Autonomous adaptive route-summarization

1 . An apparatus, comprising:

a processing system including a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:

automatically determining for a plurality of downstream network nodes one or more subnet identifiers, one or more network identifiers, or a combination thereof;

automatically summarizing the one or more subnet identifiers, the one or more network identifiers, or the combination thereof to produce a summary, wherein a quantity of the one or more subnet identifiers, the one or more network identifiers, or the combination thereof is less than a total number of possible identifiers in a particular radix trie sub-trie, and wherein the automatically summarizing is triggered responsive to a determination that the quantity is at least a particular threshold percentage of the total number of possible identifiers;

automatically determining whether the summary requires updating, resulting in another determination; and

responsive to the other determination being that the summary requires updating, automatically updating the summary to produce an updated summary, wherein the updated summary: deletes one or more subnets that were in the summary; adds one or more subnets that were not in the summary; deletes one or more networks that were in the summary; adds one or more networks that were not in the summary; deletes one or more non-existent identifiers, other than the one or more subnet identifiers and the one or more network identifiers, that were in the summary; adds one or more non-existent identifiers, other than the one or more subnet identifiers and the one or more network identifiers, that were not in the summary; or any combination thereof.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:

the apparatus comprises a router; and

the automatically determining whether the summary requires updating one or more of (i) comprises determining whether the summary is perfect, with no holes, or whether the summary is non-perfect with one or more holes, and

(ii) is based upon a threshold.

3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the automatically determining whether the summary requires updating further comprises:

determining a first number of downstream network nodes that are reachable by the router;

determining a second number of downstream network nodes that are not reachable by the router; and

calculating, based upon the first number and the second number, a percentage of downstream network nodes that are reachable by the router relative to a total number of network nodes, resulting in a calculated percentage.

4 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein:

the threshold is configured by a user; and

the calculated percentage meeting the threshold results in the other determination being that the summary requires updating.

5 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the meeting the threshold comprises being equal to or greater than the threshold.

6 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the meeting the threshold comprises being equal to or less than the threshold.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus comprises a router, and wherein the operations further comprise automatically sending by the router to another router a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) message comprising information indicative of one or more parameters that were used in the updating of the summary.

8 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the one or more parameters that were used in the updating of the summary comprise a threshold level of downstream network nodes that are reachable by the router.

9 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the automatically determining whether the summary requires updating comprises:

determining that at least one of the plurality of downstream network nodes is no longer reachable by the apparatus;

determining that at least one additional downstream network node, that was not part of the plurality of downstream network nodes, is now reachable by the apparatus;

determining that at least one of the one or more subnets is no longer reachable by the apparatus;

determining that at least one additional subnet, that was not part of the one or more subnets, is now reachable by the apparatus;

determining that at least one of the one or more networks is no longer reachable by the apparatus;

determining that at least one additional network, that was not part of the one or more networks is now reachable by the apparatus; or

any combination thereof.

10 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:

the apparatus comprises a router; and

the plurality of downstream network nodes comprises a plurality of downstream endpoint devices that are reachable by the router.

11 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:

the apparatus comprises a router; and

the plurality of downstream network nodes comprises one or more other routers that are reachable by the router.

12 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more subnet identifiers and each of the one or more network identifiers comprises a respective IP4 address, a respective IP6 address, or any combination thereof.

13 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein each of the one or more subnet identifiers and each of the one or more network identifiers comprises a respective address prefix.

14 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

advertising the summary to one or more upstream network nodes; and

advertising the updated summary to the one or more upstream network nodes.

15 . The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the one or more upstream network nodes comprise one or more respective routers.

16 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise advertising one or more negative identifiers.

17 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:

automatically determining for a plurality of downstream network nodes one or more subnet identifiers, one or more network identifiers, or a combination thereof;

automatically summarizing the one or more subnet identifiers, the one or more network identifiers, or the combination thereof to produce a summary, wherein a quantity of the one or more subnet identifiers, the one or more network identifiers, or the combination thereof is less than a total number of possible identifiers in a particular radix trie sub-trie, and wherein the automatically summarizing is triggered responsive to a determination that the quantity is at least a particular threshold percentage of the total number of possible identifiers;

automatically determining whether the summary requires updating, resulting in another determination; and

responsive to the other determination being that the summary requires updating, automatically updating the summary to produce an updated summary, wherein the updated summary: deletes one or more subnets that were in the summary; adds one or more subnets that were not in the summary; deletes one or more networks that were in the summary; adds one or more networks that were not in the summary; deletes one or more non-existent identifiers, other than the one or more subnet identifiers and the one or more network identifiers, that were in the summary; adds one or more non-existent identifiers, other than the one or more subnet identifiers and the one or more network identifiers, that were not in the summary; or any combination thereof.

18 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein:

the processing system comprises a router; and

the operations further comprise automatically sending by the router to another router a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) message comprising information indicative of one or more parameters that were used in the updating of the summary.

19 . A method, comprising:

automatically determining, by a processing system including a processor, for a plurality of downstream network nodes one or more subnet identifiers, one or more network identifiers, or a combination thereof;

automatically summarizing, by the processing system, the one or more subnet identifiers, the one or more network identifiers, or the combination thereof to produce a summary, wherein a quantity of the one or more subnet identifiers, the one or more network identifiers, or the combination thereof is less than a total number of possible identifiers in a particular radix trie sub-trie, and wherein the automatically summarizing is triggered responsive to a determination that the quantity is at least a particular threshold percentage of the total number of possible identifiers;

automatically determining, by the processing system, whether the summary requires updating, resulting in another determination; and

responsive to the other determination being that the summary requires updating, automatically updating, by the processing system, the summary to produce an updated summary, wherein the updated summary: deletes one or more subnets that were in the summary; adds one or more subnets that were not in the summary; deletes one or more networks that were in the summary; adds one or more networks that were not in the summary; deletes one or more non-existent identifiers, other than the one or more subnet identifiers and the one or more network identifiers, that were in the summary; adds one or more non-existent identifiers, other than the one or more subnet identifiers and the one or more network identifiers, that were not in the summary; or any combination thereof.

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the automatically determining whether the summary requires updating comprises:

determining, by the processing system, that at least one of the plurality of downstream network nodes is no longer reachable by the processing system;

determining, by the processing system, that at least one additional downstream network node, that was not part of the plurality of downstream network nodes, is now reachable by the processing system;

determining, by the processing system, that at least one of the one or more subnets is no longer reachable by the processing system;

determining, by the processing system, that at least one additional subnet, that was not part of the one or more subnets, is now reachable by the processing system;

determining, by the processing system, that at least one of the one or more networks is no longer reachable by the processing system;

determining, by the processing system, that at least one additional network, that was not part of the one or more networks, is now reachable by the processing system; or

any combination thereof.