Hierarchical virtual private lan service hub connectivity failure recovery
AssigneeTelefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (publ)
InventorsFaisal Andre Khan, Sriganesh Kini
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Techniques for recovering from hierarchical virtual private LAN service (HVPLS) hub connectivity failure are described herein. In one embodiment of the invention, a provider edge network element reuses an HVPLS spoke connectivity failure recovery mechanism in an MTU to protect against a failure of HVPLS hub connectivity. The PE network element monitors hub facing connectivity elements and declares a hub connectivity failure upon a certain amount of those hub facing connectivity elements failing, and fabricates a failure of its spoke facing connectivity elements causing the MTU to detect an HVPLS spoke connectivity failure and switch to a secondary HVPLS spoke connection. Other methods and apparatuses are described.
Claims25
A computer implemented method for reusing a hierarchical virtual private LAN service (HVPLS) spoke recovery mechanism in a multi-tenant unit (MTU), which is coupled by a first HVPLS spoke connection to a first of a plurality of HVPLS hub network elements which is designated as a primary connection point to the HVPLS hub for the MTU, to protect against a failure of HVPLS hub connectivity of the first HVPLS hub network element, wherein the HVPLS hub connectivity of the first HVPLS hub network element includes a corresponding hub connection with each of the other of the plurality of HVPLS hub network elements, said method comprising:
- monitoring for a failure of the HVPLS hub connectivity of the first HVPLS hub network element provided through a plurality of HVPLS hub facing connectivity elements within the first HVPLS hub network element, wherein the plurality of HVPLS hub facing connectivity elements provide the HVPLS hub connections to the others of the plurality of HVPLS hub network elements;
- detecting the failure of the HVPLS hub connectivity of the first network element;
- and
- fabricating a failure of the first HVPLS spoke connection by disabling within the first network element one or more HVPLS spoke facing connectivity elements supporting the first HVPLS spoke connection, wherein the HVPLS spoke recovery mechanism in the MTU will react to the fabricated failure of the first HVPLS spoke connection by transitioning to a second HVPLS spoke connection that couples the MTU to a second of the plurality of HVPLS hub network elements that is designated as a secondary connection point to the HPVLS hub for the MTU.
A provider edge network element to reuse an Hierarchical Virtual Private LAN Service (HVPLS) spoke recovery mechanism in a multi-tenant unit (MTU) to protect HVPLS hub connectivity for the MTU, comprising:
- a plurality of HVPLS hub facing connectivity elements to provide a plurality of HVPLS hub connections to a plurality of other provider edge network elements;
- one or more spoke facing connectivity elements to provide a primary HVPLS spoke connection to the MTU;
- and
- a hub connectivity failure recovery module coupled with the plurality of HVPLS hub facing connectivity elements and the spoke facing connectivity elements, the hub connectivity failure recovery module to include,
- a hub facing connectivity element state detection module to monitor the plurality of HVPLS hub facing connectivity elements to detect hub connectivity failure,
- a hub connectivity failure declaration and reporting module coupled with the hub facing connectivity element state detection module, the hub connectivity failure declaration and reporting module to declare a failure of hub connectivity of the provider edge network element upon a predefined amount of hub facing connectivity elements losing hub connectivity, and
- a spoke facing connectivity element state switching module coupled with the hub connectivity failure declaration and reporting module, the spoke facing connectivity element state switching module to fabricate a failure of the primary HVPLS spoke connection to cause the MTU to transition to a secondary HVPLS spoke connection with one of the other provider edge network elements.
A machine-readable storage medium that provides instructions that, if executed by a processor, will cause said processor to perform operations for reusing a hierarchical virtual private LAN service (HVPLS) spoke recovery mechanism in a multi-tenant unit (MTU), which is coupled by a first HVPLS spoke connection to a first of a plurality of HVPLS hub network elements which is designated as a primary connection point to the HVPLS hub for the MTU, to protect against a failure of HVPLS hub connectivity of the first HVPLS hub network element, wherein the HVPLS hub connectivity of the first HVPLS hub network element includes a corresponding hub connection with each of the other of the plurality of HVPLS hub network elements, comprising:
- monitoring for a failure of the HVPLS hub connectivity of the first HVPLS hub network element provided through a plurality of HVPLS hub facing connectivity elements within the first HVPLS hub network element, wherein the plurality of HVPLS hub facing connectivity elements provide the HVPLS hub connections to the others of the plurality of HVPLS hub network elements;
- detecting the failure of the HVPLS hub connectivity of the first network element;
- and
- fabricating a failure of the first HVPLS spoke connection by disabling within the first network element one or more HVPLS spoke facing connectivity elements supporting the first HVPLS spoke connection, wherein the HVPLS spoke recovery mechanism in the MTU will react to the fabricated failure of the first HVPLS spoke connection by transitioning to a second HVPLS spoke connection that couples the MTU to a second of the plurality of HVPLS hub network elements that is designated as a secondary connection point to the HPVLS hub for the MTU.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.