CN115695293A

CN115695293A - Message processing method and network equipment

Info

Publication number: CN115695293A
Application number: CN202110875147.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 马云东; 肖亚群
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-07-30
Filing date: 2021-07-30
Publication date: 2023-02-03

Abstract

The embodiment of the application discloses a message processing method and a related device. The first network device need not configure bit forwarding ingress router identification, BFR-ID, information for all nodes downstream. The first network equipment modifies the destination address in the BFIR message of the bit forwarding entry router into the information for identifying the next hop, so that the BIER message can successfully reach the configured next hop in the first network equipment. The operation and maintenance process is simplified, the network planning and network configuration process is simplified, and the capacity of planning and establishing a large BIER network is improved.

Description

Message processing method and network equipment

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a message processing method and a network device.

Background

The network Protocol (IP) multicast technology realizes the high-efficiency data transmission from point to multipoint in the IP network, and can effectively save the network bandwidth and reduce the network load. For this reason, a new technique for constructing a multicast data forwarding path is proposed in the industry, and is called Bit Index Explicit Replication (BIER) technique. Specifically, in a multicast network, each node is assigned a globally unique bit position (bit position). Each node supporting the BIER technology (e.g., bit-forwarding router (BFR) may flood its own Bit position in the network through an Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) so that other nodes in the network may know the node to which each Bit corresponds.

Disclosure of Invention

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a message processing method, including: the method comprises the steps that a first network device receives a first bit index explicit copy BIER message from a bit-forwarding entry router (BFIR), and the destination address of the first BIER message is used for identifying the first network device. The first network device may be a bit-forwarding router (BFR). And the first network equipment acquires a second BIER message, wherein the destination address of the second BIER message is used for identifying the next hop of the multicast tree to which the first network equipment belongs. For example: the destination address of the second BIER message is the end point address (end. Specifically, the first network device copies the first BIER packet to obtain a second BIER packet. The first BIER message includes the same bit string as the second BIER message. The first BIER message includes the same payload as the second BIER message. The next hop may be another intermediate BFR or a bit-forwarding egress router (BFER). And the first network equipment sends the second BIER message to the next hop.

In the embodiment of the application, the first network device does not need to know the BFR-ID information of the node serving as the BFER. The first network equipment modifies the destination address in the sent message into information for identifying the next hop, so that the message can be sent to the next hop of the first network equipment.

In a possible implementation manner, the obtaining, by the first network device, the second BIER packet includes: the first network equipment determines a corresponding relation based on the destination address of the first BIER message, wherein the corresponding relation comprises the information of the next hop; and the first network equipment acquires the second BIER message based on the information of the next hop and the first BIER message.

Specifically, after acquiring the first BIER packet, the first network device determines a corresponding relationship based on the destination address of the first BIER packet, where the corresponding relationship includes information of a next hop. The first network equipment receives a first BIER message from the BFIR, and the destination address of the first BIER message is an end point address explicitly copied by the bit index of the first network equipment. And the first network equipment determines that the first BIER message needs to be processed according to the destination address of the first BIER message. And then, the first network equipment determines the next hop of the first network equipment in the corresponding relation according to the destination address of the first BIER message. And then, the first network equipment determines the endpoint address of the next hop bit index explicit copy according to the corresponding relation, modifies the first BIER message, and modifies the destination address of the first BIER message into the endpoint address of the next hop bit index explicit copy so as to obtain a second BIER message.

In this embodiment, the first network device may determine a corresponding relationship according to the first BIER packet, where the corresponding relationship includes information of a next hop of the first network device. Therefore, the first network device may generate a second BIER packet according to the correspondence and the first BIER packet, and forward the second BIER packet to the next hop. And the information of the next hop is obtained through the corresponding relation, so that the network configuration process is simplified.

In a possible implementation manner, the first BIER packet further includes a sub-domain identifier, and the sub-domain identifier corresponds to the multicast tree.

In a possible implementation manner, the acquiring, by the first network device, the second BIER packet includes: the first network equipment determines a corresponding relation based on the subdomain identification and the destination address of the first BIER message, wherein the corresponding relation comprises the subdomain identification and the next hop information; and the first network equipment obtains the second BIER message based on the information of the next hop and the first BIER message, wherein the second BIER message also comprises the sub-domain identifier.

Specifically, after the first network device receives the first BIER packet from the BFIR, the destination address of the first BIER packet is the end point address explicitly copied by the bit index of the first network device. And the first network equipment determines that the first BIER message needs to be processed according to the destination address of the first BIER message. Furthermore, the first network device determines the corresponding relationship including the Sub-domain identifier from one or more local corresponding relationships according to the Sub-domain identifier "Sub-domain 0" included in the first BIER message. Then, the first network device determines a corresponding relationship of a second network device from one or more local corresponding relationships, the second network device is a next hop of the first network device, and a multicast tree to which the second network device belongs is consistent with a multicast tree to which the first network device belongs. The correspondence of the second network device includes information of the second network device, such as an endpoint address explicitly copied by a bit index of the second network device. The first network device obtains a second BIER message according to the information (the end point address explicitly copied by the bit index) of the second network device and the first BIER message.

In a possible implementation manner, the first network device obtains the corresponding relationship according to a static configuration; or, the first network device receives indication information and identification information sent by the next hop, where the indication information is used to indicate that the next hop has BIER message processing capability, and the identification information is an address of the next hop or an identification used to determine the address of the next hop; the first network device obtains the corresponding relation based on the indication information.

Specifically, the first network device obtains the corresponding relationship according to the static configuration. The static configuration may be a command line configuration. It should be noted that, in the statically configured information of the next hop, the next hop has a BIER message processing capability. The corresponding relationship includes: information of the next hop, including but not limited to an end point address (end.bier) explicitly copied by a bit index of the next hop, an internet protocol address of the next hop, a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the next hop, a packet encapsulation type of the next hop, or a sub-domain identification of the next hop.

Optionally, if the next hop is a BFER (i.e., the second network device), the information of the next hop further includes a BFR-ID of the second network device.

Optionally, the corresponding relationship further includes an identifier used for representing full copy, and after receiving the BIER packet, the network device corresponding to the fully copied identifier performs full copy processing on the bit string included in the BIER packet. And the network equipment forwards the copied BIER message to the next hop.

For example, taking the first network device B and the first network device C as an example, the correspondence obtained by the first network device B includes a fully copied identifier. And after receiving the multicast data message from the multicast source, the first network equipment B encapsulates the multicast data message to obtain a BIER message A. The first network device B sends the BIER message a to the first network device C. After receiving the BIER message a, the first network device C obtains a corresponding relationship, where the corresponding relationship includes a fully-duplicated identifier. The first network equipment C copies the BIER message A to obtain a BIER message B, and compared with the BIER message B, the BIER message A comprises consistent bit strings. And the first network equipment C sends the BIER message B to the next hop, wherein the destination address of the BIER message B is end.

In the above flow, the first network device B does not process the bit string a in the BIER packet a. Or, the first network device B generates the bit string B after performing Bitwise AND operation on the bit string a in the BIER packet a AND the FBM in the bit table (the bit table of the first network device B), where the bit string a is the same as the bit string B. The FBM in the big entry is set to a wildcard, for example, a character string with all 1 FBMs.

In yet another example: the first network equipment receives a message from the next hop, wherein the message comprises the identification information of the next hop and a specific field, and the specific field comprises the content of the indication information. When the specific field is "1", it indicates that the next hop has BIER message processing capability. When the specific field is "0", it indicates that the next hop does not have BIER message processing capability.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for processing a packet, including:

the second network equipment receives a bit index explicit copy BIER message from the first network equipment, wherein the BIER message comprises a bit string corresponding to at least one BFER; the second network device determining, based on the bit string, that the at least one BFER includes the second network device; and the second network equipment forwards the BIER message. Wherein the first network device may be an intermediate BFR or a BFIR. Specifically, after receiving the BIER packet, the second network device determines whether it needs to process the BIER packet according to the bit string included in the BIER packet. And after receiving the BIER message, the second network equipment detects the bit string included in the BIER message to determine whether the second network equipment belongs to BFER. Each bit in the bit string is used to identify a certain BFER. When a bit in the bit string has a first value, the BFER indicated by the bit is the destination of the BIER packet, and the first value may be 1, for example. If the second network device belongs to the BFER, the second network device needs to process the second BEIR message, and the second network device forwards the BIER message.

In the embodiment of the application, the first network device does not need to configure the BFR-ID information of all downstream nodes. The first network equipment modifies the destination address in the sent message into information for identifying the next hop, so that the message can successfully reach the configured next hop in the first network equipment. The operation and maintenance process is simplified, the network planning and network configuration process is simplified, and the capacity of planning and establishing a large BIER network is improved. The second network device determines whether the BIER message needs to be processed according to the bit string in the received BIER message, so as to ensure that the second network device processes each BIER message needing to be processed, and improve the reliability of the service.

In one possible implementation, the determining, by the second network device based on the bit string, that the at least one BFER includes the second network device includes: the second network device determines that a bit in the bit string corresponding to the BFR-ID is set based on its BIER forwarding router identification (BFR-ID).

Specifically, when the second network device determines that the bit corresponding to the self-BFR-ID in the bit string is the first value according to the self-BFR-ID, the second network device determines that the BFER in the domain includes the second network device. The second network device needs to forward the BIER message. In a possible implementation manner, the second network device determines a forwarding outlet of the BIER packet according to an entry of the multicast forwarding information base MFIB, and forwards the BIER packet.

In one possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the second network device determining, based on the bit string, that the at least one BFER does not include the second network device; and the second network equipment discards the BIER message.

Specifically, when the second network device determines that the at least one BFER does not include the second network device based on the bit string, the second network device discards the BIER packet. For example: and when the second network equipment determines that the bit corresponding to the bit string and the BFR-ID is not the first value according to the BFR-ID of the second network equipment, the second network equipment determines that the BFER in the domain does not comprise the second network equipment. That is, the second network device does not need to continue forwarding the BIER packet, and the second network device discards the BIER packet.

In one possible implementation manner, the method further includes: and the second network equipment sends identification information and indication information of the second network equipment to the first network equipment which is taken as a neighbor of the second network equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating that the next hop has BIER message processing capacity, and the identification information is the address of the next hop or an identification used for determining the address of the next hop.

The following are exemplary: the second network device sends a message to the first network device (the first network device is a neighbor node of the second network device), wherein the message comprises the identification information of the next hop and a specific field, and the specific field comprises the content of the indication information. When the specific field is "1", it indicates that the next hop has BIER message processing capability. When the specific field is "0", it indicates that the next hop does not have BIER message processing capability.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a message processing method, including:

a first network device acquires a first bit index display copy BIER message, wherein the destination address of the first BIER message is used for identifying the next hop of a multicast tree to which the first network device belongs; and the first network equipment sends the first BIER message to the next hop. Wherein the first network device is a BFIR.

Specifically, after receiving a multicast data packet from a multicast source, the BFIR obtains a first BIER packet according to the multicast data packet, where a destination address of the first BIER packet is used to identify a next hop of a multicast tree to which the first network device belongs. For example: the destination address of the first BIER message is identification information of a next hop of the first network device, and the next hop of the first network device is a destination of the first BIER message.

Optionally, the first BIER packet includes a sub-domain identifier, where the sub-domain identifier indicates a multicast tree to which the BFIR and the next hop belong. For example: the first BIER message includes a Sub-domain identifier "Sub-domain 0", and the Sub-domain identifier indicates that the first network device that sent the first BIER message belongs to the multicast tree corresponding to the Sub-domain 0, and the next hop that receives the first BIER message belongs to the multicast tree corresponding to the Sub-domain 0.

In the embodiment of the present application, after a first network device serves as a head node and receives a multicast data packet from a multicast source, a first BIER packet may be obtained according to the multicast data packet. Therefore, the first BIER message can successfully arrive at the destination, and the reliability of the service is improved.

In a possible implementation manner, the first network device obtains the information of the next hop based on a corresponding relationship, where the corresponding relationship includes the information of the next hop. Specifically, the first network device obtains the next hop information from the corresponding relationship according to the destination address of the first BIER packet. And then the first network equipment forwards the first BIER message to the next hop.

In a possible implementation manner, the corresponding relationship further includes a sub-domain identifier, and the sub-domain identifier corresponds to the multicast tree.

In a possible implementation manner, the first BIER packet further includes the sub-domain identifier, and the sub-domain identifier corresponds to the multicast tree.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a packet processing apparatus, where the packet processing apparatus is applied to a first network device, and the apparatus includes:

a transceiver module, configured to receive a first bit index explicit copy BIER packet from a bit forwarding entry router BFIR, where a destination address of the first BIER packet is used to identify the first network device;

a processing module, configured to obtain a second BIER packet, where a destination address of the second BIER packet is used to identify a next hop of a multicast tree to which the first network device belongs;

and the transceiver module is further configured to send the second BIER packet to the next hop.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module is specifically configured to: determining a corresponding relation based on the destination address of the first BIER message, wherein the corresponding relation comprises the information of the next hop; and obtaining the second BIER message based on the information of the next hop and the first BIER message.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module is specifically configured to: determining a corresponding relation based on the subdomain identification and the destination address of the first BIER message, wherein the corresponding relation comprises the subdomain identification and the next hop information; and obtaining the second BIER message based on the information of the next hop and the first BIER message, wherein the second BIER message also comprises the sub-domain identifier.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module is specifically configured to obtain the corresponding relationship according to a static configuration.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module is specifically configured to receive indication information and identification information sent by the next hop, where the indication information is used to indicate that the next hop has BIER message processing capability, and the identification information is an address of the next hop or an identification used to determine the address of the next hop; and the processing module is specifically used for obtaining the corresponding relation based on the indication information.

In a possible implementation manner, the destination address of the first BIER packet is an end address end, which is explicitly copied by the bit index of the first network device.

In a possible implementation manner, the correspondence further includes an identifier for representing full replication. Wherein full replication means replicating the packet and transmitting the replicated packet from one or more ports corresponding to the multicast tree.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a packet processing apparatus, where the packet processing apparatus is applied to a second network device, and the apparatus includes:

a transceiving module, configured to receive a bit index explicit copy BIER packet from a first network device, where the BIER packet includes a bit string corresponding to at least one BFER;

a processing module to determine that the at least one BFER includes the second network device based on the bit string;

and the transceiver module is also used for forwarding the BIER message.

In a possible implementation, the processing module is specifically configured to determine, based on its BIER forwarding router identification BFR-ID, that a bit in the bit string corresponding to the BFR-ID is set.

In a possible implementation, the processing module is specifically configured to determine that the at least one BFER does not include the second network device based on the bit string;

and the receiving and sending module is also used for discarding the BIER message.

In one possible implementation manner, the method further includes:

the transceiver module is further configured to send identification information and indication information of the second network device to the first network device that is a neighbor of the first network device, where the indication information is used to indicate that the next hop has BIER message processing capability, and the identification information is an address of the next hop or an identifier used to determine the address of the next hop.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a packet processing apparatus, where the packet processing apparatus is applied to a first network device, and the apparatus includes:

a transceiver module, configured to obtain a first bit index, display and copy a BIER packet, where a destination address of the first BIER packet is used to identify a next hop of a multicast tree to which the first network device belongs;

and the transceiver module is further configured to send the first BIER packet to the next hop.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module is configured to obtain the information of the next hop based on a corresponding relationship, where the corresponding relationship includes the information of the next hop.

In a seventh aspect, a network device is provided that includes a processor and a communication interface; the processor is configured to execute the instructions to cause the network device to perform the method according to any of the implementations of the first aspect.

In an eighth aspect, a network device is provided that includes a processor and a communication interface; the processor is configured to execute the instructions to cause the network device to perform the method according to any of the implementations of the second aspect.

In a ninth aspect, a network device is provided that includes a processor and a communication interface; the processor is configured to execute the instructions to cause the network device to perform the method according to any of the implementation manners of the third aspect.

A tenth aspect provides a communication system comprising a network device according to the fourth aspect, a network device according to the fifth aspect and a network device according to the sixth aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a communication system comprising the network device according to the seventh aspect, the network device according to the eighth aspect, and the network device according to the ninth aspect.

A twelfth aspect of the present application provides a computer storage medium, which may be non-volatile; the computer storage medium has stored therein computer readable instructions that, when executed by a processor, implement the method of any one of the implementations of the first, second, or third aspect.

A thirteenth aspect of the present application provides a computer program product containing instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform a method as in any one of the implementations of the first, second, or third aspect.

A fourteenth aspect of the present application provides a chip system comprising a processor for enabling a network device to implement the functions referred to in the above aspects, e.g., to transmit or process data and/or information referred to in the above methods. In one possible design, the system-on-chip further includes a memory, which stores program instructions and data necessary for the network device. The chip system may be formed by a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional BIER packet forwarding architecture;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a BIER domain in a conventional manner;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a message processing method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic view of an application scenario proposed in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic view of an application scenario proposed in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic view of an application scenario proposed in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a message processing apparatus 700 according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device 800 according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device 900 according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a network system 1000 according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a network system 1100 according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The following describes embodiments of the present application. It is to be understood that the described embodiments are merely exemplary of some, and not all, of the present application. As can be known to those skilled in the art, with the emergence of new application scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

The terms "first," "second," and the like in the description and in the claims of the present application and in the above-described drawings are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the descriptions so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments may be practiced in sequences other than those illustrated or described herein. Moreover, the terms "comprises," "comprising," and any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or modules is not necessarily limited to those steps or modules explicitly listed, but may include other steps or modules not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. The naming or numbering of the steps appearing in the present application does not mean that the steps in the method flow must be executed in the chronological/logical order indicated by the naming or numbering, and the named or numbered flow steps may have their execution order changed according to the technical purpose to be achieved, as long as the same or similar technical effects are achieved. The division of the units presented in this application is a logical division, and in practical applications, there may be another division, for example, multiple units may be combined or integrated in another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed, and in addition, the shown or discussed coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between each other may be through some interfaces, and the indirect coupling or communication connection between the units may be in an electrical or other similar form, which is not limited in this application. Furthermore, the units or sub-units described as the separate parts may or may not be physically separate, may or may not be physical units, or may be distributed in a plurality of circuit units, and some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the present disclosure.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to a node supporting one or more functions of an internet protocol version6 (IPv 6) function, a segment routing version6 (SRv) function or a BIER IPv6 forwarding function in a Virtual Private Network (VPN). The SRv function includes an IPv6 function, and the BIER IPv6 forwarding function includes encapsulation of a BIER packet, forwarding of the BIER packet, and decapsulation and transmission of the BIER packet. In the application, the BIER message is a message forwarded based on BIER. The BIER message in the embodiment of the present application may be a BIER IPv6 message. Specifically, the node may be a router or a switch, which can implement encapsulation, forwarding, and decapsulation of the BIER packet. Wherein, the above nodes may also be referred to as network elements or devices or other names.

The VPN may be a multicast virtual private network (multicast VPN), and specifically, the multicast VPN is a virtual private network, where the virtual private network may be a layer 3virtual private network (l 3 VPN), an Ethernet Virtual Private Network (EVPN), or may be a multicast deployed at a part of sites in a public network. For example, when the L3VPN deploys multicast, a border gateway protocol multicast-virtual private network (BGP-MVPN) address family message is used; when EVPN deploys multicast, a border gateway protocol Ethernet-Ethernet virtual private network (BGP-EVPN) address family is used; when the public network is deployed and multicast, BGP-MVPN address family information is also used, only a special identifier is used, and the public network is also regarded as a special L3VPN or virtual forwarding routing (VRF) identifier.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional BIER packet forwarding architecture. The diagram includes two different BIER domains (BIER domain 1 and BIER domain 2 as shown in fig. 1). At the edge of BIER domain 1 and BIER domain 2, the edge BFR node encapsulating the multicast data is a bit-forwarding ingress router (BFIR) (e.g., BFIR1 to BFIR4 shown in fig. 1), and the edge BFR node decapsulating the BIER packet is a bit-forwarding egress router (BFER) (e.g., BFER1 to BFER4 shown in fig. 1). The BFIR can be called as an entry bit index forwarding router, a head node, a root node and the like; BFERs may be referred to as egress bit index forwarding routers, tail nodes, leaf nodes, and the like.

In order to better understand the message forwarding method, the message sending apparatus, and the message receiving apparatus provided in the embodiments of the present application, several basic concepts that may be involved in the embodiments of the present application are first described below.

1. BIER technology.

BIER domain is a domain running BIER control plane protocols. For example, a domain running an Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) may be a BIER domain. The domain running IGP is referred to herein as an IGP domain, e.g., BIER domain 1 shown in fig. 1 may be IGP domain 1 and BIER domain 2 may be IGP domain 2.BIER domain refers to a network area that can flood BIER information and build BIER forwarding tables through IGP or Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) protocol (underlay). Such AS an Autonomous System (AS) domain, which is a BIER domain, deploys IGP protocols and floods BIER information. In a network with multiple AS domains, IGP protocol may be deployed and BIER information may be flooded in different AS domains, BGP protocol may be deployed between AS domains without flooding BIER information, and thus, multiple AS domains are different BIER domains. Specifically, within one BIER domain, a plurality of Sub-domains (Sub-domains) may be divided. It should be understood that the configuration information for each node within a BIER domain may include an identification of Sub-domains, i.e., the configuration information is validated for the nodes in Sub-domains at the granularity of Sub-domains. Each edge node within the Sub-domain is configured with a value as a BIER forwarding router identity (BFR-ID). For example, configuring a value from 1 to 256 for each edge node in the Sub-domain #1, respectively, as the BFR-ID of each edge node in the Sub-domain # 1; and configuring a value from 1 to 256 for each edge node in the Sub-domain #2 respectively, wherein the value is used as the BFR-ID of each edge node in the Sub-domain #2 respectively.

With respect to BIER information, BIER information for each node within a Sub-domain may be flooded within an IGP domain by means of IGP flooding.

IGP flooding BIER information includes: sub-domain-ID (SD), bit String Length (BSL), set Identifier (SI), BIER forwarding router Prefix (BFR-Prefix), and BIER forwarding router identifier (BFR-ID). Wherein, for bit index explicit replication IPv6 encapsulated (BIERv 6), the BIER information further includes an end point address (end. BIER) of bit index explicit replication; for multi-protocol label switching (MPLS), the BIER information further includes a Bit Index Forwarding Table identifier (Bit Index Forwarding Table-ID, bit-ID), and the like.

In addition, in IGP flooding, the edge node will send its BFR-ID, and there is no BFR-ID for the intermediate BFR, and at this time, the intermediate BFR floods out the BIER information of the edge node that can communicate with the intermediate BFR, please note the description.

It should be noted that, in the IGP flooding process, the BIER information sent by the edge node includes its own BFR-ID; for an intermediate BFR, the BIER information that the intermediate BFR sends by flooding is BIER information for edge nodes that can communicate with the intermediate BFR, since the intermediate BFR does not have a BFR-ID by itself.

The IGP flooding manner refers to that each node in the IGP domain broadcasts configuration information in the IGP domain to which the node belongs, and each node in the IGP domain acquires BIER information of other nodes through IGP flooding, and further acquires one or more forwarding table entries (BFIT).

After each node in the IGP domain establishes a forwarding table through the control plane, each node in the IGP domain may forward the BIER packet on the forwarding plane by using the corresponding relationship in the forwarding table. Wherein the value of each Bit in the Bit string (BitString) in the BIER message corresponds to the BFR-ID of the BFER. For example: if the BIER packet needs to be sent to a specific BFER, the BFR-ID of the BFER corresponds to bit position 1 in the bit string. When the BIER message is actually forwarded, each node forwards the BIER message according to the bit string in the BIER message, each node matches with a local forwarding table entry according to the bit string, and determines whether to discard the BIER message or forward the BIER message according to a matching result.

Next, taking a BIERv6 scenario as an example, a forwarding flow of the BIER packet is described.

When a multicast message enters the BIERv6 domain, the head node BFIR encapsulates the message by using the BIERv6 extension head, and converts the message into the BIERv6 message. The BIERv6 message header comprises an IPv6 header and a BIERv6 extension header. The source address field (SA) in the IPv6 header must be set to the IPv6 unicast address of the routable BFIR. The Destination Address (DA) field in the IPv6 header is set to the end. The BIERv6 message will be copied to the next hop BFR. After receiving the BIERv6 message, the intermediate BFR will follow the general flow of IPv6 message processing to process the data packet.

Firstly, processing an IPv6 header, if an IPv6 target address is an end. BIER IPv6 unicast address of the BFR, indicating equipment needs to process a message according to a BIERv6 forwarding flow, and reading a corresponding field in a BIERv6 extension header in the message. The BFR then copies the packet to the next BFR node. When the egress node BFER receives the multicast message, if the bit corresponding to the BFR-ID of the node in the BitString of the message is set, the IPv6 encapsulation is stripped, the BFIR-ID information in the BIERv6 head is taken out to determine which root node the flow comes from, and further the source address of the message is used to determine which VPN the message belongs to, thereby searching a private network routing table in the corresponding VPN to continuously forward the message.

The Bit Index Forwarding Table (BIFT) is a necessary table entry for each BFR in the BIERv6 subdomain to forward multicast messages. The bit index forwarding table is used to represent each BFER node reachable through the BFR neighbor, including a BFR neighbor (Nbr) and a Forwarding Bit Mask (FBM). Each BFR in BIERv6 advertises local BFR-prefix, sub-Domain ID, BFR-ID, BSL, and path computation algorithm, etc. information to other BFR nodes through IGP. And each BFR node acquires the BFR neighbor from the current node to each BFER through path calculation. The FBM is represented by one BitString and has the same length as the BitString used for packet forwarding. For example, the packet forwarding uses a BitString length (BSL) of 256 bits (bit), and then the FBM in the BIERv6 forwarding table is also 256 bits. In the process of message forwarding, the BitString in the message AND the FBM in the forwarding table perform AND (AND) operation.

2. Multicast technology.

The multicast technology is that a specific multicast address is used, and multicast data packets can be transmitted to a host set corresponding to a multicast group (multicast group) according to a maximum delivery principle. The basic method comprises the following steps: the source host only sends a multicast data message, and the destination address is the multicast group address. All receivers in the multicast group can receive a multicast data message. The multicast technology realizes data transmission between point-to-multipoint (P2 MP) nodes in an Internet Protocol (IP) network, and can effectively save network bandwidth and reduce network load.

The BIER technology based on P2MP belongs to one of the BIER technologies. In a multicast network applying the BIER technology based on P2MP, a multicast tree includes a P2MP tree with a specific edge node as a root and other edge nodes as leaves. The particular edge node is an edge node that is close to and capable of communicating with the multicast source. The other edge nodes are edge nodes in the multicast network other than the particular edge node. Each edge node that is a leaf may be assigned a bit position (bit position) that may be used to uniquely identify the edge node that is a leaf in the multicast tree. Each edge node serving as a leaf transmits a bit position of the edge node to a root node of the multicast tree through a tree configuration protocol (tree configuration protocol), such as a Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) protocol, a Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) multipoint extension for LDP (mLDP) protocol or a resource reservation protocol (RSVP-TE) for traffic engineering extension. Each node of the multicast tree can acquire the edge node corresponding to each bit position as a leaf. The root node may encapsulate a bit string (bitstring) in the multicast data message sent to the edge node as a leaf. The bit positions in the bit string represent the destination edge nodes to which the multicast data packet is destined. After receiving the multicast data message containing the bit string, the nodes on the multicast tree forward the multicast data message according to the bit string contained in the multicast data message, so that the multicast data message is sent to the edge node identified by the bit string and used as a leaf.

3. Bit indexes the explicitly copied endpoint address (end.

In order to support packet forwarding based on the IPv6 extended header, the BIERv6 network defines a new type of Segment Identifier (SID), called end.bier address (or end.bier, or end.bier SID), which is used as the forwarding plane of the IPv6 destination address indication device to process the BIERv6 extended header in the packet. When each node receives and processes the BIERv6 message, the end. BIER SID of the next hop node is encapsulated into an outer IPv6 destination address (the multicast message destination node is defined by bitstring) of the BIERv6 message, so that the next hop node forwards the message according to the BIERv6 flow.

Bier SID can also take good advantage of the reachability of IPv6 unicast routes, spanning IPv6 nodes that do not support BIERv 6. Bier SID can be divided into two parts: locator (locator) and other bits. Locator represents a BIERv6 forwarding node. The definition of Locator is consistent with SRv, the Locator has a positioning function, and after the node configures the Locator, the system generates a Locator segment route and diffuses in SRv domain through IGP. Other nodes in the network can be positioned to the node through the router network segment route, and simultaneously all SRv SIDs issued by the node can also reach through the router network segment route. The end.BIER SID can guide the message to the appointed BFR, the BFR receives a multicast message, identifies the end.BIER SID with the local message destination address, and judges that the message is forwarded according to the BIERv6 flow.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a BIER domain of the prior art. The BIER domain comprises a node AA, a node BB, a node CC, a node DD, a node EE and a node FF. Wherein, the edge node is: node AA, node DD, node EE, and node FF. Node AA's BFR-ID =4, node DD's BFR-ID =1, node EE's BFR-ID =3, node FF's BFR-ID =2.

Each edge node sends a control plane message to other network equipment in the network, wherein the control plane message comprises flooding information. For the intermediate BFR, after the intermediate BFR receives the flooding information of other nodes, the intermediate BFR floods the flooding information. For example: the node CC receives BIER information from the node DD and the node FF (the BIER information is sent by the node DD and the node FF through the flooding method). The node CC transmits BIER information of the node DD and the node FF to other nodes (e.g., the node BB and the node EE) through a flooding method.

In addition, each node in the network establishes a forwarding table through the information flooded by the control plane IGP, and each node can forward a BIER message on the forwarding plane by using the forwarding table, where the BIER message includes a multicast data message encapsulated by the BIER.

Where each Bit in the field BitString is used to identify a certain BIER forwarding edge node router (BFER), e.g., the lower (rightmost) Bit of BitString is used to identify the node whose next hop is BFR-ID = 1. The 2 nd Bit from right to left in BitString is used to identify the node corresponding to BFR-ID =2. The offset position of the bit in the bit string corresponding to a certain BFER corresponds to the value of the BFR-ID of that BFER.

Taking the example that each node shown in fig. 2 establishes a bit index forwarding table entry, a neighbor in the forwarding table may be a directly connected neighbor in the network topology, or a non-directly connected neighbor, for example, a calculated non-directly connected neighbor. For edge node AA, the neighbors of edge node AA include node BB. Note that the BIFT includes: an Identity (ID) of the self node, a bit forwarding mask (FBM), and an identity of a BFR neighbor node (BFR-NBR).

In the network topology shown in fig. 2, since the next hops of BFER nodes with BFR-ID =1/2/3 are all nodes BB, the BIFT entries for establishing edge node AA are shown in table 1:

TABLE 1

Neighbor (Nbr)	Forward Bit Mask (FBM)
		BB	0111
AA	1000

Where each bit in the FBM represents a BFER node. If the number of BFER nodes is large, the length of the bit string cannot meet the configuration of BFR-ID of BFER in the BIER domain, the BFER nodes can be divided into different sets (Set), and the different sets are distinguished by setting Set Identifiers (SI). For example: the length of the bit string is 128 bits, and when 129 BFER nodes exist in the BIER domain, the value of SI needs to be set.

For the BIFT table entry of the edge node AA, when the 1/2/3 bit from right to left in the BIER message is 1 (0111), the BIER message is sent to the neighbor node BB.

When the node AA serves as the BFER and the node AA needs to receive the BIER packet, for example, the node BB sends the BIER packet to the node AA. When the 4 th bit from right to left in the BIER message is 1 (1000), the forwarding table entry indicates to send the BIER message to the node AA.

For an intermediate BFR (node BB), the neighbors of node BB include edge node AA, intermediate BFR (node CC), and edge node EE. Since the next hops of the BFER nodes (i.e., node DD and node FF) with BFR-ID =1/2 are node CC, the BFER node with BFR-ID =3 is edge node EE, and the BFER node with BFR-ID =4 is edge node AA, the BIFT table entry for establishing node BB is shown in table 2:

TABLE 2

Neighbor (Nbr)	Forwarding Bit Mask (FBM)
		CC	0011
EE	0100
		AA	1000

It should be noted that, when the BIER packet is forwarded, the bit string in the BIER packet and the FBM are used to perform an and operation, and when the operation result is all 0 s, the BIER packet is not sent. Therefore, after the node BB receives the BIER packet from the node AA, the node BB executes a forwarding operation according to the bit string of the BIER packet and its own biet, and the BIER packet is forwarded to the neighboring nodes (node CC and node EE), and the BIER packet is not forwarded to the node AA.

For an intermediate BFR (node CC), the neighbor nodes of the node CC include the intermediate BFR (node BB), edge node EE, edge node FF, and edge node DD. Since the BFER node with BFR-ID =1 is the edge node DD, the BFER node with BFR-ID =2 is the edge node FF, the BFER node with BFR-ID =3 is the edge node EE, and the next hop of the BFER node with BFR-ID =4 is the node BB, the BIFT table entry of the node CC is established as shown in table 3:

TABLE 3

Neighbor (Nbr)	Forward Bit Mask (FBM)
		DD	0001
FF	0010
		EE	0100
BB	1000

For an edge node DD, the neighbor nodes of the edge node DD include nodes CC. Since the next hop of the BFER node with BFR-ID =2/3/4 is node CC, the BIFT table entry for establishing the edge node DD is shown in table 4:

TABLE 4

Neighbor (Nbr)	Forward Bit Mask (FBM)
		DD	0001
CC	1110

For an edge node EE, its neighbor nodes include node BB and node CC. Since the next hop of the BFER node with BFR-ID =1/2 is node CC and the next hop of the BFER node with BFR-ID =4 is node BB, the built bit table entry of the edge node EE is as shown in table 5:

TABLE 5

Neighbor (Nbr)	Forwarding Bit Mask (FBM)
		BB	1000
CC	0011
		EE	0100

For an edge node FF, its neighbor nodes include node CC. Since the next hop of the BFER node with BFR-ID =1/3/4 is node CC, the BIFT table entry for establishing the edge node FF is shown in table 6:

TABLE 6

Neighbor (Nbr)	Forward Bit Mask (FBM)
		CC	1101
FF	0010

Besides notifying the BIER information of each node in a flooding manner, the BIER information of other nodes can be configured in each node in a static configuration manner. For example, taking node AA as an example, BIER information of node BB, node CC, edge node DD, edge node EE and edge node FF may be pre-configured in the node AA in a manner of command line configuration. When a node needs to be added or deleted in a network, BIER information configured by all nodes in the network needs to be modified, so that the operation and maintenance in the later period are complex and the planning is difficult.

Based on this, an embodiment of the present application provides a message processing method, where a first network device receives a first BIER message from a bit forwarding ingress router BFIR, and a destination address of the first BIER message is used to identify the first network device. After receiving the first BIER message, the first network device obtains a second BIER message, and the destination address of the second BIER message is used for identifying the next hop of the multicast tree to which the first network device belongs. And the first network equipment sends a second BIER message to the next hop. By the method, the destination address of the second BIER packet acquired by the first network device is used to identify the next hop (also called next hop node), and the next hop and the first network device belong to the same multicast tree. The first network device need not configure BFR-ID information for all nodes downstream. The first network equipment modifies the destination address in the sent message into information for identifying the next hop, so that the message can successfully reach the configured next hop in the first network equipment. The operation and maintenance process is simplified, the network planning and network configuration process is simplified, and the capacity of planning and establishing a large BIER network is improved.

Referring to fig. 3, please refer to fig. 3, which is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a message processing method according to the embodiment of the present application. The message processing method provided by the embodiment of the application comprises the following steps:

301. and sending the multicast data message.

In this embodiment, the multicast source sends a multicast data packet to the first network device. It is to be understood that the multicast data packet may also be an internet protocol version6 (ip v 6) packet, and the like, which is not limited herein. In the embodiment of the present application, after a multicast source sends a multicast data packet to a bit-forwarding entry router (BFIR), the BFIR encapsulates the multicast data packet to obtain a BIER packet. The BFIR sends the BIER packet to other bit-forwarding routers (BFRs). And after receiving the BIER message, the BFR processes the BIER message and forwards the processed BIER message to the BFER. In the above flow, the first network device may be a BFIR, and the first network device may also be an intermediate BFR.

For ease of understanding, the description is made in conjunction with the scenario illustrated in fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a schematic view of an application scenario proposed in the embodiment of the present application. The application scenario includes: a multicast source; a first network device A, a first network device B, a first network device C, a first network device D and a first network device E; a second network device a, a second network device B, a second network device C, and a second network device D, wherein the BFIR includes the first network device a and the first network device B, the intermediate BFR (alternatively referred to as an intermediate node) includes the first network device C, the first network device D, and the first network device E, the BFER including: a second network device a, a second network device B, a second network device C, and a second network device D.

It should be noted that, the above-mentioned network devices belong to the same sub-domain, for example: "sub-domain 0". It will be appreciated that other network devices establishing a communication connection with the BFIR may belong to different sub-domains, for example: the first network device F (not shown in the figure) that establishes a connection with the first network device B belongs to "sub-domain 0".

In the scenario illustrated in fig. 4, different network devices may belong to different Autonomous Systems (AS). For example: the scenario illustrated in fig. 4 includes an AS X domain and an AS Y domain, where the AS X domain includes: a first network device A, a first network device B, a first network device C, a first network device D and a second network device A; the AS Y domain includes: a first network device E, a second network device B, a second network device C, and a second network device D.

After the multicast source sends the multicast data message to the BFIR (the first network device a and/or the first network device B), the BFIR encapsulates the multicast data message to obtain the BIER message. The BFIR sends the BIER message to the next hop (first network device C, first network device D, first network device E, and/or second network device a). The destination address of the BIER message is used to identify the next hop of the BFIR.

302. And acquiring the corresponding relation according to the static configuration.

In this embodiment, the first network device obtains the corresponding relationship according to the static configuration. The static configuration may be a command line configuration. It should be noted that, in the information of the statically configured next hop, the next hop has a BIER message processing capability.

The corresponding relationship includes: information of the next hop, including but not limited to: the bit index of the next hop is an explicitly copied endpoint address (end.bier), an IP address of the next hop, a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the next hop, a packet encapsulation type of the next hop, or a subdomain identifier of the next hop.

For example, taking the first network device a as an example, the corresponding relationship in the first network device a is shown in table 7:

TABLE 7

In another example, the corresponding relationship further includes a sub-domain identifier of the next hop, where the sub-domain identifier is used to identify a multicast tree to which the next hop belongs, for example, as shown in table 8-1:

TABLE 8-1

Taking the first network device B as an example, the corresponding relationship in the first network device B is shown in table 8-2:

TABLE 8-2

Optionally, the corresponding relationship further includes an identifier for indicating full copy, and after receiving the BIER packet, the network device corresponding to the full copy identifier performs full copy processing on the BIER packet. And the network equipment forwards the copied BIER message to the next hop.

For example, taking the first network device B and the first network device C as an example, the correspondence obtained by the first network device B includes a fully copied identifier. And after receiving the multicast data message from the multicast source, the first network equipment B encapsulates the multicast data message to obtain a BIER message A. The first network device B sends the BIER packet a to the first network device C. After receiving the BIER message a, the first network device C obtains a corresponding relationship, where the corresponding relationship includes a fully-duplicated identifier. The first network equipment C copies the BIER message A to obtain a BIER message B, and compared with the BIER message B, the BIER message A comprises consistent bit strings. And the first network equipment C sends the BIER message B to the next hop, wherein the destination address of the BIER message B is end.

In the above process, the first network device B does not process the bit string a in the BIER packet a. Or, the first network device B generates the bit string B after performing Bitwise AND operation on the bit string a in the BIER packet a AND the FBM in the bit table (the bit table of the first network device B), where the bit string a is the same as the bit string B. The FBM in the big entry is set to a wildcard, for example, a character string with all 1 FBMs.

Taking the first network device B as an example, the corresponding relationship in the first network device B is shown in table 9:

TABLE 9

It is understood that the first network device may configure information of a downstream BFER node in addition to the information of the next hop, including but not limited to: BFR-ID of downstream BFER nodes. For example, taking the first network device B as an example, the corresponding relationship in the first network device B is shown in table 10:

watch 10

It should be noted that step 302 is an optional step. The first network device obtains the corresponding relationship, which may all be obtained according to the statically configured information. Or, a part of the corresponding relationship (i.e., the corresponding relationship of the next hop of the part) may be obtained according to the statically configured information, and another part of the corresponding relationship (i.e., the corresponding relationship of the next hop of the another part) may be obtained by receiving the identification information of the next hop. The first network device may obtain the corresponding relationship, and may also obtain the corresponding relationship by receiving the identification information of the next hop, which is not limited herein.

Please refer to steps 303a-303b for the first network device receiving the identification information of the next hop to obtain the corresponding relationship. It should be noted that steps 303a-303b are optional steps.

303a, receiving identification information and indication information from the next hop.

In this embodiment, the first network device receives the identification information and the indication information from the next hop. The indication information of the next hop indicates that the next hop has the BIER message processing capability. The identification information of the next hop may be an address of the next hop, for example: the bit of the next hop indexes the explicitly copied endpoint address (end. The identification information of the next hop may also be identification for determining an address of the next hop, for example: and the first network equipment determines the address of the next hop according to the index information.

Optionally, when the next hop is a BFER (second network device), the first network device also receives a BFR-ID from the second network device.

For example: the first network equipment receives a message from the next hop, wherein the message comprises the identification information of the next hop and a specific field, and the specific field comprises the content of the indication information. When the specific field is "1", it indicates that the next hop has BIER message processing capability. When the specific field is "0", it indicates that the next hop does not have BIER message processing capability.

303b, obtaining the corresponding relation according to the identification information and the indication information of the next hop.

In this embodiment, after step 303a, the first network device obtains the corresponding relationship according to the identification information and the indication information from the next hop. The specific corresponding relationship is the same as the corresponding relationship described in step 302, and is not described herein again.

It should be noted that the execution sequence of steps 301 and 302, and steps 301 and 303a-303b is not limited herein. For example: step 301 may be executed first and then step 302 may be executed, or step 302 may be executed first and then step 301 may be executed.

304. And acquiring a first BIER message.

In this embodiment, after a first network device (the first network device is a BFIR, for example, the first network device a and the first network device B in fig. 4) receives a multicast data packet from a multicast source, the BFIR obtains a first BIER packet. Specifically, the BFIR obtains information of the next hop based on the correspondence. The BFIR acquires information of a multicast group, including BFR-ID information of the BFER, which is acquired through BGP transmission. The BFIR determines a bit string in the first BIER message through BGP choreography, and a destination address of the first BIER message is information for identifying a next hop, for example, end.

And the BFIR sends the first BIER message to the next hop. Next hops (e.g., a first network device C, a first network device D, and a second network device a in fig. 4) receive a first BIER packet from the BFIR, where the first network device C receives the first BIER packet from the first network device B, the first network device D receives the first BIER packet from the first network device B, and the first network device E receives the first BIER packet from the first network device D.

The first network device (first network device C, D) receives a first BIER packet from the BFIR, where a destination address of the first BIER packet is used to identify the first network device (first network device C and/or first network device D). For example: the destination address of the first BIER packet is identification information of the first network device (first network device C and/or first network device D), or the destination address of the first BIER packet has an association relationship with the identification information of the first network device (first network device C and/or first network device D). The first network device (first network device C and/or first network device D) is the destination of the first BIER packet.

Optionally, the first BIER packet includes a sub-domain identifier, where the sub-domain identifier corresponds to the BFIR and a multicast tree to which the first network device belongs. For example: the first BIER message includes a Sub-domain identifier of "Sub-domain 0", and the Sub-domain identifier indicates that the BFIR that sent the first BIER message belongs to the multicast tree corresponding to "Sub-domain 0", and the first network device that receives the first BIER message belongs to the multicast tree corresponding to "Sub-domain 0".

305. And obtaining a second BIER message according to the first BIER message.

In this embodiment, after obtaining the first BIER packet, the first network device (the first network device C and/or the first network device D) determines a corresponding relationship based on a destination address of the first BIER packet, where the corresponding relationship includes information of a next hop. And the first network equipment encapsulates the first BIER message according to the next hop information to obtain a second BIER message, wherein the destination address of the second BIER message is used for identifying the next hop of the multicast tree to which the first network equipment belongs. For example: the destination address of the second BIER message is the endpoint address explicitly copied from the bit index of the next hop.

Exemplarily, taking the first network device C to process the first BIER packet as an example: the first network device C obtains a correspondence, which includes information of the second network device B. And the first network equipment C encapsulates the first BIER message according to the corresponding relation to obtain a second BIER message. The destination address of the second BIER message is end.

For the intermediate BFR, a second BIER message can be obtained based on the first BIER message, and the second BEIR message is forwarded to the next hop.

In another example, taking the first network device D to process the first BIER packet as an example: the first network device D obtains a corresponding relationship, which includes information of the first network device E. And the first network equipment D encapsulates the first BIER message according to the corresponding relation to obtain a second BIER message. The destination address of the second BIER message is end. Further, when the first BIER packet further includes a sub-domain identifier, the first network device determines, according to the sub-domain identifier included in the first BIER packet, a corresponding relationship including the sub-domain identifier from one or more local corresponding relationships. Then, the first network device determines a next hop of the first network device from the corresponding relationship including the sub-domain identifier according to a destination address of the first BIER packet (e.g., an endpoint address explicitly copied by a bit index of the first network device). Finally, the first network device determines next-hop information, such as an endpoint address explicitly copied by the next-hop bit index, from the next-hop correspondence.

Further, taking the first network device D as an example, the first network device D receives a first BIER packet from the first network device B (BFIR), and a destination address of the first BIER packet is an end point address explicitly copied by the bit index of the first network device D. And the first network equipment D determines that the first BIER message needs to be processed according to the destination address of the first BIER message. Further, the first network device D determines, according to the destination address of the first BIER packet, that the next hop of the first network device D in the correspondence is the first network device E. Then, the first network device D determines the endpoint address explicitly copied by the bit index of the next hop according to the corresponding relationship, modifies the first BIER packet, and modifies the destination address of the first BIER packet to the endpoint address explicitly copied by the bit index of the next hop (that is, the endpoint address explicitly copied by the bit index of the first network device E). The modified message is called a second BIER message.

In yet another example, the first network device C is taken as an example. After receiving a first BIER packet from a first network device B (BFIR), a first network device C receives a destination address of the first BIER packet as an end point address explicitly copied from a bit index of the first network device C. And the first network equipment C determines that the first BIER message needs to be processed by the first network equipment C according to the destination address of the first BIER message. Furthermore, the first network device C determines, according to the Sub-domain 0 included in the first BIER packet, a corresponding relationship including the Sub-domain identifier from one or more local corresponding relationships. Then, the first network device C determines a corresponding relationship of a second network device B from the local one or more corresponding relationships, where the second network device B is a next hop of the first network device C, and a multicast tree to which the second network device B belongs is consistent with a multicast tree to which the first network device C belongs. The correspondence of the second network device B includes information of the second network device B, such as an endpoint address explicitly copied by a bit index of the second network device B. The first network device C obtains the second BIER packet according to the information (the end address explicitly copied by the bit index) of the second network device B and the first BIER packet.

Furthermore, the bit string included in the first BIER packet is the same as the bit string included in the second BIER packet. Compared with the second BIER message, the first BIER message is consistent with the second BIER message except that the destination address is changed.

306. And the first network equipment sends a second BIER message to the next hop.

In this embodiment, after obtaining the second BIER packet, the first network device sends the second BIER packet to the next hop.

Taking the first network device as the first network device D as an example, the next hop may be the first network device E, i.e., the next hop may be other intermediate BFRs. Taking the first network device as the first network device C as an example, the next hop may be the second network device B, that is, the next hop may also be a BFER (second network device). The following description will be made separately.

The first network device E receives the second BIER message as an example for explanation. The first network device E receives the second BIER packet from the first network device D. When the first network device detects whether the destination address of the second BIER packet identifies the first network device E, for example: whether the destination address of the second BIER message is the end point address explicitly copied by the bit index of the first network device E. If yes, the first network device E needs to process the second BIER packet.

The specific processing manner is consistent with the manner in which the first network device processes the first BIER packet in step 305. For example: and the first network equipment E determines the corresponding relation comprising the subdomain identification from one or more local corresponding relations according to the subdomain identification contained in the second BIER message. Then, the first network device E determines the correspondence of the next hop from the local one or more correspondences. The next hop for first network device E includes second network device C and second network device D. And the first network equipment E copies the second BIER message according to the second network equipment C and the second network equipment D to obtain two second BIER messages. It should be noted that, in the first network device E, the number of BIER packets obtained based on the copy of the second BIER packet is consistent with the next hop number of the first network device E.

The corresponding relationship determined by the first network device E is the corresponding relationship of the second network device C. The multicast tree to which the second network device C belongs is identical to the multicast tree to which the first network device E belongs. The correspondence of the second network device C includes information of the second network device C, such as an endpoint address explicitly copied by a bit index of the second network device C. The first network device E obtains a new second BIER packet according to the information (the end address explicitly copied by the bit index) of the second network device C and the second BIER packet. The first network device E sends the new second BIER packet to the next hop (the second network device C and the second network device D).

Specifically, after receiving the second BIER packet a, the second network device (BFER) detects whether the second network device has a next hop. If the first network equipment exists, the second network equipment carries out full copy on the received second BIER message A according to the information of the next hop in the corresponding relation to obtain a second BIER message B, and the destination address of the second BIER message B is used for identifying the information of the next hop. For example, the destination address of the second BIER message B is the end. Further, the second network device determines whether the second BIER packet a needs to be processed according to its BFR-ID. Next, taking the second network device as the second network device C as an example, the second network device processes the BIER packet.

For example, after receiving the second BIER packet, the second network device C determines whether it needs to process the second BIER packet according to a bit string included in the second BIER packet. After receiving the second BIER packet, the second network device C detects a bit string included in the second BIER packet to determine whether the second network device C belongs to the BFER. Each bit in the bit string is used to identify a certain BFER. When a bit in the bit string has a first value, the BFER indicated by the bit is the destination of the BIER packet, and the first value may be 1, for example. And the second network equipment C determines whether the bit corresponding to the BFR-ID is set in the bit string according to the BFR-ID.

Further, when the second network device C determines that the bit corresponding to the BFR-ID in the bit string is the first value according to the BFR-ID of the second network device C, the second network device C determines that the BFER in the domain includes the second network device C. The second network device C needs to forward the second BIER packet. In a possible implementation manner, the second network device C determines a forwarding outlet of the second BIER packet according to the entry of the multicast forwarding information base MFIB, and forwards the second BIER packet.

When the second network device C determines that the at least one BFER does not include the second network device C based on the bit string, the second network device C discards the second BIER packet. For example: and when the second network equipment C determines that the bit string corresponding to the BFR-ID is not the first value according to the BFR-ID of the second network equipment C, the second network equipment C determines that the BFER in the domain does not comprise the second network equipment C. That is, the second network device C does not need to continue forwarding the second BIER packet, and the second network device C discards the second BIER packet.

In the embodiment of the application, the first network device modifies the destination address in the sent message into information for identifying the next hop, so that the message can smoothly reach the configured next hop in the first network device. The operation and maintenance process is simplified, the network planning and network configuration process is simplified, and the capacity of planning and establishing a large BIER network is improved.

The embodiments of the present application are further described below with reference to application scenarios. Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a schematic view of an application scenario proposed in the embodiment of the present application. The application scenario includes: node A, node M, node N, node L, node B, node C, node D, node E and a multicast source. Wherein, the node A is BFIR, the nodes B, C, D and E are BFER, and the nodes M, L and N are BFR.

With respect to the bit-indexed explicit copied endpoint addresses and BFR-IDs for the various nodes illustrated in FIG. 5, as shown in Table 11:

TABLE 11

It should be noted that the relationship shown in table 11 may be configured in each network device shown in fig. 5 through the controller, or may be statically configured in each network device shown in fig. 5 through the command line, which is not limited herein. Illustratively, for the example of the controller configuring the node a, the controller configures part of the information in table 11 to the node a. The information of this configuration is shown in table 12, for example:

TABLE 12

The node a acquires the correspondence relationship according to the information shown in table 12. Table 12 includes information of the next hop (node M). The node a forwards the BIER packet based on the correspondence (table 12).

The node A acquires a first BIER message, and the method comprises the following steps: after the node A receives the multicast data message from the multicast source, the node A completes the related encapsulation of BIER to obtain a first BIER message. Specifically, the node a determines the next hop to be the node M according to the corresponding relationship (for example, the second row and the third row in table 12). And the node A copies the BIER message based on the corresponding relation to obtain a first BIER message, wherein the destination address of the first BIER message is used for identifying the node M.

In another example, for the example of configuring the controller to the node M, the controller configures part of the information in table 11 to the node M. The information of this configuration is shown in table 13, for example:

watch 13

The node M acquires the correspondence relationship according to the information shown in table 13. Table 13 includes information of the next hop (node L or node N). The node M forwards the BIER packet based on the correspondence (table 13).

And the node A forwards the first BIER message to the node M. For example: the destination address of the first BIER message is the end-point address (6:: 6) explicitly copied by the bit index of node M. After receiving the first BIER message, the node M acquires the corresponding relationship in a similar manner, copies the first BIER message according to the corresponding relationship to obtain a second BIER message, and then forwards the second BIER message to the next hop. For example, the destination address of the second BEIR message sent by the node M to the node L is (8:: 8); the destination address of the second BEIR message sent by the node M to the node N is (7:: 7). The bit strings included in the first BIER message and the second BIER message are the same.

For BFER, take node B as an example. After the node B receives the second BIER packet from the node L. And the node B determines whether the corresponding bit in the bit string included in the second BIER message is set or not according to the BFR-ID of the node B. If the bit is set, the node B is the destination of the second BIER message, and the node B needs to forward the second BIER message according to the MFIB table and the like. If not, the node B is not the destination of the second BIER packet, and the node B may discard the second BIER packet.

Optionally, there may also be a next hop for the BFER, e.g., node B has a next hop: node G (not shown). After receiving the second BIER message (the second BIER message is called as second BIER message a), the node B determines the next hop node G according to the corresponding relationship. And the node B carries out full-copy processing on the second BIER message A to obtain a second BIER message B. The destination address of the second BIER packet a is used to identify the node B, and the destination address of the second BIER packet B is used to identify the node G. The destination address of the second BIER packet B is, for example, end. The node B sends the second BIER packet B to the node G.

The above-mentioned corresponding relation may be configured statically, or may be generated according to the identification information and the indication information from the neighboring node. The indication information is used to indicate that a neighboring node (i.e. a next hop) has BIER message processing capability, and the identification information is an address of the next hop or an identification used to determine the address of the next hop. The address of the next hop may be an end point address (end. Bier) explicitly copied by the bit index of the next hop, without limitation herein.

In another application scenario, a scenario is introduced in which the BIER domain comprises different AS domains. Referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a schematic view of an application scenario proposed in the embodiment of the present application. The application scenario includes: node A, node M, node N, node L, node B, node C, node D, node E and a multicast source. Wherein, node A is BFIR, nodes B, C, D and E are BFER, and nodes M, L and N are BFR. Node A and node M belong to the AS X domain, and nodes L, N, B, C, D and E belong to the AS Y domain.

In the respective AS domains, the processing method of the packet is similar to the scenario illustrated in fig. 5. For a node (node M) of the multicast tree between two AS domains, the identification information of the next-hop node needs to be statically configured in advance and a corresponding relationship needs to be established. For example: identification information of the next-hop nodes (node L and node N), such as an endpoint address of which bit index is explicitly copied, is statically configured in the node M. And the node M copies the BIER message of the upstream node (node A) according to the corresponding relation and then forwards the BIER message to the node L and the node N.

It should be noted that, for a node (node M) of the multicast tree between two AS domains, the received BIER packet (from node a) and the sent BIER packet (destined to node L or node N) include the same bit string. That is, the node M performs full copy processing on the BIER packet from the node a, and the destination address of the BIER packet sent by the node M is modified to the identifier of the next hop of the node M, for example, end.

The network device of the embodiment of the present application is described below, and the network device described below has any function of the first network device, the next hop, or the second network device in the above method embodiments.

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a message processing apparatus 700 according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 7, the message processing apparatus 700 includes: a transceiver module 701, configured to perform step 301 or 303a; a processing module 702 for performing the steps 302, 303b, 304 or 305.

The message processing apparatus 700 may correspond to the first network device, the next hop, or the second network device in the foregoing method embodiment, and each unit and the foregoing other operations and/or functions in the message processing apparatus 700 are respectively for implementing various steps and methods implemented by the first network device, the next hop, or the second network device in the method embodiment, and specific details may be referred to the foregoing method embodiment, and for brevity, no further description is provided here.

When the message processing apparatus 700 processes a message, the above-mentioned division of each functional module is merely used as an example, and in practical applications, the above-mentioned function distribution may be completed by different functional modules as needed, that is, the internal structure of the message processing apparatus 700 is divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the above-mentioned functions. In addition, the message processing apparatus 700 provided in the foregoing embodiment belongs to the same concept as the method in the embodiment corresponding to fig. 1 or fig. 6, and the specific implementation process thereof is described in detail in the foregoing method embodiment, and is not described again here.

Illustratively, when the message processing apparatus 700 is applied to the first network device, the message processing apparatus 700 includes:

a transceiver module 701, configured to receive a first bit index explicit copy BIER packet from a bit forwarding entry router BFIR, where a destination address of the first BIER packet is used to identify the first network device;

a processing module 702, configured to obtain a second BIER packet, where a destination address of the second BIER packet is used to identify a next hop of a multicast tree to which the first network device belongs;

the transceiver module 701 is further configured to send the second BIER packet to the next hop.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module 702 is specifically configured to: determining a corresponding relation based on the destination address of the first BIER message, wherein the corresponding relation comprises the information of the next hop; and obtaining the second BIER message based on the information of the next hop and the first BIER message.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module 702 is specifically configured to: determining a corresponding relation based on the subdomain identification and the destination address of the first BIER message, wherein the corresponding relation comprises the subdomain identification and the next hop information; and obtaining the second BIER message based on the information of the next hop and the first BIER message, wherein the second BIER message also comprises the sub-domain identifier.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module 702 is specifically configured to obtain the corresponding relationship according to a static configuration.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver module 701 is specifically configured to receive indication information and identification information sent by the next hop, where the indication information is used to indicate that the next hop has BIER message processing capability, and the identification information is an address of the next hop or an identification used to determine the address of the next hop; the processing module 702 is specifically configured to obtain the corresponding relationship based on the indication information.

In another example, when the message processing apparatus 700 is applied to a second network device, the message processing apparatus 700 includes:

a transceiving module 701, configured to receive a bit index explicit copy BIER packet from a first network device, where the BIER packet includes a bit string corresponding to at least one BFER;

a processing module 702 configured to determine that the at least one BFER includes the second network device based on the bit string;

the transceiver module 701 is further configured to forward the BIER packet.

In one possible implementation, the processing module 702 is specifically configured to determine that a bit in the bit string corresponding to the BFR-ID is set based on its BIER forwarding router identification BFR-ID.

In one possible implementation, the processing module 702 is specifically configured to determine that the at least one BFER does not include the second network device based on the bit string;

the transceiver module 701 is further configured to discard the BIER packet.

In one possible implementation manner, the method further includes:

the transceiver module 701 is further configured to send, to the first network device serving as its neighbor, identification information and indication information of the second network device, where the indication information is used to indicate that the next hop has BIER message processing capability, and the identification information is an address of the next hop or an identifier used to determine the address of the next hop.

In another example, when the message processing apparatus 700 is applied to a first network device, the message processing apparatus 700 includes:

a transceiver module 701, configured to obtain a first bit index to display a duplicate BIER packet, where a destination address of the first BIER packet is used to identify a next hop of a multicast tree to which the first network device belongs;

the transceiver module 701 is further configured to send the first BIER packet to the next hop.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing module 702 is configured to obtain the information of the next hop based on a corresponding relationship, where the corresponding relationship includes the information of the next hop.

In order to implement the above embodiments, the present application further provides a network device. Referring to fig. 8, fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device 800 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

While the network device 800 illustrated in fig. 8 shows certain specific features, those skilled in the art will appreciate from the present embodiments that various other features are not shown in fig. 8 for the sake of brevity and so as not to obscure more pertinent aspects of the embodiments disclosed in the present embodiments. To this end, as an example, in some implementations, the network device 800 includes one or more processing units, such as a processor 801, a communication interface 802, a memory 804, and one or more communication buses 805 for interconnecting various components. In other implementations, network device 800 may omit or add some functional components or units based on the above examples.

In some implementations, the processor 801 may be a general purpose Central Processing Unit (CPU), a microprocessor, or may be one or more integrated circuits such as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), or a combination thereof, for implementing aspects of the present disclosure. The PLD may be a Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a General Array Logic (GAL), or any combination thereof.

In some implementations, the communication interface 802 is used to connect with one or more other network devices/servers in a network system. In some implementations, the communication bus 805 includes circuitry to interconnect and control communications between system components. The memory 804 may include a non-volatile memory, such as a read-only memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an Electrically Erasable PROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The memory 804 may also include volatile memory, which may be Random Access Memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory.

In some implementations, memory 804 or a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of memory 804 stores the following programs, modules, and data structures, or a subset thereof. The functions implemented by the program stored in the memory 804 are, for example: for performing steps 301 or 303a, and/or implementing functions such as: for performing steps 302, 303b, 304 or 305.

In one possible embodiment, the network device 800 may have any of the functions of the first network device, the next hop, or the second network device in the method embodiments corresponding to fig. 1-6 described above.

It should be understood that the network device 800 corresponds to the first network device, the next hop, or the second network device in the foregoing method embodiment, and each module and the other operations and/or functions in the network device 800 are respectively for implementing various steps and methods implemented by the first network device, the next hop, or the second network device in the foregoing method embodiment, and specific details may refer to the method embodiments corresponding to fig. 1 to 6, and are not described herein again for brevity.

It should be understood that the present application may be implemented by the communication interface 802 on the network device 800 to perform data transceiving operation, or by the processor to call up the program code in the memory and cooperate with the communication interface 802 to implement the function of the transceiving unit when necessary.

In various implementations, the network device 800 is configured to execute the message processing method provided in the embodiment of the present application, for example, execute the message processing method corresponding to the embodiment shown in fig. 1 to 6.

The specific structure of the network device described in fig. 8 of the present application may be as shown in fig. 9.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device 900 according to an embodiment of the present application,

the network device 900 includes: a main control board 910 and an interface board 930.

The main control board 910 is also called a Main Processing Unit (MPU) or a route processor (route processor), and the main control board 910 is used for controlling and managing each component in the network device 900, including routing computation, device management, device maintenance, and protocol processing functions. The main control board 910 includes: a central processing unit 911 and a memory 912.

The interface board 930 is also referred to as a Line Processing Unit (LPU), a line card (line card), or a service board. The interface board 930 is used to provide various service interfaces and implement packet forwarding. Traffic interfaces include, but are not limited to, ethernet interfaces, POS (Packet over SONET/SDH) interfaces, and the like. The interface board 930 includes: a central processor 931, a network processor 932, a forwarding table entry memory 934, and a Physical Interface Card (PIC) 933.

The central processor 931 on the interface board 930 is configured to control and manage the interface board 930 and communicate with the central processor 911 on the main control board 910.

The network processor 932 is configured to implement forwarding processing of the packet. The network processor 932 may take the form of a forwarding chip.

The physical interface card 933 is used to implement the interfacing function of the physical layer, from which the original traffic enters the interface board 930, and the processed message is sent out from the physical interface card 933. Physical interface card 933 includes at least one physical interface, also referred to as physical port, which may be a Flexible Ethernet (FlexE) physical interface. The physical interface card 933, also called a daughter card, may be installed on the interface board 930 and is responsible for converting the optical-electrical signal into a message, performing validity check on the message, and forwarding the message to the network processor 932 for processing. In some embodiments, the central processor 931 of the interface board 930 may also perform the functions of the network processor 932, such as implementing software forwarding based on a general purpose CPU, so that the network processor 932 is not required in the interface board 930.

Optionally, the network device 900 includes a plurality of interface boards, for example, the network device 900 further includes an interface board 940, where the interface board 940 includes: central processor 941, network processor 942, forwarding entry store 944, and physical interface cards 943.

Optionally, the network device 900 further includes a switch board 920. The switch board 920 may also be called a Switch Fabric Unit (SFU). In the case of a network device having a plurality of interface boards 930, the switch board 920 is used to complete data exchange between the interface boards. For example, interface board 930 and interface board 940 may communicate via switch board 920.

The main control board 910 is coupled to the interface board. For example, the main control board 910, the interface board 930, and the interface board 940, and the switch board 920 are connected to each other via a system bus and/or a system backplane to implement communications. In a possible implementation manner, an inter-process communication protocol (IPC) channel is established between the main control board 910 and the interface board 930, and the main control board 910 and the interface board 930 communicate with each other through the IPC channel.

Logically, network device 900 includes a control plane including main control board 910 and central processor 931, and a forwarding plane including various components that perform forwarding, such as forwarding table entry memory 934, physical interface card 933, and network processor 932. The control plane performs functions of issuing a route, generating a forwarding table, processing signaling and protocol messages, configuring and maintaining the state of the device, and the like, issues the generated forwarding table to the forwarding plane, and in the forwarding plane, the network processor 932 looks up the table of the message received by the physical interface card 933 based on the forwarding table issued by the control plane and forwards the table. The forwarding table issued by the control plane may be stored in the forwarding table entry storage 934. In some embodiments, the control plane and the forwarding plane may be completely separate and not on the same device.

It should be understood that the transceiving units in network device 800 may correspond to physical interface card 933 or physical interface card 943 in network device 900; the program stored in the memory 804 of the network device 800 may correspond to the central processing unit 911 or the central processing unit 931 of the network device 900, or may correspond to the program code or instructions stored in the memory 912.

It should be understood that the operations on the interface board 940 in the embodiment of the present application are the same as the operations on the interface board 930, and therefore, for brevity, detailed descriptions are omitted. It should be understood that the network device 900 of this embodiment may correspond to the first network device, the next hop, or the second network device in the foregoing respective method embodiments, and the main control board 910, the interface board 930, and/or the interface board 940 in the network device 900 may implement the functions and/or the various steps implemented by the first network device, the next hop, or the second network device in the foregoing respective method embodiments, which are not described herein again for brevity.

It should be noted that there may be one or more main control boards, and when there are more main control boards, the main control boards may include a main control board and a standby main control board. The interface board may have one or more blocks, and the stronger the data processing capability of the network device, the more interface boards are provided. There may also be one or more physical interface cards on an interface board. The exchange network board may not have one or more blocks, and when there are more blocks, the load sharing redundancy backup can be realized together. Under the centralized forwarding architecture, the network device does not need a switching network board, and the interface board undertakes the processing function of the service data of the whole system. Under the distributed forwarding architecture, the network device can have at least one switching network board, and the data exchange among a plurality of interface boards is realized through the switching network board, so that the high-capacity data exchange and processing capacity is provided. Optionally, the form of the network device may also be only one board card, that is, there is no switching network board, and the functions of the interface board and the main control board are integrated on the one board card, and at this time, the central processing unit on the interface board and the central processing unit on the main control board may be combined into one central processing unit on the one board card to execute the function after the two are superimposed. Which architecture is specifically adopted depends on a specific networking deployment scenario, and is not limited herein.

In some possible embodiments, the first network device may be implemented as a virtualized device. The virtualization device may be a Virtual Machine (VM) running a program for sending a message function, a virtual router, or a virtual switch. The virtualization device is deployed on a hardware device (e.g., a physical server). For example, the first network device may be implemented based on a general purpose physical server in conjunction with Network Function Virtualization (NFV) technology.

It should be understood that the network devices in the above various product forms respectively have any functions of the first network device, the next hop, or the second network device in the above method embodiments, and details are not described here.

Embodiments of the present application further provide a computer-readable storage medium, which includes instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to control a network device to perform any one of the implementations shown in the foregoing method embodiments.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, which includes computer program code, when the computer program code runs on a computer, the computer is caused to execute any implementation manner shown in the foregoing method embodiment.

Further, an embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product, which, when running on a network device, causes the network device to execute the method executed by the first network device, the next hop, or the second network device in the method embodiments corresponding to fig. 1 to 6.

The embodiment of the application also provides a chip system, which comprises a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is used for receiving the instruction and transmitting the instruction to the processor. Wherein the processor is configured to implement the method in any of the above method embodiments.

Optionally, the system on chip further includes a memory, and the number of processors in the system on chip may be one or more. The processor may be implemented by hardware or by software. When implemented in hardware, the processor may be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, or the like. When implemented in software, the processor may be a general-purpose processor implementing the method of any of the above method embodiments by reading software code stored in a memory.

Optionally, one or more memories in the system-on-chip may be provided. The memory may be integrated with the processor or may be separate from the processor, which is not limited in this application. For example, the memory may be a non-transitory processor, such as a read only memory ROM, which may be integrated on the same chip as the processor, or may be separately disposed on different chips, and the type of the memory and the arrangement of the memory and the processor are not particularly limited in this application.

Referring to fig. 10, fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a network system 1000 according to an embodiment of the present application. The network system 1000 includes: a first network device 1001 and a second network device 1002. The second network device 1002 is the next hop for the first network device 1001. The first network device 1001 and the second network device 1002 may be, for example, physical devices such as a router, a switch, or a gateway, or may be virtual devices supporting route distribution and message forwarding. The present embodiment does not limit the specific types of the first network device 1001 and the second network device 1002. Optionally, the first network device 1001 may be the message processing apparatus 700, the network device 800, or the network device 900. Optionally, the second network device 1002 may be the message processing apparatus 700, the network device 800, or the network device 900.

Referring to fig. 11, fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a network system 1100 according to an embodiment of the present application. The network system 1100 includes: a first network device 1101, a next hop 1102, and a second network device 1103. The first network device 1101, the next hop 1102 and the second network device 1103 may be physical devices such as a router, a switch or a gateway, or may be virtual devices supporting route distribution and message forwarding. The present embodiment does not limit the specific types of the first network device 1101, the next hop 1102, and the second network device 1103.

For example, when the network system 1100 is applied to the scenario shown in fig. 5, the first network device 1101 may be a node a, the next hop 1102 may be a node M, a node L, or a node N, and the second network device 1103 may be a node B, a node C, a node D, or a node E.

Optionally, the first network device 1101, the next hop 1102, and the second network device 1103 belong to the same Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) domain.

Optionally, the first network device 1101 and the next hop 1102 belong to the same Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) domain. The next hop 1102 belongs to a different IGP domain than the second network device 1103.

Optionally, the first network device 1101 and part of the next hops 1102 belong to the same IGP domain; the second network device 1103 belongs to the same IGP domain as another part of the next hop 1102, and the first network device 1101 and the second network device 1103 belong to different IGP domains.

For example, when the network system 1100 is applied to the scenario shown in fig. 6, the first network device 1101 may be a node a. The next hop 1102 may be node M, node L, or node N. The second network device 1103 may be node B, node C, node D, or node E. Node A and node M belong to the same IGP domain; node L, node N, node B, node C, node D, or node E belong to the same IGP domain, and node a and node L belong to different IGP domains.

After acquiring the first BIER packet, the first network device 1101 processes the first BIER packet according to the corresponding relationship, so as to obtain a second BIER packet. The destination address of the second BIER message is used to indicate the next hop (e.g., next hop 1102) of the multicast tree to which the first network device 1101 belongs. First network device 1101 sends the second BIER message to next hop 1102.

The next hop 1102, similar to the first network device 1101, processes and forwards the obtained second BIER packet.

After the second network device 1103 acquires the second BIER packet, it determines that at least one BFER includes the second network device 1103 based on the bit string included in the second BIER packet, that is, the second network device 1103 is a BFER.

The second network device 1103 determines, based on its own BFR-ID, that the bit string included in the second BIER packet is located in the bit position corresponding to the BFR-ID, and then the second network device 1103 further forwards the second BIER packet.

When second network device 1103 determines, based on its own BFR-ID, that the bit string included in the second BIER packet is located in the bit corresponding to the BFR-ID and is not set, second network device 1103 discards the second BIER packet.

In this embodiment, the first network device 1101 modifies the destination address in the sent message into information for identifying a next hop, so that the message can smoothly reach the configured next hop in the first network device. The operation and maintenance process is simplified, the network planning and network configuration process is simplified, and the capacity of planning and building a large BIER network is improved.

The network devices in the various product forms respectively have any functions of the first network device, the next hop or the second network device in the method embodiments, and details are not repeated here.

The above embodiment of the present application is described in detail, and the steps in the method of the embodiment of the present application may be sequentially scheduled, combined, or deleted according to actual needs; the modules in the device of the embodiment of the application can be divided, combined or deleted according to actual needs.

It should be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Thus, the appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. It should be understood that, in the various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

The term "and/or" herein is merely an association describing an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B, may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the former and latter related objects are in an "or" relationship.

It should be understood that in the embodiment of the present application, "B corresponding to a" means that B is associated with a, from which B can be determined. It should also be understood that determining B from a does not mean determining B from a alone, but may be determined from a and/or other information.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other manners. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, a division of a unit is only a logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one position, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit.

Claims

1. A message processing method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

a first network device receives a first bit index explicit copy BIER message from a bit forwarding entry router (BFIR), and the destination address of the first BIER message is used for identifying the first network device;

the first network equipment obtains a second BIER message, and the destination address of the second BIER message is used for identifying the next hop of the multicast tree to which the first network equipment belongs;

and the first network equipment sends the second BIER message to the next hop.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining, by the first network device, the second BIER packet comprises:

the first network equipment determines a corresponding relation based on the destination address of the first BIER message, wherein the corresponding relation comprises the information of the next hop;

and the first network equipment acquires the second BIER message based on the information of the next hop and the first BIER message.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first BIER packet further comprises a sub-domain identifier, and wherein the sub-domain identifier corresponds to the multicast tree.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the obtaining, by the first network device, the second BIER packet comprises:

the first network equipment determines a corresponding relation based on the subdomain identification and the destination address of the first BIER message, wherein the corresponding relation comprises the subdomain identification and the next hop information;

and the first network equipment obtains the second BIER message based on the information of the next hop and the first BIER message, wherein the second BIER message also comprises the sub-domain identifier.

5. The method of any of claims 1 to 4, further comprising: the first network equipment acquires the corresponding relation according to static configuration; or

The method further comprises the following steps:

the first network equipment receives indication information and identification information sent by the next hop, wherein the indication information is used for indicating that the next hop has BIER message processing capacity, and the identification information is the address of the next hop or an identification used for determining the address of the next hop;

the first network equipment obtains the corresponding relation based on the indication information.

6. The method according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the destination address of the first BIER packet is an end point address end.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the correspondence further comprises an identifier for representing a full copy.

8. A message processing method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

the second network equipment receives a bit index explicit copy BIER message from the first network equipment, wherein the BIER message comprises a bit string corresponding to at least one Bit Forwarding Exit Router (BFER);

the second network device determining, based on the bit string, that the at least one BFER includes the second network device;

and the second network equipment forwards the BIER message.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the second network device determining that the at least one BFER based on the bit string comprises the second network device, comprising:

the second network device determines that a bit in the bit string corresponding to the BFR-ID is set based on its BIER forwarding router identification (BFR-ID).

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that the method further comprises:

the second network device determining, based on the bit string, that the at least one BFER does not include the second network device;

and the second network equipment discards the BIER message.

11. The method according to any one of claims 8-10, further comprising:

and the second network equipment sends identification information and indication information of the second network equipment to the first network equipment which is taken as a neighbor of the second network equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating that the next hop has BIER message processing capacity, and the identification information is the address of the next hop or an identification used for determining the address of the next hop.

12. A message processing method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

a first network device acquires a first bit index display copy BIER message, wherein the destination address of the first BIER message is used for identifying the next hop of a multicast tree to which the first network device belongs;

and the first network equipment sends the first BIER message to the next hop.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

and the first network equipment acquires the information of the next hop based on a corresponding relation, wherein the corresponding relation comprises the information of the next hop.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the correspondence further comprises a subdomain identification, and wherein the subdomain identification corresponds to the multicast tree.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first BIER packet further comprises the sub-domain identifier, and wherein the sub-domain identifier corresponds to the multicast tree.

16. A message processing apparatus, wherein the message processing apparatus is applied to a first network device, and comprises:

the transceiver module is further configured to send the second BIER packet to the next hop.

17. The message processing apparatus according to claim 16,

the processing module is specifically configured to: determining a corresponding relation based on the destination address of the first BIER message, wherein the corresponding relation comprises the information of the next hop;

the processing module is specifically configured to: and obtaining the second BIER message based on the information of the next hop and the first BIER message.

18. The message processing apparatus according to claim 16 or 17,

the first BIER message also comprises a subdomain mark, and the subdomain mark corresponds to the multicast tree.

19. The message processing apparatus of claim 18,

the processing module is specifically configured to: determining a corresponding relation based on the subdomain identification and the destination address of the first BIER message, wherein the corresponding relation comprises the subdomain identification and the next hop information;

the processing module is specifically configured to: and obtaining the second BIER message based on the information of the next hop and the first BIER message, wherein the second BIER message also comprises the sub-domain identifier.

20. The message processing apparatus according to any of claims 16-19,

the processing module is specifically configured to obtain the corresponding relationship according to a static configuration.

21. The message processing apparatus according to any of claims 16-19,

the transceiver module is specifically configured to receive indication information and identification information sent by the next hop, where the indication information is used to indicate that the next hop has BIER message processing capability, and the identification information is an address of the next hop or an identification used to determine the address of the next hop;

the processing module is specifically configured to obtain the corresponding relationship based on the indication information.

22. The message processing apparatus according to any of claims 16-21,

BIER, the destination address of the first BIER packet is an end address end of the bit index explicit copy of the first network device.

23. The message processing device according to any of claims 16-21, wherein the correspondence further comprises an identifier for indicating full replication.

24. A message processing apparatus, wherein the message processing apparatus is applied to a second network device, and comprises:

a receiving and sending module, configured to receive a bit index explicit copy BIER packet from a first network device, where the BIER packet includes a bit string corresponding to at least one Bit Forwarding Egress Router (BFER);

the transceiver module is further configured to forward the BIER packet.

25. The message processing apparatus of claim 24,

the processing module is specifically configured to determine, based on its BIER forwarding router identifier BFR-ID, that a bit in the bit string corresponding to the BFR-ID is set.

26. The message processing apparatus according to claim 24 or 25,

the processing module is specifically configured to determine, based on the bit string, that the at least one BFER does not include the second network device;

the transceiver module is further configured to discard the BIER packet.

27. The message processing apparatus according to any of claims 24-26,

the transceiver module is further configured to send identification information and indication information of the second network device to the first network device as its neighbor, where the indication information is used to indicate that the next hop has BIER message processing capability, and the identification information is an address of the next hop or an identifier used to determine the address of the next hop.

28. A message processing apparatus, wherein the message processing apparatus is applied to a first network device, and comprises:

a receiving and sending module, configured to obtain a first bit index to display a duplicate BIER packet, where a destination address of the first BIER packet is used to identify a next hop of a multicast tree to which the first network device belongs;

the transceiver module is further configured to send the first BIER packet to the next hop.

29. The message processing device of claim 28, wherein the message processing device further comprises a processing module;

the processing module is configured to obtain information of the next hop based on a corresponding relationship, where the corresponding relationship includes the information of the next hop.

30. The message processing device according to claim 29, wherein the correspondence further includes a sub-domain identifier, and the sub-domain identifier corresponds to the multicast tree.

31. The packet processing device according to claim 30, wherein the first BIER packet further includes the sub-domain identifier, and the sub-domain identifier corresponds to the multicast tree.