Patent Application

App. No. 13/921,442

Abstract

Claims (58)

1 . An edge switch, comprising:

an access port coupled to at least one end device;

a network port coupled to a core network;

a memory for storing a generic user profile, the generic user profile including classification rules for classifying traffic received on the access port to Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) VLAN tunnel services; and

a processor for:

detecting incoming traffic on the access port;

accessing the generic user profile to determine whether the incoming traffic matches one of the classification rules; and

if the incoming traffic matches one of the classification rules, automatically associating the incoming traffic with a VLAN tunnel service indicated by a matching one of the classification rules to provide tunnel-based connectivity to remote end devices associated with the service via the network port.

2 . The edge switch of claim 1 , wherein the processor further:

determines a service identifier for the VLAN tunnel service from the incoming traffic;

determines whether the VLAN tunnel service exists on the edge switch based on the service identifier; and

if so, creates a service access point (SAP) for the access port, associates the SAP with the VLAN tunnel service and associates the incoming traffic with the SAP.

3 . The edge switch of claim 2 , wherein the SAP is identified by a slot number, an access port number and a VLAN identifier.

4 . The edge switch of claim 2 , wherein the processor further attaches a Media Access Control (MAC) address of an end device that originated the incoming traffic to the SAP to associate the incoming traffic with the SAP.

5 . The edge switch of claim 4 , further comprising:

an aging timer that is initialized upon reception of the incoming traffic from the end device and re-initialized upon reception of additional incoming traffic from the end device prior to the expiration of the aging timer.

6 . The edge switch of claim 5 , wherein the processor further:

deletes the MAC address of the end device from the SAP upon expiration of the aging timer.

7 . The edge switch of claim 6 , wherein, upon expiration of the aging timer, the processor further:

determines whether there are additional MAC addresses associated to the SAP; and

if not, deletes the SAP and the association of the SAP to the VLAN tunnel service.

8 . The edge switch of claim 7 , wherein, upon deletion of the SAP, the processor further:

determines whether there are additional SAPs associated with the VLAN tunnel service; and

if not, deletes the VLAN tunnel service.

9 . The edge switch of claim 2 , wherein if the service does not exist on the edge switch, the processor further creates the VLAN tunnel service on the switch.

10 . The edge switch of claim 1 , wherein the generic user profile further includes authentication information for use in authenticating the end device prior to the processor associating the incoming traffic to the VLAN tunnel service.

11 . The edge switch of claim 1 , wherein the tunnel-based connectivity is provided by a tunneling protocol.

12 . The edge switch of claim 1 , wherein the classification rules further include a domain field indicating a slot to which the VLAN tunnel service is associated.

13 . The edge switch of claim 12 , wherein the classification rules associate different VLAN tunnel services to different slots using the domain field.

14 . A non-transitory memory device having tangibly embodied thereon and accessible therefrom a set of instructions interpretable by at least one processor, the set of instructions configured for causing the processor to carry out operations for:

detecting incoming traffic on an access port of an edge switch, the incoming traffic being originated by an end device coupled to the edge switch;

accessing a generic user profile including classification rules within the edge switch to determine whether the incoming traffic matches one of the classification rules; and

if the incoming traffic matches one of the classification rules, automatically associating the incoming traffic with a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) VLAN tunnel service indicated by a matching one of the classification rules to provide tunnel-based connectivity to remote end devices associated with the VLAN tunnel service.

15 . The memory device of claim 14 , wherein the associating the incoming traffic with the VLAN tunnel service further comprises:

determining a service identifier for the VLAN tunnel service from the incoming traffic;

determining whether the VLAN tunnel service exists on the edge switch based on the service identifier; and

if so:

creating a service access point (SAP) for the access port;

associating the SAP with the VLAN tunnel service; and

associating the incoming traffic with the SAP.

16 . The memory device of claim 15 , wherein the associating the incoming traffic with the SAP further comprises:

attaching a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the end device that originated the incoming traffic to the SAP to associate the incoming traffic with the SAP.

17 . The memory device of claim 16 , further comprising:

initializing an aging timer upon reception of the incoming traffic from the end device; and

re-initializing the aging timer upon reception of additional incoming traffic from the end device prior to the expiration of the aging timer.

18 . The memory device of claim 17 , further comprising:

upon expiration of the aging timer:

deleting the MAC address of the end device from the SAP upon expiration of the aging timer;

determining whether there are additional MAC addresses associated to the SAP;

if not, deleting the SAP and the association of the SAP to the VLAN tunnel service;

determining whether there are additional SAPs associated with the VLAN tunnel service; and

if not, deleting the VLAN tunnel service.

19 . The memory device of claim 15 , further comprising:

if the VLAN tunnel service does not exist on the edge switch, creating the VLAN tunnel service on the switch.

20 . A method for dynamic service association, comprising:

detecting incoming traffic on an access port of an edge switch, the incoming traffic being originated by an end device coupled to the edge switch;

accessing a generic user profile including classification rules within the edge switch to determine whether the incoming traffic matches one of the classification rules; and

if the incoming traffic matches one of the classification rules, automatically associating the incoming traffic with a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) VLAN tunnel service indicated by a matching one of the classification rules to provide tunnel-based connectivity to remote end devices associated with the VLAN tunnel service.

Assignments (11)