Method and apparatus for providing congruent multicast and unicast routing
First Claim
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1. A method for enabling congruent multicast and unicast routing in a Virtual Private Network (VPN), comprising:
- receiving a request to join a multicast group to receive multicast data traffic from a receiver behind a remote Provider Edge (PE) router or a locally connected Customer Edge (CE) router; and
discovering a multicast source to allow said remote PE router or said locally connected CE router to use a direct path to receive said multicast data traffic from a source, wherein said VPN is a Multi-Protocol Label Switching/Border Gateway Protocol (MPLS/BGP) multicast VPN, wherein said discovering comprises;
receiving a PIM (*,G) Join message by a Provider Edge (PE) router with a Customer Rendezvous Point (C-RP) behind said PE router from said remote PE router, where G is a multicast group;
sending said received PIM (*,G) Join message by said PE router with said C-RP behind said PE router to said C-RP without forwarding multicast traffic on an interface that leads toward said VPN; and
announcing said multicast source.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for enabling congruent multicast and unicast routing in a Virtual Private Network (VPN) are disclosed. For example, the present method receives a request to join a multicast group to receive multicast data traffic by a receiver behind a remote Provider Edge (PE) router. The method then discovers a multicast source to allow said remote PE router to use a direct path to receive said multicast data traffic from a source.
43 Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method for enabling congruent multicast and unicast routing in a Virtual Private Network (VPN), comprising:
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receiving a request to join a multicast group to receive multicast data traffic from a receiver behind a remote Provider Edge (PE) router or a locally connected Customer Edge (CE) router; and discovering a multicast source to allow said remote PE router or said locally connected CE router to use a direct path to receive said multicast data traffic from a source, wherein said VPN is a Multi-Protocol Label Switching/Border Gateway Protocol (MPLS/BGP) multicast VPN, wherein said discovering comprises; receiving a PIM (*,G) Join message by a Provider Edge (PE) router with a Customer Rendezvous Point (C-RP) behind said PE router from said remote PE router, where G is a multicast group; sending said received PIM (*,G) Join message by said PE router with said C-RP behind said PE router to said C-RP without forwarding multicast traffic on an interface that leads toward said VPN; and announcing said multicast source. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method for enabling congruent multicast and unicast routing in a Virtual Private Network (VPN), comprising:
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receiving a request to join a multicast group to receive multicast data traffic from a receiver behind a remote Provider Edge (PE) router or a locally connected Customer Edge (CE) router; and discovering a multicast source to allow said remote PE router or said locally connected CE router to use a direct path to receive said multicast data traffic from a source, wherein said VPN is a Multi-Protocol Label Switching/Border Gateway Protocol (MPLS/BGP) multicast VPN, wherein said discovering comprises; receiving a first PIM (S,G) Join message by a Provider Edge (PE) router with a multicast source behind said PE router from said remote PE router or said locally connected CE router, where S is a multicast source and G is a multicast group; announcing a tunnel to be used for (S,G) multicast traffic to all remote PE routers in said VPN by said PE router with said multicast source behind said PE router; and joining the tunnel for a (S,G) distribution tree announced by said a remote PE router with a multicast group receiver behind said PE router only if said PE router with a multicast source behind said PE router is a best next hop router from said remote PE router to said multicast source.
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6. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps of a method for enabling congruent multicast and unicast routing in a Virtual Private Network (VPN), comprising:
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receiving a request to join a multicast group to receive multicast data traffic from a receiver behind a remote Provider Edge (PE) router or a locally connected Customer Edge (CE) router; and discovering a multicast source to allow said remote PE router or said locally connected CE router to use a direct path to receive said multicast data traffic from a source, wherein said VPN is a Multi-Protocol Label Switching/Border Gateway Protocol (MPLS/BGP) multicast VPN, wherein said discovering comprises; receiving a PIM (*,G) Join message by a Provider Edge (PE) router with a Customer Rendezvous Point (C-RP) behind said PE router from said remote PE router, where G is a multicast group; sending said received PIM (*,G) Join message by said PE router with said C-RP behind said PE router to said C-RP without forwarding multicast traffic on an interface that leads toward said VPN; and announcing said multicast source. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
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10. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps of a method for enabling congruent multicast and unicast routing in a Virtual Private Network (VPN), comprising:
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receiving a request to join a multicast group to receive multicast data traffic from a receiver behind a remote Provider Edge (PE) router or a locally connected Customer Edge (CE) router; and discovering a multicast source to allow said remote PE router or said locally connected CE router to use a direct path to receive said multicast data traffic from a source, wherein said VPN is a Multi-Protocol Label Switching/Border Gateway Protocol (MPLS/BGP) multicast VPN, wherein said discovering comprises; receiving a first PIM (S,G) Join message by a Provider Edge (PE) router with a multicast source behind said PE router from said remote PE router or said locally connected CE router, where S is a multicast source and G is a multicast group; announcing a tunnel to be used for (S,G) multicast traffic to all remote PE routers in said VPN by said PE router with said multicast source behind said PE router; and joining the tunnel for a (S,G) distribution tree announced by said a remote PE router with a multicast group receiver behind said PE router only if said PE router with a multicast source behind said PE router is a best next hop router from said remote PE router to said multicast source.
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11. An apparatus for enabling congruent multicast and unicast routing in a Virtual Private Network (VPN), comprising:
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means for receiving a request to join a multicast group to receive multicast data traffic from a receiver behind a remote Provider Edge (PE) router or a locally connected Customer Edge (CE) router; and means for discovering a multicast source to allow said remote PE router or said locally connected CE router to use a direct path to receive said multicast data traffic from a source, wherein said VPN is a Multi-Protocol Label Switching/Border Gateway Protocol (MPLS/BGP) multicast VPN, wherein said discovering means comprises; means for receiving a PIM (*,G) Join message by a Provider Edge (PE) router with a Customer Rendezvous Point (C-RP) behind said PE router from said remote PE router, where G is a multicast group; means for sending said received PIM (*,G) Join message by said PE router with said C-RP behind said PE router to said C-RP without forwarding multicast traffic on an interface that leads toward said VPN; and means for announcing said multicast source. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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Specification