Network-link method useful for a last-mile connectivity in an edge-gateway multipath system
In one exemplary aspect, an edge-gateway multipath method includes the step of providing an edge device in a local network communicatively coupled with a cloud-computing service in a cloud-computing network. A set of wide area network (WAN) links connected to the edge device are automatically detected. The WAN links are automatically measured without the need for an external router. The edge device is communicatively coupled with a central configuration point in the cloud-computing network. The method further includes the step of downloading, from the central configuration point, an enterprise-specific configuration data into the edge device. The enterprise-specific configuration data includes the gateway information. The edge device is communicatively coupled with a gateway in the cloud-computing network. The communicatively coupling of the edge device with the gateway includes a multipath (MP) protocol.
1. A method for directing packet flows in a software defined wide area network (SD-WAN), the method comprising:
at an edge device connected to a gateway via a plurality of network links between the edge device and the gateway, wherein the gateway is at a different location than the edge device:
receiving a packet flow;
performing deep packet inspection (DPI) on the received packet flow to identify an application type associated with the received packet flow; and
based on the identified application type, selecting a network link from the plurality of network links between the edge device and the gateway for forwarding the packet flow to the gateway.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the gateway is in a public cloud.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the gateway is in a datacenter.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the edge device is at a premises of an enterprise, and the plurality of network links connect the premises to the gateway at the different location.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the network link comprises selecting, based on the identified application type, two or more network links from the plurality of network links to forward the packets of the flow to the gateway.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein selecting the two or more network links comprises:
assessing bandwidth on the plurality of network links; and
load balancing traffic on the two or more network links to distribute the packets belonging to the flow among the two or more network links.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein load balancing traffic comprises assessing a quality of a network link based on the identified application type.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein assessing the quality of the network link comprises measuring a quality of the network link based on at least one of latency, jitter, loss, and available bandwidth.
9. The method of claim 5 , wherein selecting the two or more network links comprises identifying a set of two or more active network links.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identified application type comprises an identify of a specific application associated with the network-traffic flow.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identified application type comprises a bulk-file transfer application type, wherein bulk-file transfer network traffic is set as a lowest priority traffic and uses a small portion of network bandwidth.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein when the identified application type comprises a social-network website browsing application type, the network-traffic flow is switched to an internet connection.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identified application type comprises a voice application type, and wherein the voice application type comprises a high priority traffic type, the method further comprising performing a forward-error correction to reduce packet loss.
14. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program for execution by a set of processing units, the program for directing packet flows along a plurality of network links defined between an edge device and a gateway device of a software defined wide area network (SD-WAN), the program comprising sets of instructions for:
at an edge device connected to a gateway that is at a different location than the edge device:
receiving a packet flow;
performing deep packet inspection (DPI) on the received packet flow to identify an application type associated with the received packet flow; and
based on the identified application type, selecting a network link from the plurality of network links for forwarding the packet flow to the gateway.
15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the gateway is in one of a public cloud and a datacenter.
16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the edge device is at a premises of an enterprise, and the plurality of network links connect the premises to the gateway at the different location.
17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the set of instructions for selecting the network link comprises a set of instructions for selecting, based on the identified application type, two or more network links from the plurality of network links to forward the packets of the flow to the gateway.
18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the set of instruction for selecting the two or more network links comprises sets of instructions for:
assessing bandwidth on the plurality of network links; and
load balancing traffic on the two or more network links to distribute the packets belonging to the flow among the two or more network links.
19. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the set of instructions for load balancing traffic comprises a set of instructions for assessing a quality of a network link based on the identified application type by measuring a quality of the network link based on at least one of latency, jitter, loss, and available bandwidth.
20. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the identified application type comprises an identity of a specific application associated with the network-traffic flow.