Method for verifying newly provisioned customer network route advertisements

• US 7,181,533 B2
• Filed: 03/03/2004
• Issued: 02/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Nguyen, Han Q., Zhang, Leah, D'Souza, Kevin L
• Primary Examiner(s): Lim; Krisna
• Application Number:
  US10/791,983
• Publication Number:
  US 20040172553A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,084 Days
• Field of Search: 709/242, 709/241, 709/238, 709/239, 370/351, 370/229
• US Class Current: 709/242
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/021 Ensuring consistency of routing table updates, e.g. by using epoch numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/04 Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing

Abstract

Route advertisement requests made by a customer are received at route provisioning center (20) to effect either advertisement of a newly provisioned route or withdrawal of an existing route. In the case of a request to advertise a newly provisioned route, the request is subjected to validation, and if unable to be validated, the request is rejected. Upon validation of a new route advertisement, or following receipt of a request to withdraw an existing route advertisement, the customer-entered request is entered into an official routing database (26) for subsequent propagation to network access providers (14, 16 and 18). Periodically, a check is made to verify that the customer-entered request remains active.

Claims

1. A network provisioning system for verifying and implementing a requested modification to an advertised route in a data communications network, the network provisioning system comprising:

a customer interface for receiving a customer-generated route advertisement modification request to cause one of (a) provisioning a new route advertisement or (b) withdrawal of an existing route advertisement;

a connection to at least one validation information source for validating the new route advertisement when the customer-generated route advertisement modification constitutes provisioning of said new route advertisement and rejecting said new route advertisement if unable to be verified;

an interface with an official routing database for entering the customer-generated route advertisement modification to make such route advertisement modification available to providers of network access; and

an interface with at least one of such providers of network access for periodically checking to verify whether such route advertisement modification remains effective.

2. The system according to claim 1 wherein the at least one validation information source includes an Internet network address registry database for checking whether the customer owns a network address associated with the new route advertisement.

3. The system according to claim 1 wherein the at least one validation information source includes a customer provisioning database and the official routing database for checking whether a conflict exists between any existing route advertisement and the new route advertisement.

4. The system according to claim 1 wherein the at least one validation information source includes a peer monitoring server for checking whether an alternate route advertisement corresponds to the new route advertisement.

5. The system according to claim 1 wherein the at least one validation information source includes local routing policy information for checking whether the new route advertisement violates a local routing policy.

6. The system according to claim 1 wherein the customer interface is a Web interface.

7. The system according to claim 1 wherein the new route advertisement utilizes a Border Gateway Protocol.

8. The system according to claim 1 wherein the new route advertisement is static.

9. A network provisioning system for verifying and implementing a requested modification to an advertised route in a data communications network, the network provisioning system comprising a processor configured to perform the steps of:

receiving a customer-generated route advertisement modification request to cause one of (a) provisioning a new route advertisement or (b) withdrawal of an existing route advertisement;

validating the new route advertisement when the customer-generated route advertisement modification constitutes provisioning of said new route advertisement and rejecting said new route advertisement if unable to be verified;

entering the customer-generated route advertisement modification into an official routing database to make such route advertisement modification available to providers of network access; and

periodically checking at least one of such providers of network access to verify whether such route advertisement modification remains effective.

10. A network provisioning system for verifying and implementing a request to advertise a newly provisioned route in a data communications network, the network provisioning system comprising:

a customer interface for receiving a request to advertise a newly provisioned route;

a connection to at least one validation information source for validating the advertisement for the new provisioned route and rejecting said new route advertisement if unable to be verified;

an interface with an official routing database for entering the customer-generated route advertisement to make such route advertisement available to providers of network access; and

an interface with at least one of such providers of network access for periodically checking to verify whether such route advertisement remains effective.

11. The system according to claim 10 wherein the at least one validation information source includes an Internet network address registry database for checking whether the customer owns a network address associated with the new route advertisement.

12. The system according to claim 10 wherein the at least one validation information source includes a customer provisioning database and the official routing database for checking whether a conflict exists between any existing route advertisement and the new route advertisement.

13. The system according to claim 10 wherein the at least one validation information source includes a peer monitoring server for checking whether an alternate route advertisement corresponds to the new route advertisement.

14. The system according to claim 10 wherein the at least one validation information source Includes local routing policy information for checking whether the new route advertisement violates a local routing policy.

15. The system according to claim 10 wherein the customer interface is a Web interface.

16. The system according to claim 10 wherein the new route advertisement utilizes a Border Gateway Protocol.

17. The system according to claim 10 wherein the new route advertisement is static.

18. A network provisioning system for verifying and implementing a requested withdrawal of an advertised route in a data communications network, the network provisioning system comprising:

a customer interface for receiving a customer-generated request to withdraw an existing route advertisement;

an interface with an official routing database for entering the customer-generated route withdrawal request to make such route withdrawal request to providers of network access; and

an interface with at least one of such providers of network access periodically checking at least one of such providers of network access to verify whether such route withdrawal request remains effective.

19. The system according to claim 18 further including a connection to at least one validation information source for verifying whether the customer making the route withdrawal request is authorized to do so.