Patent ID: 9042234
Filing Date: 2015-05-26
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of operating a network having a core portion and peripheral portions, wherein the core portion of the network includes routers and switches interposed between the routers and wherein the switches are controlled by a controller, the method comprising: with the controller, determining a forwarding path from a first router to a second router through the switches based on network traffic conditions; and with the controller, controlling the switches to implement the forwarding path from the first router to the second router by providing flow table entries to the switches via control paths coupled between the switches and the controller, wherein each of the switches has a corresponding set of forwarding rules that controls how that switch forwards network traffic, each of the forwarding rules includes source and destination address fields and an action to be performed in response to matching a network packet to the source and destination address fields, the routers have corresponding addresses, and controlling the switches to implement the forwarding path from the first router to the second router comprises: