Method and apparatus for providing a control plane across multiple optical network domains

A method of provisioning a connection between a source and a destination in a transport network having a plurality of control domains, comprising:

• receiving a connection request, by a processor of an ingress network element in a control domain of the plurality of control domains;
• identifying an egress node in the control domain for a destination of the connection request using a first inter-domain routing table stored in the ingress network element;
• constructing a connection within the control domain using an intra-domain signaling protocol and topology information for the control domain;
• identifying a next ingress network element of a next control domain of the plurality of control domains using a second inter-domain routing table stored in the egress network element;
• communicating the connection request to the next ingress network element using an inter-domain signaling protocol via an external link;
• attempting to restore a connection segment in the control domain upon a detection of a facility failure, wherein the attempting to restore comprises a use of a reply message;
• and
• re-provisioning the connection segment within the control domain when the connection segment is not restored after a specific time period using combined topology information, wherein the combined topology information comprises summarized topology information of each of the plurality of control domains.

A transport network, comprising:

• a plurality of control domains, each control domain of the plurality of control domains including a plurality of network elements, each network element of the plurality of network elements including:
• an intra-domain topology database for storing topology data for the control domain;
• an inter-domain routing table for storing routing information required to route connections across the plurality of control domains;
• a routing module for employing an intra-domain routing protocol to manage the intra-domain topology database and an inter-domain routing protocol to manage the inter-domain routing table;
• and
• a signaling module for employing an intra-domain signaling protocol to manage connections for the control domain, including provisioning and restoration, and an inter-domain signaling protocol to manage connections between the control domain and another of the plurality of control domains;
• wherein the plurality of control domains is connected by external links, and wherein the signaling modules in the plurality of network elements are configured to:
• restore a connection segment in the control domain upon detection of a facility failure, wherein the signaling modules in the plurality of network elements are configured to restore the connection segment in the control domain upon a detection of a facility failure by use of a reply message;
• and
• re-provision the connection segment within the control domain when the connection segment is not restored after a specific time period using combined topology information, wherein the combined topology information comprises summarized topology information of each of the plurality of control domains.