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Abstract

The present invention describes a 'companion' to an existing router that is multi-homed to transit Autonomous Systems (TASs) to a plurality of destination Autonomous Systems (DASs). The mechanism includes a path testing process that conducts local traffic analysis of outgoing packets transmitted from the mechanism to a set of IP addresses across different DASs that may be selected by an operator via a configuration file or suitable interface (e.g., GUI, CLI, or the like). To perform path testing via a particular link and transit AS, the path testing process temporarily inserts (into the router configuration) more specific overriding test routes to which to send the ping traffic. Following the test, the test routes are withdrawn from the router configuration. The data collected by this scanning process is then supplied to a path evaluation process, which is a decision algorithm for evaluating path quality for each TAS/DAS pair. A path whose quality is below a configurable threshold is a candidate for re-routing. A path selection process either recommends or, if enabled, executes path changes, e.g., by logging into the router and entering a new policy configuration. This has the effect of telling the router to reevaluate all routes heard from the selected TAS in view of the new policy. The path testing, evaluation and (when enabled) selection processes operate autonomously and in an automated fashion to control outbound transit links.

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First Claim