COPS-PR enhancements to support fast state synchronization

• US 8,566,453 B1
• Filed: 11/19/2007
• Issued: 10/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Araujo, Wladimir, Ali, Alex
• Primary Examiner(s): Zele, Krista M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): VOSTAL, ONDREJ C
• Application Number:
  US11/942,217
• Time in Patent Office: 2,164 Days
• Field of Search: 709/227
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1658 Data re-synchronization of a redundant component, or initial sync of replacement, additional or spare unit
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2038 with a single idle spare processing component
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2097 maintaining the standby controller/processing unit updated initialisation or re-synchronisation thereof G06F11/1658 and subgroups
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0661 by reconfiguring faulty entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management

Abstract

A method may include recognizing, by a PEP, a connection failure to a PDP, establishing a reconnection, initiating, by the PEP, a fast state synchronization based on a client-open message of the common open policy service for policy provisioning (COPS-PR) protocol, receiving, by the PEP, an acceptance for the fast state synchronization based on a null decision message of the COPS-PR protocol, and transmitting, by the PEP, differential state information to the PDP.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting, by a Policy Enforcement Point (PEP), a failure of a connection

establishing, by the PEP, another connection with a Policy Decision Point (PDP) after detecting the failure of the connection;

sending, by the PEP, a client-open message, of a common open policy service for policy provisioning (COPS-PR) protocol, to the PDP,

the client-open message including;

an Internet Protocol (IP) address of a last PDP associated with the PEP, and

a port number of the last PDP,

the client-open message being sent after establishing the other connection;

receiving, by the PEP and based on sending the client-open message, a message from the PDP,

the message indicating an acceptance of the client-open message;

receiving, by the PEP and from the PDP, a null decision message of the COPS-PR protocol,

the null decision message indicating that a fast state synchronization is to be performed,

the null decision message being received when the PDP determines that the fast state synchronization is to be performed based on;

the PDP determining that the IP address of the last PDP and the port number of the last PDP match an IP address of the PDP and a port number of the PDP, or

the PDP determining that;

the IP address of the last PDP does not match the IP address of the PDP,

the PDP includes state information of the last PDP, the PDP being a backup of the last PDP,

and

the IP address of the last PDP, included in the client-open message, corresponds to an IP address of the last PDP associated with the state information of the last PDP;

sending, by the PEP, a message indicating an approval to perform the fast state synchronization when the null decision message is received;

initiating, by the PEP, the fast state synchronization based on sending the message indicating the approval of the fast state synchronization; and

initiating, by the PEP, a full state synchronization when the PDP issues a message to request the full state synchronization.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, by the PEP, a delete request message, of the COPS-PR protocol, before the failure of the connection occurs; and

determining, by the PEP, whether the delete request message is received by the PDP based on a decision message of the COPS-PR protocol.

3. The method of claim 2, where determining whether the delete request message is received comprises:

issuing, by the PEP, a request for a configuration message, of the COPS-PR protocol, subsequent to the delete request message being stored;

receiving, by the PEP, the decision message corresponding to the request for configuration message before the failure of the connection; and

determining that the delete request message was received by the PDP based on receiving the decision message corresponding to the request for configuration message.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the PDP, a decision message of the COPS-PR protocol before the failure of the connection, where the decision message relates to a shared context; and

issuing, by the PEP, a report message of the COPS-PR protocol corresponding to the decision message when the failure of the connection occurs.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving, from the PDP, an enforcement decision message, of the COPS-PR protocol, corresponding to the decision message after establishing the other connection,

where the enforcement decision message directs the PEP to perform operations different than operations identified by the decision message.

6. A device comprising:

a memory to store one or more instructions; and

a processor that executes the one or more instructions to;

establish a connection with a Policy Decision Point (PDP) after a connection failure;

transmit, to the PDP after establishing the connection, a client-open message of a common open policy service for policy provisioning (COPS-PR) protocol,

the client-open message including;

an address of a last PDP associated with the device, and

a port number of the last PDP;

receive a null decision message of the COPS-PR protocol from the PDP,

the null decision message indicating that a fast state synchronization is to be performed,

the null decision message being received when the PDP determines the fast state synchronization is to be performed based on;

the PDP determining that the address of the last PDP and the port number of the last PDP, included in the client-open message, match an address of the PDP and a port number of the PDP, or

the PDP determining that;

 

the IP address of the last PDP does not match the IP address of the PDP,

 

the PDP includes state information of the last PDP and the PDP being a backup of the last PDP, and

 

the IP address of the last PDP, included in the client-open message, corresponds to an IP address, of the last PDP, associated with the state information of the last PDP;

send a message indicating an approval to perform the fast state synchronization based on receiving the null decision message;

initiate the fast state synchronization after sending the message indicating the approval to perform the fast state synchronization; and

initiate a full state synchronization when the PDP issues a message to request the full state synchronization.

7. The device of claim 6, where the processor further executes one or more instructions to:

transmit differential state information to the PDP based on receiving the null decision message,

where the differential state information includes at least one of a request for configuration message of the COPS-PR protocol or a delete request state message of the COPS-PR protocol, and

where the differential state information is stored by the device before the connection failure.

8. The device of claim 6, where the processor further executes one or more instructions to receive one or more messages after transmitting the client-open message,

the one or more messages including a client-accept message of the COPS-PR protocol indicating an acceptance of the client-open message.

9. The device of claim 6, where the processor further executes one or more instructions to:

transmit a delete request state message of the COPS-PR protocol to the PDP before the connection failure;

store the delete request state message in the memory before the connection failure;

transmit a request for a configuration message of the COPS-PR protocol to the PDP before the connection failure; and

erase the delete request state message from the memory if a decision message of the COPS-PR protocol, corresponding to the request for the configuration message, is received from the PDP before the connection failure.

10. The device of claim 9, where the processor further executes one or more instructions to:

transmit the delete request state message to the PDP when the decision message of the COPS-PR protocol corresponding to the request for configuration message is not received from the PDP before the connection failure.

11. A device comprising:

a memory to store one or more instructions; and

a processor that executes the one or more instructions to;

establish a connection with a Policy Enforcement Point (PEP) after a connection failure;

receive, from the PEP, a client-open message of a common open policy service for policy provisioning (COPS-PR) protocol,

the client-open message including;

an address of a last Policy Decision Point (PDP) associated with the PEP prior to establishing the connection, and

information identifying a port of the last PDP;

send, based on receiving the client-open message, a message indicating an acceptance of the client-open message;

determine whether a fast state synchronization or a full state synchronization is to be performed,

when determining whether the fast state synchronization or the full state synchronization is to be performed, the processor is to determine;

whether;

the address of the last PDP matches an address of the device, and

the information identifying the port of the last PDP matches information identifying a port of the device, or

whether;

the device includes state information of the last PDP, and

the address of the last PDP, included in the client-open message, corresponds to an address, of the last PDP, associated with the state information of the last PDP,

transmit, to the PEP, a message to request the full state synchronization when the full state synchronization is to be performed,

transmit a null decision message of the COPS-PR protocol, to the PEP,

when the fast state synchronization is to be performed,

the null decision instructing the PEP to perform the fast state synchronization,

the null decision message being transmitted;

when;

 

the address of the last PDP matches the address of the device, and

 

the information identifying the port of the last PDP matches the information identifying the port of the device, or

when;

 

the address of the last PDP does not match the address of the device,

 

the device includes state information of the last PDP and the device is a backup of the last PDP, and

 

the address of the last PDP, included in the client-open message, corresponds to an address, of the last PDP, associated with the state information of the last PDP,

and

receive, from the PEP, a message indicating an approval to perform the fast state synchronization based on transmitting the null decision message instructing the PEP to perform the fast state synchronization.

12. The device of claim 11, where the processor further executes one or more instructions to:

issue a decision message of the COPS-PR protocol to the PEP before the connection failure; and

determine that a report message of the COPS-PR protocol, corresponding to the decision message, was not received from the PEP.

13. The device of claim 12, where the processor further executes one or more instructions to:

issue an enforcement decision message during the connection to the PEP,

the enforcement decision message instructing the PEP to undo an operation identified by the decision message.

14. The device of claim 12, where the processor further executes one or more instructions to:

issue a repair decision during the connection to the PEP,

the repair decision including a command to erase state information associated with the PEP,

the state information, associated with the PEP, being associated with at least one of an interface associated with the PEP or an address associated with the PEP.

15. A non-transitory memory device storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a Policy Enforcement Point (PEP), cause the at least one processor to;

establish a connection with a Policy Decision Point (PDP) when the PEP experiences a connection failure;

transmit, to the PDP after establishing the connection, a client-open message of a common open policy service for policy provisioning (COPS-PR) protocol,

the client-open message including;

an address of a last PDP associated with the PEP, and

a port number of the last PDP;

receive, from the PDP after transmitting the client-open message, a null decision message of the COPS-PR protocol,

the null decision message indicating that a fast state synchronization is to be performed,

the null decision message being received when the PDP determines that the fast state synchronization is to be performed based on;

the PDP determining that;

 

the address of the last PDP matches an address of the PDP, and

 

the port number of the last PDP matches a port number of the PDP, or

the PDP determining that;

 

the IP address of the last PDP does not match the IP address of the PDP,

 

the PDP includes state information of the last PDP and the PDP is a backup of the last PDP, and

 

the IP address of the last PDP, included in the client-open message, corresponds to an IP address, of the last PDP, associated with the state information of the last PDP;

send a message indicating an approval to perform the fast state synchronization when the null decision message is received;

initiate the fast state synchronization based on sending the message indicating the approval to perform the fast state synchronization; and

initiate a full state synchronization when the PDP issues a message to request the full state synchronization.

16. The non-transitory memory device of claim 15, where the address of the last PDP corresponds to an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the last PDP, and

where the address of the PDP corresponds to an IP address of the PDP.

17. The non-transitory memory device of claim 15, the instructions further comprising:

one or more instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to receive, based on sending the client-open message and from the PDP, a message indicating an acceptance of the client-open message.

18. A method comprising:

establishing, by a Policy Decision Point (PDP), a connection with a Policy Enforcement Point (PEP) after a connection failure;

receiving, by the PDP and from the PEP, a client-open message of a common open policy service for policy provisioning (COPS-PR) protocol,

the client-open message including;

an address of a last PDP associated with the PEP prior to establishing the connection, and information identifying a port of the last PDP;

sending, by the PDP and based on receiving the client-open message, a message indicating an acceptance of the client-open message;

determining, by the PDP, whether a fast state synchronization or a full state synchronization is to be performed,

determining whether the fast state synchronization or the full state synchronization is to be performed including;

determining whether;

the address of the last PDP matches an address of the PDP, and

the information identifying the port of the last PDP matches information identifying a port of the PDP, or

determining whether;

the address of the last PDP does not match the address of the PDP,

the PDP includes state information of the last PDP and the PDP is a backup of the last PDP, and

the address of the last PDP, included in the client-open message, corresponds to an address, of the last PDP, associated with the state information of the last PDP;

transmitting, by the PDP and to the PEP, a message to request the full state synchronization when the full state synchronization is to be performed;

transmitting, by the PDP and to the PEP, a null decision message of the COPS-PR protocol when the fast state synchronization is to be performed,

the null decision message instructing the PEP to perform the fast state synchronization,

the null decision message being transmitted;

when;

the address of the last PDP matches the address of the PDP, and

the information identifying the port of the last PDP matches the information identifying the port of the PDP, or

when;

the address of the last PDP does not match the address of the PDP,

the PDP includes state information of the last PDP and the PDP is a backup of the last PDP, and

the address of the last PDP, included in the client-open message, corresponds to an address, of the last PDP, associated with the state information of the last PDP; and

receiving, by the PDP and from the PEP, a message indicating an approval to perform the fast state synchronization based on transmitting the null decision message instructing the PEP to perform the fast state synchronization.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

transmitting a decision message of the COPS-PR protocol to the PEP before the connection failure; and

determining that a report message of the COPS-PR protocol, corresponding to the decision message, was not received from the PEP.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

transmitting an enforcement decision message during the connection,

the enforcement decision message instructing the PEP to undo an operation identified by the decision message.