Systems and methods of multicast reconfiguration using cross-layer information

• US 8,462,621 B2
• Filed: 07/27/2009
• Issued: 06/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ramakrishnan, Kadangode, Doverspike, Robert, Yuksel, Murat
• Primary Examiner(s): Ngo, Ricky
• Assistant Examiner(s): NG, CHRISTINE Y
• Application Number:
  US12/509,760
• Publication Number:
  US 20110019534A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,415 Days
• Field of Search: 370/216, 370/217, 370/218, 370/221, 370/222, 370/225, 370/228, 370/252, 370/242, 370/243, 370/244, 370/245
• US Class Current: 370/217
• 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 45/16 Multipoint routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/18 Loop-free operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/28 using route fault recovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

Systems and methods of multicast configuration are provided. A particular method includes detecting a failure in the data network at a first node of a data network. The method also includes determining an alternate route from the first node to a data source of the data network. The alternate route includes a second node as an upstream node. The method further includes determining whether the alternate route would create a loop in the data network. The method includes setting a state of the first node to a waiting-to-join the second node state when the alternate route would create a loop.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

detecting, at a first node of a data network, a failure in the data network;

determining, at the first node, an alternate route from the first node to a data source of the data network, wherein the alternate route includes a second node as an upstream node; and

prior to sending a join request to the second node in response to the detected failure;

determining, at the first node, that using the alternate route would create a loop in the data network; and

setting a state of the first node to a waiting-to-join the second node state until the first node receives data from the second node.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the join request to the second node in response to receiving the data from the second node.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a notice of the failure to at least one other node of the data network.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving fast reroute data, at the first node, via a fast reroute link of the data network while the first node is set to the waiting-to-join the second node state.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the data received from the second node is associated with a prune message that indicates an upstream link between the first node and the second node is to be removed, the method further comprising:

pruning the upstream link;

determining that the state of the first node is set to the waiting-to-join the second node state; and

in response to pruning the upstream link, sending the join request to the second node.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving additional data from the second node; and

after receiving the additional data, sending a fast reroute prune message to a node associated with a fast reroute link.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that using the alternate route would create a loop in the data network includes determining whether the second node would be a downstream node of the first node.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a plurality of packets at the first node, wherein at least one packet of the plurality of packets is associated with fast reroute data received at the first node from another node via a fast reroute link;

determining a transmission priority of each of the plurality of packets, wherein the at least one packet received via the fast reroute link has a lower priority than other packets of the plurality of packets received via a non-fast reroute link; and

sending the plurality of packets to one or more downstream nodes based on the determined transmission priority of each of the plurality of packets.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the failure in the data network includes receiving a link state advertisement from another node of the data network.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the alternate route from the first node to the data source comprises determining a least cost route based on cost weights assigned to links of the data network.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein no data packets are lost as a result of the failure in the data network other than data packets in transit when the failure in the data network occurred.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the failure in the data network occurs along a primary path of the first node and wherein the primary path of the first node is determined based on at least one of an available bandwidth or an inverse of the available bandwidth.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the alternate route includes at least one link selected based on a high cost associated with the at least one link.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting, at the first node of the data network, a second failure in the data network;

determining a second alternate route from the first node to the data source of the data network, wherein the second alternate route includes a third node as an upstream node; and

sending a join message to the third node.

15. A system, comprising:

a first network node, comprising;

a network interface to receive data from one or more upstream network nodes of a data network, and to send the data to one or more downstream network nodes of the data network based on a multicast tree; and

a routing module coupled to the network interface, the routing module configured to;

detect a failure of the data network;

determine an alternate route from the first node to a data source of the data network, wherein the alternate route includes a second network node as an upstream node; and

prior to sending a join request to the second node in response to the detected failure;

determine that using the alternate route would create a loop in the data network; and

set a state of the first network node to a waiting-to-join the second network node state until the first node receives data from the second network node.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the data received from the second network node is associated with a prune message that indicates an upstream link between the first network node and the second network node is to be removed, wherein the routing module is further configured to send the join request to the second network node in response to removing the upstream link.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the first network node further comprises a fast reroute module to establish a fast reroute link to one or more downstream network nodes using a label switching protocol.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the fast reroute module is further configured to assign a first priority to data sent via the fast reroute link, wherein the first priority is lower than a second priority assigned to other data sent via a non-fast reroute link.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the first network node stores a network topology of the data network and a routing table that identifies connections between network nodes of the data network, shortest paths between the first network node and other network nodes of the data network, and a primary path from the first network node to a next hop node.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the first network node stores an initial backup path to the primary path.

21. A computer-readable storage device, comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

determine an alternate route from a first node to a data source of a data network in response to an identified failure in the data network, wherein the alternate route includes a second node as an upstream node; and

prior to initiating transmission of a join request to the second node in response to the identified failure;

determine that use of the alternate route would create a loop in the data network; and

set a state of the first node to a waiting-to-join the second node state until the first node receives data from the second node.