Flooding Topology Recovery Using Backup Paths After Network Failures
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Solution Overview
Problem
Flooding topologies in network communication are split when link or node failures occur, leading to unsynchronized link state databases and improper forwarding of link state updates.
Innovation Solution
A mechanism to compute a flooding topology represented by links and alternative connections, detect failures, and resolve them by flooding link state messages to remaining parts of the topology using backup paths.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If flooding topology is used for network communication, then link state updates can be forwarded throughout the network, but when link or node failures occur, the topology splits and link state databases become unsynchronized
Solution Approach 1:
The patent pre-computes backup paths and identifies alternative connections before failures occur. When a failure is detected, these pre-computed alternatives are immediately activated to maintain topology connectivity and database synchronization, eliminating the need for complex real-time path computation during failure recovery
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces intermediate nodes that act as mediators to forward link state messages through alternative paths when the primary flooding topology is split. These intermediate nodes receive and re-transmit messages to bridge disconnected segments, maintaining synchronization without requiring direct end-to-end path reconstruction
2Speed
If alternative connections are pre-computed for failure recovery, then topology can be quickly reconnected after failures, but the complexity of computing and maintaining these alternatives increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the network topology into modular components and pre-computes backup paths for each segment independently. This segmentation allows backup computation to be performed in smaller, manageable units rather than requiring complex full-network path analysis, reducing computational complexity while maintaining fast recovery capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent designs alternative connections that serve multiple purposes: they function as backup paths for failure recovery while also being valid forwarding paths during normal operation. This multi-functionality eliminates the need to maintain separate backup infrastructure, reducing overall system complexity while enabling fast recovery
Data Source
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AI summary
The disclosure relates to recovering from a failure in a network. A flooding topology, represented by links between nodes in the network, is computed. Alternative connections for the links and the nodes on the flooding topology are also computed. A change in the flooding topology is detected, where the change indicates the failure in the network and results in a split of the flooding topology. A link state message is flooded to each of the nodes in a remaining part of the flooding topology and to the alternative connections, such that the link state message identifies the failure in the network. The failure in the network is resolved by connecting the split flooding topology using the remaining part of the flooding topology and the alternative connections as identified in the link state message.