Method and system for automatically rerouting data from an overbalanced logical circuit in a data network

• US 7,609,623 B2
• Filed: 12/23/2003
• Issued: 10/27/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rakuten Group, Inc.
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hollingsworth, John, Taylor, William, Massengill, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Ngo, Ricky
• Assistant Examiner(s): Liu, Ben H
• Application Number:
  US10/745,116
• Publication Number:
  US 20050135254A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,135 Days
• Field of Search: 370/254, 370/255, 370216-220, 370/221, 370225-228, 370/242
• US Class Current: 370/228
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2854 Wide area networks, e.g. public data networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0654 using network fault recovery ring fault isolation or reconfiguration in loop networks without recovery actions by a network management system H04L12/437
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/10 Routing in connection-oriented networks, e.g. X.25 or ATM
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/28 using route fault recovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/122 by diverting traffic away from congested entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/16 in connection oriented networks, e.g. frame relay
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/33 using forward notification
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A method and system are provided for automatically rerouting data from an overbalanced logical circuit in a data network. Status information is received for a logical circuit communicating data in the data network. The status information may include a forward explicit congestion notification (“FECN”) and a backward explicit congestion notification (“BECN”) indicating an overbalanced condition in the logical circuit. An overbalanced condition is indicative of network congestion in the logical circuit. A logical failover circuit including an alternate communication path for communicating the data in the overbalanced logical circuit is then identified. The data in the overbalanced logical circuit is rerouted to the logical failover circuit without manual intervention. After rerouting the data to the logical failover circuit, a determination is made as to whether the overbalanced condition in the logical circuit has been cleared. If it is determined that the overbalanced condition in the logical circuit has been cleared, then the data from the logical failover circuit is rerouted to the logical circuit in the data network without manual intervention.

Claims

1. A method of automatically rerouting data from an overbalanced logical circuit in a data network, the method comprising:

receiving status information for a logical circuit in the data network, wherein the logical circuit is identified by a first logical circuit identifier, the logical circuit comprising a communication path for communicating data;

determining an overbalanced condition in the logical circuit based on the status information, wherein the overbalanced condition is indicative of congestion in the logical circuit;

identifying a logical failover circuit comprising an alternate communication path for communicating the data in the overbalanced logical circuit, wherein identifying the logical failover circuit comprising the alternate communication path for communicating the data comprises identifying a currently unused logical connection for communicating the data;

prior to rerouting the data from the logical circuit to the logical failover circuit, renaming a second logical circuit identifier of the logical failover circuit to the first logical circuit identifier of the logical circuit and storing the logical circuit identifier changes to a database as reroute data;

rerouting the data to the logical failover circuit without manual intervention;

after rerouting the data to the logical failover circuit, determining whether the overbalanced condition in the logical circuit has been cleared; and

if the overbalanced condition in the logical circuit has been cleared, then rerouting the data from the logical failover circuit to the logical circuit in the data network without manual intervention, wherein rerouting the data from the logical failover circuit to the logical circuit in the data network without manual intervention comprises;

retrieving the reroute data from the database, and

restoring original logical identifers to the logical failover circuit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the logical failover circuit comprising the alternate communication path for communicating the data comprises:

identifying a logical connection in the logical circuit;

based on an identification of the logical connection, determining a first end and a second end of the logical circuit in the data network; and

determining the logical failover circuit comprising a communication path including the first end and the second end.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the overbalanced condition in the logical circuit comprises determining an overbalanced condition in a logical connection in the logical circuit.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical failover circuit comprises a dedicated failover logical connection in a failover data network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first logical circuit identifier is a data link connection identifier (DLCI).

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first logical circuit identifier is a virtual path/virtual circuit identifier (VPI/VCI).

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the logical connection comprises a network-to-network interface.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical failover circuit is a permanent virtual circuit.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical failover circuit is a switched virtual circuit.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the data network is a frame relay network.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the data network is an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the status information comprises a forward explicit congestion notification.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the status information comprises a backward explicit congestion notification.

14. A system for automatically rerouting data from an overbalanced logical circuit in a data network, the system comprising:

a network device for communicating status information for a logical circuit in the data network, wherein the logical circuit is identified by a first logical circuit identifier, the logical circuit comprising a communication path for communicating data;

a logical element module, in communication with the network device, for receiving the status information for the logical circuit in the data network; and

a network management module, in communication with the logical element module, for;

requesting the status information from the logical element module;

determining an overbalanced condition in the logical circuit based on the status information, wherein the overbalanced condition is indicative of congestion in the logical circuit;

identifying a logical failover circuit comprising an alternate communication path for communicating the data in the overbalanced logical circuit, wherein the alternate communication path comprises at least one currently unused logical connection in the data network;

prior to rerouting the data from the logical circuit to the logical failover circuit, renaming a second logical circuit identifier of the logical failover circuit to the first logical circuit identifier of the logical circuit and storing the logical circuit identifier changes to a network database as reroute data;

rerouting the data to the logical failover circuit without manual intervention;

after rerouting the data to the logical failover circuit, determining whether the overbalanced condition in the logical circuit has been cleared; and

if the overbalanced condition in the logical circuit has been cleared, then rerouting the data from the logical failover circuit to the logical circuit in the data network without manual intervention, wherein rerouting the data from the logical failover circuit to the logical circuit in the data network without manual intervention comprises;

retrieving the reroute data from the database, and

restoring original logical identifiers to the logical failover circuit.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the network management module in identifying the logical failover circuit comprising the alternate communication path for communicating the data, is operative to:

identify a logical connection in the logical circuit;

based on an identification of the logical connection, access the network database to determine a first end and a second end of the logical circuit in the data network; and

determine the logical failover circuit comprising a communication path including the first end and the second end.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the communication path including the first end and the second end comprises the at least one currently unused logical connection in the data network.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the network management module, in determining the overbalanced condition in the logical circuit, is operative to determine the overbalanced condition in a logical connection in the logical circuit.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the logical failover circuit comprises a dedicated failover logical connection in a failover data network.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the first logical circuit identifier is a data link connection identifier (DLCI).

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the first logical circuit identifier is a virtual pathlvirtual circuit identifier (VPI/VCI).

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the logical connection comprises a network-to-network interface.

22. The system of claim 14, wherein the logical failover circuit is a permanent virtual circuit.

23. The system of claim 14, wherein the logical failover circuit is a switched virtual circuit.

24. The system of claim 14, wherein the data network is a frame relay network.

25. The system of claim 14, wherein the data network is an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network.

26. The system of claim 14, wherein the status information comprises a forward explicit congestion notification.

27. The system of claim 14, wherein the status information comprises a backward explicit congestion notification.