Method for client data transmission through a packet switched provider network

摘要

In order to provide a redundancy mechanism in a packet switched provider network, which allows faster recovery from a failure, it is proposed that in case of a failure, a redundancy mechanism is initiated to reroute packet transmission through the provider network via an alternate path and an address withdrawal message is sent to network nodes along the failed path using data plane protocol. A network node receiving the address withdrawal message will flush MAC addresses it had learned before.

主权项

1. A method of client data transmission between two or more customer Ethernet networks through a packet switched provider network that does not use a control plane protocol, the customer Ethernet networks comprising one or more customer edge nodes operatively coupled to one or more provider edges nodes of the packet switched provider network, the method comprising the steps of:
providing packet transmission along a first path between a source customer edge node and a destination customer edge node through said provider network; at one or more provider network nodes along said first path, performing Media Access Control (MAC) address learning to allow packet transmission in reverse direction along the same first path; protecting said first path by a redundant second path between said source customer edge node and said destination customer edge node using a redundancy mechanism; in case of a failure at said first path, initiating said redundancy mechanism to reroute packet transmission through said provider network via said second path; and after initiating said redundancy mechanism, sending, to said one or more provider network nodes that have performed MAC address learning, an address withdrawal message in the form of an Ethernet OAM message using a data plane protocol; and responsive to receiving said address withdrawal message, flushing addresses previously learned at the receiving network node.