A computing node is configure to implement an intra-node network boot and installation protocol (protocol) for booting and installing an operating system (OS) on a virtual machine hosted on the computing node without communicating over a physical network. The protocol includes hosting a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server instance and/or a network boot server instance on a controller virtual machine of the computing node to emulate DIICP protocol and network boot server protocol communications. In some examples, the protocol further utilizes one or more virtual extensible local area networks (LANs) (VXLANs) and a virtual switch hosted at a hypervisor running on the computing node.

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, identifying a packet data protocol session that supports a first data exchange between a mobile application of a first mobile device and a first recipient device, wherein the first exchange of data comprises a directing of the first exchange of data through a network device. A second recipient device is determined, and a second data exchange is facilitated between the mobile application and the second recipient device by way of the packet data protocol session, wherein the second exchange of data also comprises a directing of the second exchange of data through the network device without modifying the first data exchange. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Systems and methods provide for accelerating and offloading network processing to a remote smart network interface card (NIC). A first network element, including a first smart NIC, can transmit capability information of the first smart NIC for receipt by a neighboring second network element. The second network element can determine that a network processing task of a virtualized network function (e.g., virtual network function (VNF), cloud-native network function (CNF), etc.) instantiated on the second network element can be offloaded to the first smart NIC. The second network element can receive processing information from the virtualized network function for performing the network processing task. Based on the processing information, the second network element can transmit control information that causes the first smart NIC to perform the network processing task on at least a portion of network data received by the first network element for transmission to the second network element.

Some embodiments provide a novel method for deploying different virtual networks over several public cloud datacenters for different entities. For each entity, the method (1) identifies a set of public cloud datacenters of one or more public cloud providers to connect a set of machines of the entity, (2) deploys managed forwarding nodes (MFNs) for the entity in the identified set of public cloud datacenters, and then (3) configures the MFNs to implement a virtual network that connects the entity's set of machines across its identified set of public cloud datacenters. In some embodiments, the method identifies the set of public cloud datacenters for an entity by receiving input from the entity's network administrator. In some embodiments, this input specifies the public cloud providers to use and/or the public cloud regions in which the virtual network should be defined. Conjunctively, or alternatively, this input in some embodiments specifies actual public cloud datacenters to use.

A data transmission method, apparatus, and device, and a computer storage medium are provided. The method includes: obtaining an application packet of a target application; transmitting the application packet to a first routing device by using a network data channel, and transmitting, by using the first routing device, the application packet to a proxy server; meanwhile, transmitting the same application packet to a second routing device by using a short-range wireless data channel different from the network data channel, and transmitting, by using the second routing device, the application packet to the proxy server. The proxy server performs, a deduplication mechanism on the application packet and transmit the application packet to an application server corresponding to the target application.

Embodiments of this application disclose a packet processing method, apparatus, and device, and a packet forwarding method, apparatus, and device, to improve packet forwarding efficiency, save storage space of a network device, and expand a network scale. The packet processing method in the embodiments of this application includes: obtaining a packet including a destination address; obtaining outbound interface information of a network device on a forwarding path based on the destination address of the packet, where the forwarding path is a path for forwarding the packet from a source device to a destination device corresponding to the destination address; and encapsulating a packet header for the packet, where the packet header includes the outbound interface information of the network device that forwards the packet on the forwarding path.

Provided herein is a method for a router to process time-sensitive packets, the method comprising: receiving a time-sensitive packet comprising a stack containing at least one local deadline, the stack being comprised within a header of the time-sensitive packet; retrieving a local deadline from the at least one local deadline comprised within the header; and scheduling transmission of the time-sensitive packet based on the local deadline. Also provided is a method for a router to process time-sensitive packets, the method comprising: receiving a time-sensitive packet comprising a stack containing at least one entry, each entry of the at least one entry respectively comprising, as sub-entries, a forwarding instruction and a local deadline; retrieving an entry from the stack; forwarding the time-sensitive packet according to the forwarding instruction comprised in the retrieved entry; and scheduling transmission of the time-sensitive packet based on the local deadline comprised in the retrieved entry.

Systems and methods for establishing a secure connection are described. A server receives a plurality of routing tokens for establishing a service connection between a service node and the server along a network path through a plurality of network devices. The routing tokens can be validated by a corresponding network device. The server transmits a packet including the routing tokens to a first network device. The first network device validates a first routing token associated therewith, then directs the packet along the network path to a second network device, and so forth, until each of the network device receives and validates their routing token. The server establishes a cryptographic context between the service node and server for establishing a secure channel between the service node and the server. The server transmits a service node routing token to the service node via the secure channel for validation.

Systems, methods, and computer-readable for load distribution amongst smart network interface cards (sNICs) connected to a host device include a controller. The controller can instantiate an agent in the host device to obtain telemetry information pertaining to the sNICs, where the sNICs can be used for communication between the host device and upstream devices in a software-defined network. The telemetry information indicates service offloading capabilities of the sNICs. The controller can also obtain network topology information pertaining to at least the host device, the sNICs and the upstream devices, and determine load distribution policies for the sNICs based on the network topology information and the telemetry information. The controller can provide the load distribution policies to the one or more upstream devices, where the load distribution policies take into account the service offload capabilities of the sNICs.

Some embodiments of the invention provide a method for deploying network elements for a set of machines in a set of one or more datacenters. The datacenter set is part of one availability zone in some embodiments. The method receives intent-based API (Application Programming Interface) requests, and parses these API requests to identify a set of network elements to connect and/or perform services for the set of machines. In some embodiments, the API is a hierarchical document that can specify multiple different compute and/or network elements at different levels of compute and/or network element hierarchy. The method performs automated processes to define a virtual private cloud (VPC) to connect the set of machines to a logical network that segregates the set of machines from other machines in the datacenter set. In some embodiments, the set of machines include virtual machines and containers, the VPC is defined with a supervisor cluster namespace, and the API requests are provided as YAML files.