System and method for transporting information to services in a network environment

• US 9,379,931 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2014
• Issued: 06/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bosch, Hendrikus G. P., Campbell, Ian McDowell, La Roche, Humberto J., Guichard, James N., Kumar, Surendra M., Quinn, Paul, Duminuco, Alessandro, Napper, Jeffrey, Shekhar, Ravi
• Primary Examiner(s): LY, ANH VU H
• Application Number:
  US14/279,724
• Publication Number:
  US 20150334595A1
• Time in Patent Office: 774 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5054 Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0268 using specific QoS parameters for wireless networks, e.g. QoS class identifier [QCI] or guaranteed bit rate [GBR] negotiating SLA or negotiating QoS H04W28/24

Abstract

An example method is provided in one example embodiment and may include receiving a packet for a subscriber at a gateway, wherein the gateway includes a local policy anchor for interfacing with one or more policy servers and one or more classifiers for interfacing with one or more service chains, each service chain including one or more services accessible by the gateway; determining a service chain to receive the subscriber'"'"'s packet; appending the subscriber'"'"'s packet with a header, wherein the header includes, at least in part, identification information for the subscriber and an Internet Protocol (IP) address for the local policy anchor; and injecting the packet including the header into the service chain determined for the subscriber.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a packet for a subscriber at a gateway, wherein the gateway includes a local policy anchor for interfacing with one or more policy servers and one or more classifiers for interfacing with one or more service chains, each service chain including one or more services accessible by the gateway;

determining a service chain to receive the subscriber'"'"'s packet;

communicating, at least in part, the service chain determined for the subscriber and an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the local policy anchor to a classifier for interfacing with the determined service chain, wherein the communicating includes communicating at least one of policy information and charging information associated with one or more services in the determined service chain and wherein the classifier maintains an association between the subscriber, the determined service chain and the at least one of the policy information and the charging information;

appending the subscriber'"'"'s packet with a header, wherein the header includes, at least in part, identification information for the subscriber and IP address for the local policy anchor; and

injecting the packet including the header into the service chain determined for the subscriber.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscriber'"'"'s packet is a First-Sign-of-Life (FSOL) packet and wherein determining the service chain to receive the subscriber'"'"'s packet further comprises:

determining, by the local policy anchor, the service chain to receive the subscriber'"'"'s packet based on policy information for the subscriber received from the one or more policy servers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the header includes at least one of policy information and charging information associated with at least one service in the determined service chain.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

consuming, by the at least one service, the at least one of the policy information and the charging information included in the header to perform at least one of;

enforcing one or more policies for the subscriber; and

initiating a policy session for the subscriber with the local policy anchor using the IP address for the local policy anchor.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more policy servers include at least one of:

a policy charging and rules function (PCRF);

an online charging system (OCS); and

an offline charging system (OFCS).

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the header for the subscriber'"'"'s packet is a Network Service Header (NSH).

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the local policy anchor, a policy update from a policy server for a service included in a service chain; and

communicating the policy update to the service by performing at least one of;

pushing, from the local policy anchor, the policy update to the service if the service has a policy session established with the local policy anchor for a subscriber; and

appending a subscriber'"'"'s packet with the policy update.

8. One or more non-transitory tangible media encoding logic that include instructions for execution that, when executed by a processor, is operable to perform operations comprising:

receiving a subscriber'"'"'s packet at a gateway, wherein the gateway includes a local policy anchor for interfacing with one or more policy servers and one or more classifiers for interfacing with one or more service chains, each service chain including one or more services accessible by the gateway;

determining a service chain to receive the subscriber'"'"'s packet;

communicating, at least in part, the service chain determined for the subscriber and an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the local policy anchor to a classifier for interfacing with the determined service chain, wherein the communicating includes communicating at least one of policy information and charging information associated with one or more services in the determined service chain and wherein the classifier maintains an association between the subscriber, the determined service chain and the at least one of the policy information and the charging information;

appending the subscriber'"'"'s packet with a header, wherein the header includes, at least in part, identification information for the subscriber and the IP address for the local policy anchor; and

injecting the packet including the header into the service chain determined for the subscriber.

9. The media of claim 8, wherein the subscriber'"'"'s packet is a First-Sign-of-Life (FSOL) packet and wherein determining the service chain to receive the subscriber'"'"'s packet further comprises:

determining, by the local policy anchor, the service chain to receive the subscriber'"'"'s packet based on policy information for the subscriber from the one or more policy servers.

10. The media of claim 8, wherein the header includes at least one of policy information and charging information associated with at least one service in the determined service chain.

11. The media of claim 10, the operations further comprising:

consuming, by the at least one service, the at least one of the policy information and the charging information included in the header to perform at least one of;

enforcing one or more policies for the subscriber; and

initiating a policy session for the subscriber with the local policy anchor using the IP address for the local policy anchor.

12. The media claim 8, wherein the header for the subscriber'"'"'s packet is a Network Service Header (NSH).

13. The media of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

receiving, by the local policy anchor, a policy update from a policy server for a service included in a service chain; and

communicating the policy update to the service by performing at least one of;

pushing, from the local policy anchor, the policy update to the service if the service has a policy session established with the local policy anchor for a subscriber; and

appending a subscriber'"'"'s packet with the policy update.

14. An apparatus, comprising:

a local policy anchor;

a memory element for storing data; and

a processor that executes instructions associated with the data, wherein the processor and memory element cooperate such that the apparatus is configured for;

receiving a subscriber'"'"'s packet at a gateway, wherein the gateway includes the local policy anchor for interfacing with one or more policy servers and one or more classifiers for interfacing with one or more service chains, each service chain including one or more services accessible by the gateway;

determining a service chain to receive the subscriber'"'"'s packet;

communicating, at least in part, the service chain determined for the subscriber and an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the local policy anchor to a classifier for interfacing with the determined service chain, wherein the communicating includes communicating at least one of policy information and charging information associated with one or more services in the determined service chain and wherein the classifier maintains an association between the subscriber, the determined service chain and the at least one of the policy information and the charging information;

appending the subscriber'"'"'s packet with a header, wherein the header includes, at least in part, identification information for the subscriber and the IP address for the local policy anchor; and

injecting the packet including the header into the service chain determined for the subscriber.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the subscriber'"'"'s packet is a First-Sign-of-Life (FSOL) packet and wherein determining the service chain to receive the subscriber'"'"'s packet further comprises:

determining, by the local policy anchor, the service chain to receive the subscriber'"'"'s packet based on policy information for the subscriber from the one or more policy servers.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the header is a Network Service Header (NSH) including policy information associated with at least one service in the determined service chain, the apparatus being further configured for:

consuming, by the at least one service, the policy information included in the header to perform at least one of;

enforcing one or more policies for the subscriber; and

initiating a policy session for the subscriber with the local policy anchor using the IP address for the local policy anchor.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the one or more policy servers include at least one of:

a policy charging and rules function (PCRF);

an online charging system (OCS); and

an offline charging system (OFCS).

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the header includes at least one of policy information and charging information associated with at least one service in the determined service chain.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the header for the subscriber'"'"'s packet is a Network Service Header (NSH).

20. The apparatus of claim 14, the apparatus being further configured for:

receiving, by the local policy anchor, a policy update from a policy server for a service included in a service chain; and

communicating the policy update to the service by performing at least one of;

pushing, from the local policy anchor, the policy update to the service if the service has a policy session established with the local policy anchor for a subscriber; and

appending a subscriber'"'"'s packet with the policy update.