IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,309,056
Granted Patent B2
US 12,309,056 · App. 17/726,650 · Granted May 20, 2025

Ethernet virtual private network fast reroute triggered designated forwarder election

Inventors: Luc André Burdet (Gatineau, CA); Patrice Brissette (Gatineau, CA); Yuri Tsier (Kanata, CA)
Assignee: CISCO TECHNOLOGY, INC.
H04L45/22H04L45/28H04L45/50
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,309,056
App. No.
17/726,650
Granted
May 20, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A mechanism that allows CE-to-PE traffic to achieve minimal traffic loss at the same rate as PE-to-CE redirection (FRR). The solution relies on a fast-unblocking of the Backup-DF interface based on appearance of redirected packets from the active DF-Elected peer. A slow-path confirmation mechanism is included to further mitigate false-positives, as well as maintaining data plane and control plane in sync.

Claims (46)

1. A method comprising:

receiving at an edge node of a redundancy group of edge nodes, a frame from a remote customer edge node;

determining whether the frame includes a redirect label;

when the frame includes a redirect label, determining whether an intended link for the frame is operational; and

when it is determined that the intended link for the frame is operational, removing a blocking scheme at the edge node, thereby allowing the frame from the remote customer edge node to reach the edge node.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the edge node is a backup designated forwarder edge node of the redundancy group.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein removing comprises removing the blocking scheme for traffic in both directions between the edge node and the remote customer edge node.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising, at the edge node:

tracking a number of frames that include a redirect label; and

wherein the removing of the blocking scheme is performed when a predetermined number of consecutive frames with a redirect label are received.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the redirect label is an Ethernet Virtual Private Networking (EVPN) Fast Reroute (FRR) label.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the frame is associated with Broadcast Unknown-Unicast and Multicast (BUM) traffic only, unicast traffic only, or both BUM traffic and unicast traffic.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein removing is performed for frames on a per-virtual local area network (VLAN) basis.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

initiating a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Ethernet Virtual Private Networking (EVPN) route advertisement to inform a remote provider edge (PE) node about reachability information allowing for faster control plane convergence instead of waiting for withdraw of failed PE route.

9. A network device comprising:

one or more processors;

a first network interface, coupled to the one or more processors and configured to be coupled to a link coupled to an access network;

a second network interface, coupled to the one or more processors and configured to be coupled to a core network;

a computer-readable storage medium, coupled to the one or more processors; and

a plurality of instructions, encoded in the computer-readable storage medium and configured to cause the one or more processors to perform operations including:

receiving at an edge node of a redundancy group of edge nodes, a frame from a remote customer edge node;

determining whether the frame includes a redirect label;

when the frame includes a redirect label, determining whether an intended link for the frame is operational; and

when it is determined that the intended link for the frame is operational, removing a blocking scheme at the edge node, thereby allowing the frame from the remote customer edge node to reach the edge node.

10. The network device of claim 9 , wherein removing comprises removing the blocking scheme for traffic in both directions between the edge node and the remote customer edge node.

11. The network device of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of instructions, encoded in the computer-readable storage medium are configured to cause the one or more processors to perform operations including:

tracking a number of frames that include a redirect label; and

wherein the removing of the blocking scheme is performed when a predetermined number of consecutive frames with a redirect label are received.

12. The network device of claim 9 , wherein the redirect label is an Ethernet Virtual Private Networking (EVPN) Fast Reroute (FRR) label.

13. The network device of claim 9 , wherein the frame is associated with Broadcast Unknown-Unicast and Multicast (BUM) traffic only, unicast traffic only, or both BUM traffic and unicast traffic.

14. The network device of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of instructions, encoded in the computer-readable storage medium are configured to cause the one or more processors to perform operations including:

removing the blocking scheme for frames on a per-virtual local area network (VLAN) basis.

15. The network device of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of instructions, encoded in the computer-readable storage medium are configured to cause the one or more processors to perform operations including:

initiating a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Ethernet Virtual Private Networking (EVPN) route advertisement to inform a remote provider edge (PE) node about reachability information allowing for faster control plane convergence instead of waiting for withdraw of failed PE route.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an edge node, cause the one or more processors to perform operations including:

receiving at an edge node of a redundancy group of edge nodes, a frame from a remote customer edge node;

determining whether the frame includes a redirect label;

when the frame includes a redirect label, determining whether an intended link for the frame is operational; and

when it is determined that the intended link for the frame is operational, removing a blocking scheme at the edge node, thereby allowing the frame from the remote customer edge node to reach the edge node.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the edge node is a backup designated forwarder edge node of the redundancy group.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein removing comprises removing the blocking scheme for traffic in both directions between the edge node and the remote customer edge node.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , further instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of the edge node, cause the one or more processors to perform operations including:

tracking a number of frames that include a redirect label; and

wherein the removing of the blocking scheme is performed when a predetermined number of consecutive frames with a redirect label are received.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein removing is performed for frames on a per-virtual local area network (VLAN) basis.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 22, 2022
From: BURDET, LUC ANDRÉ; BRISSETTE, PATRICE; TSIER, YURI
To: CISCO TECHNOLOGY, INC.
Reel/Frame 059674/0916 →
Continuity (4)
Continuation In Part 17699237 · Mar 21, 2022
Continuation 16686896 · Nov 18, 2019
Provisional Application 63304056 · Jan 28, 2022
Related Publication 20220247669A1 · Aug 4, 2022
References Cited (19)
US 9019814B1 · Mohanty · 2015 [cited by examiner]
US 10142129B1 · Gupta · 2018 [cited by examiner]
US 11316777B2 · Brissette et al. · 2022 [cited by applicant]
US 20090245259A1 · Filsfils et al. · 2009 [cited by applicant]
US 20090274155A1 · Nakash · 2009 [cited by examiner]
US 20150172070A1 · Csaszar · 2015 [cited by examiner]
US 20150207724A1 · Choudhury et al. · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 20160191374A1 · Singh et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20170093611A1 · Arora et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170141963A1 · Chalapathy et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20170339052A1 · Arora et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 20190013966A1 · Nagarajan et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20190028577A1 · D?Souza et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20190245779A1 · Jonnalagadda et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20200127885A1 · Arora et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
Juniper Networks, “Egress Protection in Layer 3 VPNs,” Junos OS, Layer 3 VPNs User Guide for Routing Devices, https://www.juniper.net/documentation/us/en/software/junos/vpn-13/topics/topic-map/13-egress-protection.html,… [cited by applicant]
Filsfils, Clarence, et al., “BGP Prefix Independent Convergence (PIC) Technical Report”, Nov. 2007, pp. 1-14. [cited by applicant]
Murali, Sudarshan, et al., “EVPN Unifying Control Plane”, Cisco Systems; Apr. 6, 2018; 46 pages. [cited by applicant]
Shen, et al., “MPLS Egress Protection Framework,” draft-ietf-mpls-egress-protection-framework-04, Internet Engineering Task Force, Internet-Draft, Jan. 2, 2019, 29 pages. [cited by applicant]