Ethernet differentiated services conditioning

Abstract

A network includes an edge node configured to define the per-hop behaviors using a set of bits in an Ethernet header of a frame and a core node configured to receive the frame and to forward the frame according to the per-hop-behaviors. The network can also include a defined set of differentiated service classes, each differentiated service class associated with the set of per-hop behaviors, indicated in the set of priority bits. The network classifies the Ethernet frame based on at least one of a set of priority bits or information in at least one protocol layer in the frame header of the Ethernet frame and determines a per-hop behavior based on the classification.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A network device, comprising:
 at least one communication interface configured to receive an Ethernet frame; and   a frame forwarder communicatively coupled to the at least one communication interface, the frame forwarder being configured with a priority capability that enables mapping of the Ethernet frame to one of a plurality of traffic classes with each traffic class being associated with a respective combination of three (3) priority bits in a priority code point (PCP) field of a VLAN tag of the Ethernet frame, at least two (2) of the traffic classes being associated with a common priority but different respective drop precedence levels and no one priority bit of the 3 priority bits in an Ethernet frame being completely determinative of either the priority or the drop precedence level of the Ethernet frame without reference to the other  2  priority bits of the 3 priority bits in the Ethernet frame.   
     
     
         2 . The network device of  claim 1 , wherein the 3 priority bits provide 8 different combinations of the 3 priority bits, and the frame forwarder is configured to use some of the 8 different combinations to classify the Ethernet frame into less than 8 priorities and others of the 8 different combinations for other purposes. 
     
     
         3 . The network device of  claim 2 , wherein the frame forwarder is further configured to associate a plurality of respective drop precedence levels with some of the less than 8 priorities and to associate a single drop precedence level with others of the less than 8 priorities. 
     
     
         4 . The network device of  claim 2 , wherein the frame forwarder is further configured to associate combinations of priority bits not associated with priorities with congestion indications. 
     
     
         5 . The network device of  claim 4 , wherein the frame forwarder is further configured to associate with congestion indications 2 combinations of priority bits not associated with priorities. 
     
     
         6 . The network device of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one other communication interface configured to transmit an Ethernet frame, wherein the frame forwarder comprises at least one queue for queuing Ethernet frames to be forwarded, the frame forwarder being further configured to schedule Ethernet frames in the queue for transmission via the at least one other communication interface. 
     
     
         7 . The network device of  claim 6 , wherein the frame forwarder further comprises a respective queue for each of the less than 8 priorities. 
     
     
         8 . The network device of  claim 6 , wherein the frame forwarder enqueues in one queue a first Ethernet frame having respective combination of priority bits associated with a first priority and a first drop precedence level and a second Ethernet frame having a respective combination of priority bits associated with the first priority and a second drop precedence level. 
     
     
         9 . The network device of  claim 1 , wherein the frame forwarder is further configured to selectively discard Ethernet frames based on respective priority bit combinations associated with the Ethernet frames. 
     
     
         10 . The network device of  claim 9 , wherein the frame forwarder is further configured to selectively discard Ethernet frames based on respective drop precedence levels associated with the respective priority bit combinations associated with the Ethernet frames. 
     
     
         11 . The network device of  claim 2 , wherein the frame forwarder is further configured to change the combination of the 3 priority bits in the PCP field of the VLAN tag of the Ethernet frame to remark the Ethernet frame with a drop precedence indication. 
     
     
         12 . The network device of  claim 1 , wherein the frame forwarder is further configured to change the combination of the 3 priority bits in the PCP field of the VLAN tag of the Ethernet frame to remark the Ethernet frame to map per hop behavior between multiple domains. 
     
     
         13 . The network device of  claim 1 , wherein the frame forwarder is further configured to change the combination of the 3 priority bits in the PCP field of the VLAN tag of the Ethernet frame to remark the Ethernet frame to perform per hop behavior compression. 
     
     
         14 . The network device of  claim 1 , wherein the frame forwarder is further configured to change the combination of the 3 priority bits in the PCP field of the VLAN tag of the Ethernet frame to remark the Ethernet frame to effect priority bit translation. 
     
     
         15 . The network device of  claim 1 , wherein the frame forwarder is further configured to condition the Ethernet frame. 
     
     
         16 . The network device of  claim 1 , wherein the frame forwarder is further configured to determine a bandwidth profile based on the set of priority bits. 
     
     
         17 . The network device of  claim 1 , wherein the frame forwarder is further configured to determine a forwarding treatment for the Ethernet frame based on the set of priority bits. 
     
     
         18 . A network device, comprising:
 at least one communication interface configured to transmit Ethernet frames; and   a frame forwarder communicatively coupled to the at least one communication interface, the frame forwarder being configured with a priority capability that enables mapping of the Ethernet frames to respective traffic classes of a plurality of traffic classes with each traffic class being associated with a respective combination of three (3) priority bits in a priority code point (PCP) field of an Ethernet VLAN tag, at least two (2) of the traffic classes being associated with a common priority but different respective drop precedence levels and no one priority bit of the 3 priority bits in an Ethernet frame being completely determinative of either the priority or the drop precedence level of the Ethernet frame without reference to the other 2 priority bits of the 3 priority bits in the Ethernet frame, the frame forwarder being configured to enqueue in one queue Ethernet frames having a common priority but different drop precedence levels, and being configured to selectively discard Ethernet frames based on respective drop precedence levels associated with the Ethernet frames.   
     
     
         19 . The network device of  claim 18 , wherein the 3 priority bits provide 8 different combinations of the 3 priority bits, and the frame forwarder is further configured to use some of the 8 different combinations to classify the Ethernet frames into less than 8 priorities and others of the 8 different combinations for other purposes. 
     
     
         20 . The network device of  claim 19 , wherein the frame forwarder is further configured to associate a plurality of respective drop precedence levels with some of the less than 8 priorities and to associate a single drop precedence level with others of the less than 8 priorities. 
     
     
         21 . The network device of  claim 19 , wherein the frame forwarder is further configured to associate combinations of priority bits not associated with priorities with congestion indications. 
     
     
         22 . The network device of  claim 21 , wherein the frame forwarder is further configured to associate with congestion indications 2 combinations of priority bits not associated with priorities. 
     
     
         23 . The network device of  claim 18 , wherein the frame forwarder is further configured to change the combination of the 3 priority bits in the PCP field of the VLAN tag of the Ethernet frames to remark the Ethernet frames with a drop precedence indication. 
     
     
         24 . The network device of  claim 18 , wherein the frame forwarder is further configured to change the combination of the 3 priority bits in the PCP fields of the VLAN tags of the Ethernet frames to remark the Ethernet frames to map per hop behavior between multiple domains. 
     
     
         25 . The network device of  claim 18 , wherein the frame forwarder is further configured to change the combination of the 3 priority bits in the PCP fields of the VLAN tags of the Ethernet frames to remark the Ethernet frames to perform per hop behavior compression. 
     
     
         26 . The network device of  claim 18 , wherein the frame forwarder is further configured to change the combination of the 3 priority bits in the PCP fields of the VLAN tags of the Ethernet frames to remark the Ethernet frames to effect priority bit translation. 
     
     
         27 . The network device of  claim 18 , wherein the frame forwarder is further configured to condition the Ethernet frames. 
     
     
         28 . The network device of  claim 18 , wherein the frame forwarder is further configured to determine a bandwidth profile based on the sets of priority bits. 
     
     
         29 . The network device of  claim 18 , wherein the frame forwarder is configured to determine forwarding treatments for the Ethernet frames based on the sets of priority bits.