System and method for supporting virtualized links at an exterior network-to-network interface

• US 20080095176A1
• Filed: 10/20/2006
• Published: 04/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ciena Corporation
• Original Assignee: Ciena Corporation
• Inventors: Fabbri, Alessandro, Ong, Lyndon Y., Curtis, Steven P., Wang, Yalin, Madrahalli, Vagish, Aluri, Neena
• Granted Patent: US 8,045,481 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/400
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/04 Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/76 Routing in software-defined topologies, e.g. routing between virtual machines
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/15 in relation to multipoint traffic arrangements for broadcast or multicast in data networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/785 among multiple network domains, e.g. multilateral agreements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/822 Collecting or measuring resource availability data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/829 Topology based

Abstract

The present invention provides systems and methods for abstracting a network topology into virtual links and supporting both generic and instantiated virtualized links for linking a virtualized topology with actual resources within a domain, providing security over network topology information, providing control over the allocation of resources, and reducing the complexity of advertising.

Claims

1. A system for deriving a virtualized topology from a physical network topology and linking the virtualized topology with actual resources in the physical network topology in order to control resource utilization, comprising:

a control domain;

a plurality of nodes representing the actual resources located with the control domain;

a routing controller;

a plurality of virtual links, wherein a virtual link provides a communication path between two nodes;

a path computation selector, wherein the path computation selector analyzes the plurality of virtual links to determine the types of virtual links and thereby compute a network path over a determined set of network resources;

wherein only the virtual topology is advertised and not all actual resources within the control domain;

wherein the virtualized topology is linked with actual resources in the physical network topology in order to control resource utilization; and

wherein security over the physical network topology information is provided by not advertising all of the actual resources within the control domain.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of nodes is a border node that hosts an exterior network-to-network interface (E-NNI);

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

one or more interior node, wherein the one or more interior node does not host an exterior network-to-network interface (E-NNI).

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

one or more virtual node, wherein the one or more virtual node has no corresponding real node in the physical network topology of the control domain and is used for external advertisement purposes.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of virtual links is comprised of generic virtual links, wherein generic virtual links indicate a general ability to support connectivity between two nodes by the control domain, regardless of the type or the role of the node, over any communication path that is available at a time a connection request is received.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the generic virtual links are binary, wherein the generic virtual links are advertised as being up or down, having available bandwidth or not having available bandwidth, in response to a network policy or in response to a network condition.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of virtual links is comprised of instantiated virtual links, wherein instantiated virtual links indicate a physical path between two nodes in the virtual topology to be used for connectivity between the two nodes across the control domain.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of virtual links is comprised of both generic virtual links and instantiated virtual links.

9. A method for deriving a virtualized topology from a physical network topology and linking the virtualized topology with actual resources in the physical network topology in order to control resource utilization, comprising:

establishing a control domain;

abstracting a plurality of nodes representing the actual resources located with the control domain;

implementing a routing controller;

establishing by abstraction a plurality of virtual links, wherein a virtual link provides a communication path between two nodes;

linking the virtualized topology with actual resources in the physical network topology in order to control resource utilization;

implementing a path computation selector, wherein the path computation selector analyzes the plurality of virtual links to determine the types of virtual links and thereby compute a network path over a determined set of network resources;

advertising the virtual topology to a one or more external domain, wherein only the virtual topology is advertised and not all actual resources within the control domain;

controlling the resource allocation and utilization by policy; and

providing security over the physical network topology information by not advertising all of the actual resources within the control domain.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein at least one of the plurality of nodes is a border node that hosts an exterior network-to-network interface (E-NNI);

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

one or more interior node, wherein the one or more interior node does not host an exterior network-to-network interface (E-NNI).

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

one or more virtual node, wherein the one or more virtual node has no corresponding real node in the physical network topology of the control domain and is used for external advertisement purposes.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of virtual links is comprised of generic virtual links, wherein generic virtual links indicate a general ability to support connectivity between two nodes by the control domain, regardless of the type or the role of the node, over any communication path that is available at a time a connection request is received.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the generic virtual links are binary, wherein the generic virtual links are advertised as being up or down, having available bandwidth or not having available bandwidth, in response to a network policy or in response to a network condition.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of virtual links is comprised of instantiated virtual links, wherein instantiated virtual links indicate a physical path between two nodes in the virtual topology to be used for connectivity between the two nodes across the control domain.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of virtual links is comprised of both generic virtual links and instantiated virtual links.

17. An apparatus, comprising:

logic configured to generate a plurality of virtual links in a control domain, wherein each virtual link represents connectivity between two nodes in the control domain;

logic configured to advertise the plurality of virtual links to external networks;

logic configured to analyze the available virtual links to determine the types of virtual links and thereby compute a network path over a determined set of network resources; and

logic configured to route received requests for services based on the advertised virtual topology.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the plurality of virtual links are generic virtual links, wherein generic virtual links indicate a general ability to support connectivity between two nodes by the control domain, regardless of the type or the role of the node, over any communication path that is available at a time a connection request is received.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the generic virtual links are binary, wherein the generic virtual links are advertised as being up or down, having available bandwidth or not having available bandwidth, in response to a network policy or in response to a network condition.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the plurality of virtual links is comprised of instantiated virtual links, wherein instantiated virtual links indicate a physical path between two nodes in the virtual topology to be used for connectivity between the two nodes across the control domain.