E-spring support of ethernet protection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9401817-B2
Application number	US-201514719461-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 22, 2015
Priority date	May 1, 2009
Publication date	Jul 26, 2016
Grant date	Jul 26, 2016

Abstract

A method of routing traffic through a packet network having a mesh physical topology. At least two types of network primitive are defined, each type of network primitive providing a respective model of traffic forwarding through at least two neighbor nodes of the network. A network model encompassing at least a portion of the network is constructed using a set of two or more interconnected network primitives. The network model has nodes and links corresponding to respective nodes and lines of the network. Respective forwarding information is computed for each node of the network model. For each node of the network model, the respective computed forwarding information is installed in a forwarding database of the corresponding node of the network, such that traffic is forwarded by each node of the network in accordance with the respective computed forwarding information.

First claim

We claim:

1. In a packet network having a mesh physical topology, a method of controlling traffic forwarding between a source node and a destination node of the packet network, the method comprising:
controlling at least one physical node of the packet network to forward an end-to-end traffic flow between the source node and the destination node using a chain of interconnected network primitives extending between the source node and the destination node, the chain of interconnected network primitives including:
at least one ring network primitive comprising a model of bi-directional traffic forwarding through at least two neighbour nodes interconnected in a ring topology; and
a plurality of sub-ring network primitives comprising a model of bi-directional traffic forwarding through at least two neighbour nodes interconnected in a linear topology between first and second end-nodes, and between the first and second end-nodes via a virtual link mapped through at least one other network primitive,
wherein the mesh physical topology is modeled by the at least one ring network primitive and the plurality of sub-ring network primitives for protection switching of the end-to-end traffic through the mesh physical topology,

wherein the controlling comprises detecting, by a physical node associated with a first network primitive in the chain of interconnected network primitives, a network failure affecting the end-to-end traffic flow between the source node and the destination node, and a Ring Protection Link (RPL) owner of the first network primitive restoring the end-to-end traffic flow by clearing a channel block of the first network primitive.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein controlling at least one physical node of the packet network comprises:
associating each node of the chain of interconnected network primitives with a respective physical node of the packet network; and
installing, in each physical node associated with a selected one node of each network primitive, the channel block configured to prevent the physical node from forwarding packets through a selected physical link of the packet network.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the selected one node of each network primitive is the RPL owner of its network primitive.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one ring network primitive and the plurality of sub-ring network primitives cover all links in the mesh physical topology.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a network primitive is connected to any number of other network primitives of either the at least one ring network primitive and the plurality of sub-ring network primitives,
wherein end-nodes of a sub-ring network primitive are connected to a common network primitive or different network primitives, and
wherein connections between network primitives occur exclusively at nodes, thus a network primitive cannot be connected to another network primitive via a shared link.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein loops are prevented in the mesh physical topology by a channel block in each of the at least one ring network primitive and the plurality of sub-ring network primitives.

7. In a packet network having a mesh physical topology, a network control system comprising a plurality of nodes for controlling traffic forwarding between a source node and a destination node of the packet network, wherein the packet network comprises a plurality of physical nodes and a plurality physical links interconnecting the plurality of physical nodes in the mesh topography, the network control system being configured to:
control at least one physical node of the packet network to forward an end-to-end traffic flow between the source node and the destination node using a chain of interconnected network primitives extending between the source node and the destination node, the chain of interconnected network primitives including:
at least one ring network primitive comprising a model of bi-directional traffic forwarding through at least two neighbour nodes interconnected in a ring topology; and
a plurality of sub-ring network primitives comprising a model of bi-directional traffic forwarding through at least two neighbour nodes interconnected in a linear topology between first and second end-nodes, and between the first and second end-nodes via a virtual link mapped through at least one other network primitive;

wherein the mesh physical topology is modeled by the at least one ring network primitive and the plurality of sub-ring network primitives for protection switching of the end-to-end traffic through the mesh physical topology,
wherein the control comprises the at least one physical node, associated with a first network primitive in the chain of interconnected network primitives, detecting a network failure affecting the end-to-end traffic flow between the source node and the destination node, and a Ring Protection Link (RPL) owner of the first network primitive restoring the end-to-end traffic flow by clearing a channel block of the first network primitive.

8. The network control system as claimed in claim 7 , further comprising:
a node associated with a first network primitive in the chain of interconnected network primitives, the node configured to detect a network failure affecting the end-to-end traffic flow between the source node and the destination node.

9. The network control system as claimed in claim 7 , further comprising:
a physical node associated with a selected one node of a first network primitive in the chain of interconnected network primitives, the physical node including a channel block configured to prevent the physical node from forwarding packets through a selected physical link of the packet network.

10. The network control system as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the selected one node is a Ring Protection Link (RPL) owner of the first network primitive.

11. The network control system as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the RPL owner of the first network primitive is configured to restore the end-to-end traffic flow by clearing the channel block of the first network primitive.

12. The network control system as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the at least one ring network primitive and the plurality of sub-ring network primitives cover all links in the mesh physical topology.

13. The network control system as claimed in claim 7 , wherein a network primitive is connected to any number of other network primitives of either the at least one ring network primitive and the plurality of sub-ring network primitives,
wherein end-nodes of a sub-ring network primitive are connected to a common network primitive or different network primitives, and
wherein connections between network primitives occur exclusively at nodes, thus a network primitive cannot be connected to another network primitive via a shared link.

14. The network control system as claimed in claim 7 , wherein loops are prevented in the mesh physical topology by a channel block in each of the at least one ring network primitive and the plurality of sub-ring network primitives.

15. In a packet network having a mesh physical topology, a method of controlling traffic forwarding through the packet network, the method comprising:
associating each node of a network model with a respective physical node of the packet network, the network model comprising a plurality of interconnected network primitives, the plurality of interconnected network primitives including:
at least one ring network primitive comprising a model of bi-directional traffic forwarding through at least two neighbour nod

Assignees

• Ciena Corp

Inventors

• Holness Marc
• Abdullah Bashar

Classifications

• H04L45/00

  Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks (routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00) · CPC title

• H04L12/437 Primary

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

• H04L12/42 Primary

  Loop networks · CPC title

• H04L49/102

  using shared medium, e.g. bus or ring · CPC title

• H04L45/16

  Multipoint routing · CPC title