18521936. CONTAINERIZED ROUTER SERVICE CHAINING FOR CONTAINERIZED NETWORK FUNCTIONS simplified abstract (Juniper Networks, Inc.)

CONTAINERIZED ROUTER SERVICE CHAINING FOR CONTAINERIZED NETWORK FUNCTIONS

Organization Name

Juniper Networks, Inc.

Inventor(s)

Sasha Cirkovic of San Francisco CA (US)

Sachchidanand Vaidya of Santa Clara CA (US)

AnandaVelu Thulasiram of San Jose CA (US)

Aravind Srinivas Srinivasa Prabhakar of Arlington MA (US)

Sai Prashanth Ramanathan of Bangalore (IN)

Yuvaraja Mariappan of San Jose CA (US)

Lavanya Kumar Ambatipudi of Fremont CA (US)

Vinay K Nallamothu of San Jose CA (US)

CONTAINERIZED ROUTER SERVICE CHAINING FOR CONTAINERIZED NETWORK FUNCTIONS - A simplified explanation of the abstract

This abstract first appeared for US patent application 18521936 titled 'CONTAINERIZED ROUTER SERVICE CHAINING FOR CONTAINERIZED NETWORK FUNCTIONS

Simplified Explanation

The patent application describes a method for service chaining a containerized network function (CNF) using a containerized router deployed on the same server. This involves executing a containerized network function, a virtual router for the data plane, and a containerized routing protocol daemon for the control plane on the same computing device. The virtual router forwards traffic based on a static route to the containerized network function.

• Simplified Explanation:

  - Method for chaining a containerized network function using a containerized router on the same server.

• Keywords:

  - Containerized network function, CNF, Containerized router, Virtual router, Data plane, Control plane, Routing protocol daemon, Static route.

• Potential Applications:

  - Network function virtualization, cloud computing, software-defined networking.

• Problems Solved:

  - Efficient service chaining of network functions, optimized data and control plane communication.

• Benefits:

  - Improved network performance, resource utilization, and scalability.

• Potential Commercial Applications:

  - Telecommunications, data centers, edge computing.

• Possible Prior Art:

  - Previous methods of service chaining network functions in traditional networking environments.

Questions:

1. How does the method ensure efficient communication between the containerized network function and the containerized router?

  - The method utilizes a virtual network interface on the computing device to enable communication between the CNF and the virtual router.

2. What are the potential challenges in deploying containerized network functions and routers on the same server?

  - One challenge could be resource contention between the CNF and the router, impacting performance. Proper resource allocation and management would be crucial to address this issue.

Original Abstract Submitted

The disclosure relates to computer networking and, more specifically, to service chaining a containerized network function (CNF) using a containerized router, the CNF and containerized router both deployed to the same server. In an example, a method comprises executing, with a computing device: a containerized network function; a virtual router to implement a data plane for a containerized router; and a containerized routing protocol daemon to implement a control plane for the containerized router, wherein the containerized network function and containerized routing protocol daemon execute on the same computing device, and wherein a first virtual network interface of the computing device enables communications between the containerized network function and the virtual router; and forwarding, by the virtual router, based on a static route, traffic destined for a prefix to the first virtual network interface to send the traffic to the containerized network function.