P2MP Tree Protection Using Unicast Backup Label Switched Paths
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional point-to-multipoint (P2MP) networks experience significant delays in data flow restoration due to the need for network reconvergence after failures, leading to packet loss and prolonged interruptions.
Innovation Solution
Implementing precalculated unicast backup paths and tunnels to rapidly reroute point-to-multipoint traffic using existing unicast Fast Reroute (FRR) technologies, allowing for millisecond-scale recovery by switching to backup Label Switched Paths (LSPs) during network failures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional P2MP networks use network reconvergence for failure recovery, then the network can restore data flows, but the restoration time is significant and packet loss occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-calculating and establishing backup LSPs (Label Switched Paths) before network failures occur. The router maintains a backup LSP that is pre-configured and ready, allowing immediate switching to the backup path when a failure is detected, thus eliminating the need to wait for network reconvergence and significantly reducing restoration time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses copying by creating a backup LSP that is a copy of the primary LSP structure. This backup path is pre-established with the same functional characteristics but through alternative routes, enabling rapid failover without requiring complex recalculation of the entire network topology during failure events.
2Reliability
If conventional P2MP networks wait for reconvergence after failure, then routing can be updated, but data transmission is interrupted for prolonged periods
Solution Approach 1:
The backup LSP is pre-established and ready before any failure occurs. When a failure is detected on the primary path, the router can immediately switch traffic to the pre-configured backup LSP, minimizing the duration of transmission interruption while the network reconverges in the background.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent ensures continuity of useful action by maintaining the backup LSP in a standby state that is ready for immediate activation. This allows data transmission to continue uninterrupted (or with minimal interruption) by switching to the backup path, while the network performs reconvergence operations asynchronously without affecting active traffic.
3Loss of time
If precalculated backup paths are implemented for rapid rerouting, then recovery time is reduced to milliseconds, but network complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by using the existing unicast FRR (Fast Reroute) mechanism and backup LSP infrastructure to serve the P2MP (point-to-multipoint) traffic protection needs. This multi-functional approach allows the same backup path mechanisms to protect multiple types of traffic flows without requiring separate dedicated backup systems for each traffic type, thus reducing the increase in network complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The router automatically detects failures and switches to backup LSPs without requiring manual intervention or complex reconfiguration processes. The system self-manages the failover process by monitoring link status, detecting failures, and activating pre-configured backup paths, thereby reducing operational complexity despite the underlying network infrastructure being more sophisticated.
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, receiving, at a router forming an ingress router in a point-to-multipoint network, a point-to-multipoint dataflow comprising a plurality of packets, forwarding, to a data network, packets of the point-to-multipoint dataflow for communication to a plurality of point-to-multipoint receivers along respective Label Switched Paths, the plurality of point-to-multipoint receivers associated with one or more egress nodes of the point-to-multipoint network, identifying a network failure between the router and a nexthop router for one Label Switched Path, and routing packets of the point-to-multipoint dataflow according to a preexisting unicast backup Label Switched Path for the one Label Switched Path. Other embodiments are disclosed.