Apparatus And Method For Protection In A Data Center

• US 20130011136A1
• Filed: 01/13/2012
• Published: 01/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Hao, Fang, Lakshman, Tirunell V., Song, Haoyu, Kodialam, Muralidharam S., Zimgibl, Martin
• Granted Patent: US 9,066,160 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 398/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/032 using working and protection systems H04J14/0287 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/038 using bypasses
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/27 Arrangements for networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/22 using redundant apparatus to increase reliability
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/00 Selecting arrangements for multiplex systems multiplex systems H04J
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0067 Provisions for optical access or distribution networks, e.g. Gigabit Ethernet Passive Optical Network (GE-PON), ATM-based Passive Optical Network (A-PON), PON-Ring
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0081 Fault tolerance; Redundancy; Recovery; Reconfigurability

Abstract

A manner of providing redundancy protection for a data center network that is both reliable and low-cost. In a data center network where the data traffic between numerous access nodes and a network core layer via primary aggregation nodes, an optical network device such as and OLT (optical line terminal) is provided as a backup aggregation node for one or more of the primary aggregation nodes. When a communication path through a primary aggregation node fails, traffic is routed through the optical network device. In a preferred embodiment, a communication link is formed from a plurality of access nodes to a single port of the OLT or other optical network device via an optical splitter that combines upstream transmissions and distributes downstream transmissions. The upstream transmissions from the plurality of access nodes may occur according to an allocation schedule generated when the backup aggregation node is needed.

Claims

1. A data center network comprising at least one OLT (optical line terminal).

2. The data center network of claim 1, wherein the at least one OLT forms a backup node in an aggregation layer.

3. The data center network of claim 2, wherein the at least one OLT is configured to perform layer 2 switching for aggregating data traffic between an access layer and a core layer of the data center network.

4. The data center network of claim 3, further comprising at least one optical splitter in communication with a port of the at least one OLT and at least one access node.

5. The data center network of claim 4, wherein the at least one access node comprises a plurality of access nodes in communication with the same optical splitter.

6. The data center network of claim 5, wherein at least two of the plurality of access nodes in communication with the same optical splitter are also in communication, respectively, with different primary aggregation nodes.

7. A data center network access node comprising:

at least one port comprising an optical module; and

at least one non-optical port.

8. The data center network access node of claim 7, wherein the optical module is resident on an ONU (optical network unit) line card.

9. The data center network access node of claim 7, further comprising instructions executable by a processor and stored in a non-transitory memory device, the instructions when executed generating a request for an optical transmission allocation.

10. The data center network access node of claim 9, wherein the request for an optical transmission allocation is generated for transmission from the at least one port comprising an optical module.

11. The data center network access node of claim 7, further comprising a table for storing an optical allocation schedule.

12. The data center network access node of claim 7, wherein the access node communicates with a primary aggregation node via the at least one non-optical port.

13. A method of operating a data center network, comprising:

determining that a primary communication path from an access node to a core node requires replacement using a backup aggregation node;

determining an allocation schedule for upstream optical transmissions from the access node;

transmitting the allocation schedule to the access node; and

receiving data traffic from the access node via optical transmission.

14. The method of operating a data center network of claim 13, further comprising determining that the primary communication path no longer requires replacement and revising the allocation schedule to exclude the access node.

15. The method of operating a data center network of claim 13, further comprising receiving data traffic from a plurality of access nodes.

16. The method of operating a data center network of claim 15, further comprising receiving data traffic from a plurality of access nodes on a single port of an aggregation node.

17. The method of operating a data center network of claim 16, wherein the data traffic is received during times controlled by the allocation schedule.

18. The method of operating a data center network of claim 13, wherein determining that a primary communication path from an access node to a core node requires replacement using a backup aggregation node comprises receiving from the access node a request for an optical transmission allocation schedule.

19. The method of operating a data center network of claim 13, wherein determining that a primary communication path from an access node to a core node requires replacement using a backup aggregation node comprises receiving a notification from a primary aggregation node.