Juniper Networks, Inc.
BITMASK ROUTE TARGET IN TARGETED DISTRIBUTION OF INFORMATION USING A ROUTING PROTOCOL

Abstract:

Techniques are described by which a routing protocol, such as border gateway protocol (BGP), is extended to control propagation and importation of information using route targets (RTs) specified as bitmasks that encode link administrative group information. For example, a network control device (e.g., controller) is configured to allocate one or more subset of resources (e.g., nodes or links) of an underlay network to each of one or more virtual networks established over the underlay network. The controller generates a bitmask encoded with link administrative group information of the one or more links. The controller then outputs, to a plurality of provider edge (PE) routers that are participating in a respective virtual network, a routing protocol message to advertise the one or more subset of resources, wherein the routing protocol message includes a route target specified as the bitmask.