Obtaining Identification Information for a Neighboring Network Element

• US 20090003333A1
• Filed: 06/29/2007
• Published: 01/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: World Wide Packets, Inc. (Ciena Corporation)
• Original Assignee: World Wide Packets, Inc. (Ciena Corporation)
• Inventors: Wen, Bo, Davison, Eric Stewart, Wilsey, Scott Daniel, Atkinson, K. Gintaras, Oye, Darren William, Reis, Louis
• Granted Patent: US 7,773,541 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/00 Reducing energy consumption in communication networks

Abstract

If a selected packet switch connected to a neighboring packet switch makes first information identifying the neighboring packet switch available, element managers and processes retrieve the first information from the selected packet switch. The first information is derived by the selected packet switch from communication via a first protocol between the selected packet switch and the neighboring packet switch. If the first information is not available to the element manager and if the selected packet switch makes second information identifying the neighboring packet switch available to the element manager, the element managers and processes retrieve the second information from the selected packet switch. The second information is derived from communication via a second protocol between the selected packet switch and the neighboring packet switch and the first and second protocols are different protocols.

Claims

1. An element manager operating method comprising:

if a selected packet switch connected to a neighboring packet switch makes first information identifying the neighboring packet switch available to the element manager, then retrieving the first information from the selected packet switch, the first information being derived by the selected packet switch from communication via a first protocol between the selected packet switch and the neighboring packet switch; and

if the first information is not available to the element manager and if the selected packet switch makes second information identifying the neighboring packet switch available to the element manager, then retrieving the second information from the selected packet switch, the second information being derived from communication via a second protocol between the selected packet switch and the neighboring packet switch, the first and second protocols being different protocols.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein a port of the selected packet switch is connected to a port of the neighboring packet switch by a single physical pathway, the single physical pathway comprising an electrically conductive cable, a fiber-optic cable, or a wireless link.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first protocol is a layer-two (data link layer) control protocol and the second protocol is a different layer-two control protocol.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the retrieving the first information and the retrieving the second information comprise retrieving from a management interface of the selected packet switch via at least one of a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) message, an extensible Markup Language (XML) message, a response to a command line interface (CLI) command, a reply to a remote method invocation (RMI), or a NETCONF message.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first information identifying the neighboring packet switch comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address of a management interface of the neighboring packet switch.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the second information identifying the neighboring packet switch comprises a Medium Access Control (MAC) address associated with a chassis of the neighboring packet switch.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the second information identifying the neighboring packet switch comprises a MAC address associated with a port of the neighboring packet switch, the selected packet switch being connected to the neighboring packet switch via the port.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected packet switch is connected to the neighboring packet switch via a port of the selected packet switch and further comprising repeating the method of claim 1 for neighboring packet switches connected to other ports of the selected packet switch.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the first protocol and the second protocol are user selectable.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the first protocol comprises one of Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP);

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.3ah Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM);

IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP);

Spanning Tree Protocol (STP);

STP Uplink Fast;

Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP);

Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol (MSTP);

Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP);

Per VLAN Spanning Tree (PVST);

IEEE 802.1x Port Based Network Access Control;

Unidirectional Link Detection (UDLD);

Port Aggregation Protocol (PAGP);

or marker protocol and the second protocol comprises a different one of LLDP, IEEE 802.3ah OAM, LACP, STP, STP Uplink Fast, RSTP, MSTP, CDP, PVST, IEEE 802.1x, UDLD, PAGP, or marker protocol.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising if the first information and the second information are not available to the element manager and if the selected packet switch makes third information identifying the neighboring packet switch available to the element manager, retrieving the third information from the selected packet switch, the third information being derived from communication via a third protocol between the selected packet switch and the neighboring packet switch, the first, second, and third protocols being different protocols.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

if another selected packet switch connected to another neighboring packet switch makes third information identifying the other neighboring packet switch available to the element manager, then retrieving the third information from the other selected packet switch, the third information being derived by the other selected packet switch from communication via a third protocol between the other selected packet switch and the other neighboring packet switch;

if the third information is not available to the element manager and if the other selected packet switch makes fourth information identifying the other neighboring packet switch available to the element manager, then retrieving the fourth information from the other selected packet switch, the fourth information being derived from communication via a fourth protocol between the other selected packet switch and the other neighboring packet switch, the third and fourth protocols being different protocols; and

wherein the selected packet switch is a different type of packet switch than the other selected packet switch and the third protocol is the same as the second protocol.

13. An article of manufacture comprising media comprising programming configured to cause processing circuitry to perform the method of claim 1.

20. The method of claim 4 wherein the determining the identification information for the second of the neighboring network elements comprises determining an IP address of the second of the neighboring network elements based on a MAC address of the second of the neighboring network elements.

14. An element manager operating method comprising:

receiving neighbor information from a selected network element, the neighbor information describing two or more neighboring network elements connected to the selected network element;

determining identification information for a first of the neighboring network elements using a first subset of the neighbor information derived from communication via a first protocol between the selected network element and the first of the neighboring network elements; and

determining identification information for a second of the neighboring network elements using a second subset of the neighbor information derived from communication via a second protocol between the selected network element and the second of the neighboring network elements, the first protocol and the second protocol being different protocols.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the selected network element and the neighboring network elements are Ethernet packet switches.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the first of the neighboring network elements is connected to a first port of the selected network element by a first single physical pathway and the second of the neighboring network elements is connected to a second port of the selected network element by a second single physical pathway, the first port and the second port being different ports and the first pathway and the second pathway being different pathways.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein the first of the neighboring network elements is connected to a first port of the selected network element by a single first physical pathway and the second of the neighboring network elements is connected to the first port of the selected network element via the first physical pathway.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein the first protocol comprises one of LLDP, IEEE 802.3ah OAM, LACP, STP, STP Uplink Fast, RSTP, MSTP, CDP, PVST, IEEE 802.1x, UDLD, PAGP, or marker protocol and the second protocol comprises a different one of LLDP, IEEE 802.3ah OAM, LACP, STP, STP Uplink Fast, RSTP, MSTP, CDP, PVST, IEEE 802.1x, UDLD, PAGP, or marker protocol.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein the first subset of the neighbor information comprises an IP address of a management interface of the first of the neighboring network elements and the second subset of the neighbor information comprises a MAC address of the second of the neighboring network elements.

21. An article of manufacture comprising media comprising programming configured to cause processing circuitry to perform the method of claim 14.

22. A network element operating method comprising:

receiving neighbor information from two or more neighboring network elements connected to the network element, the neighbor information for at least one of the neighboring network elements being received via one or more packets conforming to a first protocol and the neighbor information for at least one other of the neighboring network elements being received via one or more packets conforming to a different second protocol;

determining identification information uniquely identifying each of the two or more neighboring network elements, the identification information being derived from the received neighbor information;

receiving a request for the identification information; and

in response to the received request, transmitting the identification information.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the first protocol is a layer-two control protocol and the second protocol is a different layer-two control protocol.

24. The method of claim 22 wherein the identification information uniquely identifying the individual network element is one or more of an IP address of the individual network element or a MAC address of the individual network element.

25. The method of claim 22 wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting the identification information via at least one of an SNMP message, an XML message, a response to a CLI command, a reply to an RMI, or a NETCONF message.

26. A packet switch configured to implement the method of claim 22.