SUPPORTING VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORKS USING A FIRST NETWORK TOPOLOGY FOR FORWARDING AND A SUBSET OF THE FIRST NETWORK TOPOLOGY OR A SMALLER TOPOLOGY FOR SIGNALING

• US 20100296414A1
• Filed: 08/06/2010
• Published: 11/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Vohra, Quaizar, Sheth, Nischal
• Granted Patent: US 8,185,658 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4675 Dynamic sharing of VLAN information amongst network nodes configuration of the network or of network elements H04L41/08
• 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 45/028 Dynamic adaptation of the update intervals, e.g. event-triggered updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/03 by updating link state protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/033 by updating distance vector protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/586 of virtual routers

Abstract

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are supported in which customers may use popular internet gateway protocol (IGPs) without the need to convert such IGPs, running on customer devices to a single protocol, such as the border gateway protocol (BGP). Scaling problems, which might otherwise occur when multiple instances of an IGP flood link state information, are avoided by using a flooding topology which is smaller than a forwarding topology. The flooding topology may be a fully connected sub-set of the forwarding topology.

Claims

1. A method, for use with a router belonging to a virtual private network, for determining a topology for flooding network state information, the method comprising:

a) distributing, to other nodes of the virtual private network, a type of the router in the context of the topology for flooding;

b) receiving a type of at least some of the other nodes of the virtual private network in the context of the topology for flooding; and

c) storing information based on the received type of each of at least some of the other nodes of the virtual private network.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the type of router is a special attribute assigned by a border gateway protocol community.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the routers are virtual router instances.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the routers are physical router instances.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the routers are selected from a group consisting of:

a) virtual router instances; and

b) physical routers.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the type is includes one of spoke or hub.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the information stored based on the received type of each of at least some of the other nodes of the virtual private network includes, in association with the received type of each of the at least some of the other nodes of the virtual private network, a virtual router identifier of the other node.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the information stored based on the received type of each of at least some of the other nodes of the virtual private network includes, in association with the received type of each of the at least some of the other nodes of the virtual private network, an interface identifier of the other node.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the information stored based on the received type of each of at least some of the other nodes of the virtual private network includes, in association with the received type of each of the at least some of the other nodes of the virtual private network, an interface identifier and an interface type of the other node.

10. For use in router belonging to a virtual private network, a tunnel flooding and forwarding topology distribution and discovery module for determining a topology for flooding network state information comprising:

a) an output for distributing, to other nodes of the virtual private network, a type of the router in the context of the topology for flooding;

b) an input for receiving a type of at least some of the other nodes of the virtual private network in the context of the topology for flooding; and

c) a storage device for storing information based on the received type of each of at least some of the other nodes of the virtual private network.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the type of router is a special attribute assigned by a border gateway protocol community.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the routers are virtual router instances.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the routers are physical router instances.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the routers are selected from a group consisting of:

a) virtual router instances, and

b) physical routers.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the type is includes one of spoke or hub.

16. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the information stored based on the received type of each of at least some of the other nodes of the virtual private network includes, in association with the received type of each of the at least some of the other nodes of the virtual private network, a virtual router identifier of the other node.

17. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the information stored based on the received type of each of at least some of the other nodes of the virtual private network includes, in association with the received type of each of the at least some of the other nodes of the virtual private network, an interface identifier of the other node.

18. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the information stored based on the received type of each of at least some of the other nodes of the virtual private network includes, in association with the received type of each of the at least some of the other nodes of the virtual private network, an interface identifier and an interface type of the other node.