US 9,755,899 B2Granted

Generation and usage of mobility VLAN ID version value

AssigneeAvaya Inc.

InventorsWilliam Stanislaus, Seemant Choudhary, Vivek L. Atreya, Shashi H. Ankaiah

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Abstract

A mobility network architecture includes a control plane and data plane. The control plane supports notification of VLAN configurations. The data plane supports routing of data amongst VLANs. Each VLAN has an associated identifier value as well as a version number. The version number for a respective VLAN can be updated to a new value each time there is a change to the VLAN. Typically, a controller communicates over the control plane to notify each member switch when a version number has changed for a VLAN. If controller notification fails, a member switch can receive a notification from a neighboring switch that the version number for a VLAN has been modified. In response to detecting such a condition, the switch receiving the notification can prevent forwarding of data even though the switch does not receive notification from the controller that the version number for the VLAN has changed.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

at a given switch configured to route data in a network, wherein the network comprises a control plane, a data plane, and a virtual local area network (VLAN):
receiving, from a VLAN controller in the network via the control plane of the network, a first notification including a VLAN identifier for the VLAN in the network and a corresponding current version value for the VLAN in the network, wherein said current version value for the VLAN in the network indicates a current number of times there has been a change of a configuration of said VLAN;
forwarding the data in the network over the VLAN via the data plane based on the VLAN identifier and the current version value received from the VLAN controller;
receiving a second notification from a first remote switch in the network via the data plane, the second notification including the VLAN identifier and a first outdated version value for the VLAN, wherein the first outdated version value indicates a previous number of times there has been a change of the configuration of said VLAN;
in response to detecting that the first outdated version value in the second notification received from the first remote switch does not match the corresponding current version value received from the VLAN controller, preventing forwarding of data on the VLAN from the given switch to the first remote switch;
receiving a third notification from a second remote switch in the network via the data plane, the third notification including the VLAN identifier and an updated version value for the VLAN, wherein the updated version value indicates a new number of times there has been a change of the configuration of said VLAN;
and
forwarding the data in the network over the VLAN based on the VLAN identifier and the updated version value received from the second remote switch;
receiving a fourth notification from a third remote switch in the network via the data plane, the fourth notification including the VLAN identifier and a second outdated version value for the VLAN, wherein the second outdated version value indicates a previous number of times there has been a change of the configuration of said VLAN;
and
in response to detecting that the second outdated version value in the fourth notification received from the third remote switch does not match the corresponding updated version value received from the second remote switch, preventing forwarding of the data on the VLAN from the given switch to the third remote switch.

8 more elements

A computer system comprising:

a processor;
a memory unit that stores instructions associated with an application executed by the processor;
and
an interconnect coupling the processor and the memory unit, enabling the computer system to execute the application and perform operations of:
receiving, from a VLAN controller in a network via a control plane of the network, a first notification including a VLAN identifier for a VLAN in the network and a corresponding current version value for the VLAN in the network, wherein said current version value for the VLAN in the network indicates a current number of times there has been a change of a configuration of said VLAN;
forwarding the data in the network over the VLAN via a data plane based on the VLAN identifier and the current version value received from the VLAN controller;
receiving a second notification from a first remote switch in the network via the data plane, the second notification including the VLAN identifier and a first outdated version value for the VLAN, wherein the first outdated version value indicates a previous number of times there has been a change of the configuration of said VLAN;
in response to detecting that the first outdated version value in the second notification received from the first remote switch does not match the corresponding current version value received from the VLAN controller, preventing forwarding of data on the VLAN from the given switch to the first remote switch;
receiving a third notification from a second remote switch in the network via the data plane, the third notification including the VLAN identifier and an updated version value for the VLAN, wherein the updated version value indicates a new number of times there has been a change of the configuration of said VLAN;
and
forwarding the data in the network over the VLAN based on the VLAN identifier and the updated version value received from the second remote switch;
receiving a fourth notification from a third remote switch in the network via the data plane, the fourth notification including the VLAN identifier and a second outdated version value for the VLAN, wherein the second outdated version value indicates a previous number of times there has been a change of the configuration of said VLAN;
and
in response to detecting that the second outdated version value in the fourth notification received from the third remote switch does not match the corresponding updated version value received from the second remote switch, preventing forwarding of the data on the VLAN from the given switch to the third remote switch.

11 more elements

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon for processing data information, such that the instructions, when carried out by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations of:

receiving, from a VLAN controller in a network, via a control plane of the network, a first notification including a VLAN identifier for a VLAN in the network and a corresponding current version value for the VLAN in the network, wherein said current version value for the VLAN in the network indicates a current number of times there has been a change of a configuration of said VLAN;
forwarding the data in the network over the VLAN via a data plane based on the VLAN identifier and the current version value received from the VLAN controller;
receiving a second notification from a first remote switch in the network via the data plane, the second notification including the VLAN identifier and a first outdated version value for the VLAN, wherein the first outdated version value indicates a previous number of times there has been a change of the configuration of said VLAN;
in response to detecting that the first outdated version value in the second notification received from the first remote switch does not match the corresponding current version value received from the VLAN controller, preventing forwarding of data on the VLAN from the given switch to the first remote switch;
receiving a third notification from a second remote switch in the network via the data plane, the third notification including the VLAN identifier and an updated version value for the VLAN, wherein the updated version value indicates a new number of times there has been a change of the configuration of said VLAN;
and
forwarding the data in the network over the VLAN based on the VLAN identifier and the updated version value received from the second remote switch;
receiving a fourth notification from a third remote switch in the network via the data plane, the fourth notification including the VLAN identifier and a second outdated version value for the VLAN, wherein the second outdated version value indicates a previous number of times there has been a change of the configuration of said VLAN;
and
in response to detecting that the second outdated version value in the fourth notification received from the third remote switch does not match the corresponding updated version value received from the second remote switch, preventing forwarding of the data on the VLAN from the given switch to the third remote switch.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 12/777,028Filed 10 May 2010 · us provisional application
Priority: 14 May 2009
Published: US 2010/0290348 A118 Nov 2010
Granted: 5 Sep 2017
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification3 codes

H04L 41/082
Characterised by the conditions triggering a change of settings: the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
H04L 12/4641
Interconnection of networks: virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN]
H04L
Digital communication