Policy based quality of service and encryption over MPLS networks

• US 8,279,864 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2006
• Issued: 10/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Wood, Daniel M.
• Primary Examiner(s): RENNER, BRANDON M
• Application Number:
  US11/558,682
• Publication Number:
  US 20080112410A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,153 Days
• Field of Search: 370/468
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/302 Route determination based on requested QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/308 Route determination based on user's profile, e.g. premium users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/50 using label swapping, e.g. multi-protocol label switch [MPLS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/746 Reaction triggered by a failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/825 Involving tunnels, e.g. MPLS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload

Abstract

A network device may store a plurality of LSP labels each associated with a network policy and desired quality of service, wherein each LSP label defines a path through a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) network. Upon receiving a request to transmit data in accordance with a network policy and desired quality of service, the network device may transmit an appropriate LSP label for transmission through the MPLS network.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a network device, one or more label switched path (LSP) labels that define one or more quality of service paths through a first network, the one or more LSP labels being received from a second network, the first network being an untrusted network and the second network being a trusted network;

receiving, by the network device, data from the second network,

the received data to be transmitted through the first network, and

the received data including information identifying a particular quality of service;

receiving, by the network device and from another network device in the first network, information indicating a connection, associated with the received data, to be established based on the particular quality of service;

encrypting, by the network device, the received data after receiving the information indicating the connection to be established;

identifying, by the network device, a particular LSP label, of the one or more LSP labels, to apply to the encrypted data,

identifying the particular LSP label including mapping the information identifying the particular quality of service to quality of service information associated with the particular LSP label;

applying, by the network device, the identified particular LSP label to the encrypted data; and

transmitting, by the network device, the encrypted data with the applied particular LSP label through the first network.

2. The method of claim 1, where receiving the one or more LSP labels includes:

receiving the one or more LSP labels from a server in the second network.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the one or more LSP labels in a memory that stores a plurality of LSP labels, quality of service information, and network policy information,

where each of the plurality of LSP labels is associated with at least one of;

particular quality of service information of the stored quality of service information, or

particular network policy information of the stored network policy information.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying an output port, of the network device, to transmit the encrypted data, based on the identified particular LSP label; and

transmitting, after applying the identified particular LSP label, the encrypted data via the identified output port of the network device.

5. The method of claim 4, where identifying the output port comprises:

mapping the identified particular LSP label, associated with a particular input port, to a corresponding LSP label, associated with the identified output port.

6. A network device comprising:

a memory to;

store a plurality of label switched path (LSP) labels and quality of service information, each LSP label, of the stored plurality of LSP labels, defining a path, through a first network, that is associated with a particular quality of service, each LSP label, of the stored plurality of LSP labels, being associated with corresponding quality of service information of the stored quality of service information, and the first network corresponding to an untrusted network; and

logic, implemented at least partially in hardware, to;

receive data from a second network to be transmitted through the first network, the data including a request for a quality of service, and the second network being different than the first network;

receive, from another network device associated with the first network, information indicating a connection, associated with the data, to be established based on the quality of service of the request;

encrypt the data received from the second network after receiving the information indicating the connection to be established;

map the quality of service, of the request, to particular quality of service information of the stored quality of service information;

select a particular LSP label, of the plurality of LSP labels, that is associated with the particular quality of service information;

apply the selected particular LSP label to the encrypted data; and

transmit the encrypted and LSP labeled data through the first network via a path identified by the applied particular LSP label.

7. The network device of claim 6, where the first network is a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) network.

8. The network device of claim 6, where the data, received from the second network, is transmitted by a client device, to the network device, via the second network.

9. The network device of claim 6, further comprising:

a first portion that receives the data from the second network;

a second portion, different than the first portion, that transmits the encrypted data with the applied LSP label to the first network; and

an encryption engine to;

receive the data from the first portion,

encrypt the data received from the first portion, and

forward the encrypted data to the second portion, where the second portion transmits the encrypted data with the applied LSP label via the first network.

10. The network device of claim 6, where the network device comprises a first portion that receives data from the second network and a second portion, different than the first portion, that transmits data to the first network, and

where the plurality of LSP labels and the quality of service information are stored in the first portion of the network device.

11. A method comprising:

transmitting, by a network device and to a server that is associated with a particular network, a request for a label switched path (LSP) label that defines a path through a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) network, the path being associated with a particular quality of service,

the MPLS network being an untrusted network, and the particular network being different than the MPLS network;

receiving, by the network device and from the server, the LSP label via the particular network;

receiving, by the network device, data from the particular network,

the data to be transmitted, via the MPLS network, based on a quality of service that corresponds to the particular quality of service;

receiving, by the network device and from another network device associated with the MPLS network, information indicating a connection, associated with the data, to be established based on the quality of service;

encrypting, by the network device, the data after receiving the information indicating the connection to be established;

identifying, by the network device, the LSP label based on the quality of service;

applying, by the network device, the LSP label to the encrypted data; and

transmitting, by the network device, the encrypted data with the applied LSP label via the path through the MPLS network.

12. The method of claim 11, where receiving the data comprises:

receiving a request to transmit the data via the MPLS network based on the quality of service, the request being received from a client device that is associated with the particular network.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

storing the received LSP label; and

retrieving the received LSP label based identifying the LSP label.

14. The method of claim 13, where the network device comprises a first portion that receives data from the second network, and

a second portion, different than the first portion, that transmits data to the first network, and

where storing the received LSP label comprises:

storing the received LSP label and the particular quality of service in a memory, in the first portion, that stores a plurality of LSP labels and quality of service information, where each of the plurality of LSP labels is mapped to corresponding quality of service information of the stored quality of service information.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising:

one or more instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a network device, cause the at least one processor to;

store a plurality of label switched path (LSP) labels and quality of service information,

each LSP label, of the stored plurality of LSP labels, defining a path, through a first network, that is associated with a particular quality of service, and each LSP label, of the stored plurality of LSP labels, being associated with corresponding quality of service information of the stored quality of service information, the first network corresponding to an untrusted network;

receive data, from a second network, that is to be transmitted through the first network, the data including a request for a quality of service, and the second network being different than the first network;

receive, from another network device in the first network, information indicating a connection, associated with the data, to be established based on the quality of service;

encrypt the data received from the second network after receiving the information indicating the connection to be established;

map the quality of service, of the request, to particular quality of service information of the stored quality of service information;

select a particular LSP label, of the plurality of LSP labels, that is associated with the particular quality of service information;

encapsulate the encrypted data using the selected particular LSP label; and

transmit the encapsulated data through the first network via a path identified by the particular LSP label.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, where the one or more instructions to receive the data comprise:

one or more instructions to receive, from a client device that is associated with the second network, a request to transmit the data via the first network based on the quality of service,

where the first network corresponds to a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) network, and

where the second network correspond to a trusted network.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising:

one or more instructions to receive, via the second network, the plurality of LSP labels and quality of service information from another network device.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, where the first network corresponds to a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) network, and

where the second network corresponds to a trusted network.