Label switched path setup using fast reroute bypass tunnel

• US 9,246,838 B1
• Filed: 05/27/2011
• Issued: 01/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Shen, Yimin, Aggarwal, Rahul, Bahadur, Nitin, Sheth, Nischal, Sitaraman, Harish, Chopra, Disha
• Primary Examiner(s): Hsu, Alpus H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Luo, Anthony
• Application Number:
  US13/118,116
• Time in Patent Office: 1,705 Days
• Field of Search: 370/228, 370/235, 370/221, 370/218, 370/225
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/08 Learning-based routing, e.g. using neural networks or artificial intelligence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/28 using route fault recovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/50 using label swapping, e.g. multi-protocol label switch [MPLS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/122 by diverting traffic away from congested entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/724 at intermediate nodes, e.g. resource reservation protocol [RSVP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/746 Reaction triggered by a failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/825 Involving tunnels, e.g. MPLS

Abstract

A label switched path (LSP) is established within a network using an MPLS fast reroute bypass tunnel when a resource along a primary path of the LSP has failed but is protected by the MPLS fast reroute bypass tunnel. While establishing the LSP, a network device identifies a failed resource along a primary path of the LSP. In response to identifying the failed resource, the network device determines whether a bypass tunnel exists from the network device to a node along the primary path, wherein the bypass tunnel avoids the failed resource. Upon determining that the bypass tunnel exists, the network device tunnels a message for establishing the LSP to the node over the bypass tunnel.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a Resource Reservation Protocol with Traffic Engineering extensions (RSVP-TE) module executing on a processor of an intermediate network device positioned between an ingress node and an egress node in a network, a resource request message that requests to establish a label switched path (LSP) along a primary path from the ingress node to the egress node;

while establishing the LSP, identifying, by the intermediate network device, that a failed resource exists along the primary path of the LSP;

in response to identifying that the failed resource exists, determining, by the RSVP-TE module executing on a processor of the intermediate network device, whether a bypass tunnel exists from the intermediate network device to a bypass tunnel destination node along the primary path, wherein the bypass tunnel avoids the failed resource;

in response to determining that the bypass tunnel exists and by the RSVP-TE module of the intermediate network device, modifying the resource request message to request to establish the LSP to the egress node via the bypass tunnel destination node, encapsulating the modified resource request message with a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) label associated with the bypass tunnel, and outputting the encapsulated modified resource request message over the bypass tunnel to the bypass tunnel destination node; and

in response to receiving a resource reservation signaling message for the LSP from the bypass tunnel destination node indicating the LSP has been established, sending one or more communications from the intermediate network device toward the ingress node indicating the LSP to the egress node has been established and that the LSP has been rerouted through the bypass tunnel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the primary path is specified in an Explicit Route Object (ERO) of a message.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the intermediate network device comprises an intermediate router along the primary path for the LSP,

wherein the ERO is received in a Resource Reservation Protocol with Traffic Engineering extensions (RSVP-TE) PATH message received by the network device, and

wherein tunneling the message comprises tunneling an RSVP-TE PATH message over the bypass tunnel.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising looking up a destination address of a next node along the primary path of the LSP in stored forwarding information and traffic engineering information, wherein identifying the failed resource comprises identifying the failed resource based on results of the lookup.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the intermediate network device comprises a point of local repair (PLR) associated with the bypass tunnel, and wherein the bypass tunnel comprises a bypass tunnel used by the PLR in providing another existing LSP with MPLS fast reroute protection.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the resource reservation signaling message for the LSP from the bypass tunnel destination node in response to the tunneled modified resource request message, wherein the resource reservation signaling message indicates that requested network resources are reserved and specifies a MPLS label to use for sending network traffic along the LSP.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein sending one or more communications comprises:

in response to receiving the resource reservation signaling message, sending a resource reservation signaling message from the intermediate network device toward the ingress node of the LSP indicating that signaling for the LSP has failed.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after establishing the LSP using the bypass tunnel, receiving a packet to be forwarded along the LSP; and

applying a label stack to the packet, wherein the label stack comprises an inner Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) label associated with the LSP and the MPLS label associated with the bypass tunnel as an outer label, and outputting the packet as an MPLS packet over the bypass tunnel.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting, with the intermediate network device, that the failed resource along the primary path has become operable; and

in response to detecting that the failed resource is operable, sending, by the intermediate network device, a new resource request message that requests to establish the LSP over the primary path.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to determining that the bypass tunnel does not exist and by the intermediate network device, sending a path error message to the ingress node of the LSP indicating that signaling for the LSP has failed.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the failed resource comprises one of a failed link along the primary path and a failed node along the primary path.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the LSP comprises a point-to-point (P2P) LSP.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the LSP comprises a point-to-multipoint (P2MP) LSP.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the resource reservation signaling message for the LSP from the bypass tunnel destination node in response to the tunneled modified resource request message, wherein the resource reservation message specifies a MPLS label to use for sending network traffic along the LSP; and

in response to receiving the resource reservation message for the LSP, installing data plane state to the intermediate network device as if for re-routing the LSP being established through the bypass tunnel, wherein the data plane state includes the MPLS label.

15. A network device comprising:

a hardware-based processor; and

a Resource Reservation Protocol with Traffic Engineering extensions (RSVP-TE) module executing on the hardware-based processor,

wherein the RSVP-TE module receives a resource request message that requests to establish a label switched path (LSP) along a primary path from an ingress node to an egress node, wherein the network device is an intermediate network device positioned between the ingress node and the egress node,

wherein while establishing the LSP, the RSVP-TE module identifies that a failed resource exists along the primary path of the LSP,

wherein the RSVP-TE module determines, in response to identifying that the failed resource exists, whether a bypass tunnel exists from the intermediate network device to a bypass tunnel destination node along the primary path, wherein the bypass tunnel avoids the failed resource, and

wherein, in response to determining that the bypass tunnel exists, the RSVP-TE module modifies the resource request message to request to establish the LSP to the egress node via the bypass tunnel destination node, encapsulates the modified resource request message with a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) label associated with the bypass tunnel, and outputs the encapsulated modified resource request message over the bypass tunnel to the bypass tunnel destination node, and

wherein, in response to receiving a resource reservation signaling message for the LSP from the bypass tunnel destination node indicating the LSP has been established, the RSVP-TE module sends one or more communications from the intermediate network device toward the ingress node indicating the LSP to the egress node has been established and that the LSP has been rerouted through the bypass tunnel.

16. The network device of claim 15, wherein the network device comprises a point of local repair (PLR) associated with the bypass tunnel, and wherein the bypass tunnel comprises a bypass tunnel used by the PLR in providing another existing LSP with Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) fast reroute protection.

17. The network device of claim 15, wherein the RSVP-TE module sending one or more communications toward the ingress nodes comprises:

in response to receiving a resource reservation signaling message from the node, the RSVP-TE module sends a resource reservation signaling message toward primary path of the LSP;

in response to identifying that the failed resource exists, determine whether a bypass tunnel exists from the intermediate network device to a node along the primary path, wherein the bypass tunnel avoids the failed resource;

in response to determining that the bypass tunnel exists, modify the resource request message to request to establish the LSP to the egress node via the bypass tunnel destination node, encapsulate the modified resource request message with a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) label associated with the bypass tunnel, and output the encapsulated modified resource request message over the bypass tunnel to the bypass tunnel destination node; and

in response to receiving a resource reservation signaling message for the LSP from the bypass tunnel destination node indicating the LSP has been established, send one or more communications from the intermediate network device toward the ingress node indicating the LSP to the egress node has been established and that the LSP has been rerouted through the bypass tunnel.

18. The network device of claim 15,

wherein, after the RSVP-TE module has established the LSP using the bypass tunnel, the network device receives a packet to be forwarded along the LSP, and

wherein the RSVP-TE module applies a label stack to the received packet, wherein the label stack comprises an inner MPLS label associated with the LSP and the MPLS label associated with the bypass tunnel as an outer label, and outputting the packet as an MPLS packet over the bypass tunnel.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for causing a programmable processor of an intermediate network device positioned between an ingress node and an egress node in a network to:

receive, by a Resource Reservation Protocol with Traffic Engineering extensions (RSVP-TE) module executing on the programmable processor, a resource request message that requests to establish a label switched path (LSP) along a primary path from the ingress node to the egress node;

while establishing the LSP within a network, identify that a failed resource exists along the primary path of the LSP;

in response to identifying that the failed resource exists, determine, by the RSVP-TE module executing on the programmable processor, whether a bypass tunnel exists from the intermediate network device to a node along the primary path, wherein the bypass tunnel avoids the failed resource;

in response to determining that the bypass tunnel exists and by the RSVP-TE module, modify the resource request message to request to establish the LSP to the egress node via the bypass tunnel destination node, encapsulate the modified resource request message with a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) label associated with the bypass tunnel, and output the encapsulated modified resource request message over the bypass tunnel to the bypass tunnel destination node; and

in response to receiving a resource reservation signaling message for the LSP from the bypass tunnel destination node indicating the LSP has been established, send one or more communications from the intermediate network device toward the ingress node indicating the LSP to the egress node has been established and that the LSP has been rerouted through the bypass tunnel.