Pseudowire protection using a standby pseudowire

Abstract

Providing protection to network traffic includes sending a Pseudowire protection configuration parameter for configuring a standby Pseudowire between a source node and a destination node, receiving a Pseudowire configuration acknowledgement indicating whether the Pseudowire protection configuration parameter has been accepted by the destination node, and in the event that the Pseudowire protection configuration parameter has been accepted by the destination node, using the standby Pseudowire, wherein the standby Pseudowire's configured based at least in part on the Pseudowire protection configuration parameter.

1 . A method comprising:
 configuring, by a provider edge node device comprising a processor, three or more redundant pseudowires with configuration data containing a pseudowire type length variable (TLV) coded precedence value for each pseudowire;   designating one of the redundant pseudowires as an active pseudowire; and   forwarding, by the provider edge node device in response to the active pseudowire becoming unavailable, data traffic to one of the redundant pseudowires, having a lower TLV coded precedence value than a configured pseudowire TLV coded precedence value of the active pseudowire.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising initiating a switchover of the data traffic from the active pseudowire to the one of the redundant pseudowires. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the switchover is initiated in response to a detection of a failure of the active pseudowire and a determination that the pseudowire TLV coded precedence value of the one of the redundant pseudowires is lower than the pseudowire TLV coded precedence value of the active pseudowire. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising initiating preemption of the data traffic on the one of the redundant pseudowires in response to a determination that an amount of the data traffic on the active pseudowire exceeds an available bandwidth of the one of the redundant pseudowires. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising, after the initiating of the switchover, reverting data traffic back to the active pseudowire at least partly in response to a determination that the active pseudowire has a lower pseudowire TLV coded precedence value than the one of the redundant pseudowires. 
     
     
         6 . A method of providing protection to network traffic, comprising:
 initializing an LDP session from source node to destination node and establishing an LDP Hello Adjacency;   sending a Pseudowire protection configuration parameter over the LDP Hello Adjacency for configuring a standby Pseudowire between a source node and a destination node, the Pseudowire protection configuration parameter indicating a protection property associated with the standby Pseudowire, the protection property including a priority, protection scheme, domain type and protection type for the standby Pseudowire;   receiving a Pseudowire configuration acknowledgement over the LDP Hello Adjacency indicating whether the Pseudowire protection configuration parameter has been accepted by the destination node;   accepting the Pseudowire protection configuration parameter by the destination node;   using the standby Pseudowire that is configured based at least in part on the Pseudowire protection configuration parameter; and   determining whether to preempt existing traffic on the standby Pseudowire, wherein the determination is based, at least in part, on the priority for the standby Pseudowire.   
     
     
         7 . A method as recited in  claim 6 , wherein the standby Pseudowire is configured to provide protection to at least one primary Pseudowire. 
     
     
         8 . A method as recited in  claim 6 , wherein the standby Pseudowire is configured to provide protection to at least one primary Pseudowire, and in the event that the primary Pseudowire fails to transfer network traffic, switching network traffic from at least one of said at least one primary Pseudowire to the standby Pseudowire. 
     
     
         9 . A method as recited in  claim 6 , wherein the standby Pseudowire is dynamically selected from a plurality of connections. 
     
     
         10 . A system for providing protection to network traffic, comprising:
 a processor configured to:   initialize an LDP session from source node to destination node and establishing an LDP Hello Adjacency;   send a Pseudowire protection configuration parameter over the LDP Hello Adjacency for configuring a standby Pseudowire between a source node and a destination node, the Pseudowire protection configuration parameter indicating a protection property associated with the standby Pseudowire, the protection property including a priority, protection scheme, domain type, and protection type for the standby Pseudowire;   receive a Pseudowire configuration acknowledgement over the LDP Hello Adjacency indicating whether the Pseudowire protection configuration parameter has been accepted by the destination node;   accept the Pseudowire protection configuration parameter by the destination node;   use the standby Pseudowire that is configured based at least in part on the Pseudowire protection configuration parameter; and   determine whether to preempt existing traffic on the standby Pseudowire, wherein the determination is based, at least in part, on the priority for the standby Pseudowire.   
     
     
         11 . A system as recited in  claim 10 , wherein the standby Pseudowire is configured to provide protection to at least one primary Pseudowire. 
     
     
         12 . A system as recited in  claim 10 , wherein the domain type indicates whether the standby Pseudowire is configured in a single-hop environment where the standby Pseudowire includes a plurality of nodes coupled to a same carrier network, or a multi-hop environment where the standby Pseudowire includes a plurality of nodes coupled to several carrier networks. 
     
     
         13 . A system as recited in  claim 10 , wherein the protection scheme indicates at least one of the following:
 a 1+1 protection scheme, wherein the same traffic is sent over two Pseudowires;   a 1:1 protection scheme, wherein one standby Pseudowire is used to protect another Pseudowire;   a 1:N protection scheme, wherein one standby Pseudowire is used to protect N other Pseudowires; or   an M:N protection scheme, wherein M standby Pseudowires are used to protect N other Pseudowires.