Method and apparatus of providing resource allocation and admission control support in a VPN

• US 7,907,522 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2008
• Issued: 03/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Raghunath, Satish, Ramakrishnan, Kadangode K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar; Pankaj
• Assistant Examiner(s): Foud; Hicham B
• Application Number:
  US12/122,523
• Publication Number:
  US 20080259944A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,033 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0029 Provisions for intelligent networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0062 Provisions for network management

Abstract

Method and apparatus for effectively supporting resource allocation and admission control of a Virtual Private Network in a service provider network.

Claims

1. A method for performing resource allocation and admission control of virtual private networks in a communications network with a plurality of customer endpoints and a plurality of provider edge routers, comprising:

receiving a new customer virtual private network request; and

determining whether to admit or reject the new customer virtual private network request based upon available capacity information for paths between the plurality of provider edge routers and customer traffic between the plurality of customer endpoints and the plurality of provider edge routers, wherein the determining comprises;

provisioning edge resources to optimize routing table sizes and a backhaul distance upon receiving the new customer virtual private network request; and

computing an initial customer traffic matrix using customer specified peak rate traffic information and the available capacity information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring newly admitted customer traffic aggregates if the new customer virtual private network request is admitted; and

updating provider edge to provider edge path and customer traffic matrices.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

computing an available capacity; and

making provisioning decisions.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting a capacity increase in a provisioned capacity if the new customer virtual private network request is rejected.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing the initial customer traffic matrix comprises:

finding a traffic matrix variable for traffic from a traffic source customer endpoint to a traffic sink customer endpoint from the plurality of customer endpoints using a gravity model and the customer specified peak rate traffic information as inputs, for each of a plurality of customer endpoint traffic source and traffic sink pairs; and

initiating provider edge to provider edge traffic monitoring for each of the customer endpoint traffic source and traffic sink pairs.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the initiating provider edge to provider edge traffic monitoring comprises:

measuring provider edge to provider edge traffic statistics;

increasing an available capacity allocated to a provider edge to provider edge path if there has been a request for increase; and

checking if a higher link bandwidth is needed.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the initiating provider edge to provider edge traffic monitoring comprises:

measuring provider edge to provider edge traffic statistics;

increasing an available capacity allocated to a provider edge to provider edge path if a utilization threshold is exceeded; and

checking if a higher link bandwidth is needed.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether to admit or reject the new customer virtual private network request comprises:

obtaining a capacity available along a provider edge to provider edge path for each of a plurality of source-destination pairs; and

examining if expected traffic deduced from the initial customer traffic matrix along the provider edge to provider edge path can be admitted without violating assurances on loss-rates.

9. An apparatus for performing resource allocation and admission control of virtual private networks in a communications network with a plurality of customer endpoints and a plurality of provider edge routers, comprising:

means for receiving a new customer virtual private network request; and

means for determining whether to admit or reject the new customer virtual private network request based upon available capacity information for paths between the plurality of provider edge routers and customer traffic between the plurality of customer endpoints and the plurality of provider edge routers, wherein the determining means comprises;

means for provisioning edge resources to optimize routing table sizes and a backhaul distance upon receiving the new customer virtual private network request; and

means for computing an initial customer traffic matrix using customer specified peak rate traffic information and the available capacity information.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

means for monitoring newly admitted customer traffic aggregates if the new customer virtual private network request is admitted; and

means for updating provider edge to provider edge path and customer traffic matrices.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising:

means for computing an available capacity; and

means for making provisioning decisions.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

means for requesting a capacity increase in a provisioned capacity if the new customer virtual private network request is rejected.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the means for computing the initial customer traffic matrix comprises:

means for finding a traffic matrix variable for traffic from a traffic source customer endpoint to a traffic sink customer endpoint from the plurality of customer endpoints using a gravity model and the customer specified peak rate traffic information as inputs, for each of a plurality of customer endpoint traffic source and customer endpoint traffic sink pairs; and

means for initiating provider edge to provider edge traffic monitoring for each of the customer endpoint traffic source and traffic sink pairs.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the means for initiating provider edge to provider edge traffic monitoring comprises:

means for measuring provider edge to provider edge traffic statistics;

means for increasing an available capacity allocated to a provider edge to provider edge path if there has been a request for increase; and

means for checking if a higher link bandwidth is needed.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the means for initiating provider edge to provider edge traffic monitoring comprises:

means for measuring provider edge to provider edge traffic statistics;

means for increasing an available capacity allocated to a provider edge to provider edge path if a utilization threshold is exceeded; and

means for checking if a higher link bandwidth is needed.

16. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the means for determining whether to admit or reject said the new customer virtual private network request comprises:

means for obtaining a capacity available along a provider edge to provider edge path for each of a plurality of source-destination pairs; and

means for examining if expected traffic deduced from the initial customer traffic matrix along the provider edge to provider edge path can be admitted without violating assurances on loss-rates.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for resource allocation and admission control of virtual private networks in a communications network with a plurality of customer endpoints and a plurality of provider edge routers, comprising:

receiving a new customer virtual private network request; and

determining whether to admit or reject the new customer virtual private network request based upon available capacity information for paths between the plurality of provider edge routers and customer traffic between the plurality of customer endpoints and the plurality of provider edge routers, wherein the determining comprises;

provisioning edge resources to optimize routing table sizes and a backhaul distance upon receiving the new customer virtual private network request; and

computing an initial customer traffic matrix using customer specified peak rate traffic information and the available capacity information.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising:

monitoring newly admitted customer traffic aggregates if the new customer virtual private network request is admitted; and

updating provider edge to provider edge and customer traffic matrices.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising:

computing an available capacity; and

making provisioning decisions.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the determining whether to admit or reject the new customer virtual private network request comprises:

obtaining a capacity available along a provider edge to provider edge path for each of a plurality of source-destination pairs; and

examining if expected traffic deduced from the initial customer traffic matrix along the provider edge to provider edge path can be admitted without violating assurances on loss-rates.