Traffic behavior driven dynamic zoning for distributed traffic engineering in SDN

A network component for dynamic zoning for traffic engineering (TE) in software defined networking (SDN), the network component comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to:
• receive network information from at least one SDN controller from a plurality of SDN controllers in a network, the network information includes traffic flow information for nodes in the network;
• determine, in response to detection of a trigger comprising at least one of a change in traffic behavior in the network, a change in topology, a change in node capability, a change in a node state, a change in a buffer status, a change in delay statistics, and a change in available bandwidth, according to the network information and a zoning scheme, a plurality of TE zones for the network;
• select a local zone TE controller for each of the plurality of TE zones according to the network information and the zoning scheme, wherein the local zone TE controller is selected form one of the SDN controllers;
• determine at least one of zone membership of each of the TE zones and a master TE controller according to the network information and the zoning scheme, wherein the master TE controller is selected from one of the SDN controllers;
• and
• transmit an indication of the local zone TE controllers, and at least one of at least a partial list of the zone membership of at least one of the TE zones and the master controller to at least one of the SDN controllers.

A method in a zoning controller for dynamic zoning of a network for traffic engineering (TE) in software defined networking (SDN), the method comprising:

• receiving at the zoning controller network zoning information from at least some of a plurality of SDN controllers in the network, the network zoning information includes traffic flow information for nodes in the network;
• partitioning, in response to detection of a trigger comprising at least one of a change in traffic behavior in the network, a change in topology, a change in node capability, a change in a node state, a change in a buffer status, a change in delay statistics, and a change in available bandwidth, with the zoning controller, the network into a plurality of zones;
• selecting a master TE controller from the plurality of SDN controllers;
• selecting a plurality of local zone TE controllers from the plurality of SDN controllers, wherein each local zone TE controller corresponds to a respective one of the plurality of zones;
• transmitting from the zoning controller an installation command to at least one zone TE controller;
• and
• receiving at the zoning controller an acknowledgement from the at least one zone TE controller confirming successful installation of one of the plurality of zones.

A zoning controller for dynamic zoning of a network for traffic engineering (TE) in software defined networking (SDN), the zoning controller comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to:
• receive network zoning information from at least some of a plurality of SDN controllers in the network, the network zoning information includes traffic flow information for nodes in the network;
• partition, in response to detection of a trigger comprising at least one of a change in traffic behavior in the network, a change in topology, a change in node capability, a change in a node state, a change in a buffer status, a change in delay statistics, and a change in available bandwidth, the network into a plurality of zones;
• select a master TE controller and a plurality of local zone TE controllers from the plurality of SDN controllers, wherein each local zone TE controller corresponds to a respective one of the plurality of zones;
• transmit an installation command to at least one zone TE controller;
• and
• receive an acknowledgement from the at least one zone TE controller confirming successful installation of one of the plurality of zones.