Softrouter separate control network

• US 20060092976A1
• Filed: 06/08/2005
• Published: 05/04/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Woo, Thomas Y., Lakshman, Tirunell V., Sabnani, Krishan K.
• Granted Patent: US 9,014,181 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/469
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/04 Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/123 Evaluation of link metrics techniques for monitoring network metrics H04L43/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/28 using route fault recovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/60 Router architectures

Abstract

An embodiment of the exemplary SoftRouter architecture includes two physically separate networks, a control plane network and a data plane network. The data plane network is one physical network for the data traffic, while the control plane network is another physical network for the control traffic. The topology of the data plane network is made up of interconnected forwarding elements (FEs). The topology of the control plane network is made up interconnected control elements (CEs). This physical independence of the control plane network from the data plane network provides for a secure mechanism to communicate among the CEs in the control plane network. In addition, this physical independence provides improved reliability and improved scalability, when compared to the traditional router architecture, where control plane message are in-band with the data plane.

Claims

1. A network architecture, comprising:

a data plane being a network for carrying data traffic, the data plane including a plurality of interconnected forwarding elements (FEs);

a control plane being another network for control traffic that is separate from the data plane, the control plane including a plurality of interconnected control elements (CEs), each CE controls at least two of the FEs, each CE is dynamically bound to its controlled FEs; and

a interface between the data plane and control plane using a protocol;

wherein communication between the CEs is private.

2. The network architecture of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one feature server in the control plane.

3. The network architecture of claim 1, wherein routing protocols keep track of the data plane and control plane topologies and any changes or failures in the data plane topology is communicated to the CEs.

4. The network architecture of claim 1, wherein any CE configures and provides routing information to one of its controlled FEs through the standard interface, while control messages between CEs are sent through the private control plane.

5. The network architecture of claim 1, wherein the control plane is logically separate from the data plane.

6. The network architecture of claim 1, wherein the control plane is physically separate from the data plane.

7. A network architecture, comprising:

a data plane being a network for carrying data traffic, the data plane including a plurality of interconnected forwarding elements (FEs), the data plane being separate from a control plane that is another network for control traffic,, the control plane including a plurality of interconnected control elements (CEs), each CE controling at least two of the FEs, each CE being dynamically bound to its controlled FEs; and

a interface to the control plane from the data plane using a protocol;

wherein communication between the CEs is private.

8. A network architecture, comprising:

a control plane being another network for control traffic that is separate from a data plane, the control plane including a plurality of interconnected control elements (CEs), each CE controls at least two of the FEs, each CE is dynamically bound to its controlled FEs, the data plane being a network for carrying data traffic, the data plane including a plurality of interconnected forwarding elements (FEs); and

a interface to the data plane from the control plane using a protocol;

wherein communication between the CEs is private.