Connections and accesses for hierarchical path computation element (PCE)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11909596-B2
Application number	US-202217876868-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 29, 2022
Priority date	Jul 6, 2016
Publication date	Feb 20, 2024
Grant date	Feb 20, 2024

Abstract

Disclosed herein are various embodiments for constructing an abstract domain topology. In one embodiment, a Path Computation Element (PCE) is configured as a parent PCE to at least one child PCE. Each of the child PCEs is responsible for providing path computational services for a domain. Communication is established between the parent PCE and the at least one child PCE. The parent PCE receives from each of its child PCEs domain connection information corresponding to the domain of each child PCE. The parent PCE builds and maintains an abstract domain topology based on the domain connection information that it receives from its child PCEs. In one embodiment, the domain connection information is communicated from the child PCE to the parent PCE by adding a new notification-type (NT) and notification-value (NV) to a notification object in a Path Computation Element Communication Protocol (PCEP) notification message.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A path computation element (PCE) comprising:
a network interface for enabling communications over a network;
memory for storing executable instructions;
a processor configured to execute the executable instructions to:
establish communication between the PCE and at least one first child PCE, wherein the PCE is configured as a parent PCE to a first set of child PCEs comprising the at least one first child PCE, wherein each of the at least one first child PCE is responsible for a first domain in a set of first domains, and wherein the at least one first child PCE is configured as a second parent PCE to a second set of child PCEs comprising at least one second child PCE, wherein each of the at least one second child PCE is responsible for a second domain in a set of second domains;
receive domain connection information from the at least one first child PCE, wherein the domain connection information comprises a first set of domain connection information corresponding to the set of first domains; and
construct an abstract domain topology based on the domain connection information.

2. The PCE of claim 1 , wherein the domain connection information comprises a second set of domain connection information corresponding to the set of second domains.

3. The PCE of claim 2 , wherein the domain connection information excludes inter-domain links and area border routers (ABRs) that connect between the set of second domains associated with the second set of child PCEs.

4. The PCE of claim 1 , wherein the domain connection information for the first domain of each of the at least one first child PCE is communicated by each of the at least one first child PCE to the PCE using a newly defined message comprising a new connection and access object that includes new object types comprising an inter-domain link object, an area border router (ABR) object, an access Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) prefix object, and an access Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) prefix object.

5. The PCE of claim 1 , wherein the domain connection information comprises a domain identifier of the first domain of a first child PCE, inter-domain links and area border routers (ABRs) of the first domain of the first child PCE to adjacent domains, and wherein the domain connection information comprises access points within the first domain of the first child PCE.

6. The PCE of claim 5 , wherein the inter-domain links include point-to-point (P2P) links connecting two autonomous system border routers (ASBRs) in two different first domains, and broadcast links connecting multiple ASBRs in a number of first domains.

7. The PCE of claim 6 , wherein the domain connection information for the P2P links comprises a link type, a local Internet Protocol (IP) address, a remote IP address, a traffic engineering metric, a maximum bandwidth, a maximum reservable bandwidth, an administrative group, and shared risk link groups (SRLG).

8. The PCE of claim 6 , wherein the domain connection information for the broadcast links comprises a link type, a local Internet Protocol (IP) address with mask length, a traffic engineering metric, a maximum bandwidth, a maximum reservable bandwidth, an administrative group, and shared risk link groups (SRLG).

9. The PCE of claim 1 , wherein the domain connection information for the first domain of each of the at least one first child PCE is communicated by each of the at least one first child PCE to the PCE by extending a path computation element communication protocol (PCEP) notification message to include a new notification-type (NT) and notification-value (NV) of a notification object in the PCEP notification message.

10. The PCE of claim 9 , wherein the NV indicates whether connections and access points indicated by type-length-values (TLVs) in the notification object within the PCEP notification message are to be updated or withdrawn.

11. The PCE of claim 10 , wherein four TLVs are defined for the connections and access points, and wherein the four TLVs comprise a domain link TLV, Router-identifier (ID) TLV, access Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) prefix TLV, and access Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) prefix TLV.

12. A path computation element (PCE) comprising:
a network interface for enabling communications over a network;
memory for storing executable instructions;
a processor configured to execute the executable instructions to:
establish communication between the PCE and a parent PCE, wherein the PCE is configured as a first child PCE to the parent PCE, wherein the PCE is configured as a second parent PCE to a second set of child PCEs comprising at least one second child PCE, wherein each second child PCE in the second set of child PCEs is responsible for a second domain in a set of second domains; and
send domain connection information comprising a first set of domain connection information corresponding to a first domain of the PCE to the parent PCE.

13. The PCE of claim 12 , wherein the domain connection information is communicated by the PCE to the parent PCE by extending a path computation element communication protocol (PCEP) notification message to include a new notification-type (NT) and notification-value (NV) of a notification object in the PCEP notification message.

14. The PCE of claim 13 , wherein the notification-value (NV) indicates whether connections and access points indicated by type-length-values (TLVs) in the notification object within the PCEP notification message are to be updated or withdrawn.

15. The PCE of claim 14 , wherein the domain connection information comprises a domain identifier of the first domain of the PCE, inter-domain links and area border routers (ABRs) of the first domain of the PCE to adjacent domains, and wherein the domain connection information comprises access points within the first domain of the PCE.

16. The PCE of claim 15 , wherein the inter-domain links include point-to-point (P2P) links and broadcast links, wherein the P2P links connect an autonomous system border router (ASBR) in the first domain of the PCE and a second ASBR in a different domain, and wherein the broadcast links connect the ASBR in the first domain of the PCE to multiple ASBRs in a number of different domains.

17. The PCE of claim 16 , wherein the domain connection information for the P2P links comprises a link type, a local Internet Protocol (IP) address, a remote IP address, a traffic engineering metric, a maximum bandwidth, a maximum reservable bandwidth, an administrative group, and shared risk link groups (SRLG).

18. The PCE of claim 16 , wherein the domain connection information for the broadcast links comprises a link type, a local Internet Protocol (IP) address with mask length, a traffic engineering metric, a maximum bandwidth, a maximum reservable bandwidth, an administrative group, and shared risk link groups (SRLG).

19. The PCE of claim 12 , wherein the domain connection information communicated to the parent PCE by the PCE comprises a second set of domain connection information corresponding to the second domain of the at least one second child PCE, and wherein the first set of domain connection information and the second set of domain connection information is abstracted as a single cloud.

Assignees

• Futurewei Technologies Inc

Inventors

• Chen Huaimo

Classifications

• H04L43/08

  Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters · CPC title

• H04L41/12 Primary

  Discovery or management of network topologies · CPC title

• H04L45/02

  Topology update or discovery · CPC title

• H04L45/42

  Centralised routing · CPC title

• H04L45/04

  Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing · CPC title