Methods of establishing virtual circuits and of providing a virtual private network service through a shared network, and provider edge device for such network
First Claim
1. A method of establishing a virtual circuit including at least one provider edge (PE) device for a virtual private network having a plurality of customer edge (CE) devices, the method comprising the steps of:
- receiving, at a first said PE device, an indication from at least one said CE device identifying a virtual LAN (VLAN) which includes said CE device; and
establishing, for each VLAN identified which includes a plurality of CE devices in which at least one said CE device is connected to a second PE device, a virtual circuit between said first and second PE devices.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A virtual private network (VPN) service is provided through a shared network infrastructure comprising interconnected provider edge (PE) devices having customer edge (CE) interfaces. Some of the CE interfaces are allocated to a VPN supporting virtual LANs. A correspondence between a CE interface and a virtual LAN is learnt on the basis of tagged frames received at this CE interface and including an identifier of this virtual LAN. The learning process permits the detection of pairs of CE interfaces which correspond to a common virtual LAN. Upon such detection, a virtual circuit is established in the shared network infrastructure between the PE devices having these CE interfaces, and subsequently used for forwarding frames including the identifier of the common virtual VLAN.
170 Citations
58 Claims
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1. A method of establishing a virtual circuit including at least one provider edge (PE) device for a virtual private network having a plurality of customer edge (CE) devices, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving, at a first said PE device, an indication from at least one said CE device identifying a virtual LAN (VLAN) which includes said CE device; and
establishing, for each VLAN identified which includes a plurality of CE devices in which at least one said CE device is connected to a second PE device, a virtual circuit between said first and second PE devices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of providing a virtual private network (VPN) service through a shared network infrastructure comprising a plurality of interconnected provider edge (PE) devices having customer edge (CE) interfaces, wherein some of the CE interfaces are allocated to a VPN supporting a plurality of virtual local area networks (VLANs) and are arranged for exchanging tagged data frames with CE devices respectively connected to the PE devices through said CE interfaces, each tagged frame including a VLAN identifier, the method comprising the following steps:
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receiving at least one tagged frame from a CE device at each CE interface allocated to said VPN, and learning a correspondence between said CE interface and each VLAN identifier included in said at least one tagged frame;
detecting whether a pair of CE interfaces allocated to said VPN and belonging to two PE devices correspond to a common VLAN identifier; and
in response to such detection, establishing at least one virtual circuit in the shared network infrastructure between said two PE devices, for forwarding frames including said common VLAN identifier. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A provider edge (PE) device, comprising:
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means for communicating with other PE devices;
at least one customer edge (CE) interface;
configuration means for allocating at least one CE interface to a virtual private network (VPN) supporting a plurality of virtual local area networks (VLANs);
means for mapping a VLAN to a CE interface allocated to the VPN, said VLAN being indicated in data received at said CE interface;
means for identifying, in relation to the indicated VLAN, another PE device having a CE interface allocated to the VPN; and
means for establishing a virtual circuit to the identified PE device. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. A provider edge (PE) device for a shared network infrastructure, comprising:
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means for communicating with other PE devices through the shared network infrastructure;
at least one local customer edge (CE) interface;
configuration means for allocating at least one local CE interface to a virtual private network (VPN) supporting a plurality of virtual local area networks (VLANs), the allocated local CE interface being arranged for exchanging tagged data frames with a respective CE device, each tagged frame including a VLAN identifier;
means for learning a correspondence between a first local CE interface allocated to said VPN and a first VLAN identifier included in at least one tagged frame received from a CE device at said first local CE interface;
means for identifying another PE device having a CE interface allocated to said VPN and having received a tagged frame including said first VLAN identifier; and
means for establishing a virtual circuit in the shared network infrastructure, for communicating frames including said first VLAN identifier with the identified PE device. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
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Specification