Patent ID: 9565128
Date: 2017-02-07
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A method for managing services in a Generalized-Multi-Protocol Label Switching, GMPLS, controlled network under conditions of a disrupted control plane connectivity, wherein nodes of said network use a Resource Reservation Protocol with Traffic Engineering extensions, RSVP-TE, to allocate and provision resources of said network, said method comprising the steps of: (a) evaluating local RSVP Path or Resv state data by any of said network nodes acting as a sending node, the sending node having sent at least once a signalling message to a receiving node without receipt of an acknowledgement message from said receiving node within a configurable time to determine an IP address of a node being located after the non-responsive receiving node along a service path; and (b) sending the signalling message by the sending node to the determined IP address of the next node located behind the non-responsive receiving node along a service path, wherein if a node of said network detects that it did not receive a Path/Resv Refresh message from a neighbouring node along the signal path, the node sends at least one RSVP-TE protocol state verification message comprising a Path state verification (PathVerify) message directed to the upstream neighbouring node or a Resv state verification (ResvVerify) message directed to the downstream neighbouring node, wherein the node after having sent a configurable number of RSVP-TE protocol state verification messages to the neighbouring node along the signal path receives neither a Path/Resv Refresh nor Tear message from the neighbouring node, the node sends a control plane connectivity disruption, CPCD, alarm message to the service ingress node of the respective service, wherein the ingress node of the service after having received the control plane connectivity disruption, CPCD, alarm message is adapted to notify a management plane and/or a service operator of the respective service that the service has become at least partially unmanageable due to a detected control plane connectivity disruption, CPCD, in the signal path and/or to trigger service restoration procedures, wherein if PathModify, PathTear or ResvErr message reaches the neighbouring node of the non-responsive receiving node having caused the control plane connectivity disruption, CPCD, of the respective service, the neighbouring node sends the message directly to the IP address of the next node located after the non-responsive receiving node in the downstream direction, and wherein the next node located after the non-responsive receiving node in the downstream direction forwards the message along the signal path of the service until it reaches the egress node of the respective service to possibly release or reprovision network resources associated with the respective service.