Multiple ring identification and configuration protocol

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9338060-B2
Application number	US-201313954867-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 30, 2013
Priority date	Sep 5, 2012
Publication date	May 10, 2016
Grant date	May 10, 2016

Abstract

A protocol identifies and configures rings in a network topology automatically in order to simplify and quicken the actions that need to be performed in response to addition, deletion and shuffle of network nodes in that topology. Such rings do not need to be identified and configured manually. The protocol involves two separate sequentially performed phases. In the first phase, the protocol can automatically identify all rings that are present within a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) topology. In the second phase, the protocol can automatically configure each node of each such ring in conformity with the Ethernet Ring Protection (ERP) protocol. After this ERP configuration has been performed, the failure of a link within the network will not require every network node to re-learn paths through the network; instead, the nodes that are required to re-learn such paths can be limited to those within the particular ring that contained the failed link.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A network node comprising:
one or more processors;
a plurality of ports including a first port and a second port, wherein both the first port and the second port are associated with a same numeric ring identifier, the numeric ring identifier identifying a ring network formed by a plurality of network nodes including the network node; and
a memory coupled with and readable by the one or more processors;
wherein at least one processor from the one or more processors is configured to:
determine a numeric node identifier included in a packet received through the first port or the second port, the numeric node identifier identifying a network node that originated the packet, wherein the packet is a control packet for selecting an owner for the ring network identified by the numeric ring identifier;
determining whether a numeric node identifier for the network node has a same value as the numeric node identifier included in the packet; and
upon determining that the numeric node identifier for the network node has the same value as the numeric node identifier included in the packet:
designate the network node as the owner for the ring network identified by the numeric ring identifier; and
assign, to the first port, a status identifier that indicates that the first port is an Ethernet Ring Protocol (ERP) Resource Protection Link (RPL) port that is to be blocked during performance of ERP.

2. The network node of claim 1 , wherein at least one processor from the one or more processors is further configured to:
assign, to the first port, a status identifier that indicates that the first port is a left port; and
generate a second packet for sending through the first port, wherein the second packet indicates that a port that receives the second packet is to be designated a right port.

3. The network node of claim 1 , wherein at least one processor from the one or more processors is further configured to:
assign, to the second port, a status identifier that indicates that the second port is a right port; and
generate a second packet for sending through the second port, wherein the second packet indicates that a port that receives the second packet is to be designated a left port.

4. The network node of claim 1 , wherein at least one processor from the one or more processors is further configured to:
drop the packet upon determining that the numeric node identifier for the network node has a value that is greater than the value of the numeric node identifier included in the packet.

5. The network node of claim 1 , wherein at least one processor from the one or more processors is configured to block the first port.

6. The network node of claim 1 , wherein the numeric node identifier is a Media Access Control (MAC) address.

7. A network node comprising:
one or more processors;
a plurality of ports, including a first port and a second port, wherein the first port and the second port have the same numeric Ethernet Ring Protocol (ERP) ring identifier, the numeric ERP ring identifier identifying a ring network formed by a plurality of network nodes including the network node; and
a memory coupled with and readable by the one or more processors;
wherein at least one processor from the one or more processors is configured to:
determine a numeric node identifier included in a packet received through the first port or the second port, the numeric node identifier identifying a network node that originated the packet, wherein the packet is a control packet for selecting an owner for the ring network identified by the numeric ERP ring identifier; and
determine whether a numeric node identifier for the network node has a value that is less than a value of the numeric node identifier included in the packet; and
upon determining that the numeric node identifier for the network node has a value that is less than the value of the numeric node identifier included in the packet:
set a status identifier for the network node that indicates that the network node is not an owner for the ring network;
disable a timer associated with the network node; and
configure the packet for sending through the second port.

8. The network node of claim 7 , wherein at least one processor from the one or more processors is further configured to:
initiate at timer, wherein expiration of the timer indicates that the network node is to commence configuration of the ring of network nodes; and
disable the timer.

9. The network node of claim 7 , wherein at least one processor from the one or more processors is further configured to:
determine that a packet received through the first port is a left fixed packet; and
upon determining that the packet is a left fixed packet:
assign, to the first port, a status identifier indicating that the first port is a right port;
assign, to the second port, a status identifier indicating that the second port is a left port; and
configuring the left fixed packet for sending through the second port.

10. The network node of claim 7 , wherein at least one processor from the one or more processors is further configured to:
determine that a packet received through the first port is a right fixed packet; and
upon determining that the packet is a right fixed packet:
assign, to the first port, a status identifier indicating that the first port is a left port;
assign, to the second port, a status identifier indicating that the second port is a right port; and
configuring the right fixed packet for sending through the second port.

11. The network node of claim 7 , wherein at least one processor from the one or more processors is further configured to:
determine that a packet received through the first port is a fixed packet, the fixed packet including a numeric node identifier for a network node that is an owner for the ring network;
store, in the memory, the numeric node identifier included in the fixed packet; and
configure the fixed packet for sending through the second port.

12. A computer-readable storage memory of a network node, storing a plurality of instructions executable by one or more processors, the plurality of instructions comprising:
instructions causing at least one processor from the one or more processors to determine a numeric node identifier included in a packet received through a first port or a second port, the first port and the second port having a same numeric ring identifier, wherein the numeric node identifier identifies a network node that originated the packet, wherein the packet is a control packet for selecting an owner for a ring network formed by a plurality of network nodes including the network node, and wherein the ring network is identified by the numeric ring identifier;
instructions causing at least one processor from the one or more processors to determine whether a numeric node identifier for the network node has a same value as the numeric node identifier included in the packet; and
upon determining that the numeric node identifier for the network node has the same value as the numeric node identifier included in the packet:
instructions causing at least one processor from the one or more processors to designate the network node is an owner for the ring network; and
instructions causing at least one processor from the one or more processors to assign, to the first port, a status identifier that indicates that the first port is an Ethernet Ring Protocol (ERP) Resource Protection Link (RPL) port that is to be blocked during performance of ERP.

13. The computer-readable storage memory of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of instructions further comprises:
instru

Assignees

• Brocade Comm Systems Inc

Inventors

• Singh Mritiyunjay Kumar

Classifications

• H04L41/122

  of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV] · CPC title

• H04L41/12 Primary

  Discovery or management of network topologies · CPC title

• H04L12/4641 Primary

  Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] (LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272) · CPC title

• H04L2001/0095

  Ring · CPC title

• H04L12/437

  Ring fault isolation or reconfiguration {(for SDH/SONET ring networks H04J3/085)} · CPC title