The present invention relates generally to field of network communication. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a method and a system for providing diverse secondary route when using transmission media that support multiple channels.
Generally, network traffic for a connection between two nodes is carried on a transmission link. Additional links are used to support additional connections. The transmission media for each link may be fiber, copper, or other transmission media. For example, when optical link is used, new fiber lines are used to accommodate additional connections.
Advance in network communication allows multiple connections or channels to be a single physical link. For example, Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) is a technology that allows a single optical fiber to support multiple optical channels. WDM uses multiple lasers and transmits several wavelengths or colors of light (lamdas) simultaneously over a single optical fiber.
With DWDM comes a challenge of figuring out how to manage all of these high capacity channels running in parallel in a single optical fiber.
In one embodiment, a method for computing a diverse route is disclosed. A first route is associated with a first channel of two or more channels in a first dense wavelength division multiplex (DWDM) link. A second route is associated with a second channel of the two or more channels in the first dense wavelength division multiplex (DWDM) link. A third route is associated with a third channel of two or more channels in a second dense wavelength division multiplex (DWDM) link. The first route, the second route and the third route provide similar connections. The first DWDM link is different from the second DWDM link. The third route is preselected as an alternate diverse route for a connection through the first route.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description which follows.
The present invention is illustrated by way of example in the following drawings in which like references indicate similar elements. The following drawings disclose various embodiments of the present invention for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a method for computing diverse route in a network is disclosed. A fiber link may comprise multiple logical channels. A logical channel serves as a link between two nodes. Another logical channel connecting the same nodes using a different fiber link is preselected as a diverse alternate route. The two fiber links go through different DWDM equipments.
When there is a route, the route is selected for the connection. In some situations, there may be a requirement that when an alternate route is to be used, it must be completely diverse from a current route. For example, the I.630 protocol requires that a backup route be completely diverse from a primary route. A route is completely diverse from another route when there is no common route segments between the two routes. At block 380, a determination is made to see if the selected route is a diverse route as compared to a current route (i.e., the failing route). When the selected route is not a diverse route, the route lookup procedure moves to block 365 to see if another route can be selected. When the selected route is a diverse route, that route is used to re-establish the connection. The route lookup procedure ends at block 390. It should be noted that the diverse route may be selected when the primary route is established (e.g., during call setup or immediately after call setup).
However, this approach does not work when the logical link 400 and the logical link 402 share the same DWDM link. When the DWDM link is disconnected, both the logical link 400 and the logical link 402 are disconnected. As such, although the second route is a diverse route, it would be erroneous to choose the second route as the secondary or alternate route. Choosing the wrong second route would introduce additional delay and traffic loss before the connection between the CPE 435 and the CPE 440 is re-established.
In one embodiment, a physical link identifier is used to indicate the physical link that the logical link is associated with. By performing a physical link identifier comparison, the error of selecting a diverse second route that has the same common DWDM link as the first route can be prevented. This physical link identifier may be implemented in a routing protocol that is used with DWDM link. The physical link identifier is used during the route selection procedure to pre-select a diverse route. When the physical link identifiers of the primary route and the potential diverse route are different, the potential diverse route is selected. When the physical link identifiers of the primary route and the potential diverse route are similar, as in the case when a common DWDM link is used, the potential diverse route is not selected.
The routing protocol mentioned above may be, for example, the PNNI (Private Network-to-Network Interface) protocol. In this case, the physical link identifier may be implemented in the PNNI message or packet. There are different types of PNNI packets (e.g., hello, PTSP, PTSE, Database summary). A “packet type” field in a header of the PNNI packet identifies the packet type. With each packet type, there are information groups. For example, in the PTSE (Protocol Topology State Elements) packet type, the information groups include PTSE, nodal state parameters, nodal information group, outgoing resource availability, horizontal links, system capabilities, etc.
In one embodiment, when the PNNI routing protocol is used, the physical link identifier is specified in a physical transport identifier information group.
Although the above discussion uses PNNI as the exemplary routing protocol, one skilled in the art would recognize that the physical link identifier technique may be implemented with other routing protocols to determine diverse routes when DWDM is used.
minimize delay when the primary route fails.
The method described above can be stored in the memory of a computer system as a set of instructions (i.e., software). The set of instructions may reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory and/or within the processor to be executed. In addition, the set of instructions to perform the methods described above could alternatively be stored on other forms of machine-readable media. For the purposes of this specification, the term “machine-readable media” shall be taken to include any media which is capable of storing or embodying a sequence of instructions for execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one of the methodologies of the present invention. The term “machine readable media” shall accordingly be taken to include, but not limited to, optical and magnetic disks.
Alternatively, the logic to perform the methods as discussed above, could be implemented in additional computer and/or machine readable media, such as, for example, discrete hardware components as large-scale integrated circuits (LSI's), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC's), firmware such as electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM's), and electrical, optical, acoustical and other forms of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc.), etc.
Although the above discussion refers to fiber link and DWDM, it would be apparent to one skilled in the art that the method of the present invention can also be used with other transmission media such as, for example, copper, etc., that is capable of supporting multiple logical channels.
From the above description and drawings, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the particular embodiments shown and described are for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. References to details of particular embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the claims.
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