Methods and apparatus for a self-organized layer-2 enterprise network architecture

• US 10,015,046 B2
• Filed: 05/05/2017
• Issued: 07/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Murphy, James, Sheth, Nischal, Choudhury, Abhijit, Mallya, Raghavendra, Pogde, Pranay, Nanda, Phalguni, Boddu, Jayabharat, Sindhu, Pradeep
• Primary Examiner(s): Choudhury, Faisal
• Application Number:
  US15/587,860
• Publication Number:
  US 20170279675A1
• Time in Patent Office: 424 Days
• Field of Search: 370254
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0809 Plug-and-play configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/162 at the data link layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/069 using certificates or pre-shared keys
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a network node operatively coupled within a network. The network node is configured to send a first authentication message upon boot up, and receive, in response to the first authentication message, a second authentication message configured to be used to authenticate the network node. The network node is configured to send a first discovery message, and receive, based on the first discovery message, a second discovery message configured to be used by the network node to identify an address of the network node and an address of a core network node within the network. The network node is configured to set up a control-plane tunnel to the core network node based on the address of the network node and the address for the core network node and receive configuration information from the core network node through the control-plane tunnel.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

discovering, at an aggregation network node, a plurality of network devices directly coupled to the aggregation network node, the plurality of network devices including a core network node and an access network node;

sending, from the aggregation network node and to the core network node and the access network node, a plurality of portions of incomplete network topology information, each portion of incomplete network topology information from the plurality of portions of incomplete network topology information including a list of network devices directly coupled to the aggregation network node;

receiving, at the aggregation network node, a first updated portion of incomplete network topology information from the core network node and a second updated portion of incomplete network topology information from the access network node, the first updated portion of incomplete network topology information being defined by the core network node based on (1) the plurality of portions of incomplete network topology information and (2) a network topology that was discovered by the core network node before the plurality of portions of incomplete network topology information was sent, the second updated portion of incomplete network topology information being defined by the access network node based on (1) the plurality of portions of incomplete network topology information and (2) a network topology that was discovered by the access network node before the plurality of portions of incomplete network topology was sent; and

updating complete network topology information stored at the aggregation network node based on the first updated portion of incomplete network topology information and the second updated portion of incomplete network topology information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving at the aggregation network node a first authentication message;

sending from the aggregation network node and to the access network node a second authentication message in response to the first authentication message; and

sending control information from the core network node through the aggregation network node via a control-plane tunnel between (1) an access point that is coupled to the access network node and (2) the core network node.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a first authentication message to an access network node;

receiving a second authentication message from the access network node in response to the first authentication message; and

receiving control information from the core network node through the access network node and the aggregation network node from the plurality of network devices via a control-plane tunnel between an access point and the core network node.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a first plurality of topology messages to each network device from a subset of network devices from the plurality of network devices before receiving the incomplete network topology information from each network device from the subset of the plurality of network devices; and

automatically configuring, at an access point that is coupled to the access network node, with respect to a virtual local area network (VLAN) or a user policy based on a user that connects to the access point.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a first plurality of topology messages to each network device from a subset of network devices from the plurality of network devices before receiving the incomplete network topology information from each network device from the subset of the plurality of network devices;

receiving control information from the core network node; and

automatically configuring, at an access point that is coupled to the access network node, based on the control information and the updated complete network topology information.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a first plurality of routing messages to a set of network devices from the plurality of network devices;

receiving a second plurality of routing messages from the set of network devices;

receiving data-plane packets from the core network node through a data-plane tunnel based on the second plurality of routing messages.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the core network node establishes at least one of (1) a wireless session with an access point that is coupled to the access network node or (2) a wired session with the access network node via a data plane tunnel.

8. A processor-readable non-transitory medium storing code representing instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

send, via a communications interface at a network node coupled to an access point via an access network node, a first plurality of topology messages to a set of network nodes from a plurality of network nodes, the first plurality of topology messages including an incomplete version of a network topology stored at the network node, the incomplete version of the network topology including a list of network devices directly coupled to the network node, the set of network nodes including a core network node and the access network node;

receive, via the communications interface, a second plurality of topology messages from the set of network nodes, each topology message from the second plurality of topology messages including an updated version of the network topology modified by the core network node and the access network node, the updated version of the network topology being generated based on (1) the incomplete version of the network topology stored at that network node and received by that network node, and (2) a version of the network topology that was discovered by the core network node before the incomplete version of the network topology information was received from the core network node and a version of the network topology that was discovered by the access network node before the incomplete network topology information was received from the access network node; and

automatically modify the incomplete version of the network topology stored at the network node based on the second plurality of topology messages.

9. The processor-readable non-transitory medium of claim 8, wherein the network node is an aggregation network node, the code further storing code to cause the processor to:

set up a control-plane tunnel with the access network node through the aggregation network node based on an address of the core network node and an address of the access network node; and

receive, via the communications interface, control information from the core network node through the control-plane tunnel.

10. The processor-readable non-transitory medium of claim 8, further storing code to cause the processor to:

set up a control-plane tunnel with the access network node through the network node based on an address of the core network node and an address of the access network node;

receive, via the communications interface, control information from the core network node through the control-plane tunnel; and

receive, via the communications interface and after receiving the control information, data-plane packets through the network node via a data-plane tunnel.

11. The processor-readable non-transitory medium of claim 8, further storing code to cause the processor to:

receive an address of the core network node;

set up a control-plane tunnel with the access network node through the network node based on the address of the core network node and an address of the access network node; and

receive, via the communications interface, control information from the core network node through the control-plane tunnel.

12. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor operatively coupled to the memory, the processor configured to receive configuration information from a core network node via a control-plane tunnel,

the processor configured to send a first set of network topology messages to a set of network nodes coupled to the processor without intervening network nodes, the first set of network topology messages including an incomplete version of a network topology stored at the memory, the set of network nodes including an access point and an aggregation network node, the processor configured to receive a second set of network topology messages from the set of network nodes, each network topology message in the second set of network topology messages including an incomplete version of the network topology stored at a network node from the set of network nodes, the incomplete version of the network topology stored at the aggregation network node including an incomplete version of the network topology received from the core network node that is directly coupled to the aggregation network node,

the processor configured to define a complete network topology based on the second set of network topology messages, the processor configured to define at least one data-plane path to the core network node based on the complete network topology.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to authenticate, auto-discover and receive the configuration information without intervention from a network administrator.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to authenticate and auto-discover in response to a boot up sequence of the processor.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein:

the processor is configured to automatically configure itself based on the configuration information and the complete network topology,

the processor is configured to automatically configure itself with respect to a virtual local area network (VLAN) or a user policy based on a user that connects to a network node of the processor.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to receive configuration information from the core network node through the control-plane tunnel based on an address for a network node of the processor and an address of the core network node.

17. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein:

the processor is configured to send a first plurality of routing messages to a set of network nodes from the set of network nodes,

the processor is configured to receive a second plurality of routing messages from the set of network nodes,

the processor is configured to receive data-plane packets from the core network node through a data-plane tunnel based on the second plurality of routing messages.

18. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the set of network nodes includes a plurality of wireless nodes and a plurality of wired nodes.