Aggregate multicast trees for multicast virtual private networks

• US 7,564,806 B1
• Filed: 08/26/2005
• Issued: 07/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Rekhter, Yakov, Aggarwal, Rahul
• Primary Examiner(s): Kizou; Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): RENNER, BRANDON M
• Application Number:
  US11/212,509
• Time in Patent Office: 1,425 Days
• Field of Search: 370/338
• US Class Current: 370/256
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/18 for broadcast or conference , e.g. multicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1886 with traffic restrictions for efficiency improvement, e.g. involving subnets or subdomains
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272

Abstract

Principles of the invention are described for providing multicast virtual private networks (MVPNs) across a public network that are capable of carrying high-bandwidth multicast traffic with increased scalability. In particular, the MVPNs may transport layer three (L3) multicast traffic, such as Internet Protocol (IP) packets, between remote sites via the public network. The principles described herein may reduce the overhead of protocol independent multicast (PIM) neighbor adjacencies and customer control information maintained for MVPNs. The principles may also reduce the state and the overhead of maintaining the state in the network by removing the need to maintain at least one dedicated multicast tree per each MVPN.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

establishing a multicast tree comprising a point-to-multipoint (P2MP) tunnel for transporting layer three (L3) multicast data packets through a network, wherein the P2MP tunnel includes a source device providing an ingress to the multicast tree and a plurality of destination devices providing a plurality of different egresses from the multicast tree, wherein each of the plurality of destination devices belongs to at least one multicast virtual private network (MVPN); and

transmitting the (L3) multicast data packets for a plurality of different MVPNs from the source device through the P2MP tunnel to the plurality of destination devices on the multicast tree,

wherein establishing the multicast tree comprises;

discovering, with the source device, the MVPNs of which the destination devices are members;

mapping more than one of the discovered MVPNs to the multicast tree;

allocating a different inner label with the source device for each of the more than one MVPNs mapped to the multicast tree;

advertising mapping information from the source device to the one or more destination devices, wherein the mapping information specifies which of the discovered MVPNs are mapped to the multicast tree by the source device;

with the source device, including the allocated inner labels within the mapping information advertised from the source device to the destination devices to allow the destination devices to demultiplex the multicast data packets received over the multicast tree for the more than one MVPNs;

in response to the mapping information advertised by the source device, maintaining, within each destination device, a separate label space for the multicast tree, wherein the label space within each destination device includes forwarding entries for the inner labels allocated by the source device, and

wherein transmitting the multicast data packets from the source device comprises encapsulating each of the multicast data packets at the source device with an outer label and one of the inner labels, wherein the outer label identifies the label space within the destination device that corresponds to the multicast tree, and wherein the inner label is based on the MVPN with which the multicast data packet is associated.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining with the source device which of the discovered MVPNs to aggregate onto the multicast tree.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein discovering the MVPN memberships comprises receiving Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) membership advertisements from the one or more destination devices.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein discovering the MVPN memberships comprises discovering virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) instances configured for multicast of the one or more destination devices.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein advertising mapping information comprises sending Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) mapping advertisements to the one or more destination devices of the multicast tree.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein advertising mapping information comprises advertising an address of the source device of the multicast tree and an inner label allocated by the source device for each of the more than one MVPNs mapped to the multicast tree that identifies the MVPN.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising including a tree identifier of the multicast tree, and a route target attribute of each of the more than one MVPNs mapped to the multicast tree in the mapping advertisement.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, with one of the destination devices, the mapping information from the source device of the multicast tree;

associating the multicast tree with one or more of the MVPNs to which the destination device belongs; and

creating a forwarding entry in the destination device that corresponds to the multicast tree.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising creating a logical interface to the label space within the destination device that corresponds to the multicast tree.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the multicast tree comprises establishing the multicast tree using protocol independent multicast (PIM).

11. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the multicast tree comprises establishing the multicast tree using a label switching protocol.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein encapsulating the multicast data packets comprises encapsulating the multicast data packets using Internet Protocol (IP) encapsulation.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein encapsulating the multicast data packets comprises encapsulating the multicast data packets using Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) encapsulation.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the multicast data packets from the source device of the multicast tree; and

sending the multicast data packets to a virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) of the destination device that corresponds to the MVPN for which the multicast data packets were intended based on an inner label allocated by the source device that identifies the MVPN.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an encapsulated packet from the source device of the multicast tree, wherein the encapsulated packet comprises an outer label, an inner label, and encapsulated multicast data packets;

performing a lookup on the outer label of the encapsulated packet to determine a forwarding entry within the destination device that corresponds to the multicast tree;

stripping the outer label from the encapsulated packet;

performing a lookup on the inner label of the encapsulated packet in the corresponding forwarding entry to determine a virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) that corresponds to the MVPN for which the multicast data packets are intended;

stripping the inner label from the encapsulated packet; and

sending the multicast data packets to the corresponding VRF of the MVPN.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the multicast tree comprises establishing a shared multicast tree, and wherein transmitting multicast data packets on the multicast tree comprises transmitting multicast data packets for both local and remote MVPNs of the source device to the one or more destination devices on the multicast tree.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the multicast tree comprises establishing a source multicast tree, and wherein transmitting multicast data packets on the multicast tree comprises transmitting multicast data packets only for local MVPNs of the source device to the one or more destination devices on the multicast tree.

18. A network device comprising:

a control unit that establishes a multicast tree comprising a point-to-multipoint (P2MP) tunnel for transporting layer three (L3) multicast data packets through a network, wherein the point-to-multipoint (P2MP) includes a source device providing an ingress to the P2MP tunnel and a plurality of destination devices providing a plurality of destinations for the P2MP tunnel within the network, wherein each of the destination devices belongs to at least one multicast virtual private network (MVPN);

an auto-discovery module that discovers the MVPNs of which the destination devices are members;

a binding module that maps more than one of the discovered MVPNs to the multicast tree; and

one or more output interfaces that transmit the L3 multicast data packets for more than one of the MVPNs through the P2MP tunnel on the multicast tree,

wherein the control unit allocates a different inner label for each of the more than one MVPNs mapped to the multicast tree that identifies the MVPN and advertises mapping information to the one or more destination devices, wherein the mapping information specifies which of the discovered MVPNs are mapped to the multicast tree and includes the allocated inner labels to allow the destination devices to demultiplex the multicast data packets received over the multicast tree for the more than one MVPNs, and

wherein the control unit encapsulates each of the L3 multicast data packets with an outer label and one of the inner labels, wherein the outer label identifies a label space within the destination device that corresponds to the multicast tree.

19. The network device of claim 18, further comprising an aggregation module that determines which of the discovered MVPNs to aggregate onto the multicast tree.

20. The network device of claim 18, wherein the encapsulated packet comprises one of an Internet Protocol (IP) encapsulated packet or a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) encapsulated packet.

21. The network device of claim 18, wherein the multicast tree comprises a shared multicast tree, and the control unit transmits multicast data packets for both local and remote MVPNs of the source device to the one or more destination devices on the multicast tree.

22. The network device of claim 18, wherein the multicast tree comprises a source multicast tree, and the control unit transmits multicast data packets only for local MVPNs of the source device to the one or more destination devices on the multicast tree.

23. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions stored thereon that cause a programmable processor to:

discover, with a source device, a plurality of multicast virtual private networks (MVPNs) of which a plurality of destination devices are members;

establish a multicast tree comprising a point-to-multipoint (P2MP) tunnel for transporting layer three (L3) multicast data packets through a network, wherein the multicast tree includes a source device providing an ingress to the multicast tree and the plurality of destination devices providing egresses from the multicast tree, wherein each of the destination devices belongs to at least one of the MVPNs;

map more than one of the discovered MVPNs to the multicast tree;

allocate a different inner label with the source device for each of the more than one MVPNs mapped to the multicast tree;

advertise mapping information from the source device to the one or more destination devices, wherein the mapping information specifies which of the discovered MVPNs are mapped to the multicast tree by the source device;

include the allocated inner labels within the mapping information advertised from the source device to the destination devices to allow the destination devices to demultiplex the multicast data packets received over the multicast tree for the more than one MVPNs;

encapsulate the multicast data packets at the source device with an outer label and one of the inner labels, wherein the outer label identifies the label space within the destination device that corresponds to the multicast tree, and wherein the inner label is based on the MVPN with which the multicast data packet is associated; and

transmit the encapsulated multicast data packets for a plurality of different MVPNs from the source device through the P2MP tunnel to the plurality of destination devices on the multicast tree.

24. A system comprising:

a source device within a network, wherein the source device provides an ingress to a multicast tree comprising a point-to-multipoint (P2MP) tunnel that transmits layer three (L3) multicast data packets for more than one of the MVPNs;

one or more destination devices within the network that provide egresses to the P2MP tunnel, wherein each of the destination devices belongs to at least one multicast virtual private network (MVPN),

wherein the source device allocates a different inner label for each of the more than one MVPNs and communicates the allocated inner labels to the destination devices,

wherein each of the destination devices maintain a label space that includes forwarding entries for the inner labels allocated by the source device,

wherein the source device encapsulates each of the multicast data packets with an outer label and one of the inner labels, wherein the outer label identifies the label space within the receiving destination device that corresponds to the P2MP tunnel, and the inner label identifies the MVPN for which the L3 multicast data packets are intended, and

wherein the destination devices demultiplex the multicast data packets received over the multicast tree for the more than one MVPNs and select a virtual routing and forward (VRF) for forwarding the multicast data packets based on the different inner labels of the multicast data packets.