Traffic engineering for an application employing a connectionless protocol on a network
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for traffic engineering in a network of connectionless routers supporting a connectionless protocol, said method comprising the steps of:
- assigning a plurality of different virtual network addresses to at least one network access router from among said connectionless routers;
assigning a different route for each of said plurality of different virtual network addresses in a core network; and
forwarding packets to the at least one network access router along different routes in the core network using the virtual network addresses.
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Abstract
The present invention presents methods and apparatus supporting traffic engineering in a connectionless protocol network constituted by a core of plain routers, without dependencies on the underlying link protocol. The IP is used as an example of a connectionless protocol. It also enables a network operator to perform traffic engineering on a core network of plain routers supporting any connectionless protocol.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method for traffic engineering in a network of connectionless routers supporting a connectionless protocol, said method comprising the steps of:
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assigning a plurality of different virtual network addresses to at least one network access router from among said connectionless routers;
assigning a different route for each of said plurality of different virtual network addresses in a core network; and
forwarding packets to the at least one network access router along different routes in the core network using the virtual network addresses. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
determining a virtual destination address for at least one original packet from among said packets at an ingress access router;
creating a modified packet containing the virtual destination address at the ingress access router; and
reconstructing the original packet at an egress access router.
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3. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising establishing separate routes for different virtual networks by sending routing messages for the virtual networks.
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4. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising establishing separate routes for different virtual destinations by means of a routing server.
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5. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein:
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the step of creating a packet includes encapsulating the original packet into an external header containing the virtual destination address; and
the step of reconstructing the original packet includes decapsulating the original packet from the external header at the egress access router.
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6. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the external header is an external IP header.
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7. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein:
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the step of creating a packet includes replacing part of the destination address in the original packet with the virtual network address; and
the step of reconstructing the original packet includes replacing part of the destination address in the packet at the egress access router.
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8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the connectionless router is an IP router.
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9. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing traffic engineering in a network of connectionless routers supporting a connectionless protocol, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the steps of claim 1.
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10. An article of manufacture as recited in claim 9, wherein the step of forwarding comprises:
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determining a virtual destination address for at least one original packet from among said packets at an ingress access router;
creating a modified packet containing the virtual destination address at the ingress access router; and
reconstructing the original packet at an egress access router.
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11. An article of manufacture as recited in claim 10, wherein:
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the step of creating a packet includes encapsulating the original packet into an external header containing the virtual destination address; and
the step of reconstructing the original packet includes decapsulating the original packet from the external header at the egress access router.
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12. An article of manufacture as recited in claim 9, wherein the connectionless protocol is IP.
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13. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing traffic engineering in a network of connectionless routers supporting a connectionless protocol, the computer readable program code means in said computer program product comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the steps of claim 1.
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14. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for causing traffic engineering in a network of connectionless routers supporting a connectionless protocol, said method steps comprising the steps of claim 1.
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15. An access router for implementing traffic engineering in a connectionless protocol network, said access router comprising:
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a virtual network management module to determine a virtual network to which a packet belongs out of a plurality of virtual networks;
a packet modification module to modify packets to use virtual network addresses in a core network; and
a packet processing module to process the packet along different routes in said core network for each of said virtual network addresses.
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16. A route selector for implementing traffic engineering in a network having connectionless routers with connectivity of a connectionless protocol, said route selector comprising:
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a route selector module to determine a route to be taken by the network to which a packet belongs;
a virtual network assignment module to assign a plurality of virtual network addresses to at least one access router; and
a router configuration module to modify routing tables and configuration in the connectionless routers, in accordance with assignments made by the virtual network assignment module, so that the packet takes a different route through a core network for each of said virtual addresses.
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17. An access router for implementing traffic engineering in a connectionless protocol network, said access router comprising:
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a plurality of different virtual network addresses for said access router, each of said virtual addresses representing a different route to said access router, through a core network;
a virtual network management module to determine an original network address to which a modified packet directed to one of said virtual network addresses belongs;
a packet modification module to recreate an original packet from the modified packet; and
a packet processing module to process the packet so that the packet is directed to the original network address.
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Specification