BIDIRECTIONAL TRANSLATION OF NETWORK EDGE VIRTUALIZATION ENCAPSULATION TO CORE NETWORK VIRTUALIZATION ENCAPSULATION

• US 20130329728A1
• Filed: 06/11/2012
• Published: 12/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Extreme Networks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Ramesh, Deepak
• Granted Patent: US 8,934,501 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/390
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/24 in which the allocation is indicated by an address the different channels being transmitted sequentiallyH04J3/17 takes precedence; in computers G06F12/00, G06F13/00 code multiplex systems H04J13/00; selecting techniques H04Q; relay systems H04B7/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/18 for broadcast or conference , e.g. multicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/462 LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling

Abstract

A method, system and computer readable medium for bidirectional translation of edge network virtualization encapsulation and core network virtualization encapsulation are described. The method can include receiving a customer data frame and removing an edge network virtualization encapsulation header (e.g., VXLAN, NVGRE or VLAN header) and adding a core network virtualization encapsulation header (e.g., a MAC-in-MAC header). The customer data frame can be forwarded in a core network (e.g., an SPBm network) utilizing the core network virtualization encapsulation header, which can be translated back to an edge network virtualization encapsulation header at a receiving switch.

Claims

1. A method for bidirectional translation of edge network virtualization encapsulation to core network virtualization encapsulation, the method comprising:

receiving a multicast customer data frame at a first switch, the customer data frame having a first multicast edge network virtualization encapsulation header;

removing the first multicast edge network virtualization encapsulation header from the customer data frame;

adding a multicast core network virtualization encapsulation header to the customer data frame;

forwarding the message to a second switch according to a mapping obtained from the first switch;

receiving the customer data frame at the second switch;

removing the multicast core network virtualization encapsulation header from the customer data frame;

adding a second multicast edge network virtualization encapsulation header to the customer data frame; and

forwarding the customer data frame according to the second multicast edge network virtualization encapsulation header.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

learning, at the first switch, a mapping between a header of the customer data frame and an outer edge network virtualization encapsulation header associated with a sender of the customer data frame.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

learning, at the second switch, a mapping between a source of the customer data frame and first switch data from the core network virtualization encapsulation header for a service identifier associated with the first switch.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the edge network virtualization encapsulation header includes a VXLAN header, and the core network virtualization encapsulation header includes a MAC-in-MAC encapsulation header.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the edge network virtualization encapsulation header includes a NVGRE header, and the core network virtualization encapsulation header includes a MAC-in-MAC encapsulation header.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first switch includes a mapping from a service identifier present in the edge network virtualization encapsulation header of the customer data frame to a service identifier in the core network virtualization encapsulation header.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the mapping is static and is manually configured.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the mapping is dynamic and is automatically learned.

9. A system comprising:

a first processor coupled to a first nontransitory computer readable medium having stored thereon software instructions that, when executed by the first processor, cause the first processor to perform a first series of operations, the first series of operations including;

receiving a unicast customer data frame at a first switch, the customer data frame having a first unicast edge network virtualization encapsulation header;

removing the first unicast edge network virtualization encapsulation header;

adding a unicast core network virtualization encapsulation header to the customer data frame;

forwarding the message to a second switch according to a mapping obtained from the first switch; and

a second processor coupled to a second nontransitory computer readable medium having stored thereon software instructions that, when executed by the second processor, cause the second processor to perform a second series of operations, the second series of operations including;

receiving the customer data frame at the second switch;

removing the unicast core network virtualization encapsulation header from the customer data frame;

adding a second unicast edge network virtualization encapsulation header to the customer data frame; and

forwarding the customer data frame according to the second edge network virtualization encapsulation header.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the first series of operations further comprises:

learning, at the first switch, a mapping between a header of the customer data frame and an outer edge network virtualization encapsulation header associated with a sender of the customer data frame.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the second series of operations further comprises:

learning, at the second switch, a mapping between a source of the customer data frame and first switch data from the core network virtualization encapsulation header for a service identifier associated with the first switch.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the edge network virtualization encapsulation header includes a VXLAN header, and the core network virtualization encapsulation header includes a MAC-in-MAC encapsulation header.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the edge network virtualization encapsulation header includes a VLAN header, and the core network virtualization encapsulation header includes a MAC-in-MAC encapsulation header.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the first switch includes a mapping from a service identifier present in the edge network virtualization encapsulation header of the customer data frame to a service identifier in the core network virtualization encapsulation header.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the mapping is static and is manually configured.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the mapping is dynamic and is automatically learned.

17. A nontransitory computer readable medium having stored thereon software instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a series of operations comprising:

receiving a customer data frame at a first switch, the customer data frame having a first edge network virtualization encapsulation header;

removing the first edge network virtualization encapsulation header;

determining whether the customer data frame was being sent as a unicast message or a multicast message based on the first edge network virtualization encapsulation header;

adding a unicast core network virtualization encapsulation header to the customer data frame when the customer data frame was being sent as a unicast message;

adding a multicast core network virtualization encapsulation header to the customer data frame when the customer data frame was being sent as a multicast message;

forwarding the message to a second switch according to a mapping obtained from the first switch;

receiving the customer data frame at the second switch;

removing, at the second switch, the core network virtualization encapsulation header;

adding an edge network virtualization encapsulation header to the customer data frame; and

forwarding the customer data frame according to the edge network virtualization encapsulation header.

18. The nontransitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

learning, at the first switch, a mapping between a header of the customer data frame and an outer edge network virtualization encapsulation header associated with a sender of the customer data frame.

19. The nontransitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

learning, at the second switch, a mapping between a source of the customer data frame and first switch data from the core network virtualization encapsulation header for a service identifier associated with the first switch.

20. The nontransitory computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein the edge network virtualization encapsulation header includes a VXLAN header, and the core network virtualization encapsulation header includes a MAC-in-MAC encapsulation header.