DYNAMIC ACTIVATION OF PRE-DEPLOYED NETWORK RESOURCES

• US 20140297865A1
• Filed: 03/29/2013
• Published: 10/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Infinera Corp.
• Original Assignee: Infinera Corp.
• Inventors: NAIK, Dharmendra, LU, Biao, DEORE, Abhijeet D., CHANDRA, Manish, DINTAKURTHI, Kiran Kumar, SAUNICHEV, Konstantin, HAND, Steven Joseph, VERMA, Sudhanshu
• Granted Patent: US 9,866,493 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/788 Autonomous allocation of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/829 Topology based

Abstract

A network device may receive an activation instruction. The network device may provide network resources. The activation instruction may request the network device to activate a particular network resource that is deactivated. The activation instruction may be associated with a license that identifies the particular network resource and identifies a resource request of a user. The network device may configure, based on the activation instruction, a component of the network device to activate the particular network resource. The component, after being configured to activate the particular network resource, may allow data flows, received by the network device, to be provided towards a destination device using the particular network resource. The network device may receive a data flow and provide, by the component of the network device, the data flow towards the destination device using the particular network resource.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a network device, an activation instruction,

the network device providing network resources,

the activation instruction requesting the network device to activate a particular network resource that is deactivated,

the activation instruction being associated with a license that identifies the particular network resource and identifies a resource request of a user;

configuring, by the network device and based on the activation instruction, a component of the network device to activate the particular network resource,

the component, after being configured to activate the particular network resource, allowing data flows, received by the network device, to be provided towards a destination device using the particular network resource;

receiving, by the network device, a data flow; and

providing, by the component of the network device, the data flow towards the destination device using the particular network resource.

2. The method in accordance with claim 1, where the particular network resource is provided via a particular network port or via an optical channel associated with the network device,

where activating the particular network resource includes activating the particular network port or activating the optical channel.

3. The method in accordance with claim 2, where the optical channel is provided by a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) implemented within the network device,

the method further comprising:

receiving a particular data flow intended for the optical channel;

providing the particular data flow to optical channel;

generating a wavedivision multiplexed (WDM) signal associated with the particular data flow; and

transmitting the WDM signal to a receiving device.

4. The method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an instruction to deactivate the particular network resource;

configuring, based on receiving the instruction to deactivate the particular network resource, the component to deactivate the particular network resource,

the component, after being configured to deactivate the particular network resource, preventing data flows, received by the network device, from being provided towards the destination device by the particular network resource;

receiving a particular data flow; and

preventing the particular data flow from being provided towards the destination device by the particular network resource.

5. The method in accordance with claim 4, where the component is a switch or routing processor,

where preventing the data flow from being provided towards the destination device includes:

providing, by the switch, the data flow to a data flow dropping component,

discarding, by the switch, the data flow, or

deactivating processing of the data flow performed by the routing processor.

6. The method in accordance with claim 4, where the component is a data generator component, and the network resource is an optical channel,

where preventing the data flow from being provided towards the destination device by the particular network resource includes preventing the data flow from being provided to the particular optical channel by causing the data generator component to provide a bit sequence to the optical channel to occupy the optical channel and to prevent the data flow from being provided to the optical channel.

7. The method in accordance with claim 1, where the license is used to audit the network resources or plan network resource allocation.

8. The method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising:

establishing a tunnel with a server device,

where receiving the activation instruction includes receiving the activation instruction from the server device via the tunnel,

the tunnel permitting the activation instruction to be securely transmitted to the network device.

9. The method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising:

determining a measure of load associated with the network resources; and

generating the activation instruction based on the measure of load associated with the network resources,

where receiving the activation instruction is based on generating the activation instruction.

10. A system comprising:

a network device configured to;

receive an activation instruction,

the network device providing network resources,

the activation instruction requesting the network device to activate a particular network resource that is deactivated,

the activation instruction being associated with a license that identifies the particular network resource and identifies a resource request of a user;

configure, based on the activation instruction, a component of the network device to activate the particular network resource,

the component, after being configured to activate the particular network resource, allowing data flows, received by the network device, to be provided towards a destination device using the particular network resource;

receive a data flow; and

provide, by the component of the network device, the data flow towards the destination device using the particular network resource.

11. The system in accordance with claim 10, where the particular network resource is provided via a particular network port or via an optical channel associated with the network device,

where when activating the particular network resource, the network device is further to activate the particular network port or activate the optical channel.

12. The system in accordance with claim 10, where the network device is further to:

receive an instruction to deactivate the particular network resource;

configure, based on receiving the activation instruction to deactivate the particular network resource, the component to deactivate the particular network resource,

the component, after being configured to deactivate the particular network resource, preventing data flows, received by the network device, from being provided towards the destination device by the particular network resource;

receive a particular data flow; and

prevent the particular data flow from being provided towards the destination device by the particular network resource.

13. The system in accordance with claim 12, where the component is a switch or routing processor,

where when preventing the data flow from being provided towards the destination device, the network device is further to:

provide, by the switch, the data flow to a data flow dropping component,

discard, by the switch, the data flow, or

deactivate processing of the data flow performed by the routing processor.

14. The system in accordance with claim 12, where the component is a data generator component, and the network resource is an optical channel,

where when preventing the data flow from being provided towards the destination device by the particular network resource, the network device is further to prevent the data flow from being provided to the particular optical channel by causing the data generator component to provide a bit sequence to the optical channel to occupy the optical channel and to prevent the data flow from being provided to the optical channel.

15. The system in accordance with claim 10, where the license is used to audit the network resources or plan network resource allocation.

16. A computer-readable medium for storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

a plurality of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors associated with a network device, cause the one or more processors to;

receive an activation instruction,

the network device providing network resources,

the activation instruction requesting the network device to activate a particular network resource that is deactivated,

the activation instruction being associated with a license that identifies the particular network resource and identifies a resource request of a user;

configure, based on the activation instruction, a component of the network device to activate the particular network resource,

the component, after being configured to activate the particular network resource, allowing data flows, received by the network device, to be provided towards a destination device using the particular network resource;

receive a data flow; and

provide, by the component of the network device, the data flow towards the destination device using the particular network resource.

17. The computer-readable medium in accordance with claim 16, where the particular network resource is provided via a particular network port or via an optical channel associated with the network device,

where one or more instructions, of the plurality of instructions, to activate the particular network resource, further cause the one or more processors to activate the particular network port or activate the optical channel.

18. The computer-readable medium in accordance with claim 16, where the plurality of instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

receive an activation instruction to deactivate the particular network resource;

configure, based on receiving the activation instruction to deactivate the particular network resource, the component to deactivate the particular network resource,

the component, after being configured to deactivate the particular network resource, preventing data flows, received by the network device, from being provided towards the destination device by the particular network resource;

receive a particular data flow; and

prevent the particular data flow from being provided towards the destination device by the particular network resource.

19. The computer-readable medium in accordance with claim 18, where the component is a data generator component, and the network resource is an optical channel,

where one or more instructions, of the plurality of instructions, to prevent the data flow from being provided towards the destination device by the particular network resource, further cause the one or more processors to prevent the data flow from being provided to the particular optical channel by causing the data generator component to provide a bit sequence to the optical channel to occupy the optical channel and to prevent the data flow from being provided to the optical channel.

20. The computer-readable medium in accordance with claim 16 where the license is used to audit the network resources or plan network resource allocation.