Patent ID: 6785735
Filing Date: 2004-08-31
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A method for determining a route for a data packet from a source node to a destination node, comprising the steps of:determining a first portion in the route by identifying a first gateway in the route, wherein the first portion is from the source node to the first gateway, wherein the first gateway is the next intermediate gateway that a packet send from the source node to the destination node would visit, and wherein the source node does not support source-route IP path tracing; and determining a second portion of the route by source-route IP path tracing, and wherein the second portion is from the first gateway to the destination node, wherein identifying the first gateway comprises the steps of: determining a second gateway used by the source node to reach a network management node; determining a third gateway based on the second gateway and the destination node; using the second gateway as the first gateway only if the third gateway and the source node are on different subnets; and using the third gateway as the first gateway only if the third gateway and the source node are on the same subnets.