System and methods for optical lambda flow steering

• US 9,520,961 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2014
• Issued: 12/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Xia, Ming, Shirazipour, Meral, Zhang, Ying, Green, Howard, Takacs, Attila Zoltan
• Primary Examiner(s): Vanderpuye, Ken N.
• Assistant Examiner(s): SANDHU, AMRITBIR K
• Application Number:
  US14/192,133
• Publication Number:
  US 20150207586A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,020 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0212 using optical switches or wavelength selective switches [WSS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 14/0269 using tables for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0003 Details
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0073 Provisions for forwarding or routing, e.g. lookup tables

Abstract

A system implementing an optical steering domain that steers traffic flows through a plurality of processing nodes is described. The system includes a first, second, and third wavelength selective switch (WSS). The first WSS receives the traffic flows, and transmits traffic flows out a plurality of tributary ports toward the processing nodes. The second WSS receives the processed traffic from the processing nodes, and sends it to a third WSS. The third WSS receives the processed traffic from the second WSS, and causes the processed traffic requiring further processing to be transmitted out its third plurality of tributary ports to be looped back toward the plurality of processing nodes, and causes the processed traffic that does not require further processing to be transmitted by a different tributary port of the third WSS that is an exit port leading out of the optical steering domain.

Claims

1. A method in an optical steering domain for steering one or more traffic flows through a plurality of processing nodes, wherein each of the one or more flows of traffic is to be processed by a different defined series of one or more processing nodes of the plurality of processing nodes, and wherein the optical steering domain comprises a set of three or more wavelength selective switches (WSSs), the method comprising:

receiving traffic of a traffic flow of the one or more traffic flows at a common port of a first WSS of the set of WSSs, wherein the first WSS includes a plurality of tributary ports coupled to a respective plurality of optical links leading toward the plurality of processing nodes;

transmitting, using a first tributary port of the WSS over a first optical link of the plurality of optical links, the traffic toward a first processing node of the plurality of processing nodes;

receiving, at a tributary port of a second WSS of the set of WSSs, processed traffic, wherein the processed traffic is the result of the traffic being processed by the first processing node;

transmitting, at a common port of the second WSS, the processed traffic to a third WSS of the set of WSSs;

receiving, at a common port of the third WSS, the processed traffic; and

transmitting, one or more times, the processed traffic out of one or more tributary ports of the third WSS on one or more optical links coupled to the one or more tributary ports of the third WSS on one end and coupled to one or more of the plurality of optical links that are coupled to the first WSS, to be looped back for further processing by one or more other processing nodes of the plurality of processing nodes.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the common port of the third WSS, further processed traffic, wherein the further processed traffic is the result of the processed traffic being further processed by the one or more other processing nodes; and

transmitting, out another tributary port of the third WSS, the further processed traffic, wherein the another tributary port of the third WSS is an exit port leading out of the optical steering domain.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the first WSS receives the traffic from a reconfigurable optical add/drop module (ROADM); and

the another tributary port of the third WSS that is the exit port leading out of the optical steering domain leads to the ROADM.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more traffic flows is received at the first WSS on a different wavelength.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more optical links are coupled to the plurality of links using an optical coupler device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of optical links coupled to the plurality of tributary ports of the first WSS that lead toward the plurality of processing nodes are further coupled to a respective plurality of tunable transceivers.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of tunable transceivers are coupled to a plurality of switch network devices, wherein the plurality of switch network devices are Top-of-Rack (ToR) switches coupled to respective sets of one or more computing devices implementing the plurality of processing nodes.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of processing nodes is a virtualized network function (vNF) executing on a computing device.

9. A system to implement an optical steering domain to steer one or more traffic flows through a plurality of processing nodes, the system comprising:

a first wavelength selective switch (WSS) comprising,

a first common port configured to receive the one or more traffic flows from outside the optical steering domain,

a first plurality of tributary ports to be coupled to a respective first plurality of optical links leading toward the plurality of processing nodes, and

a first steering module coupled to the first common port and the first plurality of tributary ports, wherein the first steering module is configured to,

receive a configuration indicating, for each of the one or more traffic flows, a wavelength that the traffic flow is to be sent at and one of the first plurality of tributary ports that is to be used to send the traffic flow toward the processing node that the traffic flow is to be initially processed by, and

cause each of the one or more traffic flows to be sent at the respective wavelength using the respective one of the first plurality of tributary ports;

a second WSS comprising,

a second plurality of tributary ports configured to receive processed traffic for each of the one or more traffic flows, wherein the processed traffic is the traffic of the one or more flows that has been processed by one or more of the plurality of processing nodes, and

a second common port coupled to a third WSS and configured to transmit the received processed traffic to the third WSS; and

the third WSS coupled to the second WSS and comprising,

a third common port configured to receive the processed traffic from the second WSS,

a third plurality of tributary ports coupled to a second plurality of optical links that are coupled to the first plurality of optical links, and

a second steering module coupled to the third common port and to the third plurality of tributary ports and configured to,

cause that of the processed traffic that requires further processing to be transmitted by the third plurality of tributary ports to be looped back toward the plurality of processing nodes, and

cause that of the processed traffic that does not require further processing to be transmitted by a different tributary port of the third WSS that is an exit port leading out of the optical steering domain.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

a reconfigurable optical add/drop module (ROADM) to be coupled to the first common port of the first WSS, wherein the ROADM is configured to,

receive a bulk of traffic, and

transmit that of the bulk of traffic that requires processing by the plurality of processing nodes as the one or more traffic flows to the first WSS.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the ROADM is further configured to transmit that of the bulk of traffic that does not require processing by the plurality of processing nodes to a switch network device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the switch network device comprises a non-optical core packet switch.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein each of the first WSS, the second WSS, the third WSS, and the ROADM are further configured to:

receive, from a controller network element, control messages indicating how each respective recipient is to steer the traffic to enable the processing by the plurality of processing nodes; and

configure, according to the control messages, the inner switching configuration of the respective recipient.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the first plurality of optical links are further to be coupled to a plurality of switch network devices.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of switch network devices are top-of-rack (ToR) switches that are to be coupled to respective sets of one or more computing devices.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein one or more of the plurality of processing nodes are virtualized network functions (vNF) executing on one or more computing devices.

17. The system of claim 9, wherein the second plurality of optical links are to be coupled to the first plurality of optical links using optical coupler devices.

18. A method in an optical steering domain for steering traffic through a plurality of processing nodes, the method comprising:

receiving a first set of one or more packets at a first optical port of a first wavelength selective switch (WSS), wherein the first set of packets are to be serially processed by a first processing node and a second processing node of the plurality of processing nodes;

transmitting, at a second optical port of the first WSS, the first set of packets toward the first processing node;

receiving, at a first optical port of a second WSS, a second set of packets that have been processed and sent by the first processing node;

transmitting, at a second optical port of the second WSS, the second set of packets to a third WSS;

receiving, at a first optical port of the third WSS, the second set of packets;

transmitting, at a second optical port of the third WSS, the second set of packets, wherein the second optical port is coupled to an optical link that is further coupled to another optical link that itself is coupled to the first WSS at one end and leads to the second processing node at the other end;

receiving a third set of packets at a third optical port of the second WSS, wherein the third set of packets result from the processing of the second set of packets by the second processing node;

transmitting, at the second optical port of the second WSS, the third set of packets to the third WSS;

receiving, at the third WSS, the third set of packets; and

transmitting, at a third optical port of the third WSS, the third set of packets out of the optical steering domain.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein:

the first processing node is a first virtualized network function (vNF) instance executing at a first computing device; and

the second processing node is a second vNF instance executing at a second computing device.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein:

the first set of packets transmitted at the second optical port of the first WSS are transmitted at a first wavelength; and

the second set of packets received at the first optical port of the second WSS are received at a second wavelength.