Ethernet lan service enhancements

Abstract

Numerous enhancements to metro Ethernet network (MEN) E-LAN services and IETF Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) include an enhancement of the overall Quality of Service (QoS) architecture, an enhancement to classification at the provider edge, the use of Ethernet QoS classes, enhancements to policing and marking at ingress provider edge equipment, the provision of traffic management functions at egress provider edge equipment, the use of multiple Ethernet virtual connections (EVCs) and Aggregate EVCs, an enhancement to QoS across an external network-network interface and an enhancement to treatment of Ethernet service frames in a core network.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A traffic management method comprising, at a first provider edge node in a provider network:
 receiving an Ethernet service frame;   determining an identity of an Ethernet Virtual Connection (EVC) to associate with the Ethernet service frame;   determining a service class for the Ethernet service frame based on the identity of the Ethernet Virtual Connection;   selecting a forwarding treatment for the Ethernet service frame based on the service class;   determining how to schedule transmission of the Ethernet service frame based on the forwarding treatment; and   transmitting the Ethernet service frame over the EVC from the first provider edge node to a second node in the provider network.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 determining an access scheduling treatment for association with the Ethernet service frame;   selecting a candidate core scheduling treatment for the Ethernet service frame, based on the access scheduling treatment; and   selecting a candidate transport tunnel in a core of the provider network based on the candidate core scheduling treatment;   wherein transmitting the Ethernet service frame over the EVC comprises transmitting the Ethernet service frame on the candidate transport tunnel.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the core of the provider network is a multi-protocol label switching network. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , comprising setting up the candidate transport tunnel using a resource reservation protocol with traffic engineering. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , comprising setting up the candidate transport tunnel using a label distribution protocol. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein:
 the second node in the provider network is a second edge node in the provider network;   the candidate transport tunnel terminates at the second provider edge node in the provider network; and   the first provider edge node and the second provider edge node are connected as part of a mesh of pseudo-wires.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , comprising:
 determining an estimate of a bandwidth requirement for traffic between the first provider edge node and the second provider edge node; and   setting up the candidate transport tunnel to have a dimension sufficient to accommodate the estimate of the bandwidth requirement.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the pseudo-wires are Ethernet pseudo-wires. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the pseudo-wires are asynchronous transfer mode pseudo-wires. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the pseudo-wires are frame relay pseudo-wires. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 determining an estimate of a bandwidth required between the first provider edge node and the second node in the provider network for the EVC;   establishing a tunnel in the provider network based, at least in part, on the estimate;   receiving a request to admit a pseudo-wire on the tunnel; and   admitting the pseudo-wire on the tunnel.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 determining an access network class of service associated with the Ethernet service frame;   selecting a core network class of service based on the access network class of service; and   marking the Ethernet service frame with an indication of the core network class of service to provide a marked Ethernet service frame;   wherein transmitting the Ethernet service frame over the EVC comprises transmitting the marked Ethernet service frame over the EVC.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 determining an identity of a Ethernet virtual connection group associated with the Ethernet service frame, where the Ethernet virtual connection group associates a plurality of Ethernet virtual connections; and   selecting the EVC from the Ethernet virtual connection group.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 selecting a candidate Quality of Service (QoS) class, from among a plurality of QoS classes, for the Ethernet service frame;   determining a type and at least one limit for a traffic parameter for the Ethernet service frame based on the candidate QoS class;   determining a compliance rule for the Ethernet service frame based on the candidate QoS class;   determining a performance target for the Ethernet service frame based on said candidate QoS class; and   servicing the Ethernet service frame according to the type and the at least one limit for the traffic parameter, the performance target and the compliance rule.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the EVC is a multipoint-to-multipoint EVC. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the EVC is associated with a Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS). 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the first provider edge node receives the Ethernet service frame at a first network interface of the first provider edge node;   the second node in the provider network is a second provider edge node in the provider network; and   the EVC associates the first network interface of the first provider edge node with at least a second network interface of the second edge node of the provider network   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein at least one of first network interface and the second network interface is a User-Network Interface (UNI). 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein at least one of first network interface and the second network interface is a Network-Network Interface (NNI).