Inter-domain SDN Traffic Engineering

• US 20150215235A1
• Filed: 01/30/2014
• Published: 07/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Li, Xu, Djukic, Petar, Zhang, Hang
• Granted Patent: US 9,559,980 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/044 comprising hierarchical management structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/20 the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/04 Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/64 using an overlay routing layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/724 at intermediate nodes, e.g. resource reservation protocol [RSVP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/782 Hierarchical allocation of resources, e.g. involving a hierarchy of local and centralised entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/785 among multiple network domains, e.g. multilateral agreements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/827 Aggregation of resource allocation or reservation requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/83 based on usage prediction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

Constraining resource provisioning by domain controllers based on resource requirements projected for remotely-originating inter-domain traffic can improve utilization efficiency and link reliability in multi-domain software defined network (SDN) architectures. A domain controller may be required to reserve a portion of inter-domain link capacity for transporting remotely-originating traffic. This may limit the inter-domain link capacity available for transporting locally-originating traffic in a manner that ensures remotely-originating traffic flows have equitable and/or adequate access to resources of inter-domain links. Alternatively, a domain controller may be required to maintain a minimum throughput rate for remotely-originating traffic, which may cause remotely-originating traffic to be prioritized over locally-originating traffic when necessary to maintain the minimum throughput rate. Provisioning constraints can be generated in a centralized or distributed fashion.

Claims

1. A method for resource provisioning in software defined networking (SDN) architectures, the method comprising:

receiving, by an inter-domain traffic engineering (TE) controller, border element information from multiple SDN controllers, the multiple SDN controllers being assigned to different domains of a network;

computing, by the inter-domain TE controller, inter-domain allocation constraints in accordance with the border element information; and

sending, by the inter-domain TE controller, the inter-domain allocation constraints to at least a first SDN controller in the multiple SDN controllers, the first SDN controller being assigned to a first domain of the network, wherein the first domain is connected to a second domain of the network via one or more inter-domain links, and wherein the inter-domain allocation constraints are configured to reserve resources on the one or more inter-domain links for inter-domain traffic originating from outside the first domain.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the inter-domain allocation constraints specify a portion of link capacity on the one or more inter-domain links that is reserved for carrying inter-domain traffic originating from outside the first domain.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the inter-domain allocation constraints specify a minimum throughput rate that is required to be available for communicating inter-domain traffic originating from outside the first domain over the one or more inter-domain links.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the inter-domain allocation constraints are configured to be used by the first SDN controller to solve an intra-domain traffic engineering optimization algorithm associated with the first domain.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the inter-domain allocation constraints are configured to constrain resource provisioning by the first SDN controller over the one or more inter-domain links.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the inter-domain allocation constraints are configured to at least partially restrict the communication of traffic originating from inside the first domain over the one or more inter-domain links.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the inter-domain TE controller is a central TE controller.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the inter-domain TE controller is a distributed TE controller assigned to the first domain.

9. A traffic inter-domain traffic engineering (TE) controller comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to;

receive border element information from multiple SDN controllers, the multiple SDN controllers being assigned to different domains of a network;

compute inter-domain allocation constraints in accordance with the border element information; and

send the inter-domain allocation constraints to at least a first SDN controller in the multiple SDN controllers, the first SDN controller being assigned to a first domain of the network, wherein the first domain is connected to a second domain of the network via one or more inter-domain links, and wherein the inter-domain allocation constraints are configured to reserve resources on the one or more inter-domain links for inter-domain traffic originating from outside the first domain.

10. A method for resource provisioning in software defined networking (SDN) architectures, the method comprising:

reporting, by an SDN controller, border element information to an inter-domain traffic engineering (TE) controller, the border element information corresponding to a first domain of a network, wherein the first domain is connected to a second domain of the network via one or more inter-domain links;

receiving, by the SDN controller, inter-domain allocation constraints from the inter-domain TE controller;

identifying, by the SDN controller, an inter-domain resource reservation in accordance with the inter-domain allocation constraints, wherein the inter-domain resource reservation reserves resources on the one or more inter-domain links for inter-domain traffic originating from outside the first domain; and

provisioning, by the SDN controller, resources in the first domain in accordance with the inter-domain resource reservation.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein provisioning resources in the first domain comprises:

setting forwarding information databases (FIBs) in one or more border elements of the first domain, the FIB tables being set to restrict the forwarding of traffic originating from inside the first domain over the one or more inter-domain links in a manner that maintains the inter-domain resource reservation, and to control how remotely originating inter-domain traffic is forwarded within the first domain as well as over the one or more inter-domain links.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

computing, by the SDN controller, intra-domain resource requirements in accordance with the inter-domain allocation constraints, wherein the intra-domain resource requirements correspond to an amount of resources on intra-domain links of the first domain needed to transport remotely originating inter-domain traffic within the first domain; and

provisioning, by the SDN controller, resources in the first domain in accordance with the intra-domain resource requirements.

13. A software defined networking (SDN) controller comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to;

report border element information to an inter-domain traffic engineering (TE) controller, the border element information corresponding to a first domain of a network, wherein the first domain is connected to a second domain of the network via one or more inter-domain links;

receive inter-domain allocation constraints from the inter-domain TE controller;

identify an inter-domain resource reservation in accordance with the inter-domain allocation constraints, wherein the inter-domain resource reservation reserves resources on the one or more inter-domain links for inter-domain traffic originating from outside the first domain; and

provision resources in the first domain in accordance with the inter-domain resource reservation.

14. The SDN controller of claim 13, wherein the instructions to provision resources in the first domain in accordance with the inter-domain resource reservation include instructions to:

set forwarding information databases (FIBs) in one or more border elements of the first domain, the FIB tables being set to restrict the forwarding of traffic originating from inside the first domain over the one or more inter-domain links in a manner that preserves the inter-domain resource reservation, and to control how remotely originating inter-domain traffic is forwarded within the first domain as well as over the one or more inter-domain links.

15. A method for distributed inter-domain resource provisioning in a multi-domain software defined network (SDN), the method comprising:

receiving, by an SDN controller, inter-domain rate allocation information from at least a first neighboring SDN controller, the SDN controller being assigned to a domain and the first neighboring SDN controller being assigned to a first neighboring domain, wherein the domain is connected to the first neighboring domain via one or more inter-domain links;

computing, by the SDN controller, an inter-domain resource reservation in accordance with the inter-domain rate allocation information, wherein the inter-domain resource reservation reserves resources on the one or more inter-domain links for inter-domain traffic originating from outside the first domain; and

provisioning, by the SDN controller, resources in the domain in accordance with the inter-domain resource reservation.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

computing, by the SDN controller, intra-domain resource requirements in accordance with the inter-domain rate allocation information, wherein the intra-domain resource requirements correspond to an amount of resources on intra-domain links of the domain needed to transport remotely originating inter-domain traffic within the domain; and

provisioning, by the SDN controller, resources in the domain in accordance with the intra-domain resource requirements.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein receiving inter-domain rate allocation information comprises:

receiving, by the SDN controller, a rate demand of an inter-domain traffic flow from the first neighboring SDN controller, the inter-domain traffic flow being communicated from the first neighboring domain to a second neighboring domain via the domain, wherein the domain is positioned in-between the first neighboring domain and the second neighboring domain; and

receiving, by the SDN controller, a rate limit for the inter-domain traffic flow from a second neighboring SDN controller assigned to the second neighboring domain.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein computing the inter-domain resource reservation in accordance with the inter-domain allocation information comprises:

computing a resource reservation for communicating the inter-domain traffic flow over the domain in accordance with the rate demand and the rate limit.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the rate demand of the inter-domain traffic flow comprises a throughput rate required to satisfy quality of service (QoS) demands of the inter-domain traffic flow.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the rate limit of the inter-domain traffic flow comprises a maximum throughput rate available for communicating the inter-domain traffic flow in the second neighboring domain.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein computing the inter-domain resource reservation in accordance with the inter-domain allocation information comprises:

computing a rate allocation limit (a_i^(c,t)(r,n)) for inter-domain flow (i) in domain (c) going into the second neighboring domain (n) during iteration (t) in accordance with the following formula;

a_i^(c,t)(r,n)=Δ

(a_i^(c,t-1)(r,n), y_i^(c,t-1)(r,n), (r,n), . . . ), where r denotes a domain border element (DBE) associated with the rate allocation limit (a_i^(c,t)(r,n)), a_i^(c,t-1)(r, n) is the rate allocation limit for the inter-domain traffic flow (i) in the second neighboring domain (n) in iteration (t−

1), y_i^(c,t-1)(r,n) is a rate allocation to the inter-domain traffic flow (i) in domain (c) in iteration (t−

1), and π

_i^(c,t-1)(r,n) is the rate supported by the second neighboring domain (n) in response to y_i^(c,t-1)(r,n) in iteration (t−

1).

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

sending, by the SDN controller, inter-domain feedback information to the first neighboring SDN controller and the second neighboring SDN controller, the inter-domain feedback information specifying the inter-domain resource reservation.

23. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

computing, by the SDN controller, intra-domain resource requirements in accordance with the inter-domain rate allocation information, wherein the intra-domain resource requirements corresponds to an amount of resources on intra-domain links of the domain needed to transport remotely originating inter-domain traffic within the domain; and

provisioning, by the SDN controller, resources in the domain in accordance with the intra-domain resource requirements.

24. A software defined networking (SDN) assigned to a domain, the SDN controller comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to;

receive inter-domain rate allocation information from at least a first neighboring SDN controller, the first neighboring SDN controller being assigned to a first neighboring domain that is connected to the domain via one or more inter-domain links;

compute an inter-domain resource reservation in accordance with the inter-domain rate allocation information, the inter-domain resource reservation indicating resources on the one or more inter-domain links reserved for carrying inter-domain traffic originating from outside the domain; and

provision resources in the domain in accordance with the inter-domain resource reservation.