Supporting software defined networking with application layer traffic optimization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9350671-B2
Application number	US-201313801850-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 13, 2013
Priority date	Mar 22, 2012
Publication date	May 24, 2016
Grant date	May 24, 2016

Abstract

A network node for managing the control plane functions for a plurality of nodes within a software defined networking (SDN) domain, comprising a processor configured to collect a plurality of network information from the nodes, forward the network information based on a plurality of domain-specific policies, receive traffic optimization information based on the network information, and compute forwarding decisions for the nodes based on the traffic optimization information. In another embodiment, an Application Layer Traffic Optimization (ALTO) node, comprising a processor configured to import a first set of network information from one or more SDN nodes, aggregate the network information received from the SDN nodes, calculate a plurality of traffic optimization decisions based on the aggregated network information, and forward the traffic optimization decisions to the SDN nodes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A network node for managing a plurality of control plane functions for a plurality of nodes within a software defined networking (SDN) domain, comprising:
a processor configured to:
collect a plurality of fine-grain network information from the nodes;
determine coarse-grain network information based on a plurality of domain-specific policies by removing the fine-grained information considered private to the SDN domain as defined by the domain-specific polices and then aggregating the remaining fine-grained information as defined by the domain-specific policies;
transmit the coarse-grain network information to an optimization node outside out the SDN domain and configured to implement an Application Layer Traffic Optimization (ALTO) protocol;
receive, from the optimization node, a plurality of traffic optimized resource maps calculated based on the coarse-grain network information;
produce routing tables and flow tables based on the resource maps; and
compute forwarding decisions for the nodes based on the routing tables and the flow tables.

2. The network node of claim 1 , wherein the network node does not perform data plane functions, and wherein the network information comprises at least a network topology, a link capacity data, and a bandwidth data.

3. The network node of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to transmit the coarse-grain network information when a request message is received from the optimization node.

4. The network node of claim 1 , wherein the resource maps are cost maps that indicate a path cost to transport data for a path.

5. The network node of claim 1 , wherein the resource maps provide a plurality of domain information not associated with the SDN domain.

6. The network node of claim 1 , wherein the optimization node is an Application Layer Traffic Optimization (ALTO) node.

7. The network node of claim 1 , wherein the resource maps are specific to the SDN domain.

8. The network node of claim 1 , wherein the resource maps comprise network maps.

9. The network node of claim 1 , wherein the optimization node is external to the SDN domain.

10. A software defined networking (SDN) controller comprising:
a processor configured to:
produce routing tables and flow tables;
collect a plurality of fine-grain network information from a plurality of nodes within an SDN domain;
determine coarse-grain network information based on a plurality of domain-specific policies by removing the fine-grained information considered private to the SDN domain defined by the domain-specific polices and then aggregating the remaining fine-grained information as defined by the domain-specific policies;
transmit the coarse-grain network information to an Application Layer Traffic Optimization (ALTO) node, wherein the ALTO node is external to the SDN domain and configured to implement an ALTO protocol;
receive, from the ALTO node, a plurality of traffic optimized resource maps generated based on the coarse-grain network information;
update the flow tables based on the resource maps; and
compute forwarding decisions for the nodes based on the routing tables and the flow tables.

11. The SDN controller of claim 10 , wherein the SDN controller does not perform data plane functions.

12. The SDN controller of claim 10 , wherein the resource maps are cost maps that indicate a path cost to transport data for a path.

13. The SDN controller of claim 10 , wherein the resource maps provide a plurality of domain information not associated with the SDN domain.

14. The SDN controller of claim 10 , wherein the resource maps comprise network maps.

15. A method comprising:
collecting a plurality of fine grain network information from a plurality of nodes within a software defined networking (SDN) domain;
determining coarse-grain network information based on a plurality of domain-specific policies by removing, the fine-grained information considered private to the SDN domain defined by the domain-specific polices and then aggregating the remaining fine-grained information as defined by the domain-specific policies;
transmitting the coarse-grain network information to an optimization node, wherein the optimization node is outside out the SDN domain and configured to implement an Application Layer Traffic Optimization (ALTO) protocol;
receiving, from the optimization node, a plurality of traffic optimized resource maps generated based on the coarse-grain network information;
producing routing tables and flow tables based on the resource maps; and
computing forwarding decisions for the nodes based on the routing tables and the flow tables.

Assignees

• Futurewei Technologies Inc

Inventors

• Zou Ting
• Xie Haiyong
• Yin Hongtao

Classifications

• H04L45/02

  Topology update or discovery · CPC title

• H04L41/12 Primary

  Discovery or management of network topologies · CPC title

• H04L41/0894

  Policy-based network configuration management · CPC title

• H04L41/0895

  Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements · CPC title

• H04L41/40

  using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities · CPC title