Differential forwarding in address-based carrier networks
First Claim
1. A method of providing a Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) across a carrier Ethernet network, the method comprising:
- at a first node of the carrier Ethernet network, receiving a frame from a customer, the frame having a first customer MAC address as a customer source MAC address and a second customer MAC address as a customer destination MAC address;
identifying the frame to be transported across the carrier Ethernet network by encapsulating it with a VLAN identifier, an encapsulating source MAC address and an encapsulating destination MAC address, the encapsulating source MAC address being a MAC address of the first node;
forwarding the encapsulated frame across the carrier Ethernet network based on the combination of the VLAN identifier and the destination MAC address without changing the VLAN identifier;
receiving the encapsulated frame at a second node;
at the second node, configuring a mapping between the customer source MAC address of the frame and a combination of the MAC address of the first node and the VLAN identifier, the MAC address of the first node being learned from the encapsulating source MAC address of the frame; and
forwarding the frame to the customer based on the customer destination MAC address.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention relates to enabling differential forwarding in address-based carrier networks such as Ethernet networks. There is described a method of and connection controller for establishing connections (76, 77) in a frame-based communications network comprising nodes (71-75 and 78) such as Ethernet switches. The connections are established by configuring, in various of the nodes, mappings for forwarding data frames, such as Ethernet frames. The mappings are from a combination of a) a destination (or source) address corresponding to a destination (or source) node (73) of the connection and b) an identifier, such as a VLAN tag. The mappings are to selected output ports of the various nodes. By using the combination of destination (or source) address AND identifier, the mappings enable data frames belonging to different connections (76, 77) to be forwarded differentially (ie forwarded on different output ports) at a node (75) despite the different connections having the same destination node. This enables flexibility in routing connections and the ability to perform traffic engineering.
89 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method of providing a Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) across a carrier Ethernet network, the method comprising:
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at a first node of the carrier Ethernet network, receiving a frame from a customer, the frame having a first customer MAC address as a customer source MAC address and a second customer MAC address as a customer destination MAC address; identifying the frame to be transported across the carrier Ethernet network by encapsulating it with a VLAN identifier, an encapsulating source MAC address and an encapsulating destination MAC address, the encapsulating source MAC address being a MAC address of the first node; forwarding the encapsulated frame across the carrier Ethernet network based on the combination of the VLAN identifier and the destination MAC address without changing the VLAN identifier; receiving the encapsulated frame at a second node; at the second node, configuring a mapping between the customer source MAC address of the frame and a combination of the MAC address of the first node and the VLAN identifier, the MAC address of the first node being learned from the encapsulating source MAC address of the frame; and forwarding the frame to the customer based on the customer destination MAC address. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
wherein forwarding the encapsulated frame based on the combination of the VLAN identifier and the encapsulating MAC address comprises forwarding the frame on the established connection.
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5. A method of forwarding customer data frames across a carrier Ethernet network, the method comprising:
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establishing a plurality of connections through the carrier network by, for each connection, without Ethernet unknown destination address forwarding and source address learning; determining a path for the connection through the Ethernet carrier network; selecting a VLAN for association with the connection, the VLAN having a VLAN identifier; selecting an Ethernet MAC address for association with the connection; and forwarding packets associated with the selected VLAN and the selected Ethernet MAC address at nodes on the path based on the combination of the VLAN identifier and the Ethernet MAC address without changing the VLAN identifier; and at a node identified by the Ethernet MAC address selected for a particular connection; receiving a customer data frame over the particular connection, the customer data frame having a particular customer source address; in response to receipt of the customer data frame, configuring a mapping between the particular customer source address and a source Ethernet MAC address of the received frame; receiving further customer data frames at the node, the further customer data frames having a customer destination address equal to the particular customer source address; and forwarding the further customer data frames over a connection associated with the Ethernet MAC address to which the customer destination address is mapped by the mapping. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17)
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15. The method of 13, comprising configuring the first plurality of VLANs with a higher forwarding priority than the second plurality of VLANs.
Specification