US 2020/0351185 A1 · FASTER FAULT-DETECTION MECHANISM, FOR EXAMPLE USING BIDIRECTIONAL FORWARDING DETECTION (BFD), ON NETWORK NODES AND/OR HOSTS MULTIHOMED USING A LINK AGGREGATION GROUP (LAG)

Abstract

For use in a system including a first data forwarding device, a second data forwarding device, a third data forwarding device, a first communications link between the first data forwarding device and the second data forwarding device, and a second communications link between the first data forwarding device and the third data forwarding device, the first and second communications links belonging to a link aggregation group (LAG), a method includes (1) generating a message (i) for testing a first path between the first data forwarding device and the second data forwarding device, and a second path between the first data forwarding device and the third data forwarding device, and (ii) including an Internet protocol (IP) datagram including a multicast IP destination address and a payload containing path testing information; and (2) sending, over the LAG, the message from the first data forwarding device to both the second data forwarding device and the third data forwarding device. Responsive to receiving an instance of the message by either of the second or third data forwarding device, such device(s) (1) determine whether or not the received instance of the message is a fault detection on a multihomed link aggregation group message, and (2) processing the received instance of the message based on the determination of whether or not it is a fault detection on a multihomed link aggregation group message.

Claims18

Dependent claims

a) generating a bidirectional forwarding on multihomed LAG message
i) for testing (1) a first path between the first data forwarding device and the second data forwarding device, and (2) a second path between the first data forwarding device and the third data forwarding device, and
ii) including an Internet protocol (IP) datagram including a multicast IP destination address, a multicast destination media access control (MAC) address, and a payload containing path testing information;
and
b) sending, over the LAG, the bidirectional forwarding on multihomed LAG message from the first data forwarding device to both the second data forwarding device and the third data forwarding device.

2 more elements

A first data forwarding device for use in a system including a second data forwarding device, a third data forwarding device, a first communications link between the first data forwarding device and the second data forwarding device, and a second communications link between the first data forwarding device and the third data forwarding device, the first and second communications links belonging to a link aggregation group (LAG), the first data forwarding device comprising:

a) at least one processor adapted to generate a bidirectional forwarding on multihomed LAG message
i) for testing (1) a first path between the first data forwarding device and the second data forwarding device, and (2) a second path between the first data forwarding device and the third data forwarding device, and
ii) including an Internet protocol (IP) datagram including a multicast IP destination address, a multicast destination media access control (MAC) address, and a payload containing path testing information;
and
b) a first interface associated with the LAG, terminating the first communications link and adapted to send an instance of the bidirectional forwarding on multihomed LAG message to the second data forwarding device;
and
c) a second interface associated with the LAG, terminating the second communications link and adapted to send an instance of the bidirectional forwarding on multihomed LAG message to the third data forwarding device.

4 more elements

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing processor executable instructions which, when executed by a least one processor, perform a method for use in a system including a first data forwarding device, a second data forwarding device, a third data forwarding device, a first communications link between the first data forwarding device and the second data forwarding device, and a second communications link between the first data forwarding device and the third data forwarding device, the first and second communications links belonging to a link aggregation group (LAG), the method comprising:

a) generating a bidirectional forwarding detection on multihomed LAG message
i) for testing (1) a first path between the first data forwarding device and the second data forwarding device, and (2) a second path between the first data forwarding device and the third data forwarding device, and
ii) including an Internet protocol (IP) datagram including a multicast IP destination address, a multicast destination media access control (MAC) address, and a payload containing path testing information;
and
b) sending, over the LAG, the bidirectional forwarding detection on multihomed LAG message from the first data forwarding device to both the second data forwarding device and the third data forwarding device.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Faster fault-detection mechanism, for example using bidirectional forwarding detection (bfd), on network nodes and/or hosts multihomed using a link aggregation group (lag)

Life of this patent

Faster fault-detection mechanism, for example using bidirectional forwarding detection (bfd), on network nodes and/or hosts multihomed using a link aggregation group (lag)

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims18