Granted Patent B2

US 8,483,229 · App. 13/110,380 · Granted Jul 9, 2013

Abstract

Claims (54)

1. A communications network comprising:

an Ethernet packet-switched network (PSN);

a first provider edge (PE) device in communication with a second PE device through the Ethernet PSN;

a pseudowire (PW) established between the PE devices for emulating a service across the Ethernet PSN, each packet of a non-Ethernet service having a frame format with an Ethernet tunnel header and a PW header that encapsulates a payload; and

a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network in communication with the Ethernet PSN through a network-to-network interface (NNI), and wherein the PW extends through the MPLS network and the Ethernet PSN.

2. The communications network of claim 1 , wherein the service is a non-Ethernet service and the payload is a non-Ethernet payload.

3. The communications network of claim 1 , wherein the service is an Ethernet service and the payload is an Ethernet payload.

4. The communications network of claim 1 , wherein the payload is normalized by Martini encapsulation.

5. The communications network of claim 1 , wherein the PW header of the frame format includes an Ethertype field used to signify a type of service of the non-Ethernet payload.

6. The communications network of claim 1 , wherein the PW header includes a service identifier (I-SID) for identifying a particular flow of the non-Ethernet service.

7. The communications network of claim 1 , wherein the Ethernet tunnel header of the frame format includes an Ethertype signifying Martini encapsulation of the PW.

8. The communications network of claim 1 , wherein the PW header of the frame format includes a VC (Virtual Circuit) label used to identify a particular flow of the service.

9. The communications network of claim 1 , wherein the Ethernet PSN is configured to provide Provider Backbone Transport (PBT).

10. The communications network of claim 1 , wherein the Ethernet PSN is configured to provide Provider Backbone Bridging (PBB).

11. The communications network of claim 1 , wherein the NNI adds an Ethernet 802.1ah tag to each packet of the service to forward the packet to the MPLS network.

12. A method of emulating a service across an Ethernet packet-switched network (PSN), the method comprising:

configuring the Ethernet PSN to provide Provider Backbone Bridging (PBB);

establishing a pseudowire (PW) between a first provider edge (PE) device and a second PE device on the Ethernet PSN;

encapsulating a payload of packets of the service in a PW header and in an Ethernet tunnel header; and

receiving a packet of the service at the first PE device for forwarding to the second PE device through the Ethernet PSN over the PW through a network-to-network interface (NNI), removing the Ethernet tunnel header from the packet, and adding a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) tunnel header to the packet for forwarding through an MPLS PSN.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the service is a non-Ethernet service and the payload is non-Ethernet payload.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the service is an Ethernet service and the payload is Ethernet payload.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising the step of normalizing the payload by Martini encapsulation.

16. The method of claim 12 , further comprising the step of signifying a type of service of the payload in an Ethertype field in the PW header.

17. The method of claim 12 , further comprising the step of identifying a particular flow of the service with a service identifier (I-SID) in the PW header.

18. The method of claim 12 , further comprising the step of signifying, in the Ethernet tunnel header, Martini encapsulation of the PW.

19. The method of claim 12 , further comprising the step of identifying a particular flow of the service with a VC (Virtual Circuit) label in the PW header.

20. The method of claim 12 , further comprising the step of configuring the Ethernet PSN to provide Provider Backbone Transport (PBT).

21. The method of claim 12 , wherein the NNI adds an Ethernet 802.1ah tag to each packet of the service for forwarding the packet to the MPLS network.

22. The method of claim 12 , further comprising the steps of removing the MPLS tunnel header from the packet, and adding the Ethernet tunnel header to the packet for forwarding through the Ethernet PSN.

23. A communications network comprising:

an Ethernet packet-switched network (PSN) being a Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) network, and further comprising a Provider Backbone Bridging (PBB) network;

a first provider edge (PE) device in communication with a second PE device through the Ethernet PSN; and

a pseudowire (PW) established between the PE devices for emulating a service across the Ethernet PSN, each packet of a non-Ethernet service having a frame format with an Ethernet tunnel header and a PW header that encapsulates a payload, wherein the PW extends through the PBT and PBB networks.

24. A communications network comprising:

a first Ethernet packet-switched network (PSN);

a second Ethernet packet-switched network (PSN);

a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network disposed between the first and second Ethernet PSNs;

a first provider edge (PE) device in communication with a second PE device through the first Ethernet PSN; and

a pseudowire (PW) extending from a source end of the first Ethernet PSN to a destination end of the second Ethernet PSN through the MPLS network, the PW established between the PE devices for emulating a service across the first Ethernet PSN, the MPLS and the second Ethernet PSN, each packet of a non-Ethernet service having a frame format with an Ethernet tunnel header and a PW header that encapsulates a payload.

25. A method of emulating a service across an Ethernet packet-switched network (PSN), the method comprising:

establishing a pseudowire (PW) between a first provider edge (PE) device and a second PE device on the Ethernet PSN;

receiving a plurality of packets of the service at the first PE device for forwarding to the second PE device through the Ethernet PSN over the PW;

encapsulating a payload of each packet of the plurality of packets of the service in a PW header and in an Ethernet tunnel header;

wherein the Ethernet PSN is a Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) network, the Ethernet tunnel header is a PBT trunk header, and the PW extends through the PBT network and a Provider Backbone Bridging (PBB) network;

receiving, at the PBB network, a packet of the plurality of packets over the PW from the PBT network through a network-to-network interface (NNI) that removes the PBT trunk header from the packet; and

adding a PBB trunk header to the packet for forwarding through the PBB network.

26. A method of emulating a service across an Ethernet packet-switched network (PSN), the method comprising:

establishing a pseudowire (PW) between a first provider edge (PE) device and a second PE device on the Ethernet PSN;

receiving a plurality of packets of the service at the first PE device for forwarding to the second PE device through the Ethernet PSN over the PW;

encapsulating a payload of each packet of the plurality of packets of the service in a PW header and in an Ethernet tunnel header;

wherein the Ethernet PSN is a Provider Backbone Bridging (PBB) network, the Ethernet tunnel header is a PBB trunk header, and the PW extends through the PBB network and a Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) network;

receiving, at the PBT network, a packet of the plurality of packets over the PW from the PBB network through a network-to-network interface (NNI) that removes the PBB trunk header from the packet; and

adding a PBT trunk header to the packet for forwarding through the PBT network.

Assignments (9)