Dynamically generating application-layer traffic optimization protocol endpoint attributes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-8954491-B1
Application number	US-98215310-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Dec 30, 2010
Priority date	Dec 30, 2010
Publication date	Feb 10, 2015
Grant date	Feb 10, 2015

Abstract

In general, techniques are described for dynamically generating attributes from routing topology information and assigning dynamically generated attributes to network map entries to further characterize PIDs described therein. For example, a provider or other entity assigns, within a network device, endpoint types to one or more address prefixes for which the network device originates or forwards route advertisements. For each typed prefix, the network device adds an endpoint type identifier for the assigned endpoint type to route advertisements that traverse or originate with the network device and specify the prefix. An ALTO server peers with router advertisers to receive route advertisements. When the ALTO server receives a route advertisement that includes an endpoint type identifier, the ALTO server maps the endpoint type identifier to a PID attribute and assigns the PID attribute to a PID that includes a prefix identified in the route advertisement.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
executing, with an application-layer traffic optimization (ALTO) server, a routing protocol to maintain layer three (L3) network topology information defining routes to endpoints of a network;
receiving, with the ALTO server, a topology information advertisement that conforms to the routing protocol, wherein the topology information advertisement specifies one or more routes and includes network address information identifying one or more of the endpoints, wherein the topology information advertisement further includes an endpoint type identifier set to one of a first value and a second value, wherein the first value specifies the identified endpoints are consumers of a content delivery service and the second value specifies the identified endpoints are providers of a content delivery service;
aggregating, with the ALTO server, the endpoints into one or more topological groupings associated with respective provider-defined identifiers (PIDs), wherein each PID of the PIDs is associated with a different subset of the endpoints;
assigning a PID attribute value corresponding to the endpoint type identifier to each PID of the PIDs associated with any of the identified endpoints, wherein the PID attribute value assigned to a PID specifies an endpoint type for endpoints associated with the PID; and
generating, with the ALTO server, an ALTO network map that includes a respective PID entry to describe each PID of the PIDs associated with any of the identified endpoints, wherein each PID entry includes a PID-type field that stores the assigned PID attribute value for the PID described by the PID entry.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each endpoint associated with a particular PID of the PIDs is the same endpoint type.

3. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the topology information advertisement comprises a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) UPDATE message, and
wherein the network address information comprises Network Layer Reachability Information of the BGP UPDATE message.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the endpoint type identifier is a community path attribute value of the BGP UPDATE message.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising mapping the endpoint type identifier to the PID attribute value.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
setting cost values for cost entries that specify pairs of PIDs that include members having the same PID attribute value to infinity; and
outputting cost entries from the ALTO server to an ALTO client as an ALTO cost map for the network.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the endpoint type identifier specifies the identified endpoints as either a layer seven (L7) content consumer or L7 content source.

8. A method comprising:
receiving, with the network device, routing information according to an interior gateway protocol, wherein the routing information includes a network address prefix identifying the endpoints of the network;
determining, with the network device by applying a community policy that specifies an endpoint type identifier for the endpoints of the network, the endpoint type identifier for the endpoints of the network, wherein the endpoint type identifier for the endpoints of the network identifies the endpoints of the network as one of consumers of a content delivery service and providers of a content delivery service;
generating, with the network device, a topology information advertisement that includes the network address prefix identifying the endpoints of the network and that includes the endpoint type identifier for the endpoints of the network; and
outputting the topology information advertisement to an application-layer traffic optimization (ALTO) server to cause the ALTO server to assign a provider-defined identifier (PID) attribute value corresponding to the endpoint type identifier to at least one PID associated with at least one of the endpoints of the network.

9. The method of claim 8 ,
wherein the topology information advertisement comprises a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) UPDATE message, and
wherein the topology information advertisement comprises Network Layer Reachability Information of the BGP UPDATE message, the Network Layer Reachability Information specifying the network address prefix identifying the endpoints of the network.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the endpoint type identifier is a community path attribute value of the BGP UPDATE message.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the endpoint type identifier identifies the subset of the endpoints as including a content delivery network (CDN) cache node that operates as an intermediate cache for application-layer content to be delivered to other endpoints.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the endpoint type identifier is a first endpoint type identifier, the endpoints comprise a first subset of endpoints of the network, the community policy comprises a first community policy, and the topology information advertisement comprises a first topology information advertisement, the method further comprising:
determining, with the network device by applying a second community policy that specifies a second endpoint type identifier for a second subset of endpoints of the network, the second endpoint type identifier for the second subset of the endpoints of the network, wherein the second endpoint type identifier for the second subset of the endpoints of the network identifies the second subset of the endpoints of the network as one of consumers of a content delivery service and providers of a content delivery service, and wherein the second endpoint type identifier is different than the first endpoint type identifier;
generating, with the network device, a second topology information advertisement that includes the network address prefix corresponding to the second subset of the endpoints and that includes the second endpoint type identifier for the second subset of the endpoints;
outputting the second topology information advertisement.

13. An application-layer traffic optimization (ALTO) server comprising:
a control unit comprising one or more processors;
a topology information base of the control unit that stores network topology information for endpoints of a network;
a routing protocol listener of the control unit that executes a routing protocol to maintain layer three (L3) network topology information defining routes within the network, wherein the routing protocol receives a topology information advertisement that conforms to the routing protocol, specifies one or more routes, and includes network address information identifying one or more of the endpoints, wherein the topology information advertisement further includes an endpoint type identifier set to one of a first value and a second value, wherein the first value specifies the identified endpoints are consumers of a content delivery service and the second value specifies the identified endpoints are providers of a content delivery service;
a PID generator of the control unit that aggregates the endpoints into one or more topological groupings associated with respective provider-defined identifiers (PIDs), wherein each PID of the PIDs is associated with a different subset of the endpoints;
an attribute module of the control unit that assigns a PID attribute value corresponding to the endpoint type identifier to each PID of the PIDs associated with any of the identified endpoints, wherein the PID attribute value assigned to a PID specifies an endpoint type for of endpoints associated with the PID; and
a network map module that generates an ALTO network map that includes a respective PID entry to describe each

Assignees

• Medved Jan
• Ward David
• Penno Reinaldo
• Raghunath Satish
• Juniper Networks Inc

Inventors

• Medved Jan
• Ward David
• Penno Reinaldo
• Raghunath Satish

Classifications

• H04L41/0836

  to enhance reliability, e.g. reduce downtime · CPC title

• H04L45/033 Primary

  by updating distance vector protocols · CPC title

• H04L45/14

  Routing performance; Theoretical aspects · CPC title