Fast mesh restoration systems and method with real time detection of fault location

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10951963-B2
Application number	US-201414489838-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 18, 2014
Priority date	Aug 7, 2014
Publication date	Mar 16, 2021
Grant date	Mar 16, 2021

Abstract

Systems and methods for fast restoration in a network using a control plane include detecting a failure on a link associated with the node; and providing failure information through in-band data path overhead of an affected connection, wherein the in-band data path overhead is sent over a fast path, wherein the failure information is received at an originating node of the affected connection via the fast path, prior to the originating node receiving control plane signaling via a slow path relative to the fast path.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, by a node in a network using a control plane, for fast restoration in the network, the method comprising:
detecting a failure on a link associated with the node; and
providing failure information through in-band data path overhead of an affected connection, wherein the in-band data path overhead is sent over a fast path, wherein the failure information is received at an originating node of the affected connection via the fast path directly from the in-band data path overhead, prior to the originating node receiving the control plane signaling via a slow path relative to the fast path, wherein the failure information comprises control plane identification information which identifies the node and link in the control plane such that the failure information from the in-band data path overhead is provided to the control plane at a receiving node for action based thereon, wherein the originating node is configured to receive the failure information via the fast path and generate and forward associated control plane signaling over the slow path based on the failure and the control plane identification information,
wherein the failure information is sent both over the in-band data path overhead and the control plane, and
wherein the control plane operates in a distributed manner between the node and other nodes in the network via control plane signaling to establish and release network resources in an end-to-end manner.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein a restoration procedure is initiated, at the originating node, in the control plane responsive to receipt of the failure information from the fast path, prior to the originating node receiving the control plane signaling via the slow path.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the restoration procedure excludes a node and a link associated with the failure information, and wherein the node and the link are excluded since routing updates in the slow path are not available at the originating node, upon receiving the failure information in the fast path.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more intermediate nodes of the affected connection are configured to receive the failure information via the fast path, to parse and pass the failure information to the control plane operating at each of the one or more intermediate nodes, and to perform a first action based on the received failure information.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first action is releasing local resources associated with the affected connection, and forwarding routing updates related to the released local resources via the slow path.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first action is releasing local resources associated with the affected connection at an expiration of a hold-off period prior to receiving information from the originating node, or performing a second action based on the information from the originating node, responsive to receiving the information from the originating node within the hold-off period.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein one or more intermediate nodes are configured to generate and forward the control plane signaling via the slow path, upon receiving the failure information, to adjacent nodes that do not support the fast path.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the originating node is configured to squelch the failure information in the overhead.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fast path operates in real-time via injection of the failure information in the data path overhead upon detection of the failure and is negligibly impacted in its time delay by a number of intermediate nodes between the node and the originating node, and
wherein the slow path operates in software based on processing and forwarding the control plane signaling sequentially through the intermediate nodes to the originating node and is delayed based on the number of the intermediate nodes.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the affected connection utilizes Optical Transport Network (OTN).

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the affected connection utilizes Optical Transport Network (OTN) and the failure information is inserted in Fault Type and Fault Location (FTFL) reporting communication channel bytes of the overhead.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the failure information is inserted in either forward or backward operator-specific fields in the FTFL reporting communication channel bytes of the overhead, based on a direction of the failure.

13. A node, in a network using a control plane, configured for providing fast restoration in the network, the node comprising:
one or more line modules configured to inject information in overhead on connections; and
a controller communicatively coupled to the one or more line modules, wherein the controller is configured to operate a distributed control plane through a communications channel in the overhead, wherein the distributed control plane operates in a distributed manner between the node and other nodes in the network via control plane signaling to establish and release network resources in an end-to-end manner;
wherein, responsive to a failure on a link, the one or more line modules are configured to inject failure information identifying the failure in the overhead of each one of affected connections, over a fast path directly in the overhead,
wherein, responsive to the failure on the link, the controller is also configured to generate and forward the control plane signaling towards originating nodes of the affected connections over a slow path relative to the fast path; and
wherein the failure information comprises control plane identification information which identifies the node and link in the control plane such that the failure information from an in-band data path overhead is provided to the control plane at a receiving node for action based thereon, wherein the originating node is configured to receive the failure information via the fast path and generate and forward associated control plane signaling over the slow path based on the failure and the control plane identification information, and wherein the failure information is sent both over the in-band data path overhead and the control plane.

14. The node of claim 13 , wherein a restoration procedure is initiated in the control plane, responsive to the fast path prior to the originating node receiving the control plane signaling via the slow path.

15. The node of claim 14 , wherein the restoration procedure excludes a node and a link associated with the failure information, wherein the node and the link are excluded since routing updates in the slow path are not available at the originating node upon receiving the information in the fast path.

16. The node of claim 13 , wherein the affected connection utilizes Optical Transport Network (OTN).

17. The node of claim 13 , wherein the affected connection utilizes Optical Transport Network (OTN) and the failure information is inserted in Fault Type and Fault Location (FTFL) reporting communication channel bytes of the overhead.

18. A network, comprising:
a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of links; and
a control plane operating between the plurality of nodes, wherein the control plane operates in a distributed manner between the plurality of nodes in the network via control plane signaling to establish and release network resources in an end-to-end manner;
wherein, responsive to detecting a failure on one link of the plurality of links, nodes associated with the link are configured to generate and forward control plane signaling

Assignees

• Sareen Jatin
• Khan Waseem Reyaz
• Juneja Kapil
• Kannan Rajagopalan
• Ciena Corp

Inventors

• Sareen Jatin
• Khan Waseem Reyaz
• Juneja Kapil
• Kannan Rajagopalan

Classifications

• H04J3/14 Primary

  Monitoring arrangements {(for SDH/SONET rings H04J3/085)} · CPC title

• H04J2203/006

  Fault tolerance and recovery · CPC title

• H04Q11/0005 Primary

  Switch and router aspects · CPC title