Bidirectional multicasting over virtual port channel

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10333828-B2
Application number	US-201615216651-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 21, 2016
Priority date	May 31, 2016
Publication date	Jun 25, 2019
Grant date	Jun 25, 2019

Abstract

Aspects of the subject technology relate to systems for arbitrating direct forwarder (“DF”) instantiation between VPC peers used to facilitating the transport of bidirectional multicast traffic over a L2/L3 network boundary. In some aspects, arbitration of DF instantiation on a given VPC peer can include determining a first set of metrics for a first VPC switch, determining a second set of metrics for a second VPC switch, and determining, at the first VPC switch, whether to instantiate a designated forwarder (DF) operation based on a comparison of the first set of metrics and the second set of metrics. Methods and machine-readable media are also provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for transporting bidirectional multicast traffic over a virtual port channel (VPC), comprising:
determining a first set of metrics for a first VPC switch;
determining a second set of metrics for a second VPC switch;
sending the first set of metrics from the first VPC switch to the second VPC switch;
receiving, at the first VPC switch, the second set of metrics for the second VPC switch; and
determining, at the first VPC switch, whether to instantiate a designated forwarder (DF) operation based on the first set of metrics and the received second set of metrics indicating the first VPC switch provides a more efficient network route to a rendezvous point (RP) than the second VPC switch;
receiving, at the second VPC switch, the first set of metrics for the second VPC switch; and
determining, at the second VPC switch, whether to instantiate a designated forwarder (DF) operation based on the received first set of metrics and the second set of metrics indicating the second VPC switch provides a more efficient network route to a rendezvous point (RP) than the first VPC switch;
wherein the first and second VPC switches self-determine whether or not they will be a direct forwarder.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein instantiation of DF operation at the first VPC prevents the second VPC switch from forwarding traffic toward a rendezvous point in a layer 3 network.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first VPC switch and the second VPC switch are configured to provide a virtual port channel link with a layer 2 network.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first VPC switch and the second VPC switch are communicatively coupled with a rendezvous point (RP) in a layer 3 network.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first VPC switch and the second VPC switch form a boundary between a layer 2 network and a layer 3 network.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether to instantiate a DF operation further comprises:
comparing the first set of metrics with the second set of metrics to determine if the first VPC switch provides a more efficient network route to a rendezvous point (RP) than the second VPC switch, and
wherein the first set of metrics and the second set of metrics comprise unicast metrics.

7. A system for transporting bidirectional multicast traffic over a virtual port channel (VPC), comprising:
one or more processors; and
a computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by the processors, cause the processors to perform operations comprising:
determining a first set of metrics for a first VPC switch;
determining a second set of metrics for a second VPC switch;
sending the first set of metrics from the first VPC switch to the second VPC switch;
receiving, at the first VPC switch, the second set of metrics for the second VPC switch; and
determining, at the first VPC switch, whether to instantiate a designated forwarder (DF) operation based on the first set of metrics and the received second set of metrics indicating the first VPC switch provides a more efficient network route to a rendezvous point (RP) than the second VPC switch;
receiving, at the second VPC switch, the first set of metrics for the second VPC switch; and
determining, at the second VPC switch, whether to instantiate a designated forwarder (DF) operation based on the received first set of metrics and the second set of metrics indicating the second VPC switch provides a more efficient network route to a rendezvous point (RP) than the first VPC switch;
wherein the first and second VPC switches self-determine whether or not they will be a direct forwarder.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein instantiation of DF operation at the first VPC prevents the second VPC switch from forwarding traffic toward a rendezvous point in a layer 3 network.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the first VPC switch and the second VPC switch are configured to provide a virtual port channel link with a layer 2 network.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the first VPC switch and the second VPC switch are communicatively coupled with a rendezvous point (RP) in a layer 3 network.

11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the first VPC switch and the second VPC switch form a boundary between a layer 2 network and a layer 3 network.

12. The system of claim 7 , wherein determining whether to instantiate a DF operation further comprises:
comparing the first set of metrics with the second set of metrics to determine if the first VPC switch provides a more efficient network route to a rendezvous point (RP) than the second VPC switch, and
wherein the first set of metrics and the second set of metrics comprise unicast metrics.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by one or more processors, cause the processors to perform operations comprising:
determining a first set of metrics for a first VPC switch;
determining a second set of metrics for a second VPC switch;
sending the first set of metrics from the first VPC switch to the second VPC switch;
receiving, at the first VPC switch, the second set of metrics for the second VPC switch; and
determining, at the first VPC switch, whether to instantiate a designated forwarder (DF) operation based on the first set of metrics and the received second set of metrics indicating the first VPC switch provides a more efficient network route to a rendezvous point (RP) than the second VPC switch;
receiving, at the second VPC switch, the first set of metrics for the second VPC switch; and
determining, at the second VPC switch, whether to instantiate a designated forwarder (DF) operation based on the received first set of metrics and the second set of metrics indicating the second VPC switch provides a more efficient network route to a rendezvous point (RP) than the first VPC switch;
wherein the first and second VPC switches self-determine whether or not they will be a direct forwarder.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein instantiation of DF operation at the first VPC prevents the second VPC switch from forwarding traffic toward a rendezvous point in a layer 3 network.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the first VPC switch and the second VPC switch are configured to provide a virtual port channel link with a layer 2 network.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the first VPC switch and the second VPC switch form a boundary between a layer 2 network and a layer 3 network.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein determining whether to instantiate a DF operation further comprises:
comparing the first set of metrics with the second set of metrics to determine if the first VPC switch provides a more efficient network route to a rendezvous point (RP) than the second VPC switch, and
wherein the first set of metrics and the second set of metrics comprise unicast metrics.

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Bacthu Nataraj
• Sivaramu Raghava
• Ramabadran Srinivasan
• Tang Terry Fangcheng
• Dontuboyina Lenin Babu

Classifications

• H04L45/70

  Routing based on monitoring results · CPC title

• H04L12/4641

  Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] (LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272) · CPC title

• H04L45/16 Primary

  Multipoint routing · CPC title

• H04L49/354

  for supporting virtual local area networks [VLAN] · CPC title

• H04L12/1886 Primary

  with traffic restrictions for efficiency improvement, e.g. involving subnets or subdomains · CPC title