| CPC H04L 12/4633 (2013.01) [H04L 45/12 (2013.01); H04L 45/64 (2013.01); H04L 61/4511 (2022.05); H04L 63/02 (2013.01)] | 17 Claims |

|
1. A method comprising:
identifying, by one or more processors, a plurality of candidate packet-communication paths between a virtual overlay network endpoint device (EPD) and a remote destination reachable via at least one path that traverses at least one wide area network, the plurality of candidate packet-communication paths including at least two overlay candidate paths, each comprising a respective virtual overlay network tunnel path between the EPD and a respective remote egress-ingress point (EIP) of the virtual overlay network;
determining, by the one or more processors, a plurality of factors for each of the candidate packet-communication paths, the factors indicating a priority order, path latency, a path security rating, and, for each candidate path, at least one of packet loss rate, hop count, bandwidth, target region, and path loading;
selecting, by the one or more processors and for a given data flow targeted to the remote destination, a communication path from the plurality of candidate packet-communication paths, based at least in part on relative priority order factors of the candidate packet-communication paths and based at least in part on evaluating one or more data attributes and/or profile quality-of-service requirements for the given data flow against related factors of the plurality of factors for the selected communication path; and
forwarding packets for the given data flow from the EPD towards the remote destination through the selected communication path.
|