US 12,323,322 B2
Malleable routing for data packets
Clarence Filsfils, Brussels (BE); Peter Psenak, Bratislava (SK); Francois Clad, Strasbourg (FR); and Jose Antonio Liste, Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Assigned to Cisco Technology, Inc.
Filed by Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed on Mar. 3, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/685,929.
Application 17/685,929 is a continuation of application No. 17/360,283, filed on Jun. 28, 2021.
Application 17/360,283 is a continuation of application No. 15/986,174, filed on May 22, 2018, granted, now 11,050,662, issued on Jun. 29, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/527,611, filed on Jun. 30, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2022/0272032 A1, Aug. 25, 2022
Int. Cl. H04L 45/302 (2022.01); H04L 41/0813 (2022.01); H04L 45/12 (2022.01); H04L 45/42 (2022.01); H04L 45/44 (2022.01); H04L 45/50 (2022.01)
CPC H04L 45/306 (2013.01) [H04L 41/0813 (2013.01); H04L 45/123 (2013.01); H04L 45/42 (2013.01); H04L 45/44 (2013.01); H04L 45/50 (2013.01); H04L 45/12 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
at each of a plurality of network nodes, the plurality of network nodes forming a subset of nodes in a larger network, wherein each network node within the larger network supports a first method for determining a next hop of a received packet according to a first routing criterion, the first method being identical across all network nodes within the larger network, indicating over a network an alternative routing capability supported by the plurality of network nodes, the alternative routing capability being associated with a second method for determining the next hop of a received packet, the second method using one or more alternative routing criteria not used in the first method for determining the next hop of a received packet;
receiving, by a first network node of the plurality of network nodes, the indications regarding the alternative routing capability supported by each of the plurality of network nodes;
determining, at the first network node, an alternative routing criterion from the one or more alternative routing criteria to use to transmit a first set of data packets across the network, the alternative routing criterion determined to conform to a Service Level Agreement (SLA);
identifying, based at least in part on the received indications, one or more network nodes from the plurality of network nodes that support the determined alternative routing criterion associated with the determined one or more alternative routing criteria;
determining a first route for the first set of data packets through the one or more network nodes and communication links that support the determined alternative routing criterion and satisfies the SLA, wherein determining the first route comprises determining each hop in the first route using the second method for determining the next hop of a received packet; and
propagating the first set of data packets along the determined first route, wherein the first route taken by the first set of data packets traversing the network is different than a second route taken by a second set of data packets traversing the network, the second route determined using at least one non-SLA-conforming routing criterion.