METHOD FOR DETERMINING MULTICAST PATH, METHOD FOR RECEIVING DATA PACKET, AND ROUTER

• US 20140341216A1
• Filed: 07/31/2014
• Published: 11/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: ZHANG, Zhongjian
• Granted Patent: US 9,577,930 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/390
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/185 with management of multicast group membership
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/122 by minimising distances, e.g. by selecting a route with minimum of number of hops
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/16 Multipoint routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/52 Multiprotocol routers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/741 Routing in networks with a plurality of addressing schemes, e.g. with both IPv4 and IPv6
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/251 between different IP versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2542 involving dual-stack hosts
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a method for determining a multicast path, a method for receiving a data packet, and a router. The method for determining a multicast path includes: receiving, by a multicast address translation router, a first multicast join request packet, where the first multicast join request packet is an IPv4 packet, or the first multicast join request packet is an Internet Protocol version 6 IPv6 packet and a multicast address of the first multicast join request packet is an IPv6 multicast address obtained by performing Internet Protocol version translation on an IPv4 multicast address; and determining a shorter path between a first path and a second path. The multicast address translation router may determine the shorter path between the first path and the second path, thereby implementing a method for selecting a shorter path from the paths of different network types, which improves multicast efficiency.

Claims

1. A method for determining a multicast path, comprising:

receiving, by a multicast address translation router, a first multicast join request packet, wherein the first multicast join request packet is an Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) packet and a multicast address of the first multicast join request packet is an IPv4 multicast address, or the first multicast join request packet is an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) packet and a multicast address of the first multicast join request packet is an IPv6 multicast address obtained by performing Internet Protocol version translation on an IPv4 multicast address; and

determining, by the multicast address translation router, a shorter path between a first path and a second path, wherein the first path is a path between an IPv4 interface of the multicast address translation router and a multicast data providing node corresponding to the first multicast join request packet, and the second path is a path between an IPv6 interface of the multicast address translation router and the multicast data providing node corresponding to the first multicast join request packet.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the shorter path is determined according to path parameters, wherein the path parameters comprise;

a distance of the first path, a distance of the second path, and a translation distance generated when the multicast address translation router performs Internet Protocol (IP) translation on a multicast packet;

an overhead of the first path, an overhead of the second path, and a translation overhead generated when the multicast address translation router performs Internet Protocol (IP) translation on a multicast packet;

or

a distance of the first path, a distance of the second path, a translation distance generated when the multicast address translation router performs Internet Protocol (IP)translation on a multicast packet, an overhead of the first path, an overhead of the second path, and a translation overhead generated when the multicast address translation router performs the Internet Protocol IP translation on the multicast packet.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein when the first multicast join request packet is the IPv6 packet and the multicast address of the first multicast join request packet is the IPv6 multicast address obtained by performing the Internet Protocol version translation on the IPv4 multicast address, the determining, by the multicast address translation router, a shorter path between a first path and a second path comprises:

determining a distance calculation value of the first path according to the distance of the first path and the translation distance; and

determining the shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the distance calculation value of the first path and the distance of the second path;

or

determining an overhead calculation value of the first path according to the overhead of the first path and the translation overhead; and

determining the shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the overhead calculation value of the first path and the overhead of the second path;

or

determining a distance calculation value of the first path according to the distance of the first path and the translation distance;

determining an overhead calculation value of the first path according to the overhead of the first path and the translation overhead;

determining a first comprehensive calculation value according to the distance calculation value of the first path and the overhead calculation value of the first path;

determining a second comprehensive calculation value according to the distance of the second path and the overhead of the second path; and

determining the shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the first comprehensive calculation value and the second comprehensive calculation value.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein when the first multicast join request packet is the IPv4 packet and the multicast address of the first multicast join request packet is the IPv4 multicast address, the determining, by the multicast address translation router, a shorter path between a first path and a second path comprises:

determining a distance calculation value of the second path according to the distance of the second path and the translation distance; and

determining the shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the distance calculation value of the second path and the distance of the first path;

or

determining an overhead calculation value of the second path according to the overhead of the second path and the translation overhead; and

determining the shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the overhead calculation value of the second path and the overhead of the first path;

or

determining a first comprehensive calculation value according to the distance of the first path and the overhead of the first path;

determining a distance calculation value of the second path according to the distance of the second path and the translation distance;

determining an overhead calculation value of the second path according to the overhead of the second path and the translation overhead;

determining a second comprehensive calculation value according to the distance calculation value of the second path and the overhead calculation value of the second path; and

determining the shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the first comprehensive calculation value and the second comprehensive calculation value.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein:

the distance of the first path and/or the overhead of the first path are (is) carried by a Protocol Independent Multicast Assert (PIM Assert) packet received by the IPv4 interface;

the distance of the second path and/or the overhead of the second path are (is) carried by a Protocol Independent Multicast Assert (PIM Assert) packet received by the IPv6 interface;

the translation distance and/or translation overhead are (is) determined by the multicast address translation router, or the translation distance and/or translation overhead are (is) preconfigured in the multicast address translation router.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, by the multicast address translation router, a first multicast data packet through a third path;

receiving, by the multicast address translation router, a second multicast data packet through a fourth path, wherein a multicast address of the second multicast data packet may be obtained by performing Internet Protocol version translation on a multicast address of the first multicast data packet;

determining, by the multicast address translation router, a new shorter path and a new non-shorter path between the third path and the fourth path; and

sending, by the multicast address translation router, a prune message to the multicast data providing node along the new non-shorter path.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the multicast data providing node is a multicast source node or an aggregation node.

8. A method for receiving a multicast data packet, comprising:

receiving, by a multicast address translation router, a first multicast data packet from a multicast data providing node through a first path, wherein the first path is a path between an Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) interface of the multicast address translation router and the multicast data providing node;

receiving, by the multicast address translation router, a second multicast data packet from the multicast data providing node through a second path, wherein the second path is a path between an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) interface of the multicast address translation router and the multicast data providing node, and a multicast address of the second multicast data packet may be obtained by performing Internet Protocol version translation on a multicast address of the first multicast data packet;

determining a shorter path and a non-shorter path between the first path and the second path; and

sending, by the multicast address translation router, a prune message to the multicast data providing node along the non-shorter path.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein:

the shorter path is determined according to path parameters, wherein the path parameters comprise;

a distance of the first path, a distance of the second path, and a translation distance generated when the multicast address translation router performs Internet Protocol (IP) translation on a multicast packet;

an overhead of the first path, an overhead of the second path, and a translation overhead generated when the multicast address translation router performs Internet Protocol (IP) translation on a multicast packet;

or

a distance of the first path, a distance of the second path, a translation distance generated when the multicast address translation router performs Internet Protocol (IP) translation on a multicast packet, an overhead of the first path, an overhead of the second path, and a translation overhead generated when the multicast address translation router performs the Internet Protocol IP translation on the multicast packet.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein:

the distance of the first path and/or the overhead of the first path are (is) carried by a Protocol Independent Multicast Assert (PIM Assert) packet received by the IPv4 interface;

the distance of the second path and/or the overhead of the second path are (is) carried by a Protocol Independent Multicast Assert (PIM Assert) packet received by the IPv6 interface;

the translation distance is determined by the multicast address translation router, or the translation distance is preconfigured in the multicast address translation router.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein when a multicast join request packet that is received by the multicast address translation router and used for requesting the first multicast data packet or the second multicast data packet is an IPv6 packet and a multicast address of the multicast join request packet is an IPv6 multicast address obtained by performing Internet Protocol version translation on an IPv4 multicast address, the determining a shorter path and a non-shorter path between the first path and the second path comprises:

determining a distance calculation value of the first path according to the distance of the first path and the translation distance; and

determining the shorter path and the non-shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the distance calculation value of the first path and the distance of the second path;

or

determining an overhead calculation value of the first path according to the overhead of the first path and the translation overhead; and

determining the shorter path and the non-shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the overhead calculation value of the first path and the overhead of the second path;

or

determining a distance calculation value of the first path according to the distance of the first path and the translation distance;

determining an overhead calculation value of the first path according to the overhead of the first path and the translation overhead;

determining a first comprehensive calculation value according to the distance calculation value of the first path and the overhead calculation value of the first path;

determining a second comprehensive calculation value according to the distance of the second path and the overhead of the second path; and

determining the shorter path and the non-shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the first comprehensive calculation value and the second comprehensive calculation value.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein when the multicast join request packet that is received by the multicast address translation router and for requesting the first multicast data packet or the second multicast data packet is an IPv4 packet, the determining a shorter path and a non-shorter path between the first path and the second path comprises:

determining a distance calculation value of the second path according to the distance of the second path and the translation distance; and

determining the shorter path and the non-shorter path between the first path and the second

path according to the distance calculation value of the second path and the distance of the first path;

or

determining an overhead calculation value of the second path according to the overhead of the second path and the translation overhead; and

determining the shorter path and the non-shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the overhead calculation value of the second path and the overhead of the first path;

or

determining a first comprehensive calculation value according to the distance of the first path and the overhead of the first path;

determining a distance calculation value of the second path according to the distance of the second path and the translation distance;

determining an overhead calculation value of the second path according to the overhead of the second path and the translation overhead;

determining a second comprehensive calculation value according to the distance calculation value of the second path and the overhead calculation value of the second path; and

determining the shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the first comprehensive calculation value and the second comprehensive calculation value.

13. A multicast address translation router, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a first multicast join request packet, wherein the first multicast join request packet is an Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) packet and a multicast address of the first multicast join request packet is an IPv4 multicast address, or the first multicast join request packet is an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) packet and a multicast address of the first multicast join request packet is an IPv6 multicast address obtained by performing Internet Protocol version translation on an IPv4 multicast address; and

a shorter-path determining unit, configured to determine a shorter path between a first path and a second path, wherein the first path is a path between an IPv4 interface of the multicast address translation router and a multicast data providing node corresponding to the first multicast join request packet, and the second path is a path between an IPv6 interface of the multicast address translation router and the multicast data providing node corresponding to the first multicast join request packet.

14. The multicast address translation router according to claim 13, wherein the shorter-path determining unit determines the shorter path according to path parameters, wherein path parameters comprise:

a distance of the first path, a distance of the second path, and a translation distance generated when the multicast address translation router performs Internet Protocol (IP) translation on a multicast packet;

or

an overhead of the first path, an overhead of the second path, and a translation overhead generated when the multicast address translation router performs Internet Protocol (IP) translation on a multicast packet;

or

a distance of the first path, a distance of the second path, a translation distance generated when the multicast address translation router performs Internet Protocol (IP) translation on a multicast packet, an overhead of the first path, an overhead of the second path, and a translation overhead generated when the multicast address translation router performs the Internet Protocol IP translation on the multicast packet.

15. The multicast address translation router according to claim 14, wherein when the first multicast join request packet is the IPv6 packet and the multicast address of the first multicast join request packet is the IPv6 multicast address obtained by performing the Internet Protocol version translation on the IPv4 multicast address, the shorter-path determining unit is configured to:

determine a distance calculation value of the first path according to the distance of the first path and the translation distance; and

determine the shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the distance calculation value of the first path and the distance of the second path;

or

determine an overhead calculation value of the first path according to the overhead of the first path and the translation overhead; and

determine the shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the overhead calculation value of the first path and the overhead of the second path;

or

determine a distance calculation value of the first path according to the distance of the first path and the translation distance;

determine an overhead calculation value of the first path according to the overhead of the first path and the translation overhead;

determine a first comprehensive calculation value according to the distance calculation value of the first path and the overhead calculation value of the first path;

determine a second comprehensive calculation value according to the distance of the second path and the overhead of the second path; and

determine the shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the first comprehensive calculation value and the second comprehensive calculation value.

16. The multicast address translation router according to claim 14, wherein when the first multicast join request packet is the IPv4 packet and the multicast address of the first multicast join request packet is the IPv4 multicast address, the shorter-path determining unit is configured to:

determine a distance calculation value of the second path according to the distance of the second path and the translation distance; and

determine the shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the distance calculation value of the second path and the distance of the first path;

or

determine an overhead calculation value of the second path according to the overhead of the second path and the translation overhead; and

determine the shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the overhead calculation value of the second path and the overhead of the first path;

or

determine a first comprehensive calculation value according to the distance of the first path and the overhead of the first path;

determine a distance calculation value of the second path according to the distance of the second path and the translation distance;

determine an overhead calculation value of the second path according to the overhead of the second path and the translation overhead;

determine a second comprehensive calculation value according to the distance calculation value of the second path and the overhead calculation value of the second path; and

determine the shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the first comprehensive calculation value and the second comprehensive calculation value.

17. The multicast address translation router according to claim 14, wherein the multicast address translation router further comprises:

the IPv4 interface, configured to receive a Protocol Independent Multicast Assert (PIM Assert) packet that carries the distance of the first path and/or the overhead of the first path; and

the IPv6 interface, configured to receive a Protocol Independent Multicast Assert (PIM Assert) packet that carries the distance of the second path and/or the overhead of the second path; and

the multicast address translation router further comprises;

a translation information determining unit, configured to determine the translation distance and/or translation overhead;

or

a translation information preconfiguring unit, configured to preconfigure the translation distance and/or translation overhead in the multicast address translation router.

18. The multicast address translation router according to claim 13, wherein the multicast address translation router further comprises:

a first multicast data packet receiving unit, configured to receive a first multicast data packet through a third path; and

a second multicast data packet receiving unit, configured to receive a second multicast data packet through a fourth path, wherein a multicast address of the second multicast data packet may be obtained by performing Internet Protocol version translation on a multicast address of the first multicast data packet;

the shorter-path determining unit is further configured to determine a new shorter path and a new non-shorter path between the third path and the fourth path; and

the multicast address translation router further comprises;

a pruning unit, configured to send a prune message to the multicast data providing node along the new non-shorter path.

19. The multicast address translation router according to claim 13, wherein the multicast data providing node is a multicast source node or an aggregation node.

20. A multicast address translation router, comprising:

a first multicast data packet receiving unit, configured to receive a first multicast data packet from a multicast data providing node through a first path, wherein the first path is a path between an Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) interface of the multicast address translation router and the multicast data providing node;

a second multicast data packet receiving unit, configured to receive a second multicast data packet from the multicast data providing node through a second path, wherein the second path is a path between an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) interface of the multicast address translation router and the multicast data providing node, and a multicast address of the second multicast data packet may be obtained by performing Internet Protocol version translation on a multicast address of the first multicast data packet;

a shorter-path determining unit, configured to determine a shorter path and a non-shorter path between the first path and the second path; and

a pruning unit, configured to send a prune message to the multicast data providing node along the non-shorter path.

21. The multicast address translation router according to claim 20, wherein the shorter-path determining unit determines the shorter path according to path parameters, wherein the path parameters comprises:

a distance of the first path, a distance of the second path, and a translation distance generated when the multicast address translation router performs Internet Protocol (IP) translation on a multicast packet;

or an overhead of the first path, an overhead of the second path, and a translation overhead generated when the multicast address translation router performs Internet Protocol (IP) translation on a multicast packet;

or

a distance of the first path, a distance of the second path, a translation distance generated when the multicast address translation router performs Internet Protocol (IP) translation on a multicast packet, an overhead of the first path, an overhead of the second path, and a translation overhead generated when the multicast address translation router performs the Internet Protocol IP translation on the multicast packet.

22. The multicast address translation router according to claim 21, wherein the multicast address translation router further comprises:

the IPv4 interface, configured to receive a Protocol Independent Multicast Assert (PIM Assert) packet that carries the distance of the first path and/or the overhead of the first path; and

the IPv6 interface, configured to receive a Protocol Independent Multicast Assert (PIM Assert) packet that carries the distance of the second path and/or the overhead of the second path; and

the multicast address translation router further comprises;

a translation information determining unit, configured to determine the translation distance and/or translation overhead;

or

a translation information preconfiguring unit, configured to preconfigure the translation distance and/or translation overhead in the multicast address translation router.

23. The multicast address translation router according to claim 21, wherein:

when a multicast join request packet that is received by the multicast address translation router and for requesting the first multicast data packet or the second multicast data packet is an IPv6 packet and a multicast address of the multicast join request packet is an IPv6 multicast address obtained by performing Internet Protocol version translation on an IPv4 multicast address, the shorter-path determining unit is configured to;

determine a distance calculation value of the first path according to the distance of the first path and the translation distance; and

determine the shorter path and the non-shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the distance calculation value of the first path and the distance of the second path;

or

determine an overhead calculation value of the first path according to the overhead of the first path and the translation overhead; and

determine the shorter path and the non-shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the overhead calculation value of the first path and the overhead of the second path;

or

determine a distance calculation value of the first path according to the distance of the first path and the translation distance;

determine an overhead calculation value of the first path according to the overhead of the first path and the translation overhead;

determine a first comprehensive calculation value according to the distance calculation value of the first path and the overhead calculation value of the first path;

determine a second comprehensive calculation value according to the distance of the second path and the overhead of the second path; and

determine the shorter path and the non-shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the first comprehensive calculation value and the second comprehensive calculation value.

24. The multicast address translation router according to claim 21, wherein when the multicast join request packet that is received by the multicast address translation router and for requesting the first multicast data packet or the second multicast data packet is an IPv4 packet, the shorter-path determining unit is configured to:

determine a distance calculation value of the second path according to the distance of the second path and the translation distance; and

determine the shorter path and the non-shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the distance calculation value of the second path and the distance of the first path;

or

determine an overhead calculation value of the second path according to the overhead of the second path and the translation overhead; and

determine the shorter path and the non-shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the overhead calculation value of the second path and the overhead of the first path;

or

determine a first comprehensive calculation value according to the distance of the first path and the overhead of the first path;

determine a distance calculation value of the second path according to the distance of the second path and the translation distance;

determine an overhead calculation value of the second path according to the overhead of the second path and the translation overhead;

determine a second comprehensive calculation value according to the distance calculation value of the second path and the overhead calculation value of the second path; and

determine the shorter path between the first path and the second path according to the first comprehensive calculation value and the second comprehensive calculation value.