Multiplex communications – Communication techniques for information carried in plural... – Adaptive
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-19
2003-09-16
Luther, William A. (Department: 2664)
Multiplex communications
Communication techniques for information carried in plural...
Adaptive
C370S235000, C370S389000, C370S395100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06621829
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to computer networks, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for the prioritization of control plane traffic in a router.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the field of data routing in computer networks, an Internet service provider (ISP) user typically has much more stringent requirements than an enterprise user because the routers will be subjected to the adverse Internet routing environment in the world. There are three typical architectural requirements that such routers must support, described below.
A. Stable Operation. Although it sounds trivial, the notion of stable operation has been elusive in the ISP community, as witnessed by various Internet “brown-outs” since it's inception. One paper on Internet scaling “Scaling the Internet during the T3 NSFNET Years”, C. Villamizar, Oct. 22, 1997, articulates the basic requirements which ISPs demand from their networking equipment in order to provide a stable network. In addition to forwarding performance and scaling requirements, ISPs typically expect several operational attributes, given below.
1. Stability under adverse conditions. The router must remain stable and deterministic under arbitrarily high traffic loads or a flood of routing update changes.
2. Low packet loss to stable destinations. The effects of unstable routes (flapping) should not impact a router's ability to forward traffic to stable routes.
3. Reasonable fairness and congestion control. Sufficient buffering capacity, avoidance of head-of-line blocking, advanced queueing algorithms, and sophisticated discard techniques must be provided.
B. Service Differentiation. Recently it has become clear that service providers cannot make adequate margins by offering flat-rate access and undifferentiated service. The ability to offer tiered services, and to guarantee service levels, is crucial to the economic and competitive health of ISPs. The airline industry's first-class, business-class and coach-class offerings provide a meaningful analogy for Internet service differentiation: a small number of customers are willing to pay for premium service, if it can be guaranteed. The concentrator's must enable ISPs to offer differentiated services based on multiple queues and advanced, intelligent Traffic Management features.
C. Superior Reliability. ISP routers must provide a greater level of reliability and availability than known router architectures. Part of this flows from designing with stability in mind, but providing additional fault tolerance features adds another dimension of resiliency. ISP routers should be designed without any single points of failure, and all software designs should incorporate fault isolation principles.
Therefore, there is a need for a way to route data in computer networks that provides stable operation, service differentiation, and superior reliability. Such an invention should be stable under adverse conditions, insure low packet loss to stable destinations, and provide reasonable fairness and congestion control.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a method, apparatus and article of manufacture for prioritization of control plane traffic in a router. A destination slot is allocated in a sliding window buffer via a control channel. A data packet is received via a data channel. An acknowledgement that the data packet was received is sent via the control channel. The destination slot is released via the control channel.
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Achilles Heather
Colley Tom
Gallo Paul
Miller Bill
Pearson Terry
Blakely , Sokoloff, Taylor & Zafman LLP
Luther William A.
Nortel Networks Limited
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