Methods and apparatus related to a switch fabric system having a multi-hop distributed control plane and a single-hop data plane

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10033585-B2
Application number	US-96895710-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 15, 2010
Priority date	Dec 15, 2010
Publication date	Jul 24, 2018
Grant date	Jul 24, 2018

Abstract

In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a compute device to communicate with a network control entity at each access switch from a set of access switches that define a portion of a data plane having a switch fabric coupling as hierarchical peers each access switch from the set of access switches. The compute device is operable to define a portion of a control plane that includes the network control entities from the set of access switches such that the compute device is hierarchically removed from the network control entities from the set of access switches. The compute device is operable to receive forwarding-state information from a first access switch from the set of access switches. The compute device to send the forwarding-state information to a second access switch from the set of access switches.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a first compute device configured to:
(1) communicate with a network control entity at each access switch from a plurality of access switches that define a portion of a data plane having a switch fabric coupling, as hierarchical peers, each access switch from the plurality of access switches, the switch fabric operable to use a cell-based protocol to route data from a first access switch from the plurality of access switches to a second access switch from the plurality of access switches, a data path within the data plane between the first access switch and the second access switch including a single logical hop;
(2) define a portion of a distributed control plane that includes the network control entities from the plurality of access switches such that the first compute device is hierarchically removed from the network control entities from the plurality of access switches, the distributed control plane configured to include a second compute device at a same hierarchical level within the distributed control plane as the first compute device, a control packet path within the distributed control plane between the first access switch and the second access switch including multiple logical hops;
(3) receive forwarding-state information from the first access switch from the plurality of access switches using a packet-based protocol and via a first logical hop from the multiple logical hops; and
(4) send the forwarding-state information to the second access switch from the plurality of access switches using the packet-based protocol and via a second logical hop from the multiple logical hops, the network control entity at the first access switch from the plurality of access switches sending the forwarding-state information to the network control entity at the second access switch from the plurality of access switches without storing an identifier associated with the network control entity at the second access switch.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
the network control entity at the first access switch from the plurality of access switches, the network control entity at the first access switch operable to manage a first port located at the first access switch and a second port located at a third access switch from the plurality of access switches.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first compute device is operable to manage the network control entity at the first access switch and the network control entity at the second access switch.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the network control entity at the first access switch from the plurality of access switches is operable to send forwarding-state information to the network control entity at the second access switch from the plurality of access switches via the first compute device and the second compute device.

5. An apparatus, comprising:
a first control plane device configured to:
(1) communicate, via a distributed control plane, with each access switch from a plurality of access switches coupled together as hierarchical peers by a switch fabric defining a single logical hop within a data plane, the switch fabric operable to use a cell-based protocol to route data from a first access switch from the plurality of access switches to a second access switch from the plurality of access switches, a data path within the data plane between the first access switch and the second access switch including a single logical hop, the distributed control plane configured to include network control entities from the plurality of access switches such that the first control plane device is hierarchically removed from the network control entities from the plurality of access switches, the distributed control plane configured to include a second control plane device at a same hierarchical level within the distributed control plane as the first control plane device, a control packet path within the distributed control plane between the first access switch and the second access switch including multiple logical hops;
(2) receive forwarding-state information from the first access switch from the plurality of access switches using a packet-based protocol and via a first logical hop from the multiple logical hops; and
(3) send the forwarding-state information to the second access switch from the plurality of access switches using the packet-based protocol and via a second logical hop from the multiple logical hops, a network control entity at the first access switch from the plurality of access switches sending the forwarding-state information to a network control entity at the second access switch from the plurality of access switches without storing an identifier associated with the network control entity at the second access switch.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising:
the data plane, the data plane including a plurality of physical hops between the first access switch and the second access switch.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising:
the first access switch from the plurality of access switches, the first access switch is operable to partition a data packet into a plurality of data cells prior to sending the data packet to the second access switch from the plurality of access switches via the data plane.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising:
a switch fabric within the data plane, each access switch from the plurality of access switches being operatively coupled to the switch fabric, the switch fabric being part of the single logical hop between the first access switch and the second access switch.

9. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising:
the first access switch from the plurality of access switches, the first access switch being operatively coupled to a peripheral processing device, the first access switch operable to receive data from the peripheral processing device using the packet-based protocol, the first access switch operable to send data to the second access switch via the data plane using the cell-based protocol.

10. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising:
the network control entity at the first access switch operable to manage a first port located at the first access switch and a second port located at a third access switch from the plurality of access switches.

11. A system, comprising:
a data plane including a plurality of access switches and a switch fabric operatively coupling, as hierarchical peers, each access switch from the plurality of access switches, a first access switch from the plurality of access switches configured to send data to a second access switch from the plurality of access switches using a cell-based protocol, the switch fabric operable to use the cell-based protocol to route the data from the first access switch to the second access switch, a data path within the data plane between the first access switch and the second access switch including a single logical hop; and
a distributed control plane including a network control entity at the first access switch from the plurality of access switches, a network control entity at the second access switch from the plurality of access switches and a first compute device, the network control entity at the first access switch to send forwarding-state information to the network control entity at the second access switch using a packet-based protocol via the first compute device and without storing an identifier associated with the network control entity at the second access switch, the first compute device being hierarchically removed from the network control entity at the first access switch and the network control entity at the second access switch, the distr

Assignees

• Vohra Quaizar
• Kondur Umesh
• Juniper Networks Inc

Inventors

• Vohra Quaizar
• Kondur Umesh

Classifications

• H04L49/25

  Routing or path finding in a switch fabric · CPC title

• H04L41/0823 Primary

  characterised by the purposes of a change of settings, e.g. optimising configuration for enhancing reliability (for optimising operational conditions of wireless networks H04W24/02) · CPC title

• H04L47/17

  Interaction among intermediate nodes, e.g. hop by hop · CPC title

• H04L47/13

  in a LAN segment, e.g. ring or bus · CPC title