WO2007104201A1

WO2007104201A1 - A method for forwarding message in the service tunnel of the ethernet application and a system thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2007104201A1
Application number: PCT/CN2006/003311
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jianbing Wang; Chao Hou; Jun Guo; Wenliang Shen; Jing Xu; Gang Xu; Hao Zhang; Xifei Lu
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2006-03-13
Filing date: 2006-12-06
Publication date: 2007-09-20
Also published as: CN1897596A

Abstract

A method for using the virtual media access control address in the Ethernet application and a system thereof, the method mainly includes: the MAC (media access control) address is configured in the provider edge PE equipment and the provider core equipment of the service tunnel in the MAC-in-MAC network; the PE equipment and the provider core equipment forward the message in the service tunnel by using the configured virtual MAC address. By using the invention, when the port data of the PE (provider edge equipment) equipment of the PBT (provider backbone transport) tunnel is changed, it is only needed that the virtual MAC address is reconfigured in the destination PE equipment, and it is not needed that the forwarding list is reconfigured in the switch and the other provider equipment of the PBT tunnel.

Description

Method and system for transmitting message in service tunnel of Ethernet application

The present invention relates to the field of network communications, and in particular, to a method and system for transmitting a message in a service tunnel of an Ethernet application.

Background of the invention

Mac-in-Mac is a key technology for PBB (Provider Backbone Bridges) from the IEEE ( Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802. lah draft. Mac-in-Mac is an Ethernet application that adds customer Ethernet and carrier Ethernet by adding an outer MAC (Medium Access Control) header and a service instance ID to the outer layer of the customer Ethernet frame. The network is isolated to solve a series of problems caused by the lack of layers in Ethernet applications.

IEEE 802. lag proposed the PBT (Provider Backbone Transport) solution. The PBT solution establishes a tunnel through configuration, disables MAC learning and multicast functions, and simplifies networking to meet point-to-point applications.

In the traditional IP network, in order to improve the reliability of the uplink/node, the VRRP (Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol) protocol is sometimes used for networking. The VRRP protocol organizes a group of routers on a local area network into a virtual router. The virtual router is also called a backup group, including a MASTER (primary) router and several BACKUP (backup) routers, with their own IP address and virtual MAC address. Hosts within the network communicate with other networks through the virtual router. If the MASTER router in the backup group fails, the other BACKUP routers in the backup group will take over as the new MASTER and continue to provide routing services to the hosts in the network. In the VRRP protocol, the application of the virtual MAC address avoids the problem of the device re-learning ARP (Address Resolution Protocol).

In the prior art, a method for transmitting a message in an Ethernet network is as follows: Configuring a MAC and a VLAN by hop by hop on an Ethernet tunnel between a local PE (Provider Edge Device) and a peer PE ( Virtual Local Access Network (Virtual Local Area Network), which distinguishes different tunnels through different VLANs or MACs, and triggers tunnel switching through 802. lag.

In the PBT networking diagram of the Mac-in-Mac tunnel shown in Figure 1, the client's packets are interconnected with the peer client through Metro Ethernet (Metro Ethernet). After the Layer 2 Ethernet packet sent by the client reaches PE1, PE1 encapsulates the packet in Mac-in-Mac. After adding the Layer 2 MAC header and service instance to the packet, the packet is input to the primary PBT tunnel. After the intermediate P device (such as a switch) queries the Layer 2 MAC forwarding table, the packet is forwarded hop by hop. After the peer device PE2 and PE2 terminate the PBT tunnel, the packet is stripped of the outer MAC encapsulation and service instance, and then forwarded to the peer client.

The disadvantages of the method for performing packet transmission in the Ethernet in the above-mentioned prior art are as follows: The tunnel between the local PE and the peer PE is statically configured. For example, in the PBT typical application networking diagram of a Mac-in-Mac tunnel as shown in Figure 2, the tunnel between PE1 and PE2 is statically configured. On Switch A (labeled in Figure 2), the primary tunnel A is configured as: Destination MAC: Physical MAC address of PE2/incoming interface 1, VLAN: VLAN1, outgoing interface: outgoing interface A; standby tunnel B configured as: Destination MAC address: Physical MAC address of PE2/incoming interface 2, VLAN: VLAN 2, outgoing interface: Outbound interface B. When interface 1 of PE2 fails for some reason, PE1 detects that the status of the primary tunnel A is faulty through 802. lag 0AM (operation, management, and maintenance). Therefore, the traffic between PE2 is switched to Standby tunnel B (see the label in Figure 2). For the P device in the middle, because the tunnel is configured in advance, the traffic switching only switches from hitting one forwarding entry to hitting another forwarding entry. That is, the entries on the intermediate switch device do not need to be modified. The switching of the tunnel is transparent to the intermediate device.

However, when the port data on the PE2 corresponding to the PE1 to PE2 is changed, for example, the physical interface (such as interface 1 and interface 2) is changed, you need to reconfigure the forwarding entries on PE1 and all intermediate P devices. A lot.

Generally, the physical inbound interface and the inbound MAC of the tunnel from PE1 to PE2 may change in the following situations:

1. Physical damage, such as the damage of the board needs to be replaced. At this time, the MAC address must change;

2. When the port is redundant, for example, the port state changes under the trunk port;

3. Replace the PE2 equipment.

In the above cases, the MAC address of the physical inbound interface of the PE1 to PE2 is changed. The forwarding entries on the PEs and all the intermediate P devices need to be updated. The workload is extremely high. Lack of maintainability. Summary of the invention

It is an object of embodiments of the present invention to provide a method and system for transmitting a message in a service tunnel of an Ethernet application. Therefore, when the port data of the PE device of the PBT tunnel changes, the forwarding entries on the PBT tunnel switch and other carrier devices need not be reconfigured.

The purpose of the embodiment of the present invention is achieved by the following technical solutions:

A method for transmitting a message in a service tunnel of an Ethernet application, including - Configuring virtual media access to control the MAC address on the carrier edge PE device and the carrier core device of the service tunnel in the MAC-in-Mac network;

The PE device and the carrier core device perform packet transmission in the service tunnel by using the configured virtual MAC address.

A system for transmitting a message in a service tunnel of an Ethernet application, comprising:

PE device: One or more virtual MAC addresses are configured to identify one or more service tunnels in the MAC-in-Mac network between PE devices.

The core device of the carrier: the destination address of the corresponding service tunnel in the MAC-in-Mac network is configured by using one or more virtual MAC addresses configured on the PE device; and the virtual MAC address is established according to the configured virtual MAC address. For the forwarding entry of the service tunnel, the forwarding entry is used to perform packet transmission in the service tunnel.

As can be seen from the technical solution provided by the present invention, the present invention configures the address of the PBT tunnel of the switch and other P devices in the PBT application network by defining one or more virtual MACs and using the defined virtual MAC address. Therefore, when the port data of the PEs at both ends of the PBT tunnel is changed, for example, after the physical MAC address of the PE device is changed, the virtual MAC address needs to be reconfigured on the PE devices at both ends. The forwarding entries on the PBT tunnel switch and other carrier devices need to be reconfigured. It avoids the problem of requiring a large amount of refreshing of the network tunnel configuration, reduces the complexity of the network control plane, reduces the credit sales of the network operator, and improves the scalability of the network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a PBT networking of a tunnel using a Mac-in-Mac;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a PBT typical application networking diagram of a tunnel using a Mac-in-Mac;

3 is a process flow diagram of an embodiment of the method of the present invention;

4 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a PBT networking using a virtual MAC address according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a PBT networking using multiple virtual MAC addresses according to the present invention. Mode for carrying out the invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a method and a system for transmitting a message in a service tunnel of an Ethernet application. The main technical features of the present invention are: not configuring a Mac-in-Mac service tunnel without using a physical MAC address, and Use a virtual MAC address.

The embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, and the PBT application of the tunnel to which the Mac-in-Mac is applied is For example, the process flow chart of the embodiment of the method of the present invention is as shown in FIG. 3, and includes the following steps: Step 3-1: Configure a PBT tunnel of a PE device and a carrier core device in a PBT application network by using a virtual MAC address. the address of. When the PBT tunnel (including the primary tunnel and the backup tunnel) is configured for the carrier core equipment in the PBT application network, such as the switch and other carrier equipment, the virtual MAC address is used instead of the physical port MAC address as the PBT tunnel. Destination address. The virtual MAC address of the PBT tunnel of the carrier core device is determined by the destination PE device of the PBT tunnel, that is, the virtual MAC address is configured on the destination PE device of the PBT tunnel, and the carrier is configured by the destination PE device. The destination address of the corresponding PBT tunnel on the core device. The destination PE device can be a PE device at both ends of the PBT tunnel. That is, the virtual MAC address is configured on the PE devices at both ends of the PBT tunnel. The format of the above virtual MAC address is the same as the format of the physical MC address, and all adopt IEEE standard format. However, the virtual MAC address requirement is a non-reserved or multicast MAC address, that is, a unicast MAC should be used. At the same time, the virtual MAC address requires that no collisions occur in the network. For example, in the schematic diagram of the embodiment of the PBT network using the virtual MAC address shown in FIG. 4, the primary tunnel A in the PE1 to PE2 direction on the switch A is configured as: destination MAC: PE2/virtual MAC address, VLAN : VLAN1, Outbound interface: Outbound interface A; The standby tunnel B is configured as: Destination MAC: PE2/Virtual MAC address, VLAN: VLAN2, Outbound interface: Outbound interface B. The above virtual MAC address is determined by configuration on PE2. The virtual MAC address of the standby tunnel in the PE2 to PE1 direction on Switch A is determined by configuration on PE1. '

Step 3-2: When the port data of the PE device in the PBT tunnel changes, the virtual MAC address is reconfigured on the PE device. The forwarding entries on the switch and other carrier devices in the PBT application network are not modified.

After the physical port data of the PE device of the PBT tunnel changes, for example, the physical damage of the PE device occurs after the IP address of the PE device, the switch, and the PBT tunnel of the PBT tunnel in the PBT application network is configured. The new PE device needs to be replaced. At this time, the physical MAC address of the new PE device and the previous PE device will change. At this time, the virtual MAC address is reconfigured on the PE device of the PBT tunnel, and the forwarding entries on the switch and other carrier devices in the PBT application network need not be modified.

For example, in the schematic diagram of the embodiment of the PBT network using the virtual MAC address shown in FIG. 4, when the physical port data of the PE2 changes and the new PE device needs to be replaced, the PE2 is directly reconfigured on the replaced PE2. The virtual MAC address does not need to be modified on the switch A and other carrier devices. Thereby greatly reducing the workload of network management. Reduce the configuration workload of the PBT network. In addition, if the protocol is extended later, Entering the control plane can also greatly reduce the requirements on the control plane.

On a PE device at both ends of a PBT tunnel, you can configure only one virtual MAC address or multiple virtual MAC addresses to configure multiple PBT tunnels between PEs at both ends.

On a typical PBT application network, you need to configure a group of tunnels (including the primary tunnel and the standby tunnel) to carry customer services. When you need to give different SU Service Level Agreements (Service Level Agreements) to different services of the customer or isolate different services of the customer, you can configure multiple groups of tunnels between PEs at both ends, and configure different configurations for each group of tunnels. Virtual MAC address.

For example, in the schematic diagram of the embodiment of the PBT network using multiple virtual MAC addresses shown in FIG. 5, when PE1 and PE2 carry different services through multiple sets of service tunnels, for example, carrying voice, video, and data applications, etc. In the service, multiple groups of service tunnels can be distinguished by configuring different VLANs for different service tunnels.

The present invention proposes to configure multiple virtual MAC addresses for multiple groups of service tunnels, each virtual MAC address corresponding to a group of service tunnels, each virtual MAC address uniquely identifying a group of service tunnels. That is, each group of service tunnels is distinguished by using the configured virtual MAC address. Therefore, it is possible to distinguish different service tunnels by configuring different virtual MAC addresses without configuring different VLANs.

A system for using a virtual media access control address in an Ethernet application according to the present invention includes

PE device: One or more virtual MAC addresses are configured to identify one or more service tunnels in the MAC-in-Mac network between PE devices. The PE device includes: one or more service tunnels. The PE device at the destination end can be the PE device at both ends of the service tunnel. ·

The core device of the carrier: The destination address of the corresponding service tunnel in the MAC-in-Mac network is configured by using one or more virtual MAC addresses configured on the PE device. Can be: Switches and other carrier devices.

The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or within the technical scope disclosed by the present invention. Alternatives are intended to be covered by the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

Rights request

A method for transmitting a packet in a service tunnel of an Ethernet application, comprising: configuring on a carrier edge PE device and a carrier core device of a service tunnel in a MAC-in-Mac network Virtual media access control MAC address;

The PE device and the carrier core device perform message transmission in the service tunnel by using the configured virtual MAC address.

The method according to claim 1, wherein the configuring the virtual MAC address on the PE device and the carrier core device specifically includes:

Configure a virtual MAC address on the PE device at the destination end of the service tunnel in the MAC-in-Mac network.

Determining, by using a virtual MAC address configured on the destination PE device, a destination MAC address of the service tunnel, and establishing a service tunnel for the service tunnel according to the configured virtual MAC address. Forward the entry.

The method according to claim 2, wherein the configuring the virtual MAC address on the PE device and the carrier core device further includes:

Configuring a plurality of virtual MAC addresses on the destination PE device in the MAC-in-Mac network, where the multiple virtual MAC addresses correspond to multiple sets of service tunnels that reach the destination PE device, according to the multiple virtual MACs. The address distinguishes between multiple groups of service tunnels that reach the destination PE device.

The method according to claim 1, wherein the virtual MAC address is a unicast MAC address, and does not conflict with each other in the network.

The method according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, wherein the method further comprises: when the port information of the destination PE device of the service tunnel changes, in the service tunnel The virtual MAC address is reconfigured on the destination PE device. .

The method according to claim 5, wherein the method further comprises:

When the new PE device is used to replace the destination PE device of the service tunnel in the MAC-in-Mac network, after the physical inbound MAC address of the new PE device changes, the new PE device is changed. The virtual MAC address is reconfigured; the forwarding entry on the carrier core device is not reconfigured.

The method according to claim 1, wherein the service tunnel comprises an operator backbone network to transmit a PBT tunnel.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the carrier core device comprises a switch and/or other carrier device.

The method according to claim 2, wherein the destination PE device comprises: PE devices at both ends of the service tunnel.

A system for transmitting a message in a service tunnel of an Ethernet application, comprising: - a PE device: configured with one or more virtual MAC addresses, which are used to identify a MAC-in- between PE devices. One or more service tunnels in the Mac network;

The carrier core device: uses one or more virtual MAC addresses configured on the PE device to configure a destination address of a corresponding service tunnel in the MAC-in-Mac network; and establishes according to the configured virtual MAC address. For the forwarding entry of the service tunnel, the forwarding entry is used to perform packet transmission in the service tunnel.