Communication Methods, Apparatuses and System for Sharing Network Resources

Abstract

The present invention discloses communication methods, apparatuses and a system for sharing network resources in a communications network. It enables a path computation element (PCE) to notify path computation clients (PCCs) about the shared resources of independent label switch paths by allowing a PCE to send an association object with a new association type to PCC. A Path Computation Element (PCE) Communication Protocol extension that associates LSP's whose ingress, or egress, or both ingress and egress are different for resource sharing to avoid path computation failures or duplicate allocation of resources during common links for new LSP's created during an update of E2E LSP. The PCC employs Resource ReSerVation Protocol (RSVP) for LSP signalling, PCC forwards path message information along with association object to the RSVP for LSP signalling. The RSVP uses the association object in its reservation message for LSP setup.

Claims

1. A communication method for sharing network resources, said method comprises the steps of: receiving, by a first network apparatus, a first packet from a second network apparatus; wherein the first packet comprises an association object and path information; determining, by the first network apparatus, a first label switched path according to the association object; and creating, by the first network apparatus, a second label switched path according to the path information; wherein the second label switched path shares network resources allocated to the first label switched path with the first label switched path.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein prior to the receiving of the first packet, said method comprises the steps of: receiving, by the first network apparatus, a second packet from the second network apparatus, wherein the second packet comprises the association object and an identifier indicating the first label switched path; wherein the second packet indicates that the first label switched path is associated with the association object.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first label switched path and the second label switched path have different ingress nodes or egress nodes.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the second packet is a Path Computation Update message or a Path Computation Report message.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first packet is a Path Computation Initiate message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the association object comprises an association type indicating resource sharing.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first packet is a path computation element protocol (PCEP) message.

8. A first network apparatus for sharing network resources, comprising: at least one processor; and a computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, configure the first network apparatus to: receive a first packet comprising an association object and path information; and determine a first label switched path according to the association object; and create a second label switched path according to the path information, wherein the second label switched path shares network resources allocated to the first label switched path with the first label switched path.

9. The first network apparatus of claim 8, wherein execution of the instructions further configures the first network apparatus to: receive a second packet before receiving the first packet; wherein the second packet comprises the association object and an identifier indicating the first label switched path; wherein the second packet indicates that the first label switched path is associated with the association object.

10. The first network apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first label switched path and the second label switched path have different ingress nodes or egress nodes.

11. The first network apparatus of claim 9, wherein the second packet is a Path Computation Update message or a Path Computation Report message.

12. The first network apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first packet is a Path Computation Initiate message.

13. The first network apparatus of claim 8, wherein the association object comprises an association type indicating resource sharing.

14. The first network apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first packet is a path computation element protocol (PCEP) message.

15. A second network apparatus for sharing network resources, comprising: at least one processor; and a computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, configure the first network apparatus to: send a first packet comprising an association object and path information; wherein the first packet instructs the first network apparatus to determine a first label switched path according to the association object and create a second label switched path according to the path information; wherein the second label switched path shares network resources allocated to the first label switched path with the first label switched path.

16. The second network apparatus of claim 15, wherein execution of the instructions further configures the first network apparatus to: send a second packet before sending the first packet; wherein the second packet comprises the association object and an identifier indicating the first label switched path; wherein the second packet indicates that the first label switched path is associated with the association object.

17. The second network apparatus of claim 15, wherein the first label switched path and the second label switched path have different ingress nodes or egress nodes.

18. The second network apparatus of claim 16, wherein the second packet is a Path Computation Update message or a Path Computation Report message.

19. The second network apparatus of claim 15, wherein the first packet is a Path Computation Initiate message.

20. The second network apparatus of claim 15, wherein the association object comprises an association type indicating resource sharing.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

[0056] FIG. 1(a)-1(c) illustrate the objective technical problem of the present invention.

[0057] FIG. 2 illustrates a reference technical solution to the objective technical problem of the present invention.

[0058] FIG. 3 illustrates an IPv4 ASSOCIATION Object format, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

[0059] FIG. 4 illustrates an IPv6 ASSOCIATION Object format, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

[0060] FIG. 5a illustrates resource sharing in Association Object, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

[0061] FIG. 5b illustrates the ASSOCIATION object formats for IPv4 and IPv6, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

[0062] FIG. 6a-6b illustrate a block diagram of the system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

[0063] FIG. 7 illustrates a first network apparatus, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

[0064] FIG. 8 illustrates a second network apparatus, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

[0065] FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart of a communication method performed by a PNC, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

[0066] FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of a communication method performed by a MDSC, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter.

[0067] It is to be understood that the attached drawings are for purposes of illustrating the concepts of the invention and may not be to scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

[0068] A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the invention is provided below along with accompanying figures that illustrate the principles of the invention. The invention is described in connection with such embodiments, but the invention is not limited to any embodiment. The scope of the invention is limited only by the claims and the invention encompasses numerous alternatives, modifications and equivalents. Numerous specific details are set forth in the following description in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. These details are provided for the purpose of example and the invention may be practiced according to the claims without some or all of these specific details. For the purpose of clarity, technical material that is known in the technical fields related to the invention has not been described in detail so that the invention is not unnecessarily obscured.

[0069] In the present invention, PCC refers to any client application requesting a path computation to be performed by a Path Computation Element.

[0070] In the present invention, PCE refers to an entity (component, application, or network node) that is capable of computing a network path or route based on a network graph and applying computational constraints.

[0071] In the present invention, PCEP Peer refers to any element involved in a PCEP session (i.e., a PCC or a PCE).

[0072] In the present invention, MDSC refers to a control entity that oversees the specific aspects of the different domains and builds a single abstracted end-to-end network topology to coordinate end-to-end path computation and path/service provisioning. In ACTN framework, the MDSC realizes this function by coordinating the per-domain PNCs in a hierarchy of controllers.

[0073] In the present invention, PNC refers to a Physical Network Controller that is responsible for controlling devices or NEs under its direct control. Its functions can be implemented as part of an SDN domain controller, a Network Management System (NMS), an Element Management System (EMS), an active PCE-based controller or any other means to dynamically control a set of nodes.

[0074] In the present invention, RSVP refers to a resource reservation setup protocol designed for an integrated services Internet. It provides receiver-initiated setup of resource reservations for multicast or unicast data flows, with good scaling and robustness properties.

[0075] In the present invention, ASSOCIATION group refers to a generic mechanism to create an association of LSPs.

[0076] In the present invention, ASSOCIATION object refers to an object used to associate LSPs with each other.

[0077] In the present invention, PCInitiate is a PCEP message sent by a PCE to a PCC to trigger LSP.

[0078] In the present invention, PCUpd is a PCEP message sent by a PCE to a PCC to update attributes of an LSP. The PCUpd message can carry more than one LSP Update Request.

[0079] In the present invention, PCRpt is a PCEP message sent by a PCC to a PCE to report the status of one or more LSPs.

[0080] Communication Methods, apparatuses and a communication system for sharing network resources in a communications network are disclosed. While aspects are described for mechanisms that would enable a path computation element to notify the path computation client(s) about shared resources of independent label switch paths to avoid path computation failures or duplicate allocation of resources during common links for new LSP's created during an update of E2E LSP, the present invention may be implemented in any number of different computing systems, environments, and/or configurations, the embodiments are described in the context of the following exemplary systems, devices/nodes/apparatus, and methods.

[0081] The present invention discloses a mechanism for a PCE to notify a PCC about shared resource of two independent LSP's. It specifically focuses on enabling a PCE to send an association object with new association type as Resource Sharing to PCC so as to allow sharing of resources of two independent LSP's where either the ingress, or the egress, or both ingress and egress are different among the LSP's. Notably the MDSC is similar to a PCE and the PNC can be both PCE and PCC. With respect to MDSC, PNC is PCC, but with respect to network devices PNC is PCE.

[0082] Significantly, a PCE has access to the information carried by a network's Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) and also the set of currently active paths with their reserved resources for path computations. The PCE is also capable of computing constrained paths while considering individual LSPs and their interactions. The active PCE functionality allows a PCE to reroute an existing LSP or make changes to the attributes of an existing LSP, or a PCC to delegate control of specific LSPs to a new PCE.

[0083] In particular, the present invention provides a PCEP extension for associating LSP's whose ingress, or egress, or both ingress and egress are different for resource sharing to avoid path computation failures or duplicate allocations during common links for new LSP's created during an update of E2E LSP. The PCC employs Resource ReSerVation Protocol (RSVP) for LSP signalling, PCC forwards path message information along with association object to the RSVP for LSP signalling. The RSVP uses the association object in its reservation message for LSP setup.

[0084] The extensions of PCE association group object and messages to support shared bandwidth in hierarchical PCE are as follows:

[0085] Existing ASSOCIATION Object: An association group is a generic mechanism to create an association of LSPs. This grouping is subsequently used to define associations between sets of LSPs or between a set of LSPs and a set of attributes. FIG. 3 illustrates an IPv4 ASSOCIATION Object format while FIG. 4 illustrates an IPv6 ASSOCIATION Object format. The ASSOCIATION Object-Type is 2 for IPv6.

[0086] Significantly, the Reserved (2-byte) must be set to 0 and ignored upon receipt. The currently defined Flags (2-byte) are R (Removal1 bit) which when set indicates that the requesting PCE peer requires removal of an LSP from the association group. The Association type (2-byte) is an association type, for example, protection while the Association ID (2-byte) is the identifier of the association group. When combined with Type and Association Source, this value uniquely identifies an association group. The value 0xffff and 0x0 are reserved. The value 0xffff is used to indicate all association groups.

[0087] The Association Source (4 or 16 bytes) is an IPv4 or IPv6 address. This may be the IP address of the PCEP speaker that created a dynamic association, an operator configured IP address, or an IP address selected as per the local policy. The value such as 0.0.0.0 or ::/128 are acceptable. The optional TLVs follow the conventional PCEP TLV format. The ASSOCIATION Object is optional and may be carried in the Path Computation Update (PCUpd), Path Computation Report (PCRpt) and Path Computation Initiate (PCInitiate) messages.

[0088] Significantly, when an LSP is delegated to a stateful PCE, the stateful PCE initiates a new association group for this LSP, or associate it with one or more existing association groups. This is done by including the ASSOCIATION Object in a PCUpd message. The PCUpd message (also referred to as a Path Computation LSP Update Request message) is a PCEP message sent by a PCE to a PCC to update attributes of an LSP. The PCUpd message carries more than one LSP Update Request.

[0089] The PCE initiating a new LSP, can include the association group information. This is done by including the ASSOCIATION Object in a PCInitiate message.

[0090] (b) New Association type for resource sharing in Association Object: A new Association Type for Resource Sharing has to be defined in PCE association group. The PCE sends an update message with association object for old LSP first and then sends initiate request for new LSP with the same association ID of old LSP and association type as Resource Sharing. The PCC will use RSVP for LSP signalling. The PCC is equipped to forward the path message information along with association object to RSVP for LSP signalling. The RSVP can thus, use the association object in its reservation message for LSP setup, as illustrated in FIG. 5a.

[0091] The present invention specifically focuses on the issue of resource sharing between two independent LSP's when either the ingress, or the egress, or both ingress and egress are different among the old and updated LSP's. This is to avoid failure or duplicate allocation of resources during path re-computation in common links, as shared resources are not considered by domain controllers for the new LSP's created during an update of an E2E LSP. To achieve the desired objectives, the present invention enables a PCE to send an update message with an association object for an old LSP first. Subsequently, it sends an initiate request for new LSP with same the association ID of old LSP and association type as Resource Sharing thereby ensuring that the two independent LSP's with either ingress or egress or both being different among the LSP's share their resources.

[0092] FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart of the communications method performed by the first network apparatus for sharing network resources in a communications network. The method comprises the following steps:

[0093] Step S101: the first network apparatus receiving a second packet from the second network apparatus;

[0094] Step S102: the first network apparatus receiving a first packet from the second network apparatus;

[0095] Step S103: the first network apparatus determining a first label switched path according to the association object of the second packet; and

[0096] Step S104: the first network apparatus creating a second label switched path sharing network resources allocated to the first label switched path, according to the path information.

[0097] FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of the communication method performed by the second network apparatus for sharing network resources in a communications network. The method comprises the following steps:

[0098] Step S201: the second network apparatus sending a second packet to the first network apparatus; and

[0099] Step 202: the second network apparatus sending a first packet comprising an association object and path information to a first network apparatus.

[0100] The first network apparatus is a PNC while second network apparatus is a MDSC. Notably, the first network apparatus creating a second label switched path according to the path information involves the PNC asking an ingress node, such as device K of FIG. 6, to setup the LSP using RSVP signalling using the path information. The PNC sends the association object to ingress node too. The ingress node creates a LSP according to the path information, and initiates LSP association by inserting appropriate ASSOCIATION objects in the Path message of LSPs that are to be associated. The first label switched path and the second label switched path have different ingress nodes or egress nodes, i.e., different ingress nodes, different egress nodes, different ingress and different egress.

[0101] The downstream nodes, such as device M of FIG. 6, correlates LSPs based on received ASSOCIATION objects. The multiple types of LSP association are supported by the ASSOCIATION object, and downstream correlation is made based on the type. The type is resource sharing. The ASSOCIATION object using in RSVP, hereinafter referred to as an R-object, is a little different from the ASSOCIATION object of PCEP, hereinafter referred to as a P-object.

[0102] The original figure of the R-object format has been illustrated in FIG. 5b. The ASSOCIATION object is used to associate LSPs with each other. In end-to-end LSP recovery, the association must only identify LSPs that support the same Tunnel ID as well as the same tunnel sender address and tunnel endpoint address. For this Association Type, Association Source, and Association ID fields of the object uniquely identify the association. Provisions are present for the object to ensure compatibility with non-supporting nodes as well. Notably, the Association Type is 16 bits and indicates the type of association being identified. The Association ID is 16 bits. A value assigned by the LSP head-end. When combined with the Association Type and Association Source, this value uniquely identifies an association. The Association Source is 4 or 16 byte and an IPv4 or IPv6 address, respectively, that is associated to the node that originated the association.

[0103] The first packet is a Path Computation Initiate message and comprises association object and path information. The path information refers to EXPLICIT ROUTE object (ERO) which is included in a PCInitiate message. The ERO specifies a path. The PCC creates a new LSP according to the ERO. The PCInitiate message includes the association object and the ERO.

[0104] The second packet is a Path Computation Update message or a Path Computation Report message from the second network apparatus and comprises an association object and an identifier indicating the first label switched path. The association object comprises an association type indicating resource sharing. The identifier refers to PLSP-ID and each LSP has a unique PLSP-ID. The PCE includes a PLSP-ID in an update message to indicate a LSP to be updated. After receiving the update message which comprises association object and PLSP-ID, the PCC may maintain the relationship between association ID and PLSP-ID. So PCC can obtain PLSP-ID according to the relationship and the association object in the Initiate message. The second packet indicates that the first label switched path is associated with the association object.

[0105] The second label switched path shares network resources allocated to the first label switched path with the first label switched path. The new LSP shares network resources with the old LSP when the new LSP is created. Once the ingress node of the new LSP receives a Resv message for the new LSP, the traffic of the old LSP may be transited to the new LSP, and subsequently the old LSP may be torn down.

[0106] FIGS. 6a and 6b illustrate examples where a master controller or the MDSC computes a path between hosts A to L. In particular, they illustrate a system for routing data packets in a communications network. This system comprises at least one first network apparatus (PNC1, PNC2, PNC3) that is adaptively configured to route data packets among plurality of network elements (A-L) and a second network apparatus (MDSC) that is adaptively configured to control a plurality of network apparatuses. The first network apparatus (PNC1, PNC2, PNC3) controls a plurality of network elements (A-D, E-H, I-L). Notably, the domain controllers or PNC's i.e., PNC1, PNC2 and PNC 3, setup the paths A-B, E-F and I-L, respectively. The path A-B-E-F-I-M-N-L is the LSP1 or old LSP. In FIG. 6b illustrates that PNC1 issues initiate message to create new LSP A-D (a1) and issues update message to delete old LSP A-B (a2) to host A. PNC2 issues PNC2 issues initiate message to create new LSP G-H (b1) to host G and issues update message to delete old LSP E-F (b2) to host E. PNC3 issues initiate message to add association object to old LSP I-L (c1) to host I, issues initiate message to create new LSP with association object K-L (c2) to host K, and issues update message to delete old LSP I-L (c3) to host I.

[0107] During global optimization/path update, the master controller re-computes the end-to-end path between A to L, based on the new constraints. This is similar to Make-Before-Break (MBB) for LSP1 in the master controller. To update this LSP1, the master controller breaks this E2E LSP to domain specific Update/Delete/Create domain specific LSP, for the new LSP. Significantly, for the master controller, this is an MBB for LSP1.

[0108] For domain controller PNC1, the re-computation of E2E path results in creating new LSP involving hosts A-D with a new association type as Resource Sharing and deleting the old LSP involving hosts A-B. In particular, the PNC1 sends a PCInit message with same association object and association type as Resource Sharing.

[0109] For domain controller PNC2, the re-computation of E2E path also results in creating new LSP involving hosts G-H with new association type as Resource Sharing and deleting the old LSP involving hosts E-F. In particular, the PNC2 also sends a PCInit message with same association object and association type as Resource Sharing.

[0110] For domain controller PNC3, the re-computation of E2E path results in creating new LSP involving hosts K-M-N-L with a new association type as Resource Sharing and deleting the old LSP involving host I-L. The network resources such as bandwidth will be shared between the two LSP's.

[0111] FIG. 7 illustrates the first network apparatus (100) which is a domain controller. The first network apparatus (100) comprises at least a transceiver unit (101) and a processing unit (103). There is also a memory unit (102). The transceiver unit (101) is configured to receive a first packet comprising an association object and path information. It is also configured to receive a second packet before receiving the first packet where the second packet comprises the association object and an identifier indicating the first label switched path. The second packet indicates that the first label switched path is associated with the association object. The processing unit (103) is configured to determine a first label switched path according to the association object and create a second label switched path according to the path information, where the second label switched path shares network resources allocated to the first label switched path with the first label switched path.

[0112] FIG. 8 illustrates the second network apparatus (200) which is a master controller. The second network apparatus (200) comprises at least a transceiver unit (201), a processing unit (203) and a memory unit (102). The transceiver unit (201) is configured to send a first packet comprising an association object and path information where the first packet instructs the first network apparatus (100) to determine a first label switched path according to the association object and create a second label switched path according to the path information. The second label switched path shares network resources allocated to the first label switched path with the first label switched path. The transceiver unit (201) is also configured to send a second packet before sending the first packet where the second packet comprises association object and identifier indicating the first label switched path. The second packet indicates that the first label switched path is associated with the association object.

[0113] Significantly, the second packet is a Path Computation Update message, or a Path Computation Report message or any similar message and the first packet is a Path Computation Initiate message or any similar message. The first network apparatus creates label switched path segments between at least two of its network elements. The label switched path (A-B-E-F-I-M-N-L) comprises a plurality of label switched path segments such as the first label switched path segment (A-D, G-H, K-M, N-L), the second label switched path segment (A-B, E-F, I-M, N-L), etc. The resources allocated to the second label switched path segment (A-B) are allocated on shared basis to the first label switched path segment (A-D).

[0114] The advantage of the present invention is that it enables the domain controller to consider shared resource in case of E2E LSP setup in hierarchical PCE because the case of existing E2E LSP setup in hierarchical PCE, the domain controllers fail to a compute path when resources are not available or duplicate resource allocation happens.

[0115] A person of ordinary skill in the art may be aware that in combination with the examples described in the embodiments disclosed in this specification, units and algorithm steps may be implemented by electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether the functions are performed by hardware or software depends on the particular applications and design constraint conditions of the technical solution. A person skilled in the art may use different methods to implement the described functions for each particular application, but it should not be considered that the implementation goes beyond the scope of the present invention.

[0116] It may be clearly understood by a person skilled in the art that for the purpose of convenient and brief description, for a detailed working process of the foregoing system, apparatus, and unit, reference may be made to a corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments, and details are not described herein again.

[0117] In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other manners. For example, the described apparatus embodiment is merely exemplary. For example, the unit division is merely logical function division and may be other division in actual implementation. For example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not performed. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutual couplings or direct couplings or communication connections may be implemented through some interfaces. The indirect couplings or communication connections between the apparatuses or units may be implemented in electronic, mechanical, or other forms.

[0118] When the functions are implemented in a form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, the functions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on such an understanding, the technical solutions of the present invention essentially, or the part contributing to the prior art, or a part of the technical solutions may be implemented in a form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium, and includes several instructions for instructing a computer node (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network node) to perform all or a part of the steps of the methods described in the embodiment of the present invention. The foregoing storage medium includes: any medium that can store program code, such as a USB flash drive, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (Read-Only Memory, ROM), a random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disc.

[0119] Devices that are in communication with each other need not be in continuous communication with each other, unless expressly specified otherwise. In addition, devices that are in communication with each other may communicate directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries.