A method for identifying a fraudulent phone number is provided. The method includes receiving a user report dataset indicating fraudulent activity corresponding to a phone number, and responsive to receiving the user report dataset, identifying a record in a database corresponding to the phone number. The method further includes tagging the record to identify the phone number as being associated with fraudulent activity.

Methods and systems for alternate network utilization are provided. Exemplary methods include: broadcasting by a hub an unsolicited announcement over a network to a plurality of devices coupled to a router, the unsolicited announcement being configured to cause at least some of the plurality of devices to store in a table a link-layer address of the hub as a link-layer address of the router; receiving by the hub a data packet from a device of the plurality of devices; and selectively directing by the hub the received packet to a first broadband network or a second broadband network using predetermined criteria.

The problem of looping at the egress of a transport network with a CE multihomed to a protected egress PE and a backup/protector egress PE can be avoided by (a) enabling the protector egress PE to distinguish between fast reroute (FRR) traffic coming from the protected egress PE and normal known unicast (KU) traffic coming from a PE of the transport network that is not attached to the same multihomed segment; (b) receiving, by the protector egress PE, known unicast data, to be forwarded to the CE; (c) determining, by the protector egress PE, that a link between it and the CE is unavailable; and (d) responsive to determining that the link between the protector egress PE and the CE is unavailable, (1) determining whether the known unicast traffic received was sent from the protected egress PE or from another PE of the transport network that is not attached to the same multihomed segment, and (2) responsive to a determination that the known unicast traffic received was sent from the protected egress PE, discarding the known unicast traffic received, and otherwise, responsive to a determination that the known unicast (KU) traffic received was sent from another PE of the transport network that is not attached to the same multihomed segment, sending the known multicast traffic, via a backup tunnel, to an egress PE which protects the protector egress PE.

An energy-efficient traffic scheduling algorithm based on multiple layers of virtual sub-topologies is provided. First, a mathematical optimization model for an energy-efficient traffic scheduling problem is established, to minimize network energy consumption while ensuring the capability of bearing all network data flows. Then, the mathematical optimization model is resolved using an energy-efficient traffic scheduling algorithm based on a multi-layer virtual topology, to obtain an energy-efficient scheduling scheme of the data flows. The virtual topology and switch ports in an upper layer are made dormant to save energy. The method can dynamically adjust the working state of the virtual sub-topology in the upper layer according to current link utilization. A path with a minimum number of hops and lowest maximum link utilization can be found in the booted sub-topology, to route the data flow, solving the problem that a rich-connection data center network has low energy resource utilization at low load.

The problem of looping at the egress of a transport network with a CE multihomed to a protected egress PE and a backup/protector egress PE can be avoided by (a) enabling the protector egress PE to distinguish between fast reroute (FRR) traffic coming from the protected egress PE and normal known unicast (KU) traffic coming from a PE of the transport network that is not attached to the same multihomed segment; (b) receiving, by the protector egress PE, known unicast data, to be forwarded to the CE; (c) determining, by the protector egress PE, that a link between it and the CE is unavailable; and (d) responsive to determining that the link between the protector egress PE and the CE is unavailable, (1) determining whether the known unicast traffic received was sent from the protected egress PE or from another PE of the transport network that is not attached to the same multihomed segment, and (2) responsive to a determination that the known unicast traffic received was sent from the protected egress PE, discarding the known unicast traffic received, and otherwise, responsive to a determination that the known unicast (KU) traffic received was sent from another PE of the transport network that is not attached to the same multihomed segment, sending the known unicast traffic, via a backup tunnel, to an egress PE which protects the protector egress PE.

In one example, a non-transitory computer readable storage medium may include instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to obtain historical logs associated with a plurality of available paths between a source node and a destination node. The historical logs may be obtained for a first interval by routing data over the available paths based on a first priority order and corresponding network characteristics parameters. Further, non-transitory computer readable storage medium may include instructions to determine a modified first priority order of the available paths and corresponding modified network characteristic parameters by analyzing the historical logs using a machine learning model and route the data from the source node to the destination node based on the modified first priority order.

At least one bandwidth-guaranteed segment routing (SR) path through a network is determined by: (a) receiving, as input, a bandwidth demand value; (b) obtaining network information; (c) determining a constrained shortest multipath (CSG.sub.i); (d) determining a set of SR segment-list(s) (S.sub.i=[sl.sub.1.sup.i, sl.sub.2.sup.i . . . sl.sub.n.sup.i]) a that are needed to steer traffic over CSG.sub.i; and (e) tuning the loadshares in L.sub.i, using S.sub.i and the per segment-list loadshare (L.sub.i=[l.sub.1.sup.i, l.sub.2.sup.i . . . l.sub.n.sup.i]), the per segment equal cost multipath (ECMP), and the per link residual capacity, such that the bandwidth capacity that can be carried over CSG.sub.i is maximized.

A method may include receiving a domain name system (DNS) query at a network device, where the DNS query may be associated with a traffic flow identified for rerouting through an alternative path utilizing an alternative network device instead of a default path. The method may also include rewriting the DNS query such that the DNS query is routed through the alternative network device along the alternative path and to a DNS server associated with the alternative path. The method may additionally include receiving a DNS response from the DNS server, where a resource identified in the DNS response may be based on the DNS query coming through the alternative network 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.

In one example embodiment, a device includes a processor. The processor is configured to determine a plurality of data transmission rates between at least one client, an access point and the device belonging to a wireless network, determine a best communication route, from among available communication routes for the at least one client to communicate with the access point based on the determined plurality of data transmission rates and direct the at least one client to communicate with the access point via the determined best communication route.