Claims
- 1. A method of providing failover protection for a network connection passing through a high-availability router having shared resources managed by a bandwidth manager that co-operates with two control processors (CPs) that maintain respective forwarding information bases (FIBs) accessed by a plurality of service termination cards (STCs), comprising steps of:
provisioning a primary and a backup routed interface for the network connection by designating different CPs to master the primary and backup routed interfaces, respectively; and reserving bandwidth for the primary routed interface through an STC, using the bandwidth manager; granting access to the reserved bandwidth by the backup routed interface in an event that the primary interface becomes unavailable; and examining an identifier of the network connection carried in a predetermined field of packets that are conveyed over the network connection, so that if the primary interface becomes unavailable, the packets can be relied on to identify the reserved bandwidth associated with the connection.
- 2. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a step of using the bandwidth manager to release the bandwidth associated with the primary routed interface in the event that the primary interface becomes unavailable.
- 3. The method as claimed in claim 2 further comprising a step of using the bandwidth manager to re-assign the bandwidth associated with the first routed interface to the backup routed interface.
- 4. The method as claimed in claim 3 wherein the bandwidth is used to re-assign the bandwidth after a transfer of packets using the backup routed interface has commenced.
- 5. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step of granting access to the reserved bandwidth comprises a step of updating a translation table associated with a FIB maintained by the CP mastering the backup routed interface, to associate the identifier with the backup routed interface.
- 6. The method as claimed in claim 5 wherein the step of provisioning the primary and the backup routed interface comprises a step of defining virtual local area networks (VLANs) for both the primary and backup interfaces, and the step of providing the identifier comprises a step of establishing a VLAN over the connection so that VLAN tags are inserted into the packets received at the STC.
- 7. The method as claimed in claim 5 wherein the associated forwarding information base (FIB) is a multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) FIB that enables label switched routing over label switched paths.
- 8. An apparatus for providing high-availability packet forwarding, with protection paths over the same facility without reserving duplicate bandwidth for the protection path, comprising:
a service termination card having a packet forwarding engine for receiving and forwarding packets in accordance with a forwarding information base; a first control processor running a plurality of processes and communicatively coupled to the service termination card, the first control processor being designated master of a routed interface for a network connection and allocated bandwidth for the network connection; a second control processor running, asynchronously with respect to the first control processor, a plurality of processes and communicatively coupled to the service termination card, the second control processor being designated master of a backup routed interface for the network connection and allocated the same bandwidth for the network connection; a first forwarding information base (FIB) on the service termination card having forwarding information maintained by the first control processor; a second forwarding information base on the service termination card having forwarding information maintained by the second control processor; and means for the packet forwarding engine to forward packets associated with the network connection in accordance with the first forwarding information base unless an integrity of the processes running on the first control processor is lost, and for forwarding the packets associated with the network connection using the second forwarding information base and the same bandwidth if an integrity of processes running on the first control processor is lost.
- 9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8 wherein the first and second forwarding information bases on the service termination card respectively comprise an Internet protocol forwarding information base.
- 10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8 wherein the first and second forwarding information bases on the service termination card respectively comprise a multi-protocol label switching forwarding information base.
- 11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a forwarding information base (FIB) manager that receives FIB information from the first and second control processors and stores the FIB information in a memory of the service termination card.
- 12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11 wherein the FIB manager stores primary and backup label switched paths (LSPs) in each of the first and second FIBs so that the primary LSPs in the first FIB are created and maintained by the first control processor and the backup LSPs in the first FIB are created and maintained by the second control processor, while the FIB manager stores the primary and secondary LSPs in a reverse order in the second FIB, to provide line protection as well as control processor fault protection for label switched paths.
- 13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a bandwidth manager for controlling reservation of local input/output bandwidth between the first and second control processors, the bandwidth manager being adapted to release bandwidth assigned to the network connection on a loss of integrity in the first control processor, and to re-assign the bandwidth to the second control processor when the second forwarding information base is used to forward the packets associated with the network connection.
- 14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 wherein the bandwidth manager is communicatively connected to a heart beat monitor that monitors an integrity of process running on the fist and second control processes, and informs the bandwidth manager if one of the control processors is declared out-of-service.
- 15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8 wherein the first and second control processes are respectively adapted to advertise all local interfaces, so that reachability is maintained in a core network in an event that one of the control processors loses integrity.
- 16. A method of configuring a high-availability router that includes first and second control processors to provide failover protection for a network connection through the router in the event that one of the control processors becomes unavailable, comprising steps of:
designating one of the first and second control processors as master of a primary routed interface for the network connection, and assigning bandwidth for the network connection to the primary routed interface; and designating the other of the first and second control processors as master of a backup routed interface for the network connection, and assigning the same bandwidth for the network connection to the backup routed interface.
- 17. The method as claimed in claim 16 further comprising steps of:
using the primary routed interface and the assigned bandwidth for forwarding packets associated with the network connection as long a forwarding information base maintained by the control processor designated as a master of the primary routed interface is available; and, using the backup routed interface and the same bandwidth for forwarding packets associated with the network connection when a forwarding information base maintained by the control processor designated as a master of the primary routed interface becomes unavailable.
- 18. The method as claimed in claim 17 wherein the step of use of the backup routed interface is commenced before the bandwidth assigned to the primary routed interface is released.
- 19. The method as claimed in claim 18 further comprising a step of using an identifier carried in the packets to associate the network connection with the primary and backup routed interfaces.
- 20. The method as claimed in claim 19 further comprising a step of using a VLAN tag as the identifier carried in the packets to associate the network connection with the primary and the backup routed interfaces.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10/025,496, which claims the benefit under Title 35 United States Code §119 of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/279,099 filed on Mar. 27, 2001.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60279099 |
Mar 2001 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10025496 |
Dec 2001 |
US |
Child |
10449112 |
Jun 2003 |
US |