CARRIER'S CARRIER WITHOUT CUSTOMER-EDGE-TO-CUSTOMER-EDGE BORDER GATEWAY PROTOCOL

• US 20100008361A1
• Filed: 07/08/2008
• Published: 01/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ward, David, Guichard, Jim, Davie, Bruce S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,098,663 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/392
• 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 45/04 Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/50 using label swapping, e.g. multi-protocol label switch [MPLS]

Abstract

According to one aspect of the present invention, a method includes obtaining a first advertisement at a first provider edge (PE) device from a first customer edge (CE) device that is associated with a virtual private network, and sending a second advertisement on a control plane path associated with a border gateway protocol after obtaining the first advertisement. The first PE device has a routing and forwarding table. The first advertisement identifies a plurality of local routes associated with the first VPN, and includes a first indication that information relating to the plurality of local routes is not to be stored in the routing and forwarding table. The second advertisement identifies the local routes, an address of the first CE device, and the first CE device as a next hop.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining a first advertisement from a first customer edge (CE) device at a first provider edge (PE) device, the first CE device being associated with a first virtual private network (VPN), the first PE device having a routing and forwarding table, the first advertisement being arranged to identify a plurality of local routes associated with the first VPN, the first advertisement further including a first indication that information relating to the plurality of local routes is not to be stored in the routing and forwarding table; and

sending a second advertisement on a control plane path associated with a border gateway protocol (BGP) after obtaining the first advertisement, the second advertisement being arranged to identify the plurality of local routes and an address of the first CE device, the second advertisement further being arranged to specify the first CE device as a next hop.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein sending the second advertisement includes sending the second advertisement to a second PE device, wherein the first PE device and the second PE device are associated with a provider network.

3. The method of claim 2 sending the second advertisement to the second PE device includes sending the second advertisement across a backbone of the provider network.

4. The method of claim 1 further including:

obtaining a loopback address associated with the first CE device; and

providing the loopback address to a second PE device, wherein the second PE device is configured to provide the loopback address to a second CE device.

5. The method of claim 1 further including:

storing the information relating to the plurality of local routes in a memory associated with the first PE device.

6. The method of claim 1 further including:

storing a second indication that identifies a first route, the second indication being stored in the routing and forwarding table, the first route being arranged between the first CE and the first PE.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the first advertisement further includes a second indication that the second PE device is not to allocate labels and a third indication that the next hop in the second advertisement is to identify the first CE device.

8. The method of claim 1 further including:

establishing a label switched path (LSP) between the first CE device and a second CE device, the LSP being arranged to pass through a provider network that includes the first PE device.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein establishing the LSP between the first CE device and the second CE device includes establishing the LSP using a Carrier'"'"'s Carrier (CsC) architecture.

10. Logic encoded in one or more tangible media for execution and when executed operable to:

obtain a first advertisement from a first customer edge (CE) device at a first provider edge (PE) device, the first CE device being associated with a first virtual private network (VPN), the first PE device having a routing and forwarding table, the first advertisement being arranged to identify a plurality of local routes associated with the first VPN, the first advertisement further including a first indication that information relating to the plurality of local routes is not to be stored in the routing and forwarding table; and

send a second advertisement on a control plane path associated with a border gateway protocol (BGP) after obtaining the first advertisement, the second advertisement being arranged to identify the plurality of local routes and an address of the first CE device, the second advertisement further being arranged to specify the first CE device as a next hop.

11. The logic of claim 10 wherein the logic operable to send the second advertisement is further operable to send the second advertisement to a second PE device, wherein the first PE device and the second PE device are associated with a provider network.

12. The logic of claim 10 further operable to:

obtain a loopback address associated with the first CE; and

provide the loopback address to a second PE device, wherein the second PE device is configured to provide the loopback address to a second CE device.

13. The logic of claim 10 further operable to:

store the information relating to the plurality of local routes in a memory associated with the first PE device.

14. The logic of claim 10 wherein the first advertisement further includes a second indication that the second PE device is not to allocate labels and a third indication that the next hop in the second advertisement is to identify the first CE device.

15. The logic of claim 10 further operable to:

establish a label switched path (LSP) between the first CE device and a second CE device, the LSP being arranged to pass through a provider network that includes the first PE device.

16. The logic of claim 15 wherein the logic operable to establish the LSP between the first CE device and the second CE device is further operable to establish the LSP using a Carrier'"'"'s Carrier (CsC) architecture.

17. An apparatus comprising:

means for obtaining a first advertisement from a first customer edge (CE) device at a first provider edge (PE) device, the first CE device being associated with a first virtual private network (VPN), the first PE device having a routing and forwarding table, the first advertisement being arranged to identify a plurality of local routes associated with the first VPN, the first advertisement further including a first indication that information relating to the plurality of local routes is not to be stored in the routing and forwarding table; and

means for sending a second advertisement on a control plane path associated with a border gateway protocol (BGP) after obtaining the first advertisement, the second advertisement being arranged to identify the plurality of local routes and an address of the first CE device, the second advertisement further being arranged to specify the first CE device as a next hop.

18. An apparatus comprising:

a first virtual routing and forwarding table (VRF); and

a first arrangement, the first arrangement being configured to obtain a plurality of customer routes from a customer edge (CE), the first arrangement further being configured not to install the plurality of customer routes in the first VRF, wherein the apparatus and the CE are arranged to be in communication over a border gateway protocol (BGP) session associated with a Carrier'"'"'s Carrier (CsC) architecture.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 further including:

a second arrangement, the second arrangement being arranged to identify the CE, the second arrangement further being arranged to propagate a first advertisement to a recipient, the first advertisement being arranged to include information pertaining to the plurality of customer routes, an indication that the plurality of customer routes are not to be stored in a second VRF of the recipient, and an indication that a next-hop is the CE.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the first advertisement further includes an originator_ID attribute, the originator_ID attribute being arranged to identify the CE.

21. The apparatus of claim 18 further including:

a memory, wherein the first arrangement is configured to store information relating to the plurality of routes in the memory.

22. The apparatus of claim 18 further including:

a port arrangement, the port arrangement being arranged to receive an advertisement from the customer edge, wherein the advertisement includes the plurality of customer routes and a first indication that the plurality of customer routes are not to be stored in the first VRF.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein the advertisement further includes a second indication, the second indication being arranged to indicate that a next-hop is not to be changed.

24. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein the first arrangement is configured to obtain the first indication and to use the first indication to determine not to install the plurality of customer routes in the first VRF.