Virtual connection route selection apparatus and techniques

• US 9,363,161 B2
• Filed: 02/23/2015
• Issued: 06/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Dolganow, Andrew, Aissaoui, Mustapha
• Primary Examiner(s): Louis, Vincelas
• Application Number:
  US14/628,597
• Publication Number:
  US 20150172166A1
• Time in Patent Office: 470 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/04 Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/12 Shortest path evaluation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/121 by minimising delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/124 using a combination of metrics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/44 Distributed routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/50 using label swapping, e.g. multi-protocol label switch [MPLS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control

Abstract

Virtual connection route selection apparatus and techniques are disclosed. At a communication traffic routing apparatus, metric information associated with multiple different routes for a virtual connection, such as a PseudoWire, toward a destination is collected. The metric information may be collected from one or more remote route computation elements capable of computing routes for virtual connections between the routing apparatus and other routing apparatus over an underlying communication system, or during actual establishment of the virtual connections, for example. An initial or re-optimized route for a virtual connection can then be selected at the routing apparatus based on the collected metric information. In some embodiments, although the virtual connection routes are paths computed by Path Computation Elements (PCEs), actual path selection decisions are distributed to routers.

Claims

1. A routing apparatus comprising:

a metric information collector configured to collect, from metric information generated by at least one remote route computation element that is capable of computing routes for virtual connections between the routing apparatus and other routing apparatus over an underlying communication system, metric information associated with each of a plurality of different computed routes for a virtual connection with a destination; and

a selection module operatively coupled to the metric information collector and configured to select, from the different computed routes and based on the collected metric information, a route for the virtual connection with the destination, wherein the metric information associated with each of the plurality of different computed routes comprises information indicative of a weighted combination of cost and delay to reach the destination from the routing apparatus over each computed route.

2. The routing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

an interface operatively coupled to the metric information collector and configured to enable the routing apparatus to communicate with the at least one remote route computation element, wherein the metric information collector is configured to collect metric information by receiving the metric information from the at least one remote route computation element through the interface.

3. The routing apparatus of claim 2, wherein the metric information collector is further configured to receive through the interface, from any of the at least one remote route computation element, the metric information associated with each of the different computed routes.

4. The routing apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of the at least one remote route computation element comprises a Path Computation Element (PCE) for computing Label Switched Paths (LSPs), and the metric information collector comprises a Path Computation Client (PCC).

5. The routing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the virtual connections comprise PseudoWires.

6. The routing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selection module is configured to select the route for the virtual connection for initially establishing communication traffic transfer between the routing apparatus and the destination.

7. The routing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the different computed routes comprise a currently selected route of an existing virtual connection that has been established with the destination;

and the selection module is configured to re-optimize the currently selected route by selecting, based on the collected metric information, between the currently selected route and another one of the different computed routes for the virtual connection for subsequently exchanging communication traffic with the destination.

8. The routing apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the virtual connections comprises a multi-segment virtual connection having a plurality of segments.

9. A method comprising:

collecting at a routing apparatus, from metric information generated by at least one remote route computation element that is capable of computing routes for virtual connections between the routing apparatus and other routing apparatus over an underlying communication system, metric information associated with each of a plurality of different computed routes for a virtual connection with a destination; and

selecting at the routing apparatus, from the different computed routes and based on the collected metric information, a route for a virtual connection with the destination, wherein the metric information associated with each of the plurality of different computed routes comprises information indicative of a weighted combination of cost and delay to reach the destination from the routing apparatus over each computed route.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the collecting comprises:

receiving the metric information from the at least one remote route computation element.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the at least one remote route computation element comprises a Path Computation Element (PCE) for computing Label Switched Paths (LSPs), and wherein receiving comprises:

receiving the metric information at a Path Computation Client (PCC) of the routing apparatus.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the selecting comprises:

selecting the route for the virtual connection for initially establishing communication traffic transfer between the routing apparatus and the destination.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the different computed routes comprise a currently selected route of an existing virtual connection that has been established with the destination;

and the selecting comprises;

re-optimizing the currently selected route by selecting, based on the collected metric information, between the currently selected route and another one of the different computed routes for the virtual connection for subsequently exchanging communication traffic with the destination.