Protection mechanism for an optical ring

A machine-readable medium that provides instructions, which when executed by a set of processors, cause said set of processors to perform operations comprising:

• inhibiting automatic protection switching on a set of physical channels, the set of physical channels corresponding to a first fiber;
• creating a logical working interface and associating the logical working interface to a first physical port, the physical port connecting to the first fiber;
• creating a logical protecting interface and associating the logical protecting interface to a second physical port, the second physical port connecting to a second fiber;
• associating the logical working and logical protecting interfaces to a forwarding interface, the forwarding interface corresponding to a node;
• setting the forwarding interface to refer to the logical working interface while the fiber is not failing;
• and
• modifying the forwarding interface to refer to the logical protecting interface while the fiber is failing.

A machine-readable medium that provides instructions, which when executed by a set of processors, cause said set of processors to perform operations comprising:

• inhibiting automatic protection switching on a set of physical channels, the set of physical channels corresponding to a first fiber;
• creating a logical working interface and associating the logical working interface to a first physical port, the physical port corresponding to the first fiber;
• creating a logical protecting interface and associating the logical protecting interface to a tunnel, the tunnel corresponding to a second fiber;
• associating the logical working and logical protecting interfaces to a forwarding interface, the forwarding interface corresponding to a node;
• setting the forwarding interface to refer to the logical working interface while the fiber is not failing;
• and
• modifying the forwarding interface to refer to the logical protecting interface while the fiber is failing.

A network element comprising:

• a first fiber connecting the network element to a second network element;
• a second fiber connecting the network element to a third network element;
• a first optical processing circuitry coupled to the first fiber, the optical processing circuitry to transmit a first set of optical traffic in a first set of physical channels over the first fiber;
• a first egress layer 2/3 processing circuitry coupled to the first optical processing circuitry, the first egress layer 2/3 processing circuitry to transmit a set of layer 2/3 traffic to the first optical processing circuitry while the first fiber is not failing, the set of layer 2/3 traffic to be inserted into the first set of optical traffic;
• a second optical processing circuitry coupled to the second fiber, the second optical processing circuitry to transmit a second set of optical traffic in a second set of physical channels over the second fiber;
• a second egress layer 2/3 processing circuitry coupled to the second optical processing circuitry, the second egress layer 2/3 processing circuitry to transmit the set of layer 2/3 traffic to the second optical processing circuitry while the first fiber is failing, the set of layer 2/3 traffic to be inserted in to the second set of optical traffic;
• an ingress layer 2/3 processing circuitry coupled to the first and second egress layer 2/3 processing circuitry, the ingress layer 2/3 processing circuitry to receive and transmit the set of layer 2/3 traffic;
• and
• a control card coupled to the first and second optical processing circuitry and the ingress layer 2/3 processing circuitry, the control card to detect failure of the first fiber, to indicate failure of the first fiber to the ingress layer 2/3 processing circuitry, and to mask the first and second set of physical channels from automatic protection switching.

An apparatus comprising:

• a first fiber connecting the network element to a second network element;
• a second fiber connecting the network element to a third network element;
• a first optical processing circuitry coupled to the first fiber, the optical processing circuitry to transmit a first set of optical traffic in a first set of physical channels over the first fiber;
• a first egress layer 2/3 processing circuitry coupled to the first optical processing circuitry, the first egress layer 2/3 processing circuitry to transmit a set of layer 2/3 traffic to the first optical processing circuitry while the first fiber is not failing, the set of layer 2/3 traffic to be inserted into the first set of optical traffic;
• a second optical processing circuitry coupled to the second fiber, the second optical processing circuitry to transmit a second set of optical traffic in a second set of physical channels over the second fiber;
• a second egress layer 2/3 processing circuitry coupled to the second optical processing circuitry, the second egress layer 2/3 processing circuitry to tunnel the set of layer 2/3 traffic and to pass the set of layer 2/3 traffic to the second optical processing circuitry while the first fiber is failing, the set of layer 2/3 traffic to be inserted in to the second set of optical traffic;
• an ingress layer 2/3 processing circuitry coupled to the first and second egress layer 2/3 processing circuitry, the ingress layer 2/3 processing circuitry to receive and transmit the set of layer 2/3 traffic;
• and
• a control card coupled to the first and second optical processing circuitry and the ingress layer 2/3 processing circuitry, the control card to detect failure of the first fiber, to indicate failure of the first fiber to the ingress layer 2/3 processing circuitry, and to mask the first and second set of physical channels from automatic protection switching.

A computer implemented method comprising:

• provisioning a non-BLSR protected layer 2/3 channel over a BLSR;
• provisioning a tunnel over the BLSR;
• and
• protecting the non-BLSR protected layer 2/3 channel between a first and second node of the BLSR with the tunnel.

A computer implemented method comprising:

• inhibiting automatic protection switching on a set of physical channels, the set of physical channels corresponding to a first fiber;
• creating a logical working interface and associating the logical working interface to a first physical port, the physical port connecting to the first fiber;
• creating a logical protecting interface and associating the logical protecting interface to a second physical port, the second physical port connecting to a second fiber;
• associating the logical working and logical protecting interfaces to a forwarding interface, the forwarding interface corresponding to a node;
• setting the forwarding interface to refer to the logical working interface while the fiber is not failing;
• and
• modifying the forwarding interface to refer to the logical protecting interface while the fiber is failing.

A computer implemented method comprising:

• inhibiting automatic protection switching on a set of physical channels, the set of physical channels corresponding to a first fiber;
• creating a logical working interface and associating the logical working interface to a first physical port, the physical port corresponding to the first fiber;
• creating a logical protecting interface and associating the logical protecting interface to a tunnel, the tunnel corresponding to a second fiber;
• associating the logical working and logical protecting interfaces to a forwarding interface, the forwarding interface corresponding to a node;
• setting the forwarding interface to refer to the logical working interface while the fiber is not failing;
• and
• modifying the forwarding interface to refer to the logical protecting interface while the fiber is failing.