Flow forwarding method, device, and system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10003540-B2
Application number	US-201514949575-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 23, 2015
Priority date	May 24, 2013
Publication date	Jun 19, 2018
Grant date	Jun 19, 2018

Abstract

The present application discloses a flow forwarding method, device, and system. The method includes: receiving, by an edge node, an intelligent routing service request packet, and the packet includes a constraint condition required for establishing the intelligent routing service; if the edge node does not find, in a flow table, a corresponding matching flow table entry of characteristic information, sending, by the edge node, a first message to a controller, where the first message includes identification information of the edge node and the characteristic information and the edge node is an ingress edge-node or an egress edge-node that receives the packet; receiving, a first flow table entry sent by the controller, where the first flow table entry is generated according to the first message and meets the constraint condition; and processing, according to the first flow table entry, a packet sent by the user side device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A flow forwarding method, applied to a Software Defined Network (SDN) migration network, the method comprising:
receiving, by an edge node, a service packet sent by a user side device;
determining, in a flow table by the edge node, a first flow table entry corresponding to characteristic information in the service packet, wherein the first flow table entry comprises an action, and the action is used to send a message to a controller, and the first flow table entry was generated by the controller according to an intelligent routing service request packet sent by the user side device;
sending, by the edge node, a first message to the controller, wherein the first message comprises the characteristic information, identification information of the edge node, and interface attribute information of an interface that receives the service packet, and the interface attribute information indicates that the edge node is an ingress edge-node or an egress edge-node of the service packet in the SDN migration network;
receiving, by the edge node, a second flow table entry generated and sent by the controller, wherein the second flow table entry meets a constraint condition in the intelligent routing service request packet; and
processing, by the edge node, the service packet according to the second flow table entry.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the first message further comprises a mirrored packet of the service packet and the identification information of the edge node, wherein the mirrored packet of the service packet is a duplicate packet of the service packet, and the service packet comprises the characteristic information; and
the method further comprises: sending, by the edge node, the service packet according to a traditional IP routing mode.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the characteristic information comprises at least one of the following in the service packet: a source address, a destination address, a source port, a destination port, and a protocol number.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the characteristic information further comprises an application-aware type.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the constraint condition in the intelligent routing service request packet is a parameter for flow forwarding path computation performed on a data flow that matches the characteristic information, and the constraint condition comprises at least one of the following: bandwidth, a bandwidth priority, a quality of service QoS priority, a latency level, a congestion level, and a value-added service identification number, wherein the value-added service identification number is used to identify a type of value-added service processing performed on the data flow that matches the characteristic information.

6. A hybrid forwarding device comprising:
a receiver configured to receive a service packet sent by a user side device;
a processor configured to find, in a flow table, a first flow table entry corresponding to characteristic information in the service packet, wherein the first flow table entry comprises an action, and the action is used to send a message to a controller, the first flow table entry was generated by the controller according to an intelligent routing service request packet sent by the user side device, and
a transmitter configured to send a first message to the controller, wherein the first message comprises the characteristic information, identification information of the device, and interface attribute information of an interface that receives the service packet, and the interface attribute information indicates indicate that the device is an ingress edge-node or an egress edge-node of the service packet in a Software Defined Network (SDN) migration network; wherein:
the receiver is further configured to receive a second flow table entry sent by the controller, wherein the second flow table entry meets a constraint condition in the intelligent routing service request packet, and
the processor is further configured to process the service packet according to the second flow table entry.

7. The hybrid forwarding device according to claim 6 , wherein:
the first message further comprises a mirrored packet of the service packet and the identification information of the device, wherein the mirrored packet of the service packet is a duplicate packet of the service packet, and the service packet comprises the characteristic information; and
the processor is further configured to send the service packet according to a traditional IP routing mode.

8. The hybrid forwarding device according to claim 6 , wherein the characteristic information comprises at least one of the following in the service packet: a source address, a destination address, a source port, a destination port, and a protocol number.

9. The hybrid forwarding device according to claim 8 , wherein the characteristic information further comprises an application-aware type.

10. The hybrid forwarding device according to claim 6 , wherein the constraint condition in the intelligent routing service request packet is a parameter for flow forwarding path computation performed on a data flow that matches the characteristic information, and the constraint condition comprises at least one of the following: bandwidth, a bandwidth priority, a quality of service QoS priority, a latency level, a congestion level, and a value-added service identification number, wherein the value-added service identification number is used to identify a type of value-added service processing performed on the data flow that matches the characteristic information.

11. A controller comprising:
a receiver configured to receive a first message sent by a first edge node, and receive a second message sent by a second edge node,
wherein the first message comprises characteristic information of a packet sent by a user side device, identification information of the first edge node and first interface attribute information of a first interface of the first edge node that received the packet, wherein the first interface attribute information indicates that the first edge node is an ingress node of the packet in a Software Defined Network (SDN) migration network, and
wherein the second message comprises identification information of the second edge node, the characteristic information and second interface attribute information of a second interface of the second edge node that received the packet, wherein the second interface attribute information indicates that the second edge node is an egress node of the service packet in the SDN migration network;

a processor configured to:
determine that the first edge node is the ingress edge-node that receives the packet in the SDN migration network, and that the second edge node is the egress edge-node that receives the packet in the SDN migration network, according to the first interface attribute information and the second interface attribute information that are received and generate, for all nodes on a flow forwarding path, flow table entries respectively corresponding to the nodes; and

a transmitter configured to send the flow table entries separately to the corresponding nodes, wherein a policy control factor is determined according to a constraint condition in an intelligent routing service request packet sent by the user side device.

12. The controller according to claim 11 , wherein:
the transmitter is further configured to, when the packet is a service packet, send a first flow table entry separately to the first edge node and the second edge node, wherein the first flow table entry comprises an action, and the action is used

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Liu Enhui
• Wang Xinping
• Lin Chengyong

Classifications

• H04L47/20 Primary

  Traffic policing · CPC title

• H04L47/2466

  using signalling traffic · CPC title

• H04L47/2475

  for supporting traffic characterised by the type of applications · CPC title

• H04L45/42

  Centralised routing · CPC title

• H04L47/2416 Primary

  Real-time traffic · CPC title