US 11,700,201 B2
Mechanism to enforce consistent next hops in a multi-tier network
Mayukh Saubhasik, Richmond (CA); Binglai Niu, Surrey (CA); and Ajay Kini, Campbell, CA (US)
Assigned to ARISTA NETWORKS, INC., Santa Clara, CA (US)
Filed by Arista Networks, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)
Filed on Jul. 26, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/385,785.
Prior Publication US 2023/0035984 A1, Feb. 2, 2023
Int. Cl. H04L 45/74 (2022.01); H04L 12/66 (2006.01); H04L 45/24 (2022.01); H04L 67/141 (2022.01); H04L 47/70 (2022.01); H04L 67/1087 (2022.01); H04L 45/02 (2022.01); H04L 49/60 (2022.01); H04L 67/2885 (2022.01)
CPC H04L 45/74 (2013.01) [H04L 12/66 (2013.01); H04L 45/24 (2013.01); H04L 67/141 (2013.01); H04L 45/04 (2013.01); H04L 47/828 (2013.01); H04L 49/602 (2013.01); H04L 67/1089 (2013.01); H04L 67/2885 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of providing consistent next hop ordering when forwarding packets through a multi-tier network, the method comprising:
establishing, by each of a set of network devices in a first tier of the multi-tier network, a routing protocol session with other network devices in the multi-tier network;
obtaining, after the establishing, routing protocol information from the other network devices of the multi-tier network;
determining, by each of the set of the network devices in the first tier of the multi-tier network, using the routing protocol information, a group of the network devices in a second tier of the multi-tier network;
generating, by each of the set of the network devices in the first tier of the multi-tier network, a deterministic ordered group listing using network device identifiers (NDIs) for the network devices in the group of network devices; and
programming, by each of the set of the network devices in the first tier of the multi-tier network, corresponding network device hardware of each of the set of the network devices using the ordered group listing.