Traffic engineering using extended bandwidth accounting information
AssigneeJuniper Networks, Inc.
InventorsIna Minei, Pedro R. Marques
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Abstract
A system distributes extended traffic accounting information of bandwidth availability on links throughout a network. For example, routers within the network utilize an extended reservation protocol to calculate bandwidth availability information for links. In calculating the bandwidth availability information, the extended reservation protocol accounts for not only the amount of bandwidth reserved on each of links via the resource reservation protocol itself, but also for the bandwidth usage by other traffic on the links, such as Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) traffic or Internet Protocol (IP) traffic. The routers exchange bandwidth availability information using a routing protocol to gain network-wide knowledge of bandwidth availability.
Claims27
A method comprising:
- calculating, with a first router, an amount of bandwidth available on a link based on bandwidth reserved for the link with a resource reservation protocol and unreserved bandwidth of the link utilized by traffic associated with other types of protocols on the link;
- generating, with the first router, a routing communication that includes (i) the calculated amount of bandwidth available on the link and (ii) a data field to specify that the calculated amount of bandwidth included in the routing communication accounts for both the reserved bandwidth and the unreserved bandwidth of the link that is utilized by the traffic associated with the other types of protocols;
- transmitting the routing communication from the first router to a second router to advertise the calculated amount of available bandwidth;
- receiving the routing communication with the second router;
- with the second router, selecting a path with sufficient bandwidth availability through the network based on both the reserved bandwidth and the unreserved bandwidth of the link as specified within the data field of the routing communication;
- and
- establishing the path through the network.
A network device comprising:
- a routing protocol executing within a control unit of the network device, wherein the routing protocol receives a routing communication from another network device of a network, the routing communication including:
- (i) a calculated amount of bandwidth available on a link, and (ii) a data field to specify that the calculated amount of bandwidth included in the routing communication accounts for both reserved bandwidth associated with the link and unreserved bandwidth utilized by traffic on the link;
- and
- a resource reservation protocol executing within the control unit, wherein the resource reservation protocol is configured to identify a path through the network with sufficient bandwidth availability based on the reserved bandwidth associated with the link and unreserved bandwidth utilized by traffic on the link as specified in the data field of the routing communication.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.