Path continuity determination in an aggregate flow environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10469343-B2
Application number	US-201615146318-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 4, 2016
Priority date	May 4, 2016
Publication date	Nov 5, 2019
Grant date	Nov 5, 2019

Abstract

Mechanisms for path continuity determination in an aggregate flow environment. An ingress node and a downstream node for which a path continuity check is desired are determined. The ingress node devolves, from an aggregate flow entry, one or more microflows that comprise packets which are destined for the downstream node. The downstream node is directed to generate corresponding microflows. Each microflow is associated with a continuity set identifier and has one or more timers, such as an idle timer and/or a hard timeout timer. Upon timeout of one of the timers, the ingress node and the downstream node send a microflow termination message that contains the continuity set identifier to a controller node. The controller node determines a path continuity status between the ingress node and the downstream node based on a receipt of one or more microflow termination messages from the ingress node and the downstream node.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for generating a microflow, comprising:
receiving, by an ingress node comprising a processor device, a first packet having first header information that matches an aggregate flow entry in a flow table;
determining that a devolve action is associated with the aggregate flow entry, the devolve action having an associated idle timeout value;
determining a continuity set identifier that is associated with the devolve action;
based on determining that the devolve action is associated with the aggregate flow entry, generating a first microflow flow entry in the flow table to define a first microflow, the first microflow flow entry including a data field identifying the continuity set identifier and at least one of a data field maintaining a first idle timer that has an initial value equal to the idle timeout value and a data field maintaining a hard timeout timer that has an initial value equal to a hard timeout value;
determining that at least one of the first idle timer and the hard timeout timer associated with the first microflow flow entry has timed out; and
in response to determining that at least one of the first idle timer and the hard timeout timer has timed out, sending a controller node a microflow termination message that comprises the continuity set identifier.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising sending first microflow generation information that identifies the first microflow to the controller node.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
receiving, from the controller node, a downstream node identifier that identifies a downstream node associated with the continuity set identifier;
sending information that identifies the first microflow to the controller node; and
sending first microflow generation information that identifies the first microflow to the downstream node.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein:
determining the continuity set identifier that is associated with the devolve action comprises generating, by the ingress node, the continuity set identifier; and
sending the information that identifies the first microflow to the controller node comprises sending information that identifies the first microflow and that identifies the continuity set identifier to the controller node.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the continuity set identifier that is associated with the devolve action comprises receiving, from the controller node, the continuity set identifier.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
prior to determining that at least one of the first idle timer and the hard timeout timer has timed out, receiving, by the ingress node, a second packet having second header information that matches the aggregate flow entry in the flow table, the second header information differing from the first header information; and
based on determining that the devolve action is associated with the aggregate flow entry, generating a second microflow flow entry in the flow table to define a second microflow, the second microflow flow entry including the continuity set identifier and a second idle timer based on the idle timeout value.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the timer that timed out comprises the first idle timer, and further comprising removing each microflow flow entry from the flow table that has the continuity set identifier including the first microflow flow entry and the second microflow flow entry.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising:
receiving, by the ingress node, a third packet having third header information that matches one of the first header information and the second header information; and
in response to receiving the third packet, resetting the first idle timer and the second idle timer based on the idle timeout value.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the timer that timed out comprises the first hard timeout timer, and further comprising removing each microflow flow entry from the flow table that has the continuity set identifier including the first microflow flow entry and the second microflow flow entry.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from the controller node, a microflow selection criterion; and
wherein generating the first microflow flow entry in the flow table further comprises generating the first microflow flow entry based on determining that the devolve action is associated with the aggregate flow entry and based on the microflow selection criterion.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein sending the controller node the microflow termination message that comprises the continuity set identifier comprises sending the controller node only one microflow termination message that comprises the continuity set identifier.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising in response to determining that at least one of the first idle timer and the hard timeout timer has timed out, removing each microflow flow entry from the flow table that has the continuity set identifier.

13. A node comprising:
a transceiver configured to communicate with a network; and
a processor device coupled to the transceiver and configured to:
receive a first packet having first header information that matches an aggregate flow entry in a flow table;
determine that a devolve action is associated with the aggregate flow entry, the devolve action having an associated idle timeout value;
determine a continuity set identifier that is associated with the devolve action;
based on determining that the devolve action is associated with the aggregate flow entry, generate a first microflow flow entry in the flow table to define a first microflow, the first microflow flow entry including a data field identifying the continuity set identifier and at least one of a data field maintaining a first idle timer that has an initial value equal to the idle timeout value and a data field maintaining a hard timeout timer that has an initial value equal to a hard timeout value;
determine that at least one of the first idle timer and the hard timeout timer associated with the first microflow flow entry has timed out; and
in response to determining that at least one of the first idle timer and the hard timeout timer has timed out, send a controller node a microflow termination message that comprises the continuity set identifier.

14. A computer program product for generating a microflow stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and including instructions configured to cause a processor device to carry out the steps of:
receiving a first packet having first header information that matches an aggregate flow entry in a flow table;
accessing an action field in the aggregate flow entry;
determining that the action field identifies a devolve action, and an associated idle timeout value that corresponds to the devolve action;
determining a continuity set identifier that is associated with the devolve action;
based on determining that the devolve action is associated with the aggregate flow entry, generating a first microflow flow entry in the flow table to define a first microflow, the first microflow flow entry including a data field identifying the continuity set identifier and at least one of a data field maintaining a first idle timer that has an initial value equal to the idle timeout value and a data field maintaining a hard timeout timer that has an initial value equal to a hard timeout value;
determining that at least one of the first idle timer and the hard timeout timer associated with the first microflow flow entry has timed out; and
in response to determining that at least one of the first idle timer and the har

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Meirosu Catalin
• Fu Chunyan
• John Wolfgang
• Kempf James

Classifications

• H04L43/026 Primary

  using flow identification · CPC title

• H04L43/0811

  by checking connectivity · CPC title

• H04L45/38

  Flow based routing · CPC title

• H04L69/22

  Parsing or analysis of headers · CPC title

• Y02D50/30

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic