CPC H04L 45/74 (2013.01) [H04L 69/08 (2013.01)] | 11 Claims |
1. A method for routing a data packet through a first network element of a communication network, further comprising a plurality of second network elements, the first and second network elements being interconnected by internetwork communication links, the routing method comprising:
a traditional routing process including taking a routing decision as a function of a destination of the data packet according to route learning in the communication network; and,
reviewing the routing decision via an internetwork policy-based routing function selected from among a plurality of candidate internetwork policy-based routing functions of said first network element, each candidate internetwork policy-based routing function being assigned to an egress interface of said first network element and each egress interface of said first network element being assigned to one said candidate internetwork policy-based routing function, the selected internetwork policy-based routing function being the candidate internetwork policy-based routing function assigned to the egress interface selected by the traditional routing process for routing said data packet in the communication network,
wherein, with said first network element comprising an egress processing function assigned to each egress interface of said first network element, the data packet is processed by the egress processing function assigned to the egress interface selected by the selected internetwork policy-based routing function, and,
wherein, with said first network element comprising a feedback loop from the egress processing functions to the internetwork policy-based routing functions, the egress processing functions supply the internetwork policy-based routing functions with information relating to the processing applied by the egress processing functions to said data packet.
|