ETHERNET ADDRESS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• US 20090190598A1
• Filed: 11/18/2008
• Published: 07/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Christensen, Peter Skov, Melsen, Torben, Hyldgaard, Kim
• Granted Patent: US 8,401,024 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/395.53
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2878 Access multiplexer, e.g. DSLAM generic distributed time multiplexers, e.g. TDM/TDMA H04J3/1694
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/604 Address structures or formats
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/25 of the same type
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2596 Translation of addresses of the same type other than IP, e.g. translation from MAC to MAC addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5038 for local use, e.g. in LAN or USB networks, or in a controller area network [CAN]

Abstract

A system and method for mapping original Media Access Control (MAC) addresses to unique locally administered virtual MAC addresses in an Ethernet network. A first field of the address may include a domain for the address, and a second field may indicate that the address is a locally administered MAC address. A third field of the address may include an index indicating a number of virtual MAC addresses for each user. Fourth and fifth fields of the address may include a Network Element ID (NE ID) for uniquely identifying a given access node in a given domain, and a Port ID for uniquely identifying an end-user port at the given access node. The system may be implemented in an access node or in a network emulator, which generates unique locally administered MAC addresses for all of the nodes in the Ethernet network for performing emulations of the network.

Claims

1. A system for generating a plurality of unique locally administered virtual Media Access Control (MAC) addresses for emulating an Ethernet network, said system comprising:

a MAC address database for storing original MAC addresses for all nodes in the network;

means for accessing the MAC address database to extract original MAC addresses;

means for mapping the original MAC address for each node in the network to a unique locally administered virtual MAC address, said mapping means comprising;

means for defining a MAC domain for the virtual MAC address utilizing a first portion of the virtual MAC address;

means for indicating that the address is a locally administered address utilizing a second portion of the virtual MAC address;

means for denoting a unit-specific use utilizing a third portion of the virtual MAC address; and

means for denoting an organizationally assigned unit-unique MAC address utilizing a fourth portion of the virtual MAC address;

wherein the unique locally administered virtual MAC address includes six octets, and wherein the first portion of the virtual MAC address that is utilized to define the MAC domain is the six most significant bits of the first octet of the virtual MAC address; and

means for utilizing the unique locally administered virtual MAC addresses for all of the nodes in the network to perform an emulation of the Ethernet network.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the mapping means also includes:

means for comparing the unit-unique MAC address for each node against unit-unique MAC addresses that are already used in other nodes; and

means for defining a new MAC domain for the original MAC address when the unit-unique MAC address has already been used in another node.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the second portion of the virtual MAC address that is utilized to indicate that the address is a locally administered MAC address is the second-least significant bit of the first octet of the virtual MAC address.

4. The system as recited in claim 3, wherein the third portion of the virtual MAC address that is utilized to denote a unit specific use includes a second and third octet of the virtual MAC address.

5. A computer-controlled method of generating a plurality of unique locally administered virtual Media Access Control (MAC) addresses for emulating an Ethernet network, said method comprising the steps of:

storing original MAC addresses for all nodes in the network in a MAC address database;

accessing the MAC address database to extract original MAC addresses;

mapping the original MAC address for each node in the network to a unique locally administered virtual MAC address, said mapping step comprising;

defining a MAC domain for the virtual MAC address utilizing a first portion of the virtual MAC address;

indicating that the address is a locally administered address utilizing a second portion of the virtual MAC address;

denoting a unit-specific use utilizing a third portion of the virtual MAC address; and

denoting an organizationally assigned unit-unique MAC address utilizing a fourth portion of the virtual MAC address;

wherein the unique locally administered virtual MAC address includes six octets, and wherein the first portion of the virtual MAC address that is utilized to define the MAC domain is the six most significant bits of the first octet of the virtual MAC address; and

utilizing the unique locally administered virtual MAC addresses for all of the nodes in the network to perform an emulation of the Ethernet network.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the mapping step also includes:

comparing the unit-unique MAC address for each node against unit-unique MAC addresses that are already used in other nodes; and

defining a new MAC domain for the original MAC address when the unit-unique MAC address has already been used in another node.

7. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the step of indicating that the address is a locally administered address utilizing a second portion of the virtual MAC address includes utilizing for the second portion, the second-least significant bit of the first octet of the virtual MAC address.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the step of denoting a unit-specific use utilizing a third portion of the virtual MAC address includes utilizing for the third portion, a second and third octet of the virtual MAC address.

9. A computer program loaded on an internal or external memory of a controller of an access node of a communications system, comprising software code portions for performing the following steps when the computer program is run on a processor of the controller:

utilizing a first portion of the virtual MAC address to define a MAC domain for the address;

utilizing a second portion of the virtual MAC address to indicate that the address is a locally administered address;

utilizing a third portion of the virtual MAC address to indicate a unit-specific use; and

utilizing a fourth portion of the virtual MAC address to indicate an organizationally assigned unit-unique MAC address;

wherein the step of utilizing a first portion of the virtual MAC address to define a MAC domain for the address includes defining different MAC domains for units that have the same unit-unique MAC address, thereby ensuring each unit has a unique locally administered virtual MAC address.

10. The computer program as recited in claim 9, wherein when the computer program is run on the processor of the controller, a software code portion also performs the step of storing all assigned locally administered virtual MAC addresses in a database.

11. The computer program as recited in claim 9, wherein when the computer program is run on the processor of the controller, a software code portion also performs the step of communicating with an external database that stores all assigned locally administered virtual MAC addresses.

12. In an Ethernet Local Area Network (LAN) serving a plurality of units, a method of mapping an original Media Access Control (MAC) address to a unique locally administered virtual MAC address having a plurality of fields, said method comprising the steps of:

utilizing a bit of the virtual MAC address to indicate that the virtual MAC address is a locally administered address; and

utilizing additional fields of the virtual MAC address to ensure each unit has at least one unique locally administered virtual MAC address.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the step of utilizing the remaining fields of the virtual MAC address to ensure each unit has at least one unique locally administered virtual MAC address includes the steps of:

utilizing a first field of the virtual MAC address to define a MAC domain for the virtual MAC address, wherein the MAC domain field separates different types of access network elements into different groups to avoid overlapping virtual MAC addresses; and

utilizing a third field of the virtual MAC address to define an index 90 for offering individual virtual MAC addresses or a range of MAC addresses to each end-user, wherein the number of bits in the index field determines the number of MAC addresses per end-user.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

utilizing a fourth field of the virtual MAC address to define a Network Element ID (NE ID) for uniquely identifying a given access network element in a given domain; and

utilizing a fifth field of the virtual MAC address to define a Port ID for uniquely identifying a port at the given access network element assigned to an end-user.