Provided is a virtual circuit-based data packet processing method, which includes that: identification information of a next-hop Provider Edge (PE) node of a routing packet and identification information of an Original PE (OPE) node of the routing packet are determined according to the routing packet corresponding to a Virtual Private Network (VPN) service instance; a context virtual circuit is determined, wherein nodes at both ends of the context virtual circuit are respectively the current PE node and the OPE node; a virtual circuit label of the context virtual circuit is determined; a final data packet to be forwarded is obtained by carrying a VPN label of the routing packet and the virtual circuit label with an initial data packet of the VPN service instance; and the final data packet to be forwarded is forwarded to the next-hop PE node.

A communications method includes receiving, by a first provider edge (PE) device, a data packet from a second PE device and avoiding, by the first PE device, sending the data packet to the second PE device in response to determining that a source address of the data packet is the same as an address of the second PE device in an entry. The source address of the data packet is the same as the address of the second PE in the entry stored in the first PE device. A customer edge (CE) device is multi-homed to the first PE device and the second PE device in an all-active mode. The CE device is connected to the first PE device through a first connection and the second PE device through a second connection. The first connection and the second connection belonging to a same Ethernet segment.

A method and system are disclosed, for using Intermediate System to Intermediate System, IS-IS, as control plane for Shortest Path Bridging, SPB, in a network comprising at least a Service Provider Network, SPN (101), and at least two Backbone Edge Bridges, BEBs (121.sub.i), connected to the SPN (101). The method comprises, and the BEBs are configured to: forming adjacency between BEBs through LAN Hellos, electing one of the BEBs as a Designated IS, DIS, and an emulated pseudonode, all BEBs creating and flooding non-pseudonode level-1 LSPs, the DIS creating and flooding a Pseudonode level-1 ESP, and periodically sending Complete Sequence Number PDUs, CSNPs, to the other BEBs, and running Shortest Path First, SPF, to calculate the shortest path in the network between BEBs.

Transferring data in a network is disclosed. Transferring includes receiving a Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) frame, identifying a plurality of location specific identifiers in the PBT frame, mapping the PBT frame to a service based at least in part on the plurality of location specific identifiers, formatting the PBT frame according to the service to obtain a service frame, and transferring the service frame to a network associated with the service.

In one embodiment, a plurality of virtual private local area network services (VPLSs) are operated among a plurality of packet switching devices, with the plurality of VPLSs including a first VPLS and a different second VPLS. In response to a conversion declaration including a particular Service Instance VLAN ID (I-SID), the first VPLS corresponding to the particular I-SID is converted to a different type of virtual private network (VPN) service, while continuing to operate the different second VPLS which is not related to the particular I-SID. In one embodiment, the different type of VPN service is Provider Backbone Bridging Ethernet VPN (PBB-EVPN). In one embodiment, the conversion declaration is a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Network Layer Reachability Information (NLRI) of Route Type 3 Inclusive Multicast Ethernet Tag (IMET) route.

For traffic exiting a logical network through a particular VTI, some embodiments perform a service classification operation for different data messages to identify different VTIs that connect the edge forwarding element to a service node to provide services required by the data messages. Each data message, in some embodiments, is then forwarded to the identified VTI to receive the required service. The identified VTI does not perform a service classification operation. The service node then returns the serviced data message to the edge forwarding element. In some embodiments, the identified VTI is not configured to perform the service classification operation and is instead configured to mark all traffic directed to the edge forwarding element as having been serviced. The marked serviced data message is received at the edge forwarding element and forwarded to a destination of the data message through the particular VTI.

Some embodiments facilitate the provision of a service reachable at a virtual internet protocol (VIP) address. The VIP address is used by clients to access a set of service nodes in the logical network. Facilitating the provision of the service, in some embodiments, includes returning a serviced data message to a load balancer that selected a service node to provide the service for the load balancer to track the state of the connection using the service logical forwarding element. To use the service logical forwarding element, some embodiments configure an egress datapath of the service nodes to intercept the serviced data message before being forwarded to a logical forwarding element in the datapath from the client to the service node, and determine if the serviced data message requires routing by the routing service provided as a service by the edge forwarding element.

Some embodiments provide novel methods for providing different types of services for a logical network associated with an edge forwarding element acting between the logical network and an external network. The edge forwarding element receives data messages for forwarding and performs a service classification operation to select a set of services of a particular type for the data message. The particular type of service is one of multiple types of services that use different transport mechanisms to forward the data to a set of service nodes (e.g., service virtual machines, or service appliances, etc.) that provide the service. The edge forwarding element receives the data message after the selected set of services has been performed and performs a forwarding operation to forward the data message. In some embodiments, the method is also performed by edge forwarding elements that are at the edges of logical network segments within the logical network.

Embodiments of this application provide a packet forwarding method, a route sending and receiving method, and related apparatus. The method is applied to a data center in a non-uniform memory access (NUMA) architecture. The data center includes a server and a network device, and the server includes a first NUMA node and a second NUMA node. The method includes: The first interface processing unit (IPU) receives a first packet from the network device, where the first packet is a packet to be sent to the first virtual machine in the first NUMA node. The first IPU sends the first packet to the first virtual machine. The second IPU receives a second packet from the network device, where the second packet is a packet to be sent to the second virtual machine in the second NUMA node. The second IPU sends the second packet to the second virtual machine.

Some embodiments provide novel methods for providing a set of services for a logical network associated with an edge forwarding element acting between a logical network and an external network. In some embodiments, the services are provided using a logical service forwarding plane that connects the edge forwarding element to a set of service nodes that each provide a service in the set of services. The service classification operation of some embodiments identifies a chain of multiple service operations that has to be performed on the data message. In some embodiments, identifying the chain of service operations includes selecting a service path to provide the multiple services. After selecting the service path, the data message is sent along the selected service path to have the services provided. The data message is returned to the edge forwarding element by a last service node in the service path that performs the last service operation and the edge forwarding element performs next hop forwarding on the data message.