公开(公告)号：US20190140863A1

公开(公告)日：2019-05-09

申请号：US15803960

申请日：2017-11-06

Applicant: Cisco Technology, Inc.

Inventor： Nagendra Kumar Nainar ,  Carlos M. Pignataro ,  Roberta Maglione

IPC: H04L12/46 ,  H04L12/803 ,  H04L12/721

Abstract: A method for a dataplane signaled bi-directional/symmetric service chain instantiation for efficient load balancing is provided. In one embodiment, the method includes configuring a policy that refers to multiple service function paths that could be used for load balancing network traffic. The method also includes selecting one of the multiple service function paths to send the network traffic in a forward direction. An encapsulation header includes service path identification information identifying the service function path selected for use in the forward direction and an indicator to indicate that that the network traffic is to be sent in a reverse direction using a same service function path selected used for the forward direction. The method includes encapsulating network traffic with the encapsulation header to causes a reverse classifier to program the same service function path for the reverse direction.