Technique for transferring data over a packet switched network

An apparatus comprising:

• a network topology data structure to store topology information of a data network;
• a transport database to store pseudo wire path information that defines paths through intermediate nodes by mapping an ingress label and an ingress interface at a corresponding intermediate node to an egress label and an egress interface at the corresponding intermediate node, the transport database to maintain pseudo wire path information for a plurality of pseudo wires defined in the data network;
• a processor configured to generate pseudo wire path information from the topology information, place the pseudo wire path information in the transport database and distribute pseudo wire path information contained in the transport database via one or more local network links to one or more packet-processing engines (PPEs) of one or more intermediate nodes contained in the data network, to configure the PPEs of the one or more intermediate nodes based on the pseudo wire path information to direct data packets acquired by the one or more intermediate nodes on an ingress interface indicated in the pseudo wire path information for a particular one of the plurality pseudo wires to an egress interface indicated in the distributed pseudo wire path information for the particular one of the plurality of pseudo wires, to obviate a need to implement layer-3 (L3) infrastructure that includes Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) to support pseudo wires;
• and
• a network interface configured to transmit the distributed pseudo wire path information over the one or more local network links.

An intermediate node comprising:

• an ingress interface configured to acquire data packets from a data network coupled to the intermediate node;
• a network interface configured to acquire pseudo wire path information that includes a mapping of an ingress label and an ingress interface at the intermediate node to an egress label and an egress interface at the intermediate node for each of a plurality of pseudo wires in the data network, the pseudo wire path information acquired from a separate transport controller contained in the data network;
• and
• a packet-processing engine (PPE) that is configured based on the pseudo wire path information acquired from the separate transport controller contained in the data network to direct data packets acquired on an ingress interface indicated in the pseudo wire path information acquired from the separate transport controller for a particular one of plurality of the pseudo wires to an egress interface indicated in the pseudo wire path information acquired from the separate transport controller for the particular one of plurality of the pseudo wires,
• wherein the PPE is configured absent use of layer-3 (L3) infrastructure that includes Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) by the intermediate node.

An apparatus comprising:

• means for acquiring network topology information that describes a data network's topology at the apparatus, wherein the apparatus is coupled via one or more local network links to one or more intermediate nodes;
• means for generating a transport database from the network topology information, wherein the transport database contains pseudo wire path information that defines paths through intermediate nodes by mapping an ingress label and an ingress interface at a corresponding intermediate node to an egress label and an egress interface at the corresponding intermediate node, the transport database to maintain pseudo wire path information for a plurality of pseudo wires contained in the data network;
• and
• means for distributing pseudo wire path information contained in the transport database, via the one or more local network links, to one or more packet-processing engines (PPEs) of the intermediate nodes contained in the data network, to configure the PPEs of the one or more intermediate nodes, based on the pseudo wire path information, to direct data packets acquired by the one or more intermediate nodes on an ingress interface indicated in the distributed pseudo wire path information for a particular one of the plurality of pseudo wires to an egress interface indicted in the distributed pseudo wire path information for the particular one of the plurality of pseudo wires, to obviate a need to implement layer-3 (L3) infrastructure that includes Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) to support pseudo wires.

A system comprising:

• a transport controller that is aware of network topology information that describes a network's topology, the transport controller including,
• a transport database generated from the network topology information, the transport database configured to store one or more entries of pseudo wire path information that map an ingress label and an ingress interface to an egress label and an egress interface for each of a plurality of pseudo wires contained in the network, and
• a network interface configured to transmit pseudo wire path information from the transport database over one or more local network links;
• a local network including the one or more local network links and configured to provide out-of-band communication between the transport controller and a plurality of intermediate nodes;
• and
• wherein one or more of the plurality of intermediate nodes includes,
• an ingress interface configured to receive data packets from the network,
• a network interface configured to receive the transmitted pseudo wire path information from the transport controller via the local network, and
• a packet-processing engine (PPE) configured to generate one or more ingress keys and egress keys from the transmitted pseudo wire path information from the transport controller, and to use the generated ingress keys and egress keys to configure a classifier of the PPE to direct data packets received on the ingress interface to an egress interface indicted in the transmitted pseudo wire path information for a particular one of the plurality of pseudo wires, wherein the PPE is configured absent use of layer-3 (L3) infrastructure that includes Label Distribution Protocol (LDP).

A method comprising:

• acquiring, at an intermediate node, data packets from a data network;
• acquiring, at the intermediate node, pseudo wire path information from a transport controller in the data network coupled to the intermediate node via one or more local network links, the pseudo wire path information including a mapping of an ingress label and ingress interface to an egress label and an egress interface at the intermediate node for each of a plurality of pseudo wires in the data network;
• and
• configuring a packet-processing engine (PPE) of the intermediate node based on the pseudo wire path information acquired from the transport controller, the PPE configured to direct data packets acquired at the intermediate node on an ingress interface indicated in the pseudo wire path information acquired from the transport controller for a particular one of the plurality of pseudo wires to an egress interface indicated in the pseudo wire path information acquired from the transport controller for the particular one of the plurality of pseudo wires,
• wherein the PPE is configured absent use of layer-3 (L3) infrastructure that includes Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) by the intermediate node.