US 12,615,167 B2Granted

Multicast communication method and related apparatus

AssigneeHuawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

InventorsDonglei Pang, Cheng Sheng, Haibo Wang, Fanghong Duan, Gang Yan, Shunwan Zhuang

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Abstract

A multicast communication method is applied to a software-defined wide area network SD-WAN. In the multicast communication method, a bit index explicit replication (Bit Index Explicit Replication, BIER) capability is deployed on site devices in the SD-WAN, a BIER header in a multicast packet indicates a site device that a multicast packet needs to pass through, and no multicast distribution tree need to be constructed. In addition, the multicast packet is forwarded through an SD-WAN tunnel between site devices, and an intermediate node does not need to sense a multicast service, to reduce a quantity of multicast table entries on a network device and accelerate convergence of the multicast table entries, so that normal running of the multicast service is ensured.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A multicast communication method, wherein the method comprises:

receiving, by a first site device, a first packet, wherein the first packet comprises a first bit index explicit replication (BIER) header and multicast data, and the first BIER header indicates a set of destination nodes of the multicast data;
generating, by the first site device, a second packet based on the first packet, wherein the second packet comprises a first software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) tunnel encapsulation header, a second BIER header, and the multicast data, wherein a destination address of the first SD-WAN tunnel encapsulation header is an internet protocol (IP) address of a second site device, wherein the IP address of the second site device is an egress address of a first SD-WAN tunnel between the first site device and the second site device, and wherein the second BIER header indicates the set of destination nodes of the multicast data;
and
sending, by the first site device, the second packet to the second site device through the first SD-WAN tunnel.

1 more element

A first site device, comprising:

a memory storing instructions;
and
at least one processor, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first site device to:
receive a first packet, wherein the first packet comprises a first bit index explicit replication (BIER) header and multicast data, and the first BIER header indicates a set of destination nodes of the multicast data;
generate a second packet based on the first packet, wherein the second packet comprises a first software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) tunnel encapsulation header, a second BIER header, and the multicast data, wherein a destination address of the first SD-WAN tunnel encapsulation header is an internet protocol (IP) address of a second site device, wherein the IP address of the second site device is an egress address of a first SD-WAN tunnel between the first site device and the second site device, and wherein the second BIER header indicates the set of destination nodes of the multicast data;
and
send the second packet to the second site device through the first SD-WAN tunnel.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 18/316,734Filed 12 May 2023
Priority: CN 202210523662.113 May 2022
Published: US 2023/0370293 A116 Nov 2023
Granted: 28 Apr 2026
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification8 codes

H04L 12/18
Arrangements for providing special services to substations: for broadcast or conference , e.g. multicast
H04L 45/34
Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks: source routing
H04L 12/1886
For broadcast or conference , e.g. multicast: with traffic restrictions for efficiency improvement, e.g. involving subnets or subdomains
H04L 12/4633
Interconnection of networks: interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling