Methods and apparatus providing VPN traffic matrix construction

• US 7,839,847 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2006
• Issued: 11/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mukhopadhyay, Sumit, Grise, Adrien Michael, Elias, Stephen Paul, Nadeau, Thomas D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Juntima; Nittaya
• Assistant Examiner(s): Davenport; Mon Cheri S
• Application Number:
  US11/430,208
• Publication Number:
  US 20070258372A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,660 Days
• Field of Search: 370/351, 370/389, 370/392, 370/400, 370/401, 370/412, 370/428, 370/395.5, 370/469
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/026 using flow identification
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/50 using label swapping, e.g. multi-protocol label switch [MPLS]

Abstract

A system receives a packet at a router, and pushes a label onto a label stack. The label stack is associated with the packet. The system provides a forwarding record containing label bindings for the router, and transmits the forwarding record to a collector. A system receives a forwarding record from a router. The system compares a first record entry type of the forwarding record with a second record entry type of the forwarding record to determine the traffic flow in the network. The system then maps the traffic flow in the network, based on a result of the comparing.

Claims

1. A method of tracking a traffic flow in a network of label switch routers, the method comprising:

receiving at least one control plane-related record at a collector device from a first router, the at least one control plane-related record including a label binding of the first router, the label binding of the first router including a first label stack, a label local to the first router, and a next hop network address exported from a Label Forwarding Information Base (LFIB) record stored in the first router, the collector device not receiving any data plane statistics accumulated at the first router;

receiving at least one data plane-related record at the collector device from a second router, the at least one data plane-related record including label aggregated traffic data accumulated at the second router in addition to a corresponding second label stack and a corresponding source interface exported from the second router;

determining, at the collector device, how Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) traffic is configured to flow between the first router and the second router by comparing, at the collector device, the label binding of the first router with the second label stack and the source interface exported from the second router; and

determining data plane statistics for the first router at the collector device based on the label aggregated traffic data accumulated at the second router and on how the MPLS traffic is configured to flow between the first router and the second router.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein exporting the at least one control plane-related record comprises exporting the at least one control plane-related record at the first router but not exporting, at the first router, any data plane statistics accumulated in the first router.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising exporting each Label Forwarding Information Base (LFIB) record, from the first router, that is owned by an application imposing an MPLS label.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining how MPLS traffic is configured to flow between the first router and the second router comprises determining a direction of flow of at least one packet.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the label binding of the first router further comprises a forward equivalency class identifier and a source interface identifier.

6. A method of tracking traffic flow in a network of label switch routers, the method comprising:

determining aggregated data plane statistics for a first router at a collector device by;

receiving a first forwarding record at the collector device from the first router, the first forwarding record including label bindings of the first router, the label bindings of the first router including a first label stack, a label local to the first router, and a next hop network address exported from a Label Forwarding Information Base (LFIB) record stored in the first router, the collector device not receiving any data plane statistics accumulated at the first router;

receiving a second forwarding record at the collector device from a second router, the second forwarding record including label aggregated traffic data aggregated at the second router, the second forwarding record further including a second label stack and a source interface associated with a plurality of Label Switch Path (LSP) packets received at the second router;

determining at the collector device whether any of the LSP packets flowed from the first router to the second router by comparing the label bindings of the first router with the second label stack and the source interface; and

determining the aggregated data plane statistics for the first router at the collector device based on the determination of whether any of the LSP packets flowed from the first router to the second router and based on traffic data aggregated for an LSP label at the second router, the second forwarding record including the traffic data aggregated for the LSP label at the second router.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising mapping a traffic flow of a Virtual Private Routing and Forwarding (VRF) table associated with the first router by determining a difference between the first forwarding record received from the first router and the second forwarding record received from the second router.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising receiving, in the label bindings of the first router, a Virtual Private Network identifier for each LFIB stored in the first router.

9. A computerized device comprising:

a memory;

a processor;

a communications interface;

an interconnection coupling the memory, the processor and the communications interface, wherein the memory is encoded with a traffic flow tracking application that when executed on the processor is executable to determine data plane statistics for a first router by performing the operations of;

receiving at least one control plane-related record at a collector device from a first router, the at least one control plane-related record comprising a label binding of the first router, the label binding of the first router including a first label stack, a label local to the first router, and a next hop network address exported from a Label Forwarding Base (LFIB) record stored in the first router, without receiving, at the collector device, any data plane statistics accumulated at the first router;

receiving at least one data plane-related record at the collector device from a second router, the at least one data plane-related record comprising label aggregated traffic data accumulated at the second router in addition to a corresponding second label stack and a corresponding source interface exported from the second router;

determining, at the collector device, how Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) traffic is configured to flow between the first router and the second router by comparing, at the collector device, the label binding of the first router with the second label stack and the source interface exported from the second router; and

determining the data plane statistics for the first router at the collector device based on the label aggregated traffic data accumulated at the second router and on how the MPLS traffic is configured to flow between the first router and the second router.

10. A tangible non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with computer programming logic that, when executed on a process in a computerized device, determines traffic flow in a network of label switch routers, the tangible computer readable medium comprising:

instructions executable to receive at least one control plane-related record at a collector device from a first router, the at least one control plane-related record comprising a label binding of the first router, the label binding of the first router including a first label stack, a label local to the first router, and a next hog network address for each Label Forwarding Base (LFIB) record stored in the first router, without receiving, at the collector device, any data plane statistics accumulated at the first router;

instructions executable to receive at least one data plane-related record at the collector device from a second router, the at least one data plane-related record comprising label aggregated traffic data accumulated at the second router in addition to a corresponding second label stack and a corresponding source interface exported from the second router;

instructions executable to determine, at the collector device, how Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) traffic is configured to flow between the first router and the second router, wherein the instructions executable to determine how MPLS traffic is configured to flow comprise instructions executable to compare, at the collector device, the label binding of the first router with the second label stack and the source interface exported from the second router; and

instructions executable to determine data plane statistics for the first router at the collector device based on the label aggregated traffic data accumulated at the second router and on how the MPLS traffic is configured to flow between the first router and the second router.