Logical port system and method

• US 20030206548A1
• Filed: 05/06/2002
• Published: 11/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ADTRAN Incorporated (ADTRAN Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ADTRAN Incorporated (ADTRAN Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zoucha, Jacqueline M., Karali, Theodora, Bannai, Vinay, Jones, Peter Geoffrey, Sastry, Arun
• Granted Patent: US 8,611,363 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/42 Loop networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 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 Class Codes: H04L 45/308 Route determination based on user's profile, e.g. premium users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/50 using label swapping, e.g. multi-protocol label switch [MPLS]

Abstract

Logical ports allow multiple customers to be connected to and to receive different services over a common physical port of a packet forwarding device. Such logical ports allow for customer separation and may be created based on VLAN ID and MPLS labels. In one embodiment, each service provided via a packet forwarding device is associated with a unique logical port. The logical port may span multiple physical ports.

Claims

1. A method of providing multiple services over a single physical port of a packet forwarding device, the method comprising:

providing a lookup table associating a set of logical port identifiers with a set of logical ports;

receiving a first incoming packet at a physical port of a packet forwarding device, the first incoming packet having a first port identifier;

assigning a first logical port to the first incoming packet based on the first port identifier of the first incoming packet using the lookup table, the first logical port being associated with a first service;

receiving a second incoming packet at the physical port of the packet forwarding device, the second incoming packet having a second port identifier, the second port identifier being different from the first port identifier;

assigning a second logical port to the second incoming packet based on the second port identifier of the second incoming packet using the lookup table, the second logical port being associated with a second service, the second service comprising a service different from the first service;

forwarding the first incoming packet in accordance with the first service;

forwarding the second incoming packet in accordance with the second service.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical port identifiers each comprise a VLAN ID.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical port identifiers each comprise an MPLS label.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second services are selected from a group including voice service, routing service, point-to-point service, layer 1 service, layer 2 service, layer 3 service, and MPLS service.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first service is provided to a first customer and the second service is provided to a second customer.

6. A method for providing link aggregation across separate physical ports, the method comprising:

providing a lookup table associating a set of logical port identifiers with a set of logical ports;

receiving a first incoming packet at a first physical port, the first incoming packet having a first port identifier;

assigning a first logical port to the first incoming packet based on the first port identifier of the first incoming packet using the lookup table, the first logical port being associated with a first service;

receiving a second incoming packet at a second physical port of the packet forwarding device, the second incoming packet having a second port identifier, the second port identifier being identical to the first port identifier;

assigning the first logical port to the second incoming packet based on the second port identifier of the second incoming packet using the lookup table, the second logical port being associated with a second service, the first logical port being associated with a single service and a single customer.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first and second physical ports comprise separate ports on a single slot of a packet forwarding device.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the first physical port comprises a port at a first slot of a packet forwarding device and the second physical port comprises a port at a second slot of the packet forwarding device.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the first physical port comprises a port at a first packet forwarding device and the second physical port comprises a port at a second packet forwarding device.