Link discovery method and apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10797986-B2
Application number	US-201816133286-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 17, 2018
Priority date	Mar 18, 2016
Publication date	Oct 6, 2020
Grant date	Oct 6, 2020

Abstract

The disclosure provides a link discovery method and an apparatus. The method includes: sending, by a control plane device, a first message to a plurality of forwarding plane devices in a network to which the control plane device belongs, where the first message is used to instruct each forwarding plane device receiving the first message to send a topology discovery packet at all available ports of the forwarding plane device; receiving, by the control plane device, second messages respectively sent by the plurality of forwarding plane devices, where each of the second messages is generated, according to a first topology discovery packet received at a second port, by a second forwarding plane device sending the second message, and determining, by the control plane device, topology connections between the plurality of forwarding plane devices according to the second messages sent by the plurality of forwarding plane devices.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A link discovery method, comprising:
sending, by a control plane device, a first flow entry to a plurality of forwarding plane devices, wherein the first flow entry instructs the plurality of forwarding plane devices to forward a received topology discovery packet to the control plane device, wherein no time out time is set for the first flow entry; or a first timeout time that is set for the first flow entry is greater than a preset threshold;
sending, by the control plane device, a first message to the plurality of forwarding plane devices, wherein the first message instructs each forwarding plane device receiving the first message to send a topology discovery packet at all available ports of the respective forwarding plane device, wherein the control plane device sends the first flow entry to the plurality of forwarding plane devices before the control plane device sends the first message to the plurality of forwarding plane devices;
receiving, by the control plane device, second messages respectively sent by the plurality of forwarding plane devices, wherein one of the second messages is generated by a second forwarding plane device sending the one of the second messages according to a first topology discovery packet received at a second port of the second forwarding plane device, the first topology discovery packet is a topology discovery packet sent by a first forwarding plane device in the plurality of forwarding plane devices at a first port, the first topology discovery packet carries identification information of the first forwarding plane device and identification information of the first port, and the one of the second messages carries the identification information of the first forwarding plane device, the identification information of the first port, identification information of the second forwarding plane device, and identification information of the second port; and
determining, by the control plane device, topology connections between the plurality of forwarding plane devices according to the second messages sent by the plurality of forwarding plane devices, wherein a first topology connection determined according to the one of the second messages comprises a topology connection from the first port of the first forwarding plane device to the second port of the second forwarding plane device.

2. The link discovery method according to claim 1 , wherein the first message carries a topology discovery packet sending period, and the first message instructs the plurality of forwarding plane devices to use the topology discovery packet sending period as a sending period of the topology discovery packet.

3. The link discovery method according to claim 1 , wherein the first message is periodically sent by the control plane device.

4. The link discovery method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
sending, by the control plane device, a second flow entry to the second forwarding plane device according to the first topology connection, wherein the second flow entry instructs the second forwarding plane device to discard the first topology discovery packet, and a second timeout time related to a time at which the first topology connection becomes invalid is set for the second flow entry;
receiving, by the control plane device, a third message sent by the second forwarding plane device, wherein the third message is generated by the second forwarding plane device after the second flow entry times out and no matching packet is obtained, and the third message indicates that the second flow entry times out, is invalid, or is deleted; and
determining, by the control plane device according to the third message, that the first topology connection is invalid, and deleting the first topology connection.

5. A link discovery method, comprising:
receiving, by a second forwarding plane device, a first flow entry sent by a control plane device, wherein the first flow entry instructs the second forwarding plane device to forward a received topology discovery packet to the control plane device;
receiving, by the second forwarding plane device, the topology discovery packet at all available ports of the second forwarding plane device;
sending, by the second forwarding plane device, a second message to the control plane device, wherein the second messages is generated by the second forwarding plane device according to a first topology discovery packet received at a second port, the first topology discovery packet is a topology discovery packet sent by a first forwarding plane device in a plurality of forwarding plane devices at a first port, the first topology discovery packet carries identification information of the first forwarding plane device and identification information of the first port, the second message carries the identification information of the first forwarding plane device, the identification information of the first port, identification information of the second forwarding plane device, and identification information of the second port, and the control plane device establishes a first topology connection from the first port of the first forwarding plane device to the second port of the second forwarding plane device based on the second message;
receiving, by the second forwarding plane device, a second flow entry sent by the control plane device according to the first topology connection, wherein the second flow entry instructs the second forwarding plane device to make the first flow entry invalid and discard the first topology discovery packet, and a second timeout time related to a time at which the first topology connection becomes invalid is set for the second flow entry; and
if the second flow entry times out and no matching packet is obtained, sending, by the second forwarding plane device, a third message to the control plane device, wherein the third message indicates that the second flow entry times out, is invalid, or is deleted, so that the control plane device determines, according to the third message, that the first topology connection is invalid, and deletes the first topology connection.

6. The link discovery method according to claim 5 , wherein
if the second flow entry times out, is invalid, or is deleted, resetting, by the second forwarding plane device, the first flow entry to an effective state.

7. A control plane device, comprising:
a sending unit, a receiving unit, and a determining unit, wherein
the sending unit is configured to send a first flow entry to a plurality of forwarding plane devices, wherein the first flow entry instructs the plurality of forwarding plane devices to forward a received topology discovery packet to the control plane device, wherein no timeout time is set for the first flow entry; or a first timeout time that is set for the first flow entry is greater than a preset threshold;
the sending unit is further configured to send a first message to the plurality of forwarding plane devices, wherein the first message instructs each forwarding plane device receiving the first message to send a topology discovery packet at all available ports of the respective forwarding plane device;
the receiving unit is configured to receive second messages respectively sent by the plurality of forwarding plane devices, wherein one of the second messages is generated by a second forwarding plane device sending the one of the second messages according to a first topology discovery packet received at a second port of the second forwarding plane device, the first topology discovery packet is a topology discovery packet sent by a first forwarding plane device in the plurality of forwarding plane devices at a first port, the first topology discovery packet carries identification information of the first forwarding plane devi

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Wu Xinggui
• Wang Jiao

Classifications

• H04L45/02 Primary

  Topology update or discovery · CPC title

• H04L41/344

  Out-of-band transfers · CPC title

• H04L41/342

  between virtual entities, e.g. orchestrators, SDN or NFV entities · CPC title

• H04L47/32

  by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames · CPC title

• H04L45/64

  using an overlay routing layer · CPC title