System and method for providing bandwidth management for VPNs

• US 20030235209A1
• Filed: 06/25/2002
• Published: 12/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Mani, Mahalingam, Garg, Sachin, Kappes, Martin
• Granted Patent: US 7,486,696 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/468
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4675 Dynamic sharing of VLAN information amongst network nodes configuration of the network or of network elements H04L41/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/20 Traffic policing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2408 for supporting different services, e.g. a differentiated services [DiffServ] type of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/29 using a combination of thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/02 Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

A method and system for controlling the bandwidths of data traffic over virtual private networks are provided. The method includes classifying the data traffic for the virtual private network into different flows, monitoring a current bandwidth usage by at least one of the flows, comparing the current bandwidth usage with a predetermined threshold for the flow, and performing a bandwidth control operation for the flow if the current bandwidth usage exceeds the predetermined threshold for that flow.

Claims

1. A method for controlling bandwidth of data traffic for a virtual private network, the method comprising:

classifying the data traffic for the virtual private network into different flows;

monitoring a current bandwidth usage by at least one of the flows;

comparing the current bandwidth usage with a predetermined threshold for the at least one of the flows; and

performing a bandwidth control operation for the at least one of the flows based on the results from the comparing step.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the bandwidth control operation is performed for the at least one of the flows if the current bandwidth usage exceeds the predetermined threshold for that flow.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the bandwidth control operation is for transport control protocol (TCP) or for user datagram protocol (UDP).

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the bandwidth control operation includes:

triggering a built-in congestion control mechanism to control the bandwidth of the data traffic.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein, in the triggering step, the built-in congestion control mechanism is triggered by selectively dropping certain encapsulating packets of the data traffic.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the bandwidth control operation includes:

alternating accept and deny times for internet protocol (IP) packets to accept or deny certain encapsulating packets of the data traffic.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the accept and deny times are selected such that the following relationship is established:

(t_accept)/(t_accept+t_deny)=b_desd/b_curr

wherein t_accept represents the accept time, t_deny represents the deny time, b_curr represents a currently used bandwidth for the flow, and b_desd represents the predetermined threshold.

8. The method according to claim 1, where the classifying step includes:

examining at least one of an internet protocol (IP) address, a media access control (MAC) address, a type of service (ToS) field, and a differentiated service (DiffServ) field of each packet of the data traffic; and

dividing the data traffic into flows based on the results from the examining step.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein, in the classifying step, all packets with at least one of the same IP address, the same MAC address, the same ToS field, and the same DiffServ field are classified as a single flow.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring step includes:

computing the current bandwidth usage by the at least one of the flow based on at least one of the following;

a packet size for each packet in the flow, a flow type, a total number of packets present in the flow, and a predetermined time window set for the flow.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in the comparing step, the predetermined threshold is determined based on predetermined quality of service (QoS) requirements.

12. A system for controlling bandwidth of data traffic for a virtual private network, the system comprising:

a gateway including;

classifying the data traffic for the virtual private network into different flows, monitoring a current bandwidth usage by at least one of the flows, comparing the current bandwidth usage with a predetermined threshold for the at least one of the flows, and performing a bandwidth control operation for the at least one of the flows based on the comparison results.

13. The system according to claim 12, further comprising:

a gateway controller providing the predetermined threshold and bandwidth control information to the gateway, so as to control the bandwidth control operation of the gateway.

14. The system according to claim 12, wherein the gateway performs the bandwidth control operation for the at least one of the flows if the current bandwidth usage exceeds the predetermined threshold for that flow.

15. The system according to claim 12, wherein the bandwidth control operation is for transport control protocol (TCP) or for user datagram protocol (UDP).

16. The system according to claim 12, wherein the bandwidth control operation includes triggering a built-in congestion control mechanism of the gateway to control the bandwidth of the data traffic.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the built-in congestion control mechanism is triggered when the gateway selectively drops certain encapsulating packets of the data traffic.

18. The system according to claim 13, wherein the bandwidth control operation includes alternating accept and deny times for internet protocol (IP) packets to accept or deny certain encapsulating packets of the data traffic.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein the accept and deny times are selected such that the following relationship is established:

(t_accept)/(t_accept+t_deny)=b_desd/b_curr

wherein t_accept represents the accept time, t_deny represents the deny time, b_curr represents a currently used bandwidth for the flow, and b_desd represents the predetermined threshold.

20. The system according to claim 12, where the gateway examines at least one of an internet protocol (IP) address, a media access control (MAC) address, a type of service (ToS) field, and a differentiated service (DiffServ) field of each packet of the data traffic, and thereby classifies the data traffic into flows based on the examination results.

21. The system according to claim 20, wherein the gateway classifies all packets with at least one of the same IP address, the same MAC address, the same ToS field, and the same DiffServ field, as a single flow.

22. The system according to claim 12, wherein the gateway computes the current bandwidth usage by the at least one of the flow based on at least one of the following:

a packet size for each packet in the flow, a flow type, a total number of packets present in the flow, and a predetermined time window set for the flow.

23. The system according to claim 13, wherein the gateway controller determines the predetermined threshold based on quality of service (QoS) requirements.

24. A computer program product embodied on a computer-readable medium, for controlling bandwidth of data traffic for a virtual private network, the computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions for:

classifying the data traffic for the virtual private network into different flows;

monitoring a current bandwidth usage by at least one of the flows;

comparing the current bandwidth usage with a predetermined threshold for the at least one of the flows; and

performing a bandwidth control operation for the at least one of the flows based on the results from the comparing step.

25. The computer program product according to claim 24, wherein the bandwidth control operation is performed for the at least one of the flows if the current bandwidth usage exceeds the predetermined threshold for that flow.

26. The computer program product according to claim 24, wherein the bandwidth control operation is for transport control protocol (TCP) or for user datagram protocol (UDP).

27. The computer program product according to claim 24, wherein the computer-executable instructions for performing the bandwidth control operation include computer-executable instructions for:

triggering a built-in congestion control mechanism to control the bandwidth of the data traffic.

28. The computer program product according to claim 27, wherein the built-in congestion control mechanism is triggered by selectively dropping certain encapsulating packets of the data traffic.

29. The computer program product according to claim 25, wherein the computer-executable instructions for performing the bandwidth control operation include computer-executable instructions for:

alternating accept and deny times for internet protocol (IP) packets to accept or deny certain encapsulating packets of the data traffic.

30. The computer program product according to claim 29, wherein the accept and deny times are selected such that the following relationship is established:

(t_accept)/(t_accept+t_deny)=b_desd/b_curr

wherein t_accept represents the accept time, t_deny represents the deny time, b_curr represents a currently used bandwidth for the flow, and b_desd represents the predetermined threshold.

31. The computer program product according to claim 24, where the computer-executable instructions for classifying include computer-executable instructions for:

examining at least one of an internet protocol (IP) address, a media access control (MAC) address, a type of service (ToS) field, and a differentiated service (DiffServ) field of each packet of the data traffic; and

dividing the data traffic into flows based on the examination results.

32. The computer program product according to claim 31, wherein all packets with at least one of the same IP address, the same MAC address, the same ToS field, and the same DiffServ field are classified as a single flow.

33. The computer program product according to claim 24, wherein the computer-executable instructions for monitoring include computer-executable instructions for:

computing the current bandwidth usage by the at least one of the flow based on at least one of the following;

a packet size for each packet in the flow, a flow type, a total number of packets present in the flow, and a predetermined time window set for the flow.

34. The computer program product according to claim 24, wherein the predetermined threshold is determined based on predetermined quality of service (QoS) requirements.