CN109981302B

CN109981302B - Multicast communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN109981302B
Application number: CN201711453814.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 周敏
Original assignee: Beijing Huawei Digital Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Huawei Digital Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2017-12-28
Filing date: 2017-12-28
Publication date: 2021-12-03
Anticipated expiration: 2037-12-28
Also published as: CN109981302A

Abstract

The application provides a method and a device for multicast communication, wherein the method comprises the following steps: a first network device receives multicast traffic from a multicast source, a broadcast domain corresponding to the first network device comprises a first BD, a second network device belongs to the first BD, a broadcast domain corresponding to the second network device comprises N second BDs, the first BD is bound with the N second BDs, and the N second BDs correspond to M multicast user devices; the first network device determines a first VXLAN network identifier VNI according to the first BD and a first mapping relation, wherein the first mapping relation is used for representing the mapping relation between the first BD and the first VNI; the first network device forwards the multicast traffic to the second network device via the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI. The multicast communication method and the device in the embodiment of the application are beneficial to reducing the burden of upstream network equipment and saving network bandwidth.

Description

Multicast communication method and device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for multicast communication in the field of communications.

Background

A virtual extensible local area network (VXLAN) is a network virtualization technology in a virtual network over three-layer network (NVO 3), and a data packet sent by a virtual machine is encapsulated in a User Datagram Protocol (UDP), and an Internet Protocol (IP) and a Media Access Control (MAC) of a physical network are used for outer layer encapsulation, and then the data packet is transmitted on an IP network, and after reaching a destination, the data packet is decapsulated by a tunnel terminal node and sent to a target virtual machine. Due to better usability and expandability, the method has wide application in data center networks. IP multicast communication refers to an IP transmission method in which IP packets are sent from a multicast source and forwarded to a group of receivers with characteristics. Compared with unicast and broadcast, the IP multicast can effectively save network bandwidth and reduce network load.

The VXLAN two-layer multicast technology is a technology for guiding traffic forwarding by enabling a two-layer multicast protocol IGMP Snooping (internet group management protocol Snooping) in a Bridge Domain (BD) and sending a multicast protocol message through a VXLAN tunnel to negotiate to generate a router port and an on-demand user port. IGMP Snooping is an IPv4(internet protocol version 4) two-layer multicast protocol, and maintains the outgoing interface information of multicast packets by intercepting multicast protocol packets sent between a three-layer multicast device and a user host, thereby managing and controlling the forwarding of multicast data packets at the data link layer. Specifically, the multicast source sends multicast traffic, the switch a receives the multicast traffic and queries the on-demand user port, and forwards the multicast traffic to the switch B, and the switch B receives the multicast traffic and queries the on-demand user port, and forwards the multicast traffic to the corresponding on-demand user through the on-demand user port, thereby implementing forwarding of the multicast traffic. Switch a adjacent to the multicast source may be referred to as an "upstream switch" and switch B adjacent to the on-demand subscriber may be referred to as a "downstream switch".

In VXLAN two-layer multicast, the forwarding of multicast traffic is implemented by BDs, and since BDs are isolated from each other, when there are multiple on-demand users simultaneously ordering the traffic of multicast source, the upstream switch (i.e. switch a) needs to copy the multicast traffic into each BD and forward it downstream. This results in a heavy burden on the upstream switch a, wasting network bandwidth.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a multicast communication method and device, which are beneficial to reducing the burden of upstream network equipment and saving network bandwidth.

In a first aspect, a method for multicast communication is provided, including: a first network device receives multicast traffic from a multicast source, a broadcast domain corresponding to the first network device comprises a first bridge domain BD, a second network device belongs to the first BD, a broadcast domain corresponding to the second network device comprises N second BDs, the first BD is bound with the N second BDs, the N second BDs correspond to M multicast user devices, M and N are integers greater than 1, and M is greater than or equal to N; the first network equipment determines a first virtual extensible local area network (VXLAN) network identifier (VNI) according to the first BD and a first mapping relation, wherein the first mapping relation is used for representing the mapping relation between the first BD and the first VNI; the first network device forwards the multicast traffic to the second network device via a VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI.

It should be understood that the first BD is bound to the N second BDs, and the second network device determines the N second BDs according to the first BD. In other words, the first BD may be referred to as a "multicast BD", the second BD may be referred to as a "user BD", and in the embodiment of the present application, N second BDs may be pre-designated as user BDs of the first BD, that is, the N second BDs are bound to the first BD, so that the N second BDs can receive multicast traffic from the first BD.

It should be further understood that the N second BDs correspond to M on-demand user devices, where any one of the N second BDs may correspond to one on-demand user device or a plurality of on-demand user devices, and this is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

According to the multicast communication method, the multicast BD is arranged in the upstream network equipment, and the downstream user BD is bound to the multicast BD, so that the replication of the multicast flow is transferred to the downstream network equipment from the upstream network equipment under the condition that different users request the same multicast flow, the replication pressure of the upstream network equipment is reduced, only one multicast flow is sent in the upstream network, the network bandwidth is saved, the occupation of equipment resources is reduced, and the popularization of multicast services is promoted.

With reference to the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, before the first network device forwards the multicast traffic to the second network device via the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI, the method further includes: the first network device receives a user online message sent by the second network device through the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI, wherein the user online message is used for indicating that a first multicast user device in the M multicast user devices needs to request the flow of the multicast source; the first network device determines the first BD according to the first VNI identifier and the first mapping relation; the first network equipment generates a tunnel side on-demand user port and binds the tunnel side on-demand user port with the first BD; the first network device forwards the multicast traffic to a second network device via a VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI, including: and the first network equipment requests a user port through the tunnel side and forwards the multicast traffic to second network equipment through a VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI.

Specifically, when the on-demand user is online, the first network device may receive a user online message sent by the second network device, then determine the first BD according to the first VNI identifier, generate a tunnel-side on-demand user port, and bind the tunnel-side on-demand user port with the first BD. In this way, the multicast traffic from the multicast source may be forwarded by the first network device to the second network device through the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI through the tunnel-side on-demand user port.

In a second aspect, another method for multicast communication is provided, including: a second network device receives multicast traffic forwarded by a first network device through a VXLAN tunnel identified by a first virtual extensible local area network (VXLAN) identifier (VNI), a broadcast domain corresponding to the first network device comprises a first bridge domain BD, the second network device belongs to the first BD, and a broadcast domain corresponding to the second network device comprises N second BDs, wherein the first BD is bound with the N second BDs, the N second BDs correspond to M multicast user equipment, M and N are integers greater than 1, and M is greater than or equal to N; the second network device determines the first BD according to the first VNI and a first mapping relation, wherein the first mapping relation is used for representing a corresponding relation between the first BD and the first VNI; the second network equipment determines the N second BDs bound with the first BD according to the first BD; and the second network equipment forwards the multicast flow to the M multicast user equipment through the N second BDs.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the forwarding, by the second network device, the multicast traffic to the M multicast user equipments through the N second BDs includes: the second network device copies the multicast traffic to obtain N parts of the multicast traffic, and transmits the N parts of the multicast traffic from the first BD to the N second BDs, wherein the N parts of the multicast traffic correspond to the N second BDs one by one; and the second network equipment forwards the N multicast flows to the M multicast user equipment through the N second BDs respectively.

Specifically, after determining N second BDs bound to the first BD, the second network device may copy one multicast traffic received from the first network device to obtain N multicast traffic, and then may forward the N multicast traffic to M multicast user devices through the N second BDs, respectively. Therefore, the replication of the multicast flow is transferred to the downstream network equipment by the upstream network equipment, the replication pressure of the upstream network equipment is reduced, and the upstream network bandwidth is saved.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, before the second network device forwards the multicast traffic to the M multicast user devices through the N second BDs, the method further includes: the second network device receives a user online message sent by a first on-demand user device in the M on-demand user devices, wherein the user online message is used for indicating the flow of a multicast source required to be requested by the first on-demand user device; the second network equipment binds a second BD corresponding to the first on-line user equipment to the first BD according to the user on-line message; the second network device generates an on-demand user port of the first on-demand user device, and binds the on-demand user port with the first BD, wherein the on-demand user port is used for transmitting the multicast flow from the first BD to a second BD corresponding to the first on-demand user device; and the second network equipment forwards the user online message to the first network equipment through the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI.

Specifically, when the on-demand user is online, the second network device may receive a user online message from the on-demand user device. Taking a first on-demand user equipment in the M on-demand user equipments as an example, the second network equipment receives a user on-line message from the first on-demand user equipment, binds a second BD for the first on-demand user equipment to the first BD, generates an on-demand user port of the first on-demand user equipment, binds the on-demand user port with the first BD, and then, the second network equipment continuously forwards the user on-line message upstream.

In other aspects of the present application, another method of multicast communication is provided, including: the method comprises the steps that a second network device receives a user online message sent by a first multicast user device in M multicast user devices, wherein the user online message is used for indicating the flow of a multicast source required to be requested by the first multicast user device, the M multicast user devices correspond to N second bridge domains BD, a broadcast domain corresponding to the second network device comprises the N second BD, the second network device belongs to the first BD, M and N are integers greater than 1, and M is greater than or equal to N; the second network equipment binds a second BD corresponding to the first on-line user equipment to the first BD according to the user on-line message; the second network device generates an on-demand user port of the first on-demand user device, and binds the on-demand user port with the first BD, wherein the on-demand user port is used for transmitting the multicast flow from the first BD to a second BD corresponding to the first on-demand user device; and the second network equipment forwards the user online message to the first network equipment through the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI, and a broadcast domain corresponding to the first network equipment comprises the first BD.

In a third aspect, an apparatus for multicast communication is provided, configured to perform the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect. In particular, the multicast communication device comprises means for performing the method of the first aspect described above or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided another apparatus for multicast communication, configured to perform the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect. In particular, the multicast communication device comprises means for performing the method of the second aspect or any of the possible implementations of the second aspect.

In a fifth aspect, another apparatus for multicast communication is provided, the apparatus comprising: at least one processor, a memory, and a communication interface. Wherein the at least one processor, the memory, and the communication interface are all connected by an internal pathway, the memory is configured to store computer-executable instructions, and the at least one processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions stored by the memory, so that the apparatus can perform the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect by performing data interaction with other apparatuses through the communication interface.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided another apparatus for multicast communication, the apparatus comprising: at least one processor, a memory, and a communication interface. Wherein the at least one processor, the memory, and the communication interface are all connected by an internal pathway, the memory is configured to store computer-executable instructions, and the at least one processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions stored by the memory, such that the apparatus can perform the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect by data interaction with other apparatuses through the communication interface.

In a seventh aspect, a computer program product is provided, which comprises computer program code to, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

In an eighth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising computer program code which, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect or the second aspect.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium for storing a computer program comprising instructions for carrying out the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

A tenth aspect provides a computer readable medium for storing a computer program comprising instructions for performing the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a chip comprising: an input interface, an output interface, at least one processor, and a memory, which are connected by an internal path, wherein the processor is configured to execute code in the memory, and when the code is executed, the processor is configured to execute the first aspect or the method in any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

In a twelfth aspect, there is provided a chip comprising: an input interface, an output interface, at least one processor, a memory, the input interface, the output interface, the processor and the memory being connected by an internal path, the processor being configured to execute code in the memory, the processor being configured to perform the second aspect or the method in any possible implementation manner of the second aspect when the code is executed.

Drawings

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a network system according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic flow chart of a method of multicast communication according to an embodiment of the application.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for multicast communication according to an embodiment of the application.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of another apparatus for multicast communication according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 5 shows a schematic block diagram of another apparatus for multicast communication according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 6 shows a schematic block diagram of another apparatus for multicast communication according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solution in the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

For ease of understanding, the relevant terms referred to herein will first be described.

IP multicast: as one of three ways of Internet Protocol (IP) transmission, IP multicast communication refers to IP packets sent from a source and forwarded to a specific group of receivers. Compared with the traditional unicast and broadcast, the IP multicast can effectively save the network bandwidth and reduce the network load.

Multicast group: a set of identities is identified by IP multicast addresses. Any subscriber host (or other receiving device) that joins a multicast group, to which members the group may belong, may identify and receive multicast data destined for the multicast group.

Multicast source: the sender of the information is called a "multicast source (source)". One multicast source can simultaneously send data to a plurality of multicast groups, and a plurality of multicast sources can also simultaneously send messages to one multicast group. The multicast source typically does not need to join the multicast group.

Virtual extensible local area network (VXLAN): VXLAN is a network virtualization technology in a virtual network (NVO 3) on a three-layer network, and encapsulates data packets sent by virtual machines in a User Datagram Protocol (UDP), and performs outer encapsulation by using IP and Media Access Control (MAC) of a physical network, and then transmits the encapsulated data packets on the IP network, and decapsulates the encapsulated data packets by a tunnel endpoint and sends the decapsulated data packets to a target virtual machine after reaching a destination. Through VXLAN, a virtual network can be accessed to a large number of tenants, and the tenants can plan own virtual networks without considering the limitation of physical network IP addresses and broadcast domains, thereby reducing the difficulty of network management.

IGMP Snooping (internet group management protocol Snooping): an IPv4 two-layer multicast protocol is disclosed, which monitors the multicast protocol message sent between three-layer multicast equipment and user host to maintain the output interface information of multicast message, so as to manage and control the forwarding of multicast data message in data link layer.

VXLAN Network identity (VXLAN Network Identifier, VNI): VNIs like VLAN IDs and are used to distinguish VXLAN segments, where virtual machines of different VXLAN segments cannot directly communicate with each other layer two.

Bridge Domain (BD): and a two-layer broadcast domain for forwarding the data message in the VXLAN network. In the VXLAN network, VNIs are mapped to a broadcast domain BD in a 1:1 mode, and the BD is an entity for forwarding data messages by the VXLAN network.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system used in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the communication system 100 includes a multicast source 110, a first network device 120, a second network device 130, a first on-demand user device 140, a second on-demand user device 150, and a third on-demand user device 160. The multicast source 110 is connected to a first network device 120, and the first network device 120 is called an upstream network device and is connected to a downstream second network device 130. The first on-demand user device 140, the second on-demand user device 150, and the third on-demand user device 160 are joined into a multicast group as on-demand users that are on-demand for the multicast source 110, and may receive multicast traffic from the multicast source 110 through the first network device 120 and the second network device 130.

In the communication system 100, the broadcast domain corresponding to the first network device 120 includes the BD 20, and the second network device 130 belongs to the BD 20. The multicast BD is used to forward multicast traffic from the multicast source 110 from the first network device 120 to the second network device 130. The broadcast domain corresponding to the second network device 130 includes the BD 10, the BD 11, and the BD 12. The BD 20 is also called a "multicast BD", and the second network device 130 may copy the multicast traffic to the BDs 10, 11, and 12, respectively, as "user BDs" of the multicast BD.

It should be understood that the multicast source 110 and the first network device 120 may be directly connected or indirectly connected. Wherein, the direct connection means that the multicast source 110 and the first network device 120 are directly connected through a communication link; an indirect connection means that there are other network devices between the multicast source 110 and the link of the first network device 120, which is not limited in this embodiment. Similarly, the first network device 120 and the second network device 130 may be directly connected or indirectly connected, which is not limited in this embodiment of the application.

It should also be understood that the first network device 120 and the second network device 130 may include a switch or a router, and may also include any other network device that supports VXLAN, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. Furthermore, the first on-demand user equipment 140, the second on-demand user equipment 150, and the third on-demand user equipment 160 described above are typically user servers.

Fig. 1 is a simplified schematic diagram of an example for easy understanding, and other devices, such as other network devices, other on-demand user devices, and the like, may also be included in the network, which is not shown in fig. 1, but is not limited thereto in the embodiment of the present application.

The following describes the conventional multicast communication procedure in detail.

Specifically, in VXLAN two-layer multicast, the forwarding of multicast traffic is implemented by BDs, and since BDs are isolated from each other, when there are traffic of a plurality of on-demand users simultaneously on-demand a multicast source, an upstream switch needs to copy the multicast traffic into each BD and forward the multicast traffic downstream.

Taking fig. 1 as an example, the broadcast domain corresponding to the first network device 120 may include three BDs, BD 10, BD 11, and BD 12, after receiving the multicast traffic from the multicast source 110, the first network device 120 copies the multicast traffic to the BDs 10, BD 11, and BD 12, maps the BD 10 to the VNI 10, sends the multicast traffic to the second network device 130 through the VXLAN tunnel corresponding to the VNI 10, maps the BD 11 to the VNI 11, sends the multicast traffic to the second network device 130 through the VXLAN tunnel corresponding to the VNI 11, maps the BD 12 to the VNI 12, and sends the multicast traffic to the second network device 130 through the VXLAN tunnel corresponding to the VNI 12. The second network device 130 forwards the multicast traffic sent by the VXLAN tunnel corresponding to the VNI 10 to the first multicast user device 140, forwards the multicast traffic sent by the VXLAN tunnel corresponding to the VNI 11 to the first multicast user device 150, and forwards the multicast traffic sent by the VXLAN tunnel corresponding to the VNI 12 to the first multicast user device 160.

In the above process, the first network device 120 needs to copy the multicast traffic three times and forward the multicast traffic to the downstream respectively, which causes the first network device 120 to be overloaded and wastes network bandwidth, and may even cause network congestion. Therefore, the embodiment of the present application provides a new multicast communication method.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic flow chart of a method 200 of multicast communication according to an embodiment of the present application. The method 200 may be applied to the communication system 100 shown in fig. 1, but the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

S210, a multicast source sends multicast traffic to a first network device, and correspondingly, the first network device receives the multicast traffic from the multicast source, a broadcast domain corresponding to the first network device includes a first bridge domain BD, a second network device belongs to the first BD, and a broadcast domain corresponding to the second network device includes N second BDs, wherein the first BD is bound with the N second BDs, the N second BDs correspond to M multicast user devices, M and N are integers greater than 1, and M is greater than or equal to N;

s220, the first network device determines a first VXLAN network identifier VNI according to the first BD and a first mapping relationship, where the first mapping relationship is used to represent a mapping relationship between the first BD and the first VNI;

s230, the first network device forwards the multicast traffic to a second network device via the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI;

correspondingly, the second network device receives the multicast traffic forwarded by the first network device via the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VXLAN network identifier VNI;

s240, the second network device determines the first BD according to the first VNI and a first mapping relationship, where the first mapping relationship is used to represent a corresponding relationship between the first BD and the first VNI;

s250, the second network equipment determines the N second BDs bound with the first BD according to the first BD;

s260, the second network device forwards the multicast traffic to the M multicast user devices through the N second BDs.

Specifically, the first network device may receive multicast traffic from a multicast source, and since the broadcast domain corresponding to the first network device includes the first BD, the first network device may broadcast the multicast traffic within the first BD. The second network device belongs to the first BD, and thus, the second network device may receive multicast traffic broadcast by the first network device within the first BD. In this embodiment of the present application, a mapping relationship exists between the first BD and the first VNI, and the first network device may map the first BD to the first VNI according to the mapping relationship, and then send the multicast traffic to the second network device by using the VXLAN tunnel represented by the first VNI. The second network device receives the multicast traffic sent by the first network device, and similarly, the second network device may map the first VNI to the first BD. Since the first BD and the N second BDs are already bound, the second network device may further determine the N second BDs, and then forward the multicast traffic to M multicast user devices corresponding to the N second BDs through the N second BDs. And the M multicast user equipment directly receives the multicast flow sent by the second BD corresponding to the M multicast user equipment.

As an optional embodiment, the forwarding, by the second network device, the multicast traffic to the M multicast user equipment through the N second BDs includes:

the second network device copies the multicast traffic to obtain N parts of the multicast traffic, and transmits the N parts of the multicast traffic from the first BD to the N second BDs, wherein the N parts of the multicast traffic correspond to the N second BDs one by one;

and the second network equipment forwards the N multicast flows to the M multicast user equipment through the N second BDs respectively.

Specifically, after determining N second BDs bound to the first BD, the second network device may copy one multicast traffic received from the first network device to obtain N multicast traffic, and then may forward the N multicast traffic to M multicast user devices through the N second BDs, respectively.

Therefore, the replication of the multicast flow is transferred to the downstream network equipment by the upstream network equipment, the replication pressure of the upstream network equipment is reduced, and the upstream network bandwidth is saved.

As an optional embodiment, before the second network device forwards the multicast traffic to the M multicast user devices through the N second BDs, the method further includes:

the second network device receives a user online message sent by a first on-demand user device in the M on-demand user devices, wherein the user online message is used for indicating the flow of a multicast source required to be requested by the first on-demand user device;

the second network equipment binds a second BD corresponding to the first on-line user equipment to the first BD according to the user on-line message;

the second network device generates an on-demand user port of the first on-demand user device, and binds the on-demand user port with the first BD, wherein the on-demand user port is used for transmitting the multicast flow from the first BD to a second BD corresponding to the first on-demand user device;

and the second network equipment forwards the user online message to the first network equipment through the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI.

As an optional embodiment, before the first network device forwards the multicast traffic to the second network device via the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI, the method further includes:

the first network device receives a user online message sent by the second network device through the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI, wherein the user online message is used for indicating that a first multicast user device in the M multicast user devices needs to request the flow of the multicast source;

the first network device determines the first BD according to the first VNI identifier and the first mapping relation;

the first network equipment generates a tunnel side on-demand user port and binds the tunnel side on-demand user port with the first BD;

the first network device forwards the multicast traffic to a second network device via a VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI, including:

and the first network equipment requests a user port through the tunnel side and forwards the multicast traffic to second network equipment through a VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI.

As an optional embodiment, the method further comprises: the first network equipment broadcasts an inquiry message, and the inquiry message is used for inquiring the network equipment supporting the multicast protocol;

correspondingly, the second network equipment receives the query message sent by the first network equipment; and the second network equipment generates the router port at the tunnel side according to the query message.

Specifically, the first network device may serve as an interrogator, and sends an inquiry packet under the first BD, and the second network device receives the inquiry packet, performs learning, and generates a tunnel-side router port bound to the first BD.

In a possible implementation manner, the destination address of the query packet may be 224.0.0.1 (indicating all hosts supporting the multicast protocol), the multicast group address may be 0.0.0.0 (indicating all multicast groups to be queried), and when the network device that enables the multicast protocol receives the query packet, the corresponding router port is generated.

The present application also provides another method for multicast communication, which may be applied to the communication system 100 shown in fig. 1, but the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto. The method comprises the following steps:

the method comprises the steps that a second network device receives a user online message sent by a first multicast user device in M multicast user devices, wherein the user online message is used for indicating the flow of a multicast source required to be requested by the first multicast user device, the M multicast user devices correspond to N second bridge domains BD, a broadcast domain corresponding to the second network device comprises the N second BD, the second network device belongs to the first BD, M and N are integers greater than 1, and M is greater than or equal to N;

and the second network equipment forwards the user online message to the first network equipment through the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI, and a broadcast domain corresponding to the first network equipment comprises the first BD.

It should be understood that after the second network device establishes each on-demand user port from the multicast source to the first on-demand user device by forwarding the user online message to the first network device, the multicast source may send the multicast traffic to the first on-demand user device through the first network device and the second network device, and the specific flow may be the method 200, which is not described herein again.

The multicast communication method of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to a specific embodiment.

In the communication system 100 in fig. 1, a multicast BD 20 is created in advance between a first network device and a second network device for forwarding traffic of a multicast source, a layer two multicast is enabled by a BD granularity on the first network device and the second network device, the first network device enables an inquirer under the BD 20, the BD 20 is mapped to the VNI 20, an inquiry packet is sent through a VXLAN tunnel established by the VNI 20, and the second network device receives and learns the inquiry packet and generates a router port pointing to a tunnel side.

The first on-demand user equipment, the second on-demand user equipment and the third on-demand user equipment of the on-demand user respectively play the flow of the multicast source from the VLAN10, the VLAN 11 and the VLAN 12. Namely, the first on-demand user equipment, the second on-demand user equipment and the third on-demand user equipment respectively send user on-line messages to the second network equipment, and the second network equipment receives the user on-line messages, maps VLAN10, VLAN 11 and VLAN 12 to BD 10, BD 11 and BD 12, and further accesses the VXLAN network. The second network device maps the user online message to the BD 20 through the BD 10, the BD 11 and the BD 12 according to the pre-designated BD 10, the BD 11 and the BD 12 as the user BD of the multicast BD 20, and generates an on-demand user port corresponding to the BD 20 and points to the BD 10, the BD 11 and the BD 12. Meanwhile, the user online message is forwarded to the first network device through the tunnel side router port, and a tunnel side on-demand user port is generated on the BD 20 of the first network device.

Multicast traffic sent by the multicast source is mapped to the VNI 20 on the first network device through the BD 20 and forwarded to the second network device via the VXLAN tunnel identified by the VNI 20. The second network device receives the multicast traffic sent by the first network device, copies the multicast traffic from the BD 20 to the BD 10, the BD 11, and the BD 12, and forwards the multicast traffic to the first on-demand user device, the second on-demand user device, and the third on-demand user device, respectively, thereby implementing the two-layer multicast communication across the VXLAN tunnel side.

It should be understood that the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

The method of multicast communication according to the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above with reference to fig. 1 to 2, and the apparatus of multicast communication according to the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below with reference to fig. 3 to 6.

Fig. 3 shows an apparatus 300 for multicast communication according to an embodiment of the present application, including:

a receiving unit 310, configured to receive a multicast traffic from a multicast source, where a broadcast domain corresponding to the apparatus includes a first bridge domain BD, a second network device belongs to the first BD, and a broadcast domain corresponding to the second network device includes N second BDs, where the first BD is bound to the N second BDs, the N second BDs correspond to M multicast user devices, M and N are integers greater than 1, and M is greater than or equal to N;

a processing unit 320, configured to determine a first virtual extensible local area network VXLAN network identifier VNI according to the first BD and a first mapping relationship, where the first mapping relationship is used to represent a mapping relationship between the first BD and the first VNI;

a sending unit 330, configured to forward the multicast traffic to the second network device via the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI.

According to the multicast communication device in the embodiment of the application, the multicast BD is arranged in the upstream network equipment, and the downstream user BD is bound to the multicast BD, so that the replication of the multicast flow is transferred to the downstream network equipment from the upstream network equipment under the condition that different users request the same multicast flow, the replication pressure of the upstream network equipment is reduced, only one multicast flow is sent in the upstream network, the network bandwidth is saved, the occupation of equipment resources is reduced, and the popularization of the multicast service is promoted.

Optionally, the receiving unit 310 is further configured to: before forwarding the multicast traffic to a second network device via the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI, receiving a user online message sent by the second network device via the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI, where the user online message is used to indicate that a first multicast user device in the M multicast user devices needs to request the multicast source; the processing unit 320 is further configured to: determining the first BD according to the first VNI identification and the first mapping relation; generating a tunnel side on-demand user port, and binding the tunnel side on-demand user port with the first BD; the sending unit 330 is specifically configured to: and forwarding the multicast traffic to a second network device through the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI through the tunnel side on-demand user port.

It should be understood that the apparatus 300 herein is embodied in the form of a functional unit. The term "unit" herein may refer to an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (e.g., a shared, dedicated, or group processor) and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that support the described functionality. In an optional example, it may be understood by those skilled in the art that the apparatus 300 may be specifically the first network device in the foregoing embodiment 200, and the apparatus 300 may be configured to perform each procedure and/or step corresponding to the first network device in the foregoing method embodiment, and details are not described herein again to avoid repetition.

Fig. 4 shows an apparatus 400 for multicast communication according to an embodiment of the present application, including:

a receiving unit 410, configured to receive multicast traffic forwarded by a first network device via a VXLAN tunnel identified by a first virtual extensible local area network VXLAN network identifier VNI, where a broadcast domain corresponding to the first network device includes a first bridge domain BD, the apparatus belongs to the first BD, and a broadcast domain corresponding to the apparatus includes N second BDs, where the first BD is bound to the N second BDs, the N second BDs correspond to M multicast user equipments, M and N are integers greater than 1, and M is greater than or equal to N;

a processing unit 420, configured to determine the first BD according to the first VNI and a first mapping relationship, where the first mapping relationship is used to represent a corresponding relationship between the first BD and the first VNI;

determining the N second BDs bound with the first BD according to the first BD;

a sending unit 430, configured to forward the multicast traffic to the M multicast user equipments through the N second BDs.

Optionally, the processing unit 420 is further configured to: copying the multicast traffic to obtain N parts of the multicast traffic, and transmitting the N parts of the multicast traffic from the first BD to the N second BDs, wherein the N parts of the multicast traffic correspond to the N second BDs one by one; the sending unit 430 is specifically configured to: and forwarding the N multicast flows to the M multicast user equipment through the N second BDs respectively.

Optionally, the receiving unit 410 is further configured to: before forwarding the multicast traffic to the M multicast user equipments through the N second BDs, receiving a user online message sent by a first multicast user equipment of the M multicast user equipments, where the user online message is used to indicate that the first multicast user equipment needs to request the traffic of a multicast source; the processing unit 420 is further configured to: binding a second BD corresponding to the first on-line user equipment to the first BD according to the user on-line message; generating an on-demand user port of the first on-demand user equipment, and binding the on-demand user port with the first BD, wherein the on-demand user port is used for transmitting the multicast flow from the first BD to a second BD corresponding to the first on-demand user equipment; the sending unit 430 is further configured to: and forwarding the user online message to the first network equipment through the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI.

It should be appreciated that the apparatus 400 herein is embodied in the form of a functional unit. The term "unit" herein may refer to an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (e.g., a shared, dedicated, or group processor) and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that support the described functionality. In an optional example, it may be understood by those skilled in the art that the apparatus 400 may be specifically the second network device in the foregoing embodiment 200, and the apparatus 400 may be configured to perform each procedure and/or step corresponding to the second network device in the foregoing method embodiment, and is not described herein again to avoid repetition.

Fig. 5 shows another apparatus 500 for multicast communication according to an embodiment of the present application. The apparatus 500 includes at least one processor 510, memory 520, and a communication interface 530; the at least one processor 510, the memory 520, and the communication interface 530 are all connected by internal pathways;

the memory 520 is used for storing computer execution instructions;

the at least one processor 510 is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 520, so that the apparatus 500 may perform the information processing method provided by the above method embodiment by performing data interaction with other apparatuses through the communication interface 530.

Wherein the at least one processor 510 is configured to:

receiving multicast traffic from a multicast source through the communication interface, wherein a broadcast domain corresponding to the device comprises a first bridge domain BD, a second network device belongs to the first BD, and a broadcast domain corresponding to the second network device comprises N second BDs, wherein the first BD is bound with the N second BDs, the N second BDs correspond to M multicast user equipment, M and N are integers greater than 1, and M is greater than or equal to N;

determining a first virtual extensible local area network (VXLAN) network identifier (VNI) according to the first BD and a first mapping relation, wherein the first mapping relation is used for representing the mapping relation between the first BD and the first VNI;

forwarding, over the communication interface, the multicast traffic to the second network device via a VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI.

Optionally, the processor 510 is further configured to: before forwarding the multicast traffic to a second network device via the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI, receiving, by the communication interface, a user online packet sent by the second network device via the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI, where the user online packet is used to indicate that a first multicast user device in the M multicast user devices needs to request the multicast source; determining the first BD according to the first VNI identification and the first mapping relation; generating a tunnel side on-demand user port, and binding the tunnel side on-demand user port with the first BD; and forwarding the multicast traffic to a second network device through the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI through the tunnel side on-demand user port.

It should be understood that the apparatus 500 may be embodied as the first network device in the foregoing embodiments, and may be configured to perform each step and/or flow corresponding to the first network device in the foregoing method embodiments.

Fig. 6 shows another apparatus 600 for multicast communication according to an embodiment of the present application. The apparatus 600 comprises at least one processor 610, a memory 620, and a communication interface 630; the at least one processor 610, the memory 620, and the communication interface 630 are all connected by internal pathways;

the memory 620 is used for storing computer execution instructions;

the at least one processor 610 is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 620, so that the apparatus 600 may perform the information processing method provided by the above method embodiment by performing data interaction with other apparatuses through the communication interface 630.

Wherein the at least one processor 610 is configured to:

receiving, through the communication interface, multicast traffic forwarded by a first network device via a VXLAN tunnel identified by a first virtual extensible local area network VXLAN network identifier VNI, where a broadcast domain corresponding to the first network device includes a first bridge domain BD, the apparatus belongs to the first BD, and a broadcast domain corresponding to the apparatus includes N second BDs, where the first BD is bound to the N second BDs, and the N second BDs correspond to M multicast user equipments, M and N are integers greater than 1, and M is greater than or equal to N;

determining the first BD according to the first VNI and a first mapping relation, wherein the first mapping relation is used for representing the corresponding relation between the first BD and the first VNI;

determining the N second BDs bound with the first BD according to the first BD;

and forwarding the multicast traffic to the M multicast user equipment through the N second BDs.

Optionally, the processor 610 is further configured to: copying the multicast traffic to obtain N parts of the multicast traffic, and transmitting the N parts of the multicast traffic from the first BD to the N second BDs, wherein the N parts of the multicast traffic correspond to the N second BDs one by one; and forwarding the N multicast flows to the M multicast user equipment through the N second BDs respectively.

Optionally, the processor 610 is further configured to: before forwarding the multicast traffic to the M multicast user equipments through the N second BDs, receiving a user online message sent by a first multicast user equipment of the M multicast user equipments, where the user online message is used to indicate that the first multicast user equipment needs to request the traffic of a multicast source; binding a second BD corresponding to the first on-line user equipment to the first BD according to the user on-line message; generating an on-demand user port of the first on-demand user equipment, and binding the on-demand user port with the first BD, wherein the on-demand user port is used for transmitting the multicast flow from the first BD to a second BD corresponding to the first on-demand user equipment; and forwarding the user online message to the first network equipment through the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI.

It should be understood that the apparatus 600 may be embodied as the second network device in the foregoing embodiments, and may be configured to perform each step and/or flow corresponding to the second network device in the foregoing method embodiments.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, the processor of the above apparatus includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU), and the processor may also include other general processors, Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, and the like. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

The memory may be any one or any combination of the following: a Random Access Memory (RAM), a Read Only Memory (ROM), a non-volatile memory (NVM), a Solid State Drive (SSD), a mechanical hard disk, a magnetic disk, and an array of magnetic disks.

The communication interface is used for data interaction between the device and other equipment. The communication interface may comprise any one or any combination of the following: a network interface (e.g., an ethernet interface), a wireless network card, etc. having a network access function.

Alternatively, the at least one processor, the memory, and the communication interface may be connected by a bus, which may include an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like. The bus may comprise any one or any combination of the following: an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, an Extended ISA (EISA) bus, and other devices for wired data transmission.

In implementation, the steps of the above method may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or instructions in the form of software. The steps of a method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware processor, or may be implemented by a combination of hardware and software elements in a processor. The software elements may be located in ram, flash, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, among other storage media that are well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and a processor executes instructions in the memory, in combination with hardware thereof, to perform the steps of the above-described method. To avoid repetition, it is not described in detail here.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" herein is merely one type of association relationship that describes an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the former and latter related objects are in an "or" relationship.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various method steps and elements described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both, and that the steps and elements of the various embodiments have been described above generally in terms of their functionality in order to clearly illustrate the interchangeability of hardware and software. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may also be an electric, mechanical or other form of connection.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiments of the present application.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit.

The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be substantially implemented or contributed to by the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution may be embodied in a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes instructions for causing a computer device (which may include a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to perform all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

While the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, the scope of the invention is not limited thereto, and those skilled in the art can easily conceive various equivalent modifications or substitutions within the technical scope of the invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of multicast communication, comprising:

a second network device receives multicast traffic forwarded by a first network device through a VXLAN tunnel identified by a first virtual extensible local area network (VXLAN) identifier (VNI), a broadcast domain corresponding to the first network device comprises a first bridge domain BD, the second network device belongs to the first BD, and a broadcast domain corresponding to the second network device comprises N second BDs, wherein the first BD is bound with the N second BDs, the N second BDs correspond to M multicast user equipment, M and N are integers greater than 1, and M is greater than or equal to N;

the second network device determines the first BD according to the first VNI and a first mapping relation, wherein the first mapping relation is used for representing a corresponding relation between the first BD and the first VNI;

the second network equipment determines the N second BDs bound with the first BD according to the first BD;

the second network equipment forwards the multicast flow to the M multicast user equipment through the N second BDs;

the second network device forwards the multicast traffic to the M multicast user devices through the N second BDs, including:

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein before the second network device forwards the multicast traffic to the M multicast user devices over the N second BDs, the method further comprises:

3. An apparatus for multicast communication, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive multicast traffic forwarded by a first network device via a VXLAN tunnel identified by a first virtual extensible local area network VXLAN network identifier VNI, where a broadcast domain corresponding to the first network device includes a first bridge domain BD, the apparatus belongs to the first BD, and a broadcast domain corresponding to the apparatus includes N second BDs, where the first BD is bound to the N second BDs, the N second BDs correspond to M multicast user equipments, M and N are integers greater than 1, and M is greater than or equal to N;

a processing unit, configured to determine the first BD according to the first VNI and a first mapping relationship, where the first mapping relationship is used to represent a corresponding relationship between the first BD and the first VNI;

determining the N second BDs bound with the first BD according to the first BD;

a sending unit, configured to forward the multicast traffic to the M multicast user equipments through the N second BDs;

the processing unit is further to:

copying the multicast traffic to obtain N parts of the multicast traffic, and transmitting the N parts of the multicast traffic from the first BD to the N second BDs, wherein the N parts of the multicast traffic correspond to the N second BDs one by one;

the sending unit is specifically configured to:

and forwarding the N multicast flows to the M multicast user equipment through the N second BDs respectively.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the receiving unit is further configured to:

before forwarding the multicast traffic to the M multicast user equipments through the N second BDs, receiving a user online message sent by a first multicast user equipment of the M multicast user equipments, where the user online message is used to indicate that the first multicast user equipment needs to request the traffic of a multicast source;

the processing unit is further to:

binding a second BD corresponding to the first on-line user equipment to the first BD according to the user on-line message;

generating an on-demand user port of the first on-demand user equipment, and binding the on-demand user port with the first BD, wherein the on-demand user port is used for transmitting the multicast flow from the first BD to a second BD corresponding to the first on-demand user equipment;

the sending unit is further configured to:

and forwarding the user online message to the first network equipment through the VXLAN tunnel identified by the first VNI.

5. An apparatus for multicast communication, comprising: a processor, a memory, and a communication interface,

the processor is used for executing the instructions stored in the memory and executing the following steps:

determining the N second BDs bound with the first BD according to the first BD;

forwarding the multicast traffic to the M multicast user equipment through the N second BDs;

the processor is further configured to:

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the processor is further configured to: