Layer 2 virtual private network over PBB-TE/PBT and seamless interworking with VPLS

• US 8,018,880 B2
• Filed: 03/25/2008
• Issued: 09/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: K.Mizra LLC
• Original Assignee: Brixham Solutions Limited (Transpacific IP Group Limited)
• Inventors: Gitlin, Richard D., Figueira, Norival R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Moe; Aung S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Elliott; Benjamin
• Application Number:
  US12/079,413
• Publication Number:
  US 20080247406A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,267 Days
• Field of Search: 370/285, 370/395.3, 370/395.5, 370/395.53, 370/401, 709/231, 709/249, 710/10, 710/30
• US Class Current: 370/285
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4604 LAN interconnection over a backbone network, e.g. Internet, Frame Relay
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4662 wherein a VLAN tag represents a service instance, e.g. I-SID in PBB
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/50 using label swapping, e.g. multi-protocol label switch [MPLS]

Abstract

A Layer 2 Virtual Private Network (L2VPN) system is provided. A Provider Backbone Bridge (PBB) network is provided which comprises a plurality of sites to be connected via a L2VPN. The plurality of sites in the PBB network is connected using a plurality of provider backbone trunks that includes a Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) trunk or a Provider Backbone Bridge Traffic Engineering (PBB-TE) trunk, such that the L2VPN includes the plurality of sites.

Claims

1. A method for interconnecting a Layer 2 Virtual Private Network (L2VPN) system, comprising:

coupling a plurality of sites in a Provider Backbone Bridge (PBB) network using a plurality of provider backbone trunks that includes a Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) trunk or a Provider Backbone Bridge Traffic Engineering (PBB-TE) trunk, such that the L2VPN includes the plurality of sites;

provisioning one or more Virtual Switch Instances (VSIs) associated with the plurality of sites, the provisioning to be performed using a control plane that is external to the plurality of sites; and

using a split horizon rule to control distribution of received frames, wherein the split horizon rule is associated with a first VSI coupling the PBB network to a Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network, the split horizon rule to restrict the normal VSI frame forwarding/distribution of received frames such that;

(1) in the event a frame is received from a Service Instance over one of the plurality of provider backbone trunks, the received frame is forwarded to Pseudowires over the MPLS network and a set of customer bound interfaces;

(2) in the event a frame is received from a Pseudowire over the MPLS network, the received frame is forwarded to a set of Service Instances over the plurality of provider backbone trunks and a set of customer bound interfaces; and

(3) in the event a frame is received from a customer bound interface, the received frame is forwarded as defined by the normal VSI frame forwarding behavior and no forwarding restrictions are imposed on the VSI.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a first L2VPN is provided for a first customer and a second L2VPN is provided for a second customer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first L2VPN is associated with a first plurality of VSIs and the second L2VPN is associated with a second plurality of VSIs.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising connecting the first plurality of VSIs associated with the first L2VPN using a plurality of Service Instances transported over the plurality of provider backbone trunks.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the first customer is associated with a first Service Instance and the second customer is associated with a second Service Instance.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the first Service Instance is defined by one of the following:

an I-SID value, a VLAN ID, a stack of VLAN IDs, an I-SID value and a VLAN ID, or an I-SID value and a stack of VLAN IDs.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the first Service Instance is unique across a network.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the first customer is associated with a plurality of Service Instances transported over the plurality of provider backbone trunks.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing a Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS) on the MPLS network comprising a second plurality of sites; and

coupling the second plurality of sites using a plurality of Pseudowires, wherein the L2VPN further includes the second plurality of sites.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising coupling a plurality of L2VPNs over a plurality of PBB metro networks to a Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS) service over a core MPLS network to build an end-to-end L2VPN service for a customer.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising coupling a plurality of L2VPNs over a plurality of PBB metro networks to a L2VPN over the PBB network to build an end-to-end L2VPN over PBB for a customer.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising using the first VSI to couple the L2VPN over the PBB network with a Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS) service over the MPLS network to build an end-to-end L2VPN service for a customer.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising using a second VSI to couple the L2VPN over the PBB network with another L2VPN over another PBB network to build an end-to-end L2VPN service for a customer.

14. A system for interconnecting a Layer 2 Virtual Private Network (L2VPN) system, comprising:

a connector configured to couple a plurality of sites in a Provider Backbone Bridge (PBB) network using a plurality of provider backbone trunks that includes a Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) trunk or a Provider Backbone Bridge Traffic Engineering (PBB-TE) trunk, such that the L2VPN includes the plurality of sites;

a controller coupled to the connector, wherein the controller is configured to interface with a control plane that is capable of provisioning one or more Virtual Switch Instances (VSIs) associated with the plurality of sites, the control plan to be external to the plurality of sites; and

a first VSI configured to use a split horizon rule to control distribution of received frames, wherein the first VSI is also configured to couple the PBB network to a Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network and to use the split horizon rule to restrict the normal VSI frame forwarding/distribution of received frames such that;

(1) in the event a frame is received from a Service Instance over one of the plurality of provider backbone trunks, the received frame is forwarded to Pseudowires over the MPLS network and a set of customer bound interfaces;

(2) in the event a frame is received from a Pseudowire over the MPLS network, the received frame is forwarded to a set of Service Instances over the plurality of provider backbone trunks and a set of customer bound interfaces; and

(3) in the event a frame is received from a customer bound interface, the received frame is forwarded as defined by the normal VSI frame forwarding behavior and no forwarding restrictions are imposed on the VSI.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein a first L2VPN is provided for a first customer and a second L2VPN is provided for a second customer.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the first L2VPN is associated with a first plurality of VSIs and the second L2VPN is associated with a second plurality of VSIs.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the connector is further configured to couple the first plurality of VSIs associated with the first L2VPN using a plurality of Service Instances transported over the plurality of provider backbone trunks.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the first customer is associated with a first Service Instance and the second customer is associated with a second Service Instance.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the first Service Instance is defined by one of the following:

an I-SID value, a VLAN ID, a stack of VLAN IDs, an I-SID value and a VLAN ID, or an I-SID value and a stack of VLAN IDs.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the first Service Instance is unique across a network.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the first customer is associated with a plurality of Service Instances transported over the plurality of provider backbone trunks.

22. The system of claim 14, wherein the connector is further configured to couple a plurality of L2VPNs over a plurality of PBB metro networks to a Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS) service over a core MPLS network to build an end-to-end L2VPN service for a customer.

23. The system of claim 14, wherein the connector is further configured to couple a plurality of L2VPNs over a plurality of PBB metro networks to a L2VPN over the PBB network to build an end-to-end L2VPN over PBB for a customer.

24. The system of claim 14, wherein the connector is further configured to use the first VSI to couple the L2VPN over the PBB network with a Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS) service over the MPLS network to build an end-to-end L2VPN service for a customer.

25. The system of claim 14 where the connector is further configured to use a common VSI configured to couple the L2VPN over the PBB network with another L2VPN over another PBB network to build an end-to-end L2VPN service for a customer.

26. A computer program product for interconnecting a Layer 2 Virtual Private Network (L2VPN) system, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

coupling a plurality of sites in a Provider Backbone Bridge (PBB) network using a plurality of provider backbone trunks that includes a Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) trunk or a Provider Backbone Bridge Traffic Engineering (PBB-TE) trunk, such that the L2VPN includes the plurality of sites;

provisioning one or more Virtual Switch Instances (VSIs) associated with the plurality of sites, the provisioning to be performed using a control plane that is external to the plurality of sites;

using a split horizon rule to control distribution of received frames, wherein the split horizon rule is associated with a first VSI coupling the PBB network to a Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network, the split horizon rule to restrict the normal VSI frame forwarding/distribution of received frames such that;

(1) in the event a frame is received from a Service Instance over one of the plurality of provider backbone trunks, the received frame is forwarded to Pseudowires over the MPLS network and a set of customer bound interfaces;

(2) in the event a frame is received from a Pseudowire over the MPLS network, the received frame is forwarded to a set of Service Instances over the plurality of provider backbone trunks and a set of customer bound interfaces; and

(3) in the event a frame is received from a customer bound interface, the received frame is forwarded as defined by the normal VSI frame forwarding behavior and no forwarding restrictions are imposed on the VSI.

27. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein a first L2VPN is provided for a first customer and a second L2VPN is provided for a second customer.

28. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the first L2VPN is associated with a first plurality of VSIs and the second L2VPN is associated with a second plurality of VSIs.

29. The computer program product of claim 28, further comprising computer instructions for coupling the first plurality of VSIs associated with the first L2VPN using a plurality of Service Instances transported over the plurality of provider backbone trunks.

30. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the first customer is associated with a first Service Instance and the second customer is associated with a second Service Instance.

31. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the first Service Instance is defined by one of the following:

an I-SID value, a VLAN ID, a stack of VLAN IDs, an I-SID value and a VLAN ID, or an I-SID value and a stack of VLAN IDs.

32. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the first Service Instance is unique across a network.

33. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the first customer is associated with a plurality of Service Instances transported over the plurality of provider backbone trunks.

34. The computer program product of claim 26 further comprising computer instructions for:

providing a Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS) on the MPLS network comprising a second plurality of sites; and

coupling the second plurality of sites using a plurality of Pseudowires, wherein the L2VPN further includes the second plurality of sites.

35. The computer program product of claim 26 further comprising computer instructions for coupling a plurality of L2VPNs over a plurality of PBB metro networks to a Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS) service over a core MPLS network to build an end-to-end L2VPN service for a customer.

36. The computer program product of claim 26 further comprising computer instructions for coupling a plurality of L2VPNs over a plurality of PBB metro networks to a L2VPN over the PBB network to build an end-to-end L2VPN over PBB for a customer.

37. The computer program product of claim 26 further comprising computer instructions for using the first VSI to couple the L2VPN over the PBB network with a Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS) service over the MPLS network to build an end-to-end L2VPN service for a customer.

38. The computer program product of claim 26 further comprising computer instructions for using a second VSI to couple the L2VPN over the PBB network with another L2VPN over another PBB network to build an end-to-end L2VPN service for a customer.

39. A method for interconnecting a Layer 2 Virtual Private Network (L2VPN) system, comprising:

coupling a plurality of sites in a Provider Backbone Bridge (PBB) network using a plurality of provider backbone trunks that includes a Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) trunk or a Provider Backbone Bridge Traffic Engineering (PBB-TE) trunk, such that the L2VPN includes the plurality of sites;

provisioning one or more Virtual Switch Instances (VSIs) associated with the plurality of sites, the provisioning to be performed using a control plane that is external to the plurality of sites; and

using a split horizon rule to control distribution of received frames, wherein the split horizon rule is associated with a first VSI coupling a PBB core network having a first set of Service Instances over a first plurality of provider backbone trunks to a PBB metro network having a second set of Service Instances over a second plurality of provider backbone trunks, the split horizon rule to restrict the normal VSI frame forwarding/distribution of received frames such that;

(1) in the event a frame is received from one of a second set of Service Instances over the second plurality of provider backbone trunks of the PBB metro network, the received frame can only be forwarded to the first set of Service Instances over the first plurality of provider backbone trunks of the PBB core network and a set of customer bound interfaces;

(2) in the event a frame is received from one of a first set of Service Instances over the first plurality of provider backbone trunks of the PBB core network, the received frame can only be forwarded to the second set of Service Instances over the second plurality of provider backbone trunks of the PBB metro network and a set of customer bound interfaces; and

(3) in the event a frame is received from one of a set of customer bound interfaces, the received frame is forwarded as defined by the normal VSI frame forwarding behavior and no forwarding restrictions are imposed on the VSI.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein a first L2VPN is provided for a first customer and a second L2VPN is provided for a second customer.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the first L2VPN is associated with a first plurality of VSIs and the second L2VPN is associated with a second plurality of VSIs.

42. The method of claim 41, further comprising coupling the first plurality of VSIs associated with the first L2VPN using a plurality of Service Instances transported over the plurality of provider backbone trunks.

43. The method of claim 40, wherein the first customer is associated with a first Service Instance and the second customer is associated with a second Service Instance.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the first Service Instance is defined by one of the following:

an I-SID value, a VLAN ID, a stack of VLAN IDs, an I-SID value and a VLAN ID, or an I-SID value and a stack of VLAN IDs.

45. The method of claim 43, wherein the first Service Instance is unique across a network.

46. The method of claim 40, wherein the first customer is associated with a plurality of Service Instances transported over the plurality of provider backbone trunks.

47. The method of claim 39 further comprising:

providing a Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS) on a Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network comprising a second plurality of sites; and

coupling the second plurality of sites using a plurality of Pseudowires, wherein the L2VPN further includes the second plurality of sites.

48. The method of claim 39 further comprising coupling a plurality of L2VPNs over a plurality of PBB metro networks to a Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS) service over a core MPLS network to build an end-to-end L2VPN service for a customer.

49. The method of claim 39 further comprising coupling a plurality of L2VPNs over a plurality of PBB metro networks to a L2VPN over the PBB network to build an end-to-end L2VPN over PBB for a customer.

50. The method of claim 39 further comprising using the first VSI to couple the L2VPN over the PBB network with a Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS) service over an Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network to build an end-to-end L2VPN service for a customer.

51. The method of claim 39 further comprising using a second VSI to couple the L2VPN over the PBB metro network with another L2VPN over another PBB core network to build an end-to-end L2VPN service for a customer.