Fast flooding based fast convergence to recover from network failures
First Claim
1. A method in a router for initiating fast flooding based fast convergence to recover from a network failure, the method comprising the steps of:
- detecting a network failure;
responsive to the detected network failure, flooding a fast failure notification message out of one or more interfaces of the router, wherein the fast failure notification message has a type-length-value (TLV) format different from an Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) Protocol Data Unit (PDU) message format used for a normal IGP flooding protocol, wherein the fast failure notification message includes information that identifies the network failure, wherein the fast failure notification message includes as its source MAC (Media Access Control) address a MAC address that is assigned to one interface of the router, wherein the one interface of the router is coupled with the detected network failure, and wherein the one interface of the router is not part of the one or more interfaces being flooded with the fast failure notification message; and
updating a routing table of the router to reflect the network failure responsive to the detection, wherein flooding the fast failure notification message out of the one or more interfaces of the router is performed prior to completion of the routing table update to reflect the network failure.
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Abstract
A method in a router for initiating fast flooding based fast convergence to recover from a network failure is disclosed. The method also starts with detecting a network failure. Responsive to the detected network failure, the router floods a layer 2 fast failure notification message out a set of one or more interfaces of the router. The fast failure notification message includes information that identifies the network failure and indicates to a router that receives the fast failure notification message to flood the fast failure notification message out its interfaces that are not blocked by a spanning tree protocol (STP) independently of updating its routing table to reflect the network failure. The method continues with the router updating a routing table to reflect the network failure.
53 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method in a router for initiating fast flooding based fast convergence to recover from a network failure, the method comprising the steps of:
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detecting a network failure; responsive to the detected network failure, flooding a fast failure notification message out of one or more interfaces of the router, wherein the fast failure notification message has a type-length-value (TLV) format different from an Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) Protocol Data Unit (PDU) message format used for a normal IGP flooding protocol, wherein the fast failure notification message includes information that identifies the network failure, wherein the fast failure notification message includes as its source MAC (Media Access Control) address a MAC address that is assigned to one interface of the router, wherein the one interface of the router is coupled with the detected network failure, and wherein the one interface of the router is not part of the one or more interfaces being flooded with the fast failure notification message; and updating a routing table of the router to reflect the network failure responsive to the detection, wherein flooding the fast failure notification message out of the one or more interfaces of the router is performed prior to completion of the routing table update to reflect the network failure. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A router to initiate fast flooding based fast convergence to recover from a network failure, the router comprising:
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a data transport layer entity including; a plurality of interfaces implementing in circuits to couple the router, by links, with a plurality of other routers, and a Fast Failure Notification (FFN) module that is configured to, in response to the detected network failure, flood a fast failure notification message out one or more of the plurality of interfaces, wherein the fast failure notification message has a type-length-value (TLV) format different from an Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) Protocol Data Unit (PDU) message format used for a normal IGP flooding protocol, wherein the fast failure notification message includes information that identifies the network failure, wherein the fast failure notification message includes as its source MAC (Media Access Control) address a MAC address that is assigned to one interface of the router, wherein the one interface is coupled with the detected network failure, and wherein the one interface of the router is not part of the one or more of the plurality of interface being flooded with the fast failure notification message; and an application layer entity including a routing protocol module configured to update a routing table of the router in response to the detected network failure; wherein the FFN module is further configured to flood the fast failure notification message out the one or more of the plurality of interfaces independently of the update to the routing table to be performed by the routing protocol module. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
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9. A method in a first router for initiating fast flooding based fast convergence to recover from a network failure, the method comprising the steps of:
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detecting a network failure; responsive to the detected network failure, flooding a layer 2 fast failure notification message out of one or more interfaces of the first router, wherein the layer 2 fast failure notification message is sent prior to completion of update of a routing table of the first router, wherein the fast failure notification message includes information that identifies the network failure and indicates to a second router that receives the fast failure notification message to flood the fast failure notification message out the second router'"'"'s interfaces that are not blocked by a spanning tree protocol (STP) independently of updating the second router'"'"'s routing table to reflect the network failure; and updating the routing table of the first router to reflect the network failure responsive to the detection. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A first router to initiate fast flooding based fast convergence to recover from a network failure, the first router comprising:
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a data transport layer entity including; a plurality of interfaces implementing in circuits to couple the router, by links, with a plurality of other routers, and a Fast Failure Notification (FFN) module that is configured to, in response to a detected network failure, flood a layer 2 fast failure notification message out of one or more of the plurality of interfaces, wherein the layer 2 fast failure notification message is sent prior to completion of update of a routing table of the first router, wherein the fast failure notification message includes information that identifies the network failure and indicates to a second router that receives the fast failure notification message to flood the fast failure notification message out the second router'"'"'s interfaces that are not blocked by a spanning tree protocol (STP) independently of updating the second router'"'"'s routing table to reflect the network failure; and an application layer entity including a routing protocol module configured to update the routing table of the first router in response to the detected network failure, wherein the FFN module is further configured to flood the fast failure notification message out of the one or more of the plurality of interfaces independently of the update to the routing table to be performed by the routing protocol module. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification