Support for a scalable and high availability (HA) virtual cable modem termination system (VCMTS)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11368553-B1
Application number	US-202016833121-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 27, 2020
Priority date	Mar 28, 2019
Publication date	Jun 21, 2022
Grant date	Jun 21, 2022

Abstract

Supporting a scalable and Highly Available (HA) virtual Cable Modem Termination System (vCMTS). A software component receives, from the vCMTS, an update about a particular cable modem (CM) or customer premises equipment (CPE). The update may be sent in response to the particular CM or CPE becoming online or offline. In response to receiving the update, the software component provides, to at least one edge router, route data for the particular CM or CPE. The route data informs the edge router of a next hop network address for a network address of the particular CM or CPE. The edge router is not and need not be provided with either (a) any Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) data for the particular CM or CPE and (b) any Neighbor Discovery (ND) data for the particular CM or CPE.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums that store one or more sequences for supporting a scalable and Highly Available (HA) virtual Cable Modem Termination System (vCMTS), which when executed by one or more processors, cause:
a software component receiving, from the vCMTS, an update about a particular cable modem (CM) or customer premises equipment (CPE); and
in response to receiving the update, the software component providing, to at least one edge router, route data for the particular CM or CPE,
wherein the route data informs the at least one edge router of a next hop network address for a network address of the particular CM or CPE,
and wherein the at least one edge router is (a) not provided any Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) data for the particular CM or CPE and (b) not provided any Neighbor Discovery (ND) data for the particular CM or CPE.

2. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums of claim 1 , wherein the software component executes upon a physical device which is also executing software implementing other functions of the vCMTS.

3. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums of claim 1 , wherein the software component executes upon a different physical device than the one or more other physical devices which execute software implementing functions of the vCMTS.

4. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums of claim 1 , wherein the software component receives the update from the vCMTS via a remote procedure call (RPC).

5. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums of claim 1 , wherein the update results from the particular CM or CPE becoming online or going offline.

6. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums of claim 1 , wherein the software component provides the route data to the one or more edge routers via Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).

7. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums of claim 1 , wherein the software component providing, to at least one edge router, route data for the particular CM or CPE comprises:
the software component notifying a first edge router of the route data for the particular CM or CPE; and
the software component instructing a second edge router to discard previously provided route data or the particular CM or CPE.

8. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums of claim 1 , wherein each of the at least one router is a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) router.

9. An apparatus for supporting a scalable and Highly Available (HA) virtual Cable Modem Termination System (vCMTS), comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums storing one or more sequences of instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause:
a software component receiving, from the vCMTS, an update about a particular cable modem (CM) or customer premises equipment (CPE); and
in response to receiving the update, the software component providing, to at least one edge router, route data for the particular CM or CPE,
wherein the route data informs the at least one edge router of a next hop network address for a network address of the particular CM or CPE,
and wherein the at least one edge router is (a) not provided any Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) data for the particular CM or CPE and (b) not provided any Neighbor Discovery (ND) data for the particular CM or CPE.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the software component executes upon a physical device which is also executing software implementing other functions of the vCMTS.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the software component executes upon a different physical device than the one or more other physical devices which execute software implementing functions of the vCMTS.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the software component receives the update from the vCMTS via a remote procedure call (RPC).

13. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the update results from the particular CM or CPE becoming online or going offline.

14. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the software component provides the route data to the one or more edge routers via Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).

15. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the software component providing, to at least one edge router, route data for the particular CM or CPE comprises:
the software component notifying a first edge router of the route data for the particular CM or CPE; and
the software component instructing a second edge router to discard previously provided route data or the particular CM or CPE.

16. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein each of the at least one router is a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) router.

17. A method for supporting a scalable and Highly Available (HA) virtual Cable Modem Termination System (vCMTS), comprising:
a software component receiving, from the vCMTS, an update about a particular cable modem (CM) or customer premises equipment (CPE); and
in response to receiving the update, the software component providing, to at least one edge router, route data for the particular CM or CPE,
wherein the route data informs the at least one edge router of a next hop network address for a network address of the particular CM or CPE,
and wherein the at least one edge router is (a) not provided any Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) data for the particular CM or CPE and (b) not provided any Neighbor Discovery (ND) data for the particular CM or CPE.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the software component executes upon a physical device which is also executing software implementing other functions of the vCMTS.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the software component executes upon a different physical device than the one or more other physical devices which execute software implementing functions of the vCMTS.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein the software component receives the update from the vCMTS via a remote procedure call (RPC).

21. The method of claim 17 , wherein the update results from the particular CM or CPE becoming online or going offline.

22. The method of claim 17 , wherein the software component provides the route data to the one or more edge routers via Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).

23. The method of claim 17 , wherein the software component providing, to at least one edge router, route data for the particular CM or CPE comprises:
the software component notifying a first edge router of the route data for the particular CM or CPE; and
the software component instructing a second edge router to discard previously provided route data or the particular CM or CPE.

24. The method of claim 17 , wherein each of the at least one router is a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) router.

25. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums of claim 1 , wherein said software component provides all route data to all edge routers in said vCMTS, and wherein said all edge routers in said vCMTS perform no inspection of Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) packets to ascertain any route data.

26. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein said software component provides all route data to all edge routers in said vCMTS, and wherein said all edge routers in said vCMTS perform no inspection of Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) packets to ascertain any route data

Assignees

• Harmonic Inc

Inventors

• Leventer Amir
• Ginsburg Daniel
• Gaydos Robert
• Ben-Natan Nimrod

Classifications

• H04L67/565

  Conversion or adaptation of application format or content (adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561) · CPC title

• H04L67/52

  specially adapted for the location of the user terminal · CPC title

• G06F8/65 Primary

  Updates (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57) · CPC title

• H04L2101/622

  Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses · CPC title

• H04L61/103

  across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP] · CPC title