BUILDING A LABEL SEQUENCE IN BORDER GATEWAY PROTOCOL (BGP) LABELED NETWORK LAYER REACHABILITY INFORMATION (NLRI) ON NEXT HOP (NH) ATTRIBUTE CHANGE

摘要

The use and processing of update messages (e.g., BGP UPDATEs) that bind (e.g., MPLS) labels to address prefixes is improved such that labels are used more efficiently, and/or such that such update messages can be processed more efficiently. A distance vector control signaling protocol (e.g., BGP) peer device receives a control plane message (e.g., BGP Update) from a downstream peer device, the control plane message including (1) a network address of the downstream device as a next hop value, (2) a prefix value, and (3) at least one label associated with the prefix value. Responsive to receiving the control plane message, the peer device generates a new control plane message including (1) a network address of the peer device as a next hop value, (2) the prefix value from the control plane message, and (3) a label stack including (i) the at least one label from the control plane message, and (ii) a local label associated with the peer device. The peer device then sends the new control plane message to an upstream peer device.