioritize joining to the multicast group at the at least one preferred spine node according to at least one spine node identifier.

Various example embodiments for supporting multicast communications in a communication system are presented. Various embodiments for supporting multicast communications may be configured to support multicast communications of multiple virtual private networks over a single multicast distribution tree. Various embodiments for supporting multicast communications of multiple virtual private networks over a single multicast distribution tree may support communication of a packet of a virtual private network within a network, wherein the packet includes a set of tuples associated with a set of egress devices to which the packet is to be delivered via a multicast distribution tree supported within the network, wherein, for each of the egress devices, the respective tuple associated with the respective egress device includes a respective device identifier of the egress device that uniquely identifies the respective egress device within the network and a respective label assigned by the respective egress device for the virtual private network.

In some embodiments, a method for selecting an egress point for accessing an external network associated with a distributed logical router that is distributed across at least a first computing device and a second computing device is provided. The method receives, by an instance of the logical router at the first computing device, first identification information and a first preference value. The method compares the first preference value to a second preference value. The second preference value is associated with second identification information corresponding to a current computing device that is identified as a current preferred egress point for the logical router. The method determines whether to set the egress point connected to the instance of the logical router in the second computing device as a new preferred egress point for the logical router.