Patent ID: 11956140
Assignee: ARISTA NETWORKS, INC.
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 4:
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising by the network device:
receiving, from a second network device among the network devices, second network traffic, wherein the network device is specified as the destination network device in a header of the second network traffic;
making a first determination, after receiving the second network traffic and using the header of the second network traffic, that the second network traffic has been serviced by a second network service of the plurality of network services;
processing, after making the first determination and using the header of the second network traffic, the second network traffic by storing the service instance ID of the second network service in the network device, wherein the service instance ID of the second network service is stored in a flow cache of the network device;
making a second determination, after processing the second network traffic, that a reverse network traffic is to be transmitted back to a source network device where the second network traffic originated;
after the second determination, generating the reverse network traffic and modifying a header of the reverse network traffic to comprise:
the service bit indicating that service is to be performed on the reverse network traffic; and
the service instance ID of the second network service, wherein the service instance ID of the second network service is retrieved from the flow cache; and

transmitting, after modifying the header of the reverse network traffic, the reverse network traffic toward the second network service.