Value-Adoption and Value-Translation for Automatic Provisioning of Port Parameters

• US 20090180389A1
• Filed: 10/16/2008
• Published: 07/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Dunbar, Linda, Sultan, Robert, Mack-Crane, T. Benjamin, Yong, Lucy
• Granted Patent: US 8,351,348 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/242
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/00 Reducing energy consumption in communication networks

Abstract

A network component comprising at least one processor configured to implement a method comprising receiving a message comprising a node'"'"'s data value from the node, determining whether a local data value has been assigned, and adopting the node'"'"'s data value as the local data value when the local data value has not been assigned. Also disclosed is a network component comprising a plurality of ports each configured to couple to a node via a link, a memory configured to store a port data value associated with at least some of the ports, and a processor coupled to the memory and the ports, wherein the processor is configured to access a node'"'"'s data value in a message and adopt the node'"'"'s data value as the port data value.

Claims

1. A network component comprising:

at least one processor configured to implement a method comprising;

receiving a message comprising a node'"'"'s data value from the node;

determining whether a local data value has been assigned; and

adopting the node'"'"'s data value as the local data value when the local data value has not been assigned.

2. The network component of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

determining whether the node'"'"'s data value is valid;

determining whether the node'"'"'s data value is a null value; and

raising an alarm when the node'"'"'s data value is not valid and not the null value.

3. The network component of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

determining whether the node'"'"'s data value is reserved; and

raising an alarm when the local data value has not been assigned and the node'"'"'s data value is reserved.

4. The network component of claim 1, wherein the message is associated with a port, and wherein the method further comprises:

determining whether any data value is assigned to the port;

determining whether the node'"'"'s data value is reserved; and

raising an alarm when the local data value has been assigned, no data value is assigned to the port, and the node'"'"'s data value is reserved.

5. The network component of claim 4, wherein the method further comprises assigning the node'"'"'s data value to the port when the local data value has been assigned, no data value is assigned to the port, and the node'"'"'s data value is not reserved.

6. The network component of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises:

determining whether the port'"'"'s data value is identical to the local data value; and

configuring a translation on the port when the port'"'"'s data value is not identical to the local data value.

7. The network component of claim 1, wherein the message is associated with a port, and wherein the method further comprises:

determining whether any data value is associated with the port;

determining whether the node'"'"'s data value is identical to the port'"'"'s data value; and

clearing any alarms when the node'"'"'s data value is associated with a port and is identical to the port'"'"'s data value.

8. The network component of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises raising an alarm when the node'"'"'s data value is associated with the port and is not identical to the port'"'"'s data value.

9. The network component of claim 1, wherein the data value is a data communications network (DCN) virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier (VID), an authentication server address, or a network management system (NMS) address.

10. The network component of claim 1, wherein the data value is traffic class priority.

11. A network component comprising:

a plurality of ports each configured to couple to a node via a link;

a memory configured to store a port data value associated with at least some of the ports; and

a processor coupled to the memory and the ports, wherein the processor is configured to access a node'"'"'s data value in a message associated with a port and adopt the node'"'"'s data value as the port data value.

12. The network component of claim 11, wherein the memory is configured to store a local data value, and wherein the processor is configured to provision translation between the local data value and the port data value.

13. The network component of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to promote transmission of a second message comprising one of the port data values on the port associated with the port data value, and wherein the translation comprises converting the local data value to the transmitted port data value.

14. The network component of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to access a second message received on one of the ports, wherein the second message comprises the port data value, and wherein the translation comprises converting the received port data value to the local data value.

15. The network component of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to promote transmission of a second message comprising one of the port data values on the port associated with the port data value, wherein the processor is configured to access a third message received on one of the ports, wherein the third message comprises the port data value, wherein the translation comprises converting the local data value to the transmitted port data value, and wherein the translation comprises converting the received port data value to the local data value.

16. The network component of claim 15, wherein the network component is designated as a translating node.

17. The network component of claim 11, wherein the network component is a router, a bridge, or a switch.

18. The network component of claim 11, wherein the data value is a data communications network (DCN) virtual local area network (VLAN) identifier (VID), an authentication server address, or a network management system (NMS) address.

19. A network comprising:

a plurality of nodes communicating with a management entity using a management virtual local area network (VLAN) identified by a management VLAN identifier (VID),

wherein the nodes exchange messages comprising the management VID, and

wherein the nodes adopt the management VID in the messages when the nodes are not provisioned with the management VID.

20. The network of claim 19, wherein the nodes are configured to invoke a security challenge prior to adopting the management VID.

21. The network of claim 19, wherein the messages are exchanged using the Link Layer Discovery Protocol.