Patent ID: 7450598
Filing Date: 2008-11-11
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. An automated method of provisioning a virtual private network, the method comprising: receiving, from an operator, data comprising a plurality of data entries, a first set of the plurality of data entries identifying customer edge (CE) routers, a second set of the plurality of data entries identifying provider edge (PE) routers corresponding to each of the customer edge routers, and a third set of the plurality of data entries identifying a topology type of a virtual private network (VPN); applying a set of rules to the data to produce a plurality of route targets stored in a memory and associated with virtual private networks to be assigned to the network; grouping a set of route targets from the plurality of route targets with respect to each customer equipment node within the network to form a group of route target sets; removing duplicate route target sets from the group of route target sets to form a reduced size of route target sets based on the route targets between duplicate route target sets being the same; assigning each set of route targets (RT) in the reduced size set of route targets to a virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) element and all the CEs with the same RT set on one PE share one VRF; and generating an output file including output data that identifies each of the VRFs and the associated route targets assigned to each of the VRFs; wherein the memory includes a virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) element to route target data mapping for each of a plurality of provider edge routers (PEs) and wherein all of the customer edge routers (CEs) with the same route target (RT) set on one PE share one VRF.