Transport of control and data traffic for multicast virtual private networks
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- using a first tunneling protocol, establishing a multicast tree having a source router providing an ingress to the multicast tree and a plurality of destination routers providing a plurality of different egresses from the multicast tree within a network, wherein each of the destination routers belongs to at least one multicast virtual private network (MVPN); and
using a second tunneling protocol different from the first tunneling protocol, establishing tunnels between the source router and the one or more destination routers;
separately transporting control information and multicast data packets for the MVPNs between the source router and the one or more destination routers, wherein separately transporting the control information and the multicast data packets comprises;
transporting the multicast data packets from the source router to the destination routers on the multicast tree in accordance with the first tunneling protocol, andtransporting the control information between the source router and the destination routers using the tunnels in accordance with the second tunneling protocol.
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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.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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using a first tunneling protocol, establishing a multicast tree having a source router providing an ingress to the multicast tree and a plurality of destination routers providing a plurality of different egresses from the multicast tree within a network, wherein each of the destination routers belongs to at least one multicast virtual private network (MVPN); and using a second tunneling protocol different from the first tunneling protocol, establishing tunnels between the source router and the one or more destination routers; separately transporting control information and multicast data packets for the MVPNs between the source router and the one or more destination routers, wherein separately transporting the control information and the multicast data packets comprises; transporting the multicast data packets from the source router to the destination routers on the multicast tree in accordance with the first tunneling protocol, and transporting the control information between the source router and the destination routers using the tunnels in accordance with the second tunneling protocol. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A router comprising:
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a control unit providing an operating environment for a plurality of protocols, a first tunneling protocol executing on the control unit configured to establish a multicast tree having a source router providing an ingress to the multicast tree and a plurality of destination routers providing a plurality of different egresses from the multicast tree, each of the destination routers belonging to at least one multicast virtual private network (MVPN); and a second tunneling protocol executing on the control unit and configured to establish a tunnel to at least one of the source router and the destination routers, wherein the control unit is configured to transport multicast data packets for at least one of the MVPNs on the multicast tree in accordance with the first tunneling protocol and transport control information for the MVPN using the tunnel in accordance with the second tunneling protocol. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that cause a programmable processor to:
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using a first tunneling protocol, establish a multicast tree having a source router providing an ingress to the multicast tree and a plurality of destination routers providing a plurality of different egresses from the multicast tree, wherein each of the destination routers belongs to at least one multicast virtual private network (MVPN); using a second tunneling protocol different from the first tunneling protocol, establish tunnels between the source router and the destination routers; receive a customer join and prune messages for the MVPNs; in response to the customer join and prune messages, generate routing protocol advertisements in accordance with a routing protocol; encode within the advertisements the join and prune messages to form encoded advertisements; in accordance with the second tunneling protocol, encapsulate the routing protocol advertisements to form packets; and transmit the packets containing the encoded routing protocol advertisements along the tunnels to communicate the join and prune messages to one of the source router and the destination routers.
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18. A system comprising:
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a source router within a network; a plurality of destination routers within the network, wherein each of the destination routers belongs to at least one multicast virtual private network (MVPN); a multicast tree established within the network in accordance with a first tunneling protocol to transmit multicast data packets for the MVPNs from the source router to the destination routers; and tunnels established between the source router and the destination routers in accordance with a second tunneling protocol to transmit control information for the MVPN, wherein the tunnels transmit the control information encoded within routing protocol advertisements that conform to a routing protocol, and wherein the control information includes customer join and prune messages associated with the MVPN.
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19. A method comprising:
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establishing a multicast tree in accordance with a first tunneling protocol, wherein the multicast tree comprises a source router providing an ingress to the multicast tree and a plurality of destination routers providing a plurality of different egresses from the multicast tree, wherein each of the destination routers belongs to at least one multicast virtual private network (MVPN); establishing tunnels between the source router and the destination routers in accordance with a second tunneling protocol to transmit control information for the MVPN; transporting multicast data packets from the source router to the destination device on the multicast tree; receiving, with one of the source router or the destination routers, at least one of a join message or a prune message for one of the MVPNs; in response to the at least one of a join message or a prune message, generating a routing protocol advertisement in accordance with a routing protocol; encoding within the advertisements at least one of a join message or a prune messages to form an encoded advertisement; encapsulating the routing protocol advertisement to form a packet; and transmitting the packet containing the encoded routing protocol advertisements along the tunnels to communicate the at least one of a join message or a prune message.
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Specification