APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR HANDLING SHARED SERVICES THROUGH VIRTUAL ROUTE FORWARDING (VRF) -AWARE-NAT

摘要

Methods and apparatus for performing NAT are disclosed. Specifically, NAT isperformed at a service provider network device associated with an interface ofa service provider network. When a packet is sent from a VPN to a node outsidethe service provider network (e.g., to access a shared service), the packetincludes a VPN identifier (or VRF identifier) In accordance with variousembodiments, each packet includes an MPLS tag that includes the VPNidentifier. The VPN identifier is stored in a translation table entry. Thestoring of the VPN identifier will enable a reply packet from the sharedservice network to the customer VPN to be routed using a routing tableidentified by the VPN identifier.