AUTOMATIC TRAFFIC MAPPING FOR MULTI-PROTOCOL LABEL SWITCHING NETWORKS

• US 20150146536A1
• Filed: 01/10/2014
• Published: 05/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Minei, Ina, Marques, Pedro R.
• Granted Patent: US 10,193,801 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/236
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/507 Label distribution

Abstract

In general, techniques are described for automated traffic mapping for multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) networks. A network device comprising a processor and an interface card may perform the techniques. The processor may generate an advertisement that conforms to a routing protocol. The advertisement may advertise a mapping between a network flow and a label switched path (LSP) tag. The processor may also generate a communication associating the label switched path tag with an LSP. The interface card may transmit the advertisement to a head-end label edge router that admits traffic into the LSP identified by the LSP tag. The interface card may also transmit the communication to the label edge router such that the label edge router is able to process the communication in conjunction with the advertisement to map the network flow to the LSP identified by the LSP tag.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating, with a network device, an advertisement that conforms to a routing protocol used for advertising routing information, the advertisement advertising a mapping between a network flow and a label switched path tag;

generating, with the network device, a communication associating the label switched path tag with a label switched path;

transmitting the advertisement in accordance with the routing protocol to a head-end label edge router that admits traffic into the label switched path identified by the label switch path tag; and

transmitting the communication to the label edge router such that the label edge router is able to process the communication in conjunction with the advertisement to map the network flow to the label switched path identified by the label switched path tag.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the advertisement comprises generating a routing advertisement that conforms to a border gateway protocol.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the advertisement comprises generating a routing advertisement that conforms to a border gateway protocol network layer reachability information encoding format for distribution of flow specifications, the routing advertisement defining the mapping between the network flow and the label switched path tag as a border gateway protocol community.

4. The method of claim 1,

wherein generating the communication comprises generating a first communication associating the label switched path tag with a first label switched path,

wherein the method further comprises generating a second communication associating the label switched path tag with a second label switched path, and

wherein generating the advertisement comprises generating a routing advertisement that conforms to a border gateway protocol network layer reachability information encoding format for distribution of flow specifications, the routing advertisement defining the mapping between the network flow and a label switched path tag as a border gateway protocol community and also indicating that equal cost multi-path routing is to be performed by the label edge router when admitting traffic associated with the network flow to the first label switched path and the second label switched path.

5. The method of claim 1,

wherein generating the communication comprises generating a first communication associating the label switched path tag with a first label switched path,

wherein the method further comprises generating a second communication associating the label switched path tag with a second label switched path, and

wherein generating the advertisement comprises generating a routing advertisement that conforms to a border gateway protocol network layer reachability information encoding format for distribution of flow specifications, the routing advertisement defining the mapping between the network flow and a label switched path tag as a border gateway protocol community and also indicating that weighted equal cost multi-path routing is to be performed by the label edge router when admitting traffic associated with the network flow to the first label switched path and the second label switched path.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the communication comprises generating the communication associating the label switched path tag with the label switched path such that the communication conforms to a path computation element communication protocol.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the network device comprises a path computation element that performs path computation for the label edge router to configure the label switched path in response to a path computation request issued by the label edge router.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the network device does not perform path computation on behalf of the label edge router to facilitate configuration of the label switched path.

9. A network device comprising:

one or more processors configured to generate an advertisement that conforms to a routing protocol used for advertising routing information, the advertisement advertising a mapping between a network flow and a label switched path tag, and generate a communication associating the label switched path tag with a label switched path; and

an interface card configured to transmit the advertisement in accordance with the routing protocol to a head-end label edge router that admits traffic into the label switched path identified by the label switch path tag, and transmit the communication to the label edge router such that the label edge router is able to process the communication in conjunction with the advertisement to map the network flow to the label switched path identified by the label switched path tag.

10. The network device of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to, when generating the advertisement, generate a routing advertisement that conforms to a border gateway protocol.

11. The network device of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to, when generating the advertisement, generate a routing advertisement that conforms to a border gateway protocol network layer reachability information encoding format for distribution of flow specifications, the routing advertisement defining the mapping between the network flow and the label switched path tag as a border gateway protocol community.

12. The network device of claim 9,

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to, when generating the communication, generate a first communication associating the label switched path tag with a first label switched path,

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to generate a second communication associating the label switched path tag with a second label switched path, and

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to, when generating the advertisement, generating a routing advertisement that conforms to a border gateway protocol network layer reachability information encoding format for distribution of flow specifications, the routing advertisement defining the mapping between the network flow and a label switched path tag as a border gateway protocol community and also indicating that equal cost multi-path routing is to be performed by the label edge router when admitting traffic associated with the network flow to the first label switched path and the second label switched path.

13. The network device of claim 9,

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to, when generating the communication, generate a first communication associating the label switched path tag with a first label switched path,

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to generate a second communication associating the label switched path tag with a second label switched path, and

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to, when generating the advertisement, generate a routing advertisement that conforms to a border gateway protocol network layer reachability information encoding format for distribution of flow specifications, the routing advertisement defining the mapping between the network flow and a label switched path tag as a border gateway protocol community and also indicating that weighted equal cost multi-path routing is to be performed by the label edge router when admitting traffic associated with the network flow to the first label switched path and the second label switched path.

14. The network device of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to, when generating the communication, generate the communication associating the label switched path tag with the label switched path such that the communication conforms to a path computation element communication protocol.

15. A method comprising:

receiving, with a label edge router that admits network traffic to a label switched path, an advertisement from a network device, the advertisement conforming to a routing protocol and advertising a mapping between a network flow and a label switched path tag;

receiving, with the label edge router, a communication associating the label switched path tag with the label switched path;

processing, with the label edge router, the communication and the advertisement to map the network flow to the label switched path identified by the label switched path tag; and

processing, with the label edge router, network traffic corresponding to the network flow to forward the packets via the label switched path identified by the label switched path tag.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the routing protocol comprises a border gateway protocol.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the routing advertisement conforms to a border gateway protocol network layer reachability information encoding format for distribution of flow specifications and defines the mapping between the network flow and the label switched path tag as a border gateway protocol community.

18. The method of claim 15,

wherein the label switched path comprises a first label switched path,

wherein the label edge router is the head-end label edge router for a second label switched path;

wherein the communication comprises a first communication associating the label switched path tag with the first label switched path,

wherein the method further comprises receiving a second communication associating the label switched path tag with the second label switched path,

wherein the routing advertisement conforms to a border gateway protocol network layer reachability information encoding format for distribution of flow specifications and defines the mapping between the network flow and the label switched path tag as a border gateway protocol community and also indicates that equal cost multi-path routing is to be performed when admitting traffic associated with the network flow to the first label switched path and the second label switched path, and

wherein processing the network traffic comprises processing the network traffic corresponding to the network flow to forward the packets via the first label switched path and the second label switched path in accordance with equal cost multi-path routing.

19. The method of claim 15,

wherein the label switched path comprises a first label switched path,

wherein the label edge router is the head-end label edge router for a second label switched path;

wherein the communication comprises a first communication associating the label switched path tag with the first label switched path,

wherein the method further comprises receiving a second communication associating the label switched path tag with the second label switched path,

wherein the routing advertisement conforms to a border gateway protocol network layer reachability information encoding format for distribution of flow specifications and defines the mapping between the network flow and the label switched path tag as a border gateway protocol community and also indicates that weighted equal cost multi-path routing is to be performed when admitting traffic associated with the network flow to the first label switched path and the second label switched path, and

wherein processing the network traffic comprises processing the network traffic corresponding to the network flow to forward the packets via the first label switched path and the second label switched path in accordance with weighted equal cost multi-path routing.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the communication associating the label switched path tag with the label switched path conforms to a path computation element communication protocol.

21. The method of claim 15,

wherein the network device comprises a path computation element,

wherein the method further comprises:

generating and transmitting a path computation request to the path computation element, the path computation request requesting that the path computation element select the label switched path;

receiving a path computation response from the path computation element providing information to configure the label switched path; and

configuring, with the label edge router, the label switched path based on the information provided by the path computation response.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein the network device does not perform path computation on behalf of the label edge router to facilitate configuration of the label switched path.

23. A label edge router configured to admit network traffic to a label switched path, the label edge router comprising:

an interface card configured to receive, with a label edge router that admits network traffic to a label switched path, an advertisement from a network device, the advertisement conforming to a routing protocol and advertising a mapping between a network flow and a label switched path tag, and receive a communication associating the label switched path tag with the label switched path, and

a control unit configured to process the communication and the advertisement to map the network flow to the label switched path identified by the label switched path tag, and process network traffic corresponding to the network flow to forward the packets via the label switched path identified by the label switched path tag.

24. The label edge router of claim 23, wherein the routing protocol comprises a border gateway protocol.

25. The label edge router of claim 24, wherein the routing advertisement conforms to a border gateway protocol network layer reachability information encoding format for distribution of flow specifications and defines the mapping between the network flow and the label switched path tag as a border gateway protocol community.

26. The label edge router of claim 23,

wherein the label switched path comprises a first label switched path,

wherein the label edge router is the head-end label edge router for a second label switched path;

wherein the communication comprises a first communication associating the label switched path tag with the first label switched path,

wherein the interface card further receives a second communication associating the label switched path tag with the second label switched path,

wherein the routing advertisement conforms to a border gateway protocol network layer reachability information encoding format for distribution of flow specifications and defines the mapping between the network flow and the label switched path tag as a border gateway protocol community and also indicates that equal cost multi-path routing is to be performed when admitting traffic associated with the network flow to the first label switched path and the second label switched path, and

wherein the control unit is further configured to, when processing the network traffic, processes the network traffic corresponding to the network flow to forward the packets via the first label switched path and the second label switched path in accordance with equal cost multi-path routing.

27. The label edge router of claim 23,

wherein the label switched path comprises a first label switched path,

wherein the label edge router is the head-end label edge router for a second label switched path;

wherein the communication comprises a first communication associating the label switched path tag with the first label switched path,

wherein the interface card further receives a second communication associating the label switched path tag with the second label switched path,

wherein the routing advertisement conforms to a border gateway protocol network layer reachability information encoding format for distribution of flow specifications and defines the mapping between the network flow and the label switched path tag as a border gateway protocol community and also indicates that weighted equal cost multi-path routing is to be performed when admitting traffic associated with the network flow to the first label switched path and the second label switched path, and

wherein the control unit is further configured to, when processing the network traffic, process the network traffic corresponding to the network flow to forward the packets via the first label switched path and the second label switched path in accordance with weighted equal cost multi-path routing.

28. The label edge router of claim 23, wherein the communication associating the label switched path tag with the label switched path conforms to a path computation element communication protocol.