Methods and apparatus for route installation acknowledgement and acknowledgement aggregation in BGP

• US 8,717,909 B1
• Filed: 08/03/2011
• Issued: 05/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Shekhar, Ravi, Loganathan, Jaihari
• Primary Examiner(s): EBRAHIM, ANEZ C
• Application Number:
  US13/197,212
• Time in Patent Office: 1,007 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/248
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/023 Delayed use of routing table updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/04 Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing

Abstract

In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a route reflector implemented in at least one of a memory or a processing device. The route reflector is configured to be included within a switch fabric system. The route reflector is configured to receive, from a network management module, an instruction to install a route associated with a multi-stage switch, and send the instruction to install to a route target network control entity associated with the multi-stage switch. The route reflector is also configured to receive, from the route target network control entity, a first acknowledgement signal indicating that the route was successfully installed at the route target network control entity. The route reflector is configured to send a second acknowledgement signal to the network management module in response to receiving the first acknowledgement signal.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a route reflector implemented in at least one of a memory or a processing device, the route reflector configured to receive, from a network management module, an instruction to install a route associated with a multi-stage switch, the route reflector configured to send the instruction to install the route to a first route target network control entity associated with the multi-stage switch and a second route target network control entity associated with the multi-stage switch,

the route reflector configured to receive, from the first route target network control entity, a first acknowledgement signal indicating that the route was successfully installed at the first route target network control entity,

the route reflector configured to receive, from the second route target network control entity, a second acknowledgement signal indicating that the route was successfully installed at the second route target network control entity,

the route reflector configured to send a third acknowledgement signal to the network management module in response to receiving both the first acknowledgement signal and the second acknowledgement signal.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the route reflector is configured to send the third acknowledgment signal to the network management module such that the network management module sends a route update associated with the route to each network control entity from a plurality of network control entities associated with the multi-stage switch in response to receiving the third acknowledgment signal.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the route reflector is configured to receive, from the network management module, an instruction to propagate a route update associated with the route to each network control entity from a plurality of network control entities associated with the multi-stage switch, the plurality of network control entities including the first route target network control entity, the second route target network control entity and at least one non-route target network control entity.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the route reflector sends the instruction to install via a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) instruction signal.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the route reflector sends the instruction to install via an instruction signal including an acknowledgement request.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the route reflector is a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) route reflector associated with a control plane of the multi-stage switch.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the route is associated with at least one of a link aggregation group (LAG) membership update or a multicast flood tree update.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the route reflector is configured to send the third acknowledgement signal to the network management module if both the first acknowledgement signal and the second acknowledgement signal are received by the route reflector within a predetermined amount of time.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the route reflector is configured to send an error signal to the network management module if at least one of the first acknowledgement signal or the second acknowledgement signal is not received by the route reflector within a predetermined amount of time.

10. A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to be executed by a processor, the code comprising code to cause a processor to:

receive, from a network management module, an instruction to install a route associated with a multi-stage switch,

send the instruction to install the route to a first route target network control entity from a plurality of network control entities and a second route target network control entity from the plurality of network control entities;

receive, from the first route target network control entity, a first acknowledgement signal indicating that the route was successfully installed at the first route target network control entity;

receive, from the second route target network control entity, a second acknowledgement signal indicating that the route was successfully installed at the second route target network control entity; and

send, in response to receiving both the first acknowledgement signal and the second acknowledgement signal, a third acknowledgement signal to the network management module indicating that the route was successfully installed at the first route target network control entity and the second route target network control entity.

11. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the plurality of network control entities is associated with a control plane of the multi-stage switch.

12. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising code representing instructions to cause the processor to:

receive, from the network management module and in response to the third acknowledgement signal, an instruction to send a route update associated with the route to each network control entity from the plurality of network control entities; and

send, in response to receiving the instruction to send, the route update to each network control entity from the plurality of network control entities.

13. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the instruction to install the route includes an acknowledgement request.

14. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the instruction to install is sent to the first route target network control entity using a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) instruction signal.

15. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the route is associated with at least one of a link aggregation group (LAG) membership update or a multicast flood tree update.

16. An apparatus, comprising:

a route reflector implemented in at least one of a memory or a processing device, the route reflector configured to send an instruction to install a route associated with a multi-stage switch to a first route target network control entity and a second route target network control entity from a plurality of network control entities associated with a control plane of the multi-stage switch,

the route reflector configured to send a first acknowledgment signal to a network management module if both a second acknowledgement signal indicating that the route was successfully installed at the first route target network control entity and a third acknowledgement signal indicating that the route was successfully installed at the second route target network control entity are received by the route reflector within a predetermined amount of time,

the route reflector configured to send an error signal to the network management module if at least one of the second acknowledgement signal or the third acknowledgement signal is not received by the route reflector within the predetermined amount of time.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the route reflector is a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) route reflector associated with the control plane of the multi-stage switch.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the route is associated with at least one of a link aggregation group (LAG) membership update or a multicast flood tree update.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the route reflector is configured to receive, from the network management module, an instruction to send a route update associated with the route to each network control entity from the plurality of network control entities in response to the network management module receiving the first acknowledgement signal.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the route reflector is configured to receive an instruction to install the route from the network management module prior to sending the instruction to install the route to the first route target network control entity and the second route target network control entity.