Internet Control Message Protocol Enhancement for Traffic Carried by a Tunnel over Internet Protocol Networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017019331-A1
Application number	US-201615208347-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 12, 2016
Priority date	Jul 13, 2015
Publication date	Jan 19, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A first network element (NE) comprises a receiver configured to receive a tunnel redirection request message from a second NE, wherein the tunnel redirection request message is a request to re-route packets to a third NE instead of the second NE, wherein the tunnel redirection request message comprises an address of the third NE and a first destination address, wherein the packets comprise the first destination address. A processor of the NE is coupled to the receiver and configured to add an outer header and an encapsulation header to a first subset of the packets, wherein the outer header comprises the address of the third NE, and wherein the encapsulation header comprises an identifier of an encapsulation protocol supported by the third NE, and a transmitter coupled to the processor and configured to transmit the first subset of the packets to the third NE via an overlay tunnel, and transmit a second subset of packets to the second NE.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for providing communication over an overlay virtual network implemented by a first network element (NE), comprising:
receiving a tunnel redirection request message from at least one of a second NE and a network controller, wherein the tunnel redirection request message is a request to re-route a first subset of subsequent packets to a third NE, wherein the tunnel redirection request message comprises an address of the third NE, and wherein the first subset of subsequent packets are overlay network packets; encapsulating the first subset of subsequent packets to form a plurality of first encapsulated packets, wherein each of the first encapsulated packets comprises a first outer header, and wherein the outer header comprises the address of the third NE; forwarding the first encapsulated packets to the third NE via a first overlay tunnel; encapsulating a second subset of subsequent packets to form a plurality of second encapsulated packets, wherein each of the second encapsulated packets comprises a second outer header, and wherein a second outer header comprises an address of the second NE; and forwarding the second encapsulated packets to the second NE via a second overlay tunnel, wherein the second encapsulated packets are overlay network packets.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising establishing the first overlay tunnel between the first NE and the third NE.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first subset of subsequent packets are transmitted via an overlay network, wherein the tunnel redirection request message further comprises a virtual network identifier (VNID) and a prefix, and wherein encapsulating the first subset of subsequent packets further comprises setting the outer header of the first subset of subsequent packets to be the address of the third NE when the first subset of subsequent packets comprise at least one of the VNID and the prefix.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a tunnel capability message from the third NE, wherein the tunnel capability message comprises at least one of a tunnel encapsulation type supported by the third NE, a tunneled payload type of the third NE, a checksum capability of the third NE, and an offload capability of the third NE.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending a tunnel operations message to the third NE, wherein the tunnel operations message identifies an operation for the third NE to perform.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first subset of subsequent packets are encapsulated according to at least one encapsulation protocol consisting of virtual eXtensible Local Area Network (VXLAN), multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), user datagram protocol (UDP), generic UDP encapsulation (GUE), and service function chaining encapsulation (SFC).

7 . A first network element (NE) implemented as a network virtualization edge (NVE), comprising:
a receiver configured to receive a tunnel redirection request message from a second NE or a network controller, wherein the tunnel redirection request message is a request to re-route a first subset of subsequent packets to a third NE, wherein the tunnel redirection request message comprises an address of the third NE and wherein the first subset of subsequent packets are Internet protocol (IP) packets; a processor coupled to the receiver and configured to encapsulate the first subset of subsequent packets to form a plurality of encapsulated packets, wherein each of the encapsulated packets comprises an outer header, and wherein the outer header comprises the address of the third NE; and a transmitter coupled to the processor and configured to:
forward the encapsulated packets to the third NE; and
forward a second subset of subsequent packets to the second NE via a path of an IP network, wherein the second subset of subsequent packets are IP packets.

8 . The first NE of claim 7 , further comprising sending a tunnel operations message to the third NE, wherein the tunnel operations message is a request for a tunnel capability message from the third NE.

9 . The first NE of claim 8 , wherein the tunnel capability message comprises at least one of a supported tunnel encapsulation type of the third NE, a tunneled payload type of the third NE, a checksum capability of the third NE, an offload capability of the third NE.

10 . The first NE of claim 7 , wherein the first subset of subsequent packets are transmitted via an underlying network, and wherein the processor is further configured to:
identify the encapsulation protocol supported by the first NE and the third NE; encapsulate the first subset of subsequent packets according to the encapsulation protocol; and establish the overlay tunnel between the first NE and the third NE.

11 . The first NE of claim 7 , wherein the first NE, the second NE, and the third NE are routers.

12 . A method for providing communication over a tunnel implemented by a first network element (NE), comprising:
receiving a tunnel redirection request message from a second NE, wherein the tunnel redirection request message is a request to re-route packets to a third NE, wherein the tunnel redirection request message comprises an address of the third NE, and wherein the packets are at least one of Internet protocol (IP) packets and overlay network packets; adding an outer header to each of a first subset of the packets, wherein the outer header comprises the address of the third NE; transmitting the first subset of the packets to the third NE via an overlay tunnel after adding the outer header to the packets, wherein the first subset of the packets are overlay network packets; and transmitting a second subset of the packets to the second NE, wherein the second subset of the packets are at least one of IP packets and overlay network packets.

13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising receiving a tunnel capability message from the third NE, wherein the tunnel capability message comprises properties of the third NE and properties of overlay traffic between the first NE and the third NE.

14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the first destination address is a media access control (MAC) addresses of a tenant system to which the encapsulated packets are destined to.

15 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the address of the third NE is an Internet protocol (IP) address.

16 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the tunnel redirection request message comprises at least one of a code, a tunnel type, a tunnel egress address, a traffic IP address, a virtual network identifier (VNID), and a traffic address.

17 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
receiving a tunnel operations message from the third NE, wherein the tunnel operations message requests the first NE to filter packets of a certain type such that the third NE does not receive them; and preventing the packets of the certain type from being forwarded to the third NE in response to receiving the tunnel operations message.

18 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the first subset of the packets are the IP packets and are transmitted via an underlying network, wherein the method further comprises establishing the overlay tunnel between the first NE and the third NE, and wherein the transmitter is further configured to forward the first subset of the packets to the third NE via the overlay tunnel.

19 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the first subset of the packets are the overlay network packets and are transmitted via an overlay network, wherein the tun

Assignees

• Futurewei Technologies Inc

Inventors

• Yong Lucy

Classifications

• H04L45/22

  Alternate routing · CPC title

• H04L61/2592

  using tunnelling or encapsulation · CPC title

• H04L12/4633

  Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling · CPC title

• H04L45/50

  using label swapping, e.g. multi-protocol label switch [MPLS] · CPC title

• H04L45/64 Primary

  using an overlay routing layer · CPC title