Patent Abstract:
For assigning bandwidth in a constrained topology ethernet network there is presented a function that creates and manages a ledger of bandwidth requests over the ethernet network. The function, a bandwidth manager, tracks the total bandwidth of each link in the network and the bandwidth that has been reserved on each link. When traffic is granted reserved bandwidth the bandwidth manager notes this allocation in the ledger. The header of the traffic packets indicates that the traffic is of highest priority when the traffic has been given reserved bandwidth. In this manner the bandwidth manager can track and limit the amount of high priority traffic on the network.

Full Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to the allocation of bandwidth in constrained topology ethernet networks. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Ethernet has become the most popular physical layer for local area networks and is finding a market in larger data networks (i.e. metropolitan area and wide area). The popularity of ethernet is due in part to the good balance found between cost, speed and installation and maintenance difficulty. 
     The desire to reduce operating costs in networks of all sizes has produced the movement towards networks that can provide multiple services, such as carrying voice, video and data. Many of the current solutions to this problem have relied on ATM switching to map multiple services onto a network. These ATM networks typically operate at speeds between DS-1 (1.544 kbps) to OC-48 (2.5 Gbps) but the cost resulting from the higher speed complex processing leads to expensive network solutions. In addition, as traffic demands grow the evolution to faster ATM products is very costly. Further, expensive equipment is required to connect to an ATM-based network. 
     While ATM cells are effective for controlling “first mile jitter” problems, they are inefficient for carrying both voice and data as the cells are too long for voice but too short for data. 
     The use of frame-based ethernet, especially Gigabit ethernet, as a solution for the problems encountered with data traffic using ATM switching has been capitalized in the metropolitan area network (MAN) by providers such as Yipes™ and Telseon™. However, current high-speed ethernet-based networks only provide a single data service. 
     As the transmission rate for ethernet has increased to 1 Gbps and 10 Gbps it becomes possible to mix real-time traffic with large data frames without incurring large delays since the real-time packets no longer incur a long delay waiting for the completion of the transmission of a large data packet. For example, a 1500 byte data packet only requires 1.2 microseconds on an Ethernet network where as at ATM OC-3 rates (150 Mbps) an ATM cell requires a similar order of magnitude time at 2.8 microsceonds. 
     Although ATM networks operate at slower speeds than other networks, for example ethernet-based networks, ATM provides a guaranteed level of service not provided by ethernet-based networks. ATM networks offer Quality of Service (QoS) that guarantees a throughput level on the network between origination and destination. 
     The advantage of ATM networks is that this QoS ensures that under traffic congestion conditions some users can be guaranteed that their traffic will never be discarded. This characteristics makes ATM attractive for real-time applications, such as circuit emulation, where even small amounts of information loss can severely impact the service. Ethernet networks on the other hand are only able to assign traffic to classes that have different traffic handling characteristics. Unfortunately, these classes do not guarantee that data within these classes is never discarded. If the total volume of traffic requests for a specific class exceeds the bandwidth assigned to that class traffic will be discarded. 
     Further, since the path taken by packets in an ethernet network is not known by the source and there is no switch by switch allocation of bandwidth on trunks, an ethernet network is not able to allocate bandwidth to specific data flows. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     For assigning bandwidth in a constrained topology ethernet network there is presented a function that creates and manages a ledger of bandwidth requests over the ethernet network. The function, a bandwidth manager, tracks the total bandwidth of each link in the network and the bandwidth that has been reserved on each link. When traffic is granted reserved bandwidth the bandwidth manager notes this allocation in the ledger. The header of the traffic packets indicates that the traffic is of highest priority when the traffic has been given reserved bandwidth. In this manner the bandwidth manager can track and limit the amount of high priority traffic on the network. 
     In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided a bandwidth manager for controlling bandwidth resources in an ethernet network having a plurality of nodes, selected pairs of nodes being separated by links of predetermined link bandwidth capacities, the ethernet network having a plurality of paths connecting at least two of the plurality of nodes together, each of said plurality of paths being composed of at least one link. The bandwidth manager includes: means for receiving a bandwidth reservation request including a requested bandwidth capacity, an origination point and a destination point; means for storing available bandwidth capacity for each link in the ethernet network; and means for reserving link bandwidth capacity on a selected one of the plurality of paths based on said bandwidth reservation request and said available bandwidth capacity for each link in the selected one of the plurality of paths. 
     In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of controlling bandwidth resources in an ethernet network having a plurality of nodes, selected pairs of nodes being separated by links of predetermined link bandwidth capacities, the ethernet network having a plurality of paths connecting at least two of said plurality of nodes together, each of said plurality of paths being composed of at least one link. The method includes the following steps: receiving a bandwidth reservation request including a requested bandwidth capacity, an origination point and a destination point; storing available bandwidth capacity for each link in the ethernet network; and reserving link bandwidth capacity on a selected one of the plurality of paths based on said bandwidth reservation request and said available bandwidth capacity for each link in the selected one of the plurality of paths. 
     In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a node on an ethernet network for controlling bandwidth resources, the ethernet network having a plurality of nodes, selected pairs of nodes being separated by links of predetermined link bandwidth capacities, a plurality of paths connecting at least two of the plurality of nodes, each of said plurality of paths being composed of at least one link. The node comprising: a receiver accepting a bandwidth reservation request including a requested bandwidth capacity, an origination point and a destination point; a data store containing available bandwidth capacity for each link in the ethernet network; and a request processor for reserving link capacity on a selected one of the plurality of paths based on said bandwidth reservation request and said available bandwidth capacity for each link of the chosen one of the plurality of paths. 
     In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for controlling bandwidth resources in an ethernet network having a plurality of nodes, selected pairs of said plurality of nodes being separated by links of predetermined link bandwidth capacity, the ethernet network having a plurality of paths connecting at least two of said plurality of nodes together, each of said plurality of paths being composed of at least one link. The computer executable instructions comprising the steps of: receiving a bandwidth reservation request including a requested bandwidth capacity, an origination point and a destination point; storing available bandwidth capacity for each link in the ethernet network; and reserving link bandwidth capacity for a selected one of the plurality of paths based on said bandwidth reservation request and said available bandwidth capacity for each link in the chosen one of the plurality of paths. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention will be described in conjunction with the drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a ring topology ethernet network having bandwidth allocation capabilities according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a star topology ethernet network having bandwidth allocation capabilities according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a system diagram of a bandwidth manager according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a flow diagram of the bandwidth manager according to an embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a system diagram of a bandwidth allocation interface for an ethernet bridge according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  is a network architecture diagram of a ring topology ethernet network  10  having bandwidth allocation capabilities according to an embodiment of the present invention. This invention enables bandwidth to be effectively assigned in the ethernet network  10  through a combination of a constrained topology network  10  and the use of a bandwidth manager  16  that creates and manages a ledger of bandwidth requests for the ethernet network  10 . 
     Ethernet bridges  12  connect data sources  24  to the ethernet network  10 . The data sources  24  may be individual data producing devices, such as computers, or the data sources may be other networks. The data sources  24  each have interfaces (not shown) at the ethernet bridges  12  connecting them and allowing them to send data between the data source  24  and the ethernet bridge  12 . Packets having headers that contain a data source address for the originator and a data source address for the destination are forwarded to the ethernet bridges  12  to be sent along the ethernet network  10 . 
     The ethernet bridges  12  are simple switching devices and do not contain routing functions. The ethernet bridges  12  learn what data sources  24  are connected to each ethernet bridge  12  by looking at the data source address for the originator in each data packet that passes through the bridge  12  and remembering the interface the packet arrived on. The ethernet bridges  12  all have data stores (not shown) that contain a listing of the data source addresses and corresponding interfaces that may be used for translating data source addresses for the destination into an interface to which a received packet may be forwarded. 
     Connected within the ethernet network  10  to the ethernet bridges  12  is a core switch  18  that interfaces the ethernet network  10  with a second network (not shown). The second network to which the core switch  18  is interfacing can be a network using a different communications protocol or physical layer than the ethernet network  10 . The core switch  18  examines the packets it receives and determines a destination point on the second network. The packet can then be forwarded to its destination point. The core switch  18  can also analyze the entire packet to look for errors that would keep the packet from propagating through the second network. The core switch  18  may employ a number of switching technologies, such as ATM, TDM cross-connects or MPLS switches. In all three cases, the core switch  18  would assign bandwidth to connections in the second network to ensure that the bandwidth requested in the ethernet network  10  is provided end-to-end for the packets. 
     The bandwidth management for a ring topology is described in network  10 . The bandwidth reservation and allocation capabilities in the network  10  are found in a bandwidth manager  16  and bandwidth allocation interfaces  14 . The bandwidth manager  16  may be a separate component attached one of the switches in the network  10 , or alternatively, the functions of the bandwidth manager  16  may be contained in one of the ethernet bridges  12 . 
     The bandwidth manager  16  is the single source in the network  10  for the allocation and reservation of bandwidth. When a data source  24  connected to one of the ethernet bridges  12  desires bandwidth reservation the bandwidth manager  16  is contacted and the request is made. The bandwidth manager  16 , once bandwidth availability for each link in the network  10  has been determined, reserves the requested bandwidth. The originating data source  24  is informed that the bandwidth has been reserved and prepares the packet headers accordingly. 
     The bandwidth allocation interfaces  14  are each connected to each of the ethernet bridges  12  to enable the bridges  12  to communicate with the bandwidth manager  16 . The bandwidth allocation interface  14  negotiates with the bandwidth manager  16  for bandwidth reservation. The role of the bandwidth allocation interface  14  is to accept requests for bandwidth from data sources  24  and to forward those requests to the bandwidth manager  16 . 
     For CBR (Constant Bit Rate) traffic, the packet headers have a priority status indictor noting that the traffic must be forwarded at the highest priority. Control traffic might run at a higher priority than CBR but since control traffic has a very low volume the bandwidth manager  16  includes control traffic in its highest priority allocation. To provide the required service for CBR traffic, the ethernet bridges  12  have an absolute priority queuing mechanism (“serve to exhaustion”) for the highest priority traffic. If the ethernet bridge  12  has a configurable bandwidth allocation mechanism, the bandwidth manager  16  must communicate back to each ethernet bridge  12  to modify the bandwidth to reflect the increase (or decrease if a connection is terminated) in requested bandwidth. 
     Only data sources  24  that are participating in the reservation mechanism are allowed to send packets with packet headers set to the highest priority to ensure only registered users have access to this service. This is controlled by both the bandwidth manager  16  and the bandwidth allocation interface  14  by comparing the source address in a packet header with a list containing those data sources  24  that have permission to reserve bandwidth on the network  10 . 
     The bandwidth manager  16  reserves the required bandwidth for traffic around the network  10 . This ensures that if there is a break in the network  10 , either due to failure of an ethernet bridge  12  or a cut in the link between a pair of ethernet bridges  12 , traffic can be forwarded in the opposite direction around the network  10  to reach the destination without concern for congestion, i.e. the bandwidth is allocated to all links around the entire network  10 . Since the network topology has been constrained to a ring in this case, the bandwidth can be allocated without explicit knowledge for each connection by each ethernet bridge  12 . 
     In the ring topology where all traffic is destined to the core switch  18 , link between the ethernet bridges  12  may have different link capacity. For example, the links furthest away from the core switch  18  may have a lower link capacity than those links closer to the core switch  18 . 
       FIG. 2  is a network architecture diagram of a star topology ethernet network  26  having bandwidth allocation capabilities according to an embodiment of the present invention. Ethernet multiplexers(muxes)/bridges  12  connect and multiplex multiple data sources  24  to the network  26 . Traffic from multiple data sources  24 , such as individual data producing devices or networks, are multiplexed together at the ethernet mux/bridge  20  to be passed to an ethernet switch  22 . 
     Each ethernet mux  20  is aware of all the data sources  24  that are directly connected to that mux  20 . Since the ethernet switches  22  are not interconnected all traffic flows from originating mux  20  to one ethernet switch  22  to destination mux  20 . That is, each ethernet mux  22  is connected to the same ethernet switch  22  as the destination mux  20 . In this constrained architecture each mux  20  operates a local instance of a bandwidth manager  16  to ensure that there is no congestion on the link to the ethernet switches  22  that would violate the bandwidth contracts requested by the data sources  24 . The bandwidth manager  16 , as in  FIG. 1  is the source for allocation and reservation of bandwidth. 
     Traffic enters the ethernet mux  20  from a data source  24  that is participating in the reservation system. The traffic is inserted into an ethernet packet (e.g. circuit emulation over MPLS over ethernet) and the destination address is the address of a port on this or another ethernet mux  20 . The packet is forwarded from the mux  20  to the ethernet switch  22  where the destination address is examined and the packet is then forwarded onto the destination. 
     Multiple ethernet mux/bridges  20  are redundantly connected to multiple ethernet switches  22 . Each ethernet switch  22  is connected to the same ethernet muxes/bridges  20 . That is, each ethernet mux/bridge  20  is individually connected to each ethernet switch  22 . In this manner, if one of the ethernet switches  22  fails then the other ethernet switch  22  will take over the functions of the failed switch  22 . 
     The ethernet switches  22  are unaware of the bandwidth allocations made by the ethernet muxes  20 , making it possible for the ethernet switch  22  to forward a connection request to the mux  20  that exceeds the remaining bandwidth on the link between the mux  20  and the ethernet switch  22 . In this situation, the mux  20  will refuse the request back to the source mux  20 . In the star topology  26 , there is not a bandwidth allocation interface since the bandwidth manager  16  is operated in the mux  20  (i.e. not centralized as in the ring topology) and therefore there is no need to communicate with a remote bandwidth manager. 
     The core switch  18  in the star network  26  is connected to each of the ethernet routers  22 . The core switch  18 , as in  FIG. 1 , interfaces the ethernet network  26  with another network. The network to which the core switch  18  is interfacing can be a network using a different communications protocol or physical layer than the ethernet network  10 . 
       FIG. 3  is a system diagram of a bandwidth manager  16  according to an embodiment of the present invention. Bandwidth request packets from the bandwidth allocation interfaces  14  requesting bandwidth are received at an I/O interface  40  and passed to a request processor  42 . The request processor  42  is responsible for coordinating bandwidth reservation request processing. The request processor  42  extracts the requested bandwidth capacity from the bandwidth request packet and consults a bandwidth ledger  44  to determine if there is sufficient bandwidth available on all links in the path to be taken by the traffic. 
     The bandwidth ledger  44  includes a main table  46  containing basic information on each of the links in the network  10 ,  26 . The links are defined by the two endpoints on the link. As different links may have different bandwidth capacity, the total bandwidth for each link is noted with the allocated and available bandwidth. For the bandwidth that has been allocated an allocation table  48  provides details of each reservation for the link. Allocated bandwidth has an identifier that is assigned to the source of the traffic. This allows audit to be performed to ensure that bandwidth is not assigned to a source that no longer exists. Each identifier has an associated bandwidth amount that has been reserved and an associated priority level. 
     The bandwidth manager  16  may keep separate ledgers for different services such as CBR (Constant Bit Rate) and VBR (Variable Bit Rate). For CBR requests, the bandwidth manager  16  must ensure that the full bandwidth request is allocated to the requester since CBR guarantees that the sender can send at the requested rate with absolutely no loss of information. For VBR traffic, the bandwidth manager  16  may choose to allocate more bandwidth than is available since for VBR as the user is not given an absolute guarantee but a probability that they can send at the requested rate. 
     The request processor  42  has a bandwidth ledger interface  50  and a booking manager  52 . The bandwidth ledger interface  50  provides the request processor  42  with an interface to the bandwidth ledger  44 . The bandwidth ledger interface  50  enables the request processor  42  to access the tables  46 ,  48  containing bandwidth capacity information. The information accessed by the bandwidth ledger interface  50  allows the request processor  42  to determine if there is enough bandwidth capacity of the links between the origination and destination points to complete a received bandwidth reservation request. The booking manager  52  receives an indication that there is sufficient bandwidth and reserves capacity on each link between the destination and origination points as indicated in a bandwidth reservation request. 
     The bandwidth manager  16  also contains a registered data sources table  50  that lists all data sources  24  that are registered to use the bandwidth reservation offered by the bandwidth manager  16 . Upon receiving a request for bandwidth reservation, the request processor  42  consults the data sources table  50  to ensure the data source  24  requesting the bandwidth reservation is registered to use the service. 
       FIG. 4  is a flow diagram of the bandwidth manager  16  according to an embodiment of the present invention. At initialization the bandwidth manager  16  would clear the bandwidth ledger  44  of allocated bandwidth to zero for all links in step  62 . A request for bandwidth reservation is received in step  64  at the bandwidth manager  16  from the bandwidth allocation interface  14 . The request contains the originator address, the priority level of the traffic and the amount of bandwidth requested. The information contained in the request is extracted in step  66 . The bandwidth manager  16  checks to confirm that the requesting data source  24  is registered to reserve bandwidth in step  68 . If the requesting data source  24  is not registered then the bandwidth allocation interface  14  that sent the request is informed that the request could not be completed in step  76 . 
     Based on the path through the network the traffic will follow the bandwidth manager  16  checks each link for the available bandwidth in step  70 . The path will be dependant on the topology of the network. For example, in a ring configuration the path is considered to be the entire ring network so bandwidth on every link in the network must be reserved. In a star configuration only bandwidth on those links between originator and destination ethernet muxes and a connecting ethernet switch needs to be reserved. The available bandwidth is compared in step  72  to the request for bandwidth to ensure there is sufficient available bandwidth for the requested reservation. If there is insufficient bandwidth on at least one of the links in the path then the bandwidth allocation interface  14  is informed in step  76  that the request for bandwidth reservation cannot be completed. 
     If there is sufficient bandwidth available on all links then the bandwidth manager  16  reserves the requested bandwidth for all links in the path in step  74 . This is accomplished by adding an entry to the allocation table  48  of each link in the route. Each new entry in each allocation table  48  for each link will contain identical information (i.e. originator address, bandwidth allocated and priority level of traffic). 
       FIG. 5  is a system diagram of a bandwidth allocation interface  14  for an ethernet bridge according to an embodiment of the present invention. An I/O interface  80  connects the bandwidth allocation interface  14  with the ethernet bridge  12 . The I/O interface  80  sends messages to the bandwidth manager  16  requesting a reservation of bandwidth. 
     The bandwidth reservation requests are prepared by a message packager  82  connected to the I/O interface  80 . The message packager  82  receives information from a bandwidth calculator module  84 , a priority level module  86  and a destination module  88 . The information received from these modules  84 ,  86 ,  88  is the basis for the bandwidth reservation request. 
     The bandwidth allocation interface  14  contains a registered data source table  90  having a list of all data sources  24  connected to the ethernet bridge  12  of the bandwidth allocation interface  14  that are registered to reserve bandwidth. The message packager  82  consults the registered data source table  90  to determine if a bandwidth reservation request should be forwarded based on whether or not the originator is listed as being registered to reserve bandwidth. 
     The bandwidth calculator module  84 , the priority level module  86  and the destination module  88  extract data from traffic coming into the ethernet bridge  12  that is destined for the network  10 . The destination module  88  examines all traffic coming into the ethernet bridge  12  to determine its destination point. If the detected destination point is accessible by the network  10  then the destination module  88  extracts the destination point from the traffic and forwards this information to the message packager  82 . This causes the priority level module  86  to be invoked to determine the traffic type. Based on the traffic type the priority level module  86  can determine whether or not bandwidth needs to be reserved. If the traffic is time-sensitive, such as voice, then the priority level module  86  informs the bandwidth calculator module  84  that bandwidth must be reserved. The priority level module  86  passes the priority level of the traffic to the message packager  82 . The bandwidth calculator module  84  determines the amount of bandwidth that needs to be requested and forwards this to the message packager  82 . Upon receipt of the bandwidth amount the message packager  82  creates a request for bandwidth that is transmitted to the bandwidth manager  16 . 
     It is apparent to one skilled in the art that numerous modifications and departures from the specific embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7