Title of Invention

A METHOD OF TUNNEL END POINT CREATION USING SIMPLE NETWORK MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL

Abstract

The invention provides a method for automating the process of creating Tunnel End Points for a configured IPv6 over IPv4 tunnel using SNMP. According to the invention the automation of tunnel end point creation is at v4/v6 nodes (most of the cases Dual stack border routers) separated by IPv4 routing infrastructure. It is also an object of the invention to automate the configuration for configured IPv6 in IPv4 tunnels to facilitate the communication between multiple IPv6 clouds separated by IPv4 routing infrastructure.

Full Text

FIELD OF INVENTION This invention relates, in general, to the field of Internet communication in general and creation of tunnel end points for IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6) over IPv4 (Internet Protocol Version 4) tunneling in particular. Specifically, the invention applies to IPv4/(Pv6 nodes (hosts or routers that implements both IPv4 and IPv6) connected to 4bone network. More particularly, this invention encompasses a method for automating the process of creating Tunnel End Points for a configured IPv6 over IPv4 tunnel using SNMP. It is pertinent herein to refer to co-pending application number 1469 CHE 2004. DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART As IPv4 to IPv6 Transition is currently in the infant stage, many IPv6 networks that are coming up require connectivity between these clouds through IPv4 backbone. A number of IPv4 to IPv6 Transition mechanisms like Tunneling, Translation and Dual-Stack Transition Mechanisms are currently being used to enable IPv4 and IPv6 to co-exist and co-work during the transition phase. Tunneling is the most common transition mechanism deployed worldwide. To establish the tunnel, tunnel end points need to be created at the v4/v6 nodes (Hosts or routers that implements both IPv4 and IPv6) separated by IPv4 Internet. IPv6-in-IPv4 (IPv6 packets encapsulated in an IPv4 packet) tunnels between the clouds establish the IPv6 connectivity transparently to the IPv6 nodes in the clouds over IPv4 backbone/infrastructure. There is a growing awareness among the standards committees like IETF, 3GPP and 3GPP2 to make efforts to develop and deploy methods to automate the process of establishing IPv6-in-IPv4 tunnels so that isolated IPv6 networks or hosts can obtain connectivity to other such IPv6 networks or hosts over IPv4 backbone networks with very minimal changes to existing protocols and equipments. The TRANS-MECH (Gilligan, R., Nordmark, E, "Transition Mechanisms for IPv6 Hosts and Routers", RFC 2893, August 2000) explains manually configured tunnels, wherein bi-directional IPv6-in-IPv4 tunnels have to be configured to reach each and every IPv6 network that attaches to the IPv4 backbone/infrastructure. Alternately TEP-DHCPV4 (Syam Madanapalli, S. Daniel Park, Radhakrishnan S, OLN Rao, "Configured Tunnel End-Point Configuration using DHCPv4", draft"daniel-dhc-dhcpv4-tep-conf-01, July 7, 2004) explains configuration using DHCPv4 options, which extends IPv4 life indirectly by providing extensions to DHCPv4. Configured tunneling is explained below with reference to Fig. 1, which shows as how two IPv6 networks are connected to each other using Configured Tunneling. Here R1 and R2 are two Dual-Stack Border Routers attached to their respective IPv6 networks and IPv4 is the backbone over which R1 and R2 communicate. 1 AtR1 1.1. 1.2. 2. AtR2, 2.1. 2.2. Create a tunnel with source as R1 and destination as R2. Add a static route in the IPv6 routing table to route IPv6 packets destined for R2's IPv6 network/hosts. Create a tunnel with source as R2 and destination as R1. Add a static route in the IPv6 routing table to route IPv6 packets destined for Rl's IPv6 network/hosts. 3. Any packets from IPv6 hosts belonging to R1 or R2 can now reach each other over the tunnel. Apart from what is already mentioned hereinbefore, 6to4 (Carpenter, B., Moore, K, "Connection IPv6 Domains via IPv4 Clouds", RFC 3056, February 2001) describes automatic 6to4 tunneling in which 6to4 tunnels uses a special prefix which leads to scalability and site numbering during transition and hence it is not widely recommended for use. 6to4 Automatic Tunneling is detailed below with reference to Figure.2 that shows as how tunneling happens between two IPv6 networks (6to4 sites) connected over IPv4 backbone. Assume that R1 and R2 are two Dual-Stack Border Routers connected over IPv4 backbone and attached to their respective IPv6 networks. Then 1. 6to4 IPv6 Address creation (Refer to Figure.3) Any isolated IPv6 domain can autonomously build its own globally unique IPv6 prefix. The globally unique IPv4 address of the domain border router is used for this purpose. 2. For communication among 6to4 sites 2.1. The egress router automatically creates a tunnel to the destination domain using the IPv4 endpoint is extracted from the destination IPv6 prefix. 2.2. For this to work, only the egress router has to be 6to4 capable. 3. This automatic tunneling happens for each and every packet getting routed between the 6to4 sites. Even though the prior art methods are capable achieving the results, they possess some drawbacks as listed below. 1. Manual Configuration method is tedious. 2. If no route to reach IPv6 destination is available, then packets are either discarded or dropped by Dual-Stack Border Router. In view of the above the invention proposes a method to automate the tunnel end point creation (configuring tunnel information) at tunnel end nodes using SNMP. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The primary object of this invention is therefore to provide a method for automating tunnel end point creation at v4/v6 nodes (most of the cases Dual stack border routers) separated by IPv4 routing infrastructure and which demand IPv6 connectivity. It is another object of the invention to use SNMP for configuring the Tunnel End Points between the boarder routers and hence to automate the configuration of tunnel information such as address and other configuration information. It is yet another object of the invention to automate the configuration for configured IPv6 in IPv4 tunnels to facilitate the communication between multiple IPv6 clouds separated by IPv4 routing infrastructure. Accordingly, the invention provides a method for automating the process of creating Tunnel End Points for a configured IPv6 over IPv4 tunnel using SNMP in a system having Dual-Stack Border Router as v4/v6 nodes wherein one of them possesses the capacity of SNMP manager and the rest owning the capability of SNMP, the method comprising the steps of: a) configuring the tunnel configuration pertaining to the new nod (cloud) at the SNMP manager whenever a new v4/v6 node is added to the v4 network; b) SNMP manager sending SNMP SET request to the new v4/v6 node with the tunnel configuration information of all the nodes; c) processing the SNMP SET request by the said new v4/v6 node and configuring the tunnel configuration information of all the nodes if the attempt succeeds; d) sending a response to the SNMP manager indicating success or failure of the configuration; e) repeating the above steps for configuring each and every existing node other than SNMP manager and the new node in order to effect the incorporation of tunnel configuration information of new v4/v6 node. These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from a reading of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS Figure 1 shows as how two IPv6 networks are connected to each other using Configured Tunneling. Figure 2 shows as how tunneling happens between two IPv6 networks (6to4 sites) connected over IPv4 backbone. Figure 3 depicts forming IPv6 address for hosts within a 6to4 site using 6to4 prefix and IPv4 address of the Dual-Stack Border Router to which they are connected. Figure 4 shows an example network where two isolated IPv6 networks are connected over IPv4 backbone. Figure 5 shows the operation of the method disclosed in this invention when a first v4/v6 node is added, that is only SNMP manager is present. It depicts message flow between SNMP manager and new v4/v6 node. Figure 6 shows the operation of the method disclosed in this invention when v4/v6 nodes other than SNMP manager are present and if a new v4/v6 node is added. (That is if some more v4/v6 nodes are present along with SNMP manager. It depicts message flow) Figure 7 shows the operation of the method disclosed in this invention when new v4/v6 node receives SNMP SET request to configure tunnel information from SNMP manager. It shows the message sequence in new v4/v6 node. It depicts message flow. Figure 8 shows the operation of the method disclosed in this invention when new v4/v6 node receives SNMP SET request to configure tunnel information from SNMP manager. It shows the sequence of operations in new v4/v6 node. Figure 9 shows an example where only SNMP manager (v4/v6 node) is attached to 4bone network. It depicts how network looks like when only one SNMP manager (v4/v6 node) is present. Figure 10 shows an example when first node is attached to 4bone network to which only SNMP manager (v4/v6 node) is attached. It depicts how network looks like when first v4/v6 node is added to 4bone network other than SNMP manager. Sequences messages exchanged between SNMP manager and new v4/v6 node is shown in Figure 5. Figure 11 shows an example when one more v4/v6 node is attached to 4bone network. It depicts how network looks like when one more v4/v6 node is added to the network in Figure 10. Sequence of messages exchanged between v4/v6 nodes and manager are shown in Figure 6. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood however that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. The following description and drawings are not to be construed as limiting the invention and numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention, as the basis for the claims and as a basis for teaching one skilled in the art how to make and/or use the invention. However in certain instances, well-known or conventional details are not described in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention in detail. For the purposes of this invention, we assume that one node (mostly v4/v6 node connected to v4 network) will have the capability of SNMP manager, and the other v4/v6 nodes, which want v6 connectivity over v4 network, have SNMP agent capability. Generally these v4/v6 nodes will be border routers. These border routers will act as default/gateway routers for one or more IPv6 networks connected to its downstream links. The upstream links from these border routers are connected to IPv4 backbone networks. It is to be further understood that the Border Routers present are having Dual-Stack (supports both IPv4 and IPv6) capability. The proposed will be implemented in the node, which has SNMP manager capability. If more than one v4/v6 node is having SNMP manager capability, then one of them needs to be selected to execute the method. The method according to the invention is triggered when a new v4/v6 node is added to the v4 network. The step-by-step operation of the invention is detailed below. Here SNMP manager is v4/v6 node or may be a v4 node 1. Whenever a new v4/v6 node is added to the v4 network, its tunnel configuration information will be configured at the SNMP manager. 2. SNMP manager will send SNMP SET request to the new v4/v6 node with the tunnel configuration information of all the nodes. If there are n (n>0) v4/v6 nodes connected to v4 network and if the SNMP manager is having n nodes tunnel configuration information, SNMP manager will send SNMP SET request with the n (n>0) nodes tunnel configuration information to the new v4/v6 node. 3. The new v4/v6 node will process the SNMP SET request and configure the tunnel configuration information of n (n>1) v4/v6 nodes. 4. If the configuration in step 3 is SUCCESS then new v4/v6 node will send a response to the SNMP manager indicating SUCCESS. 5. If the configuration in step 3 is FAILURE then new v4/v6 node will send a response to the SNMP manager indicating FAILURE. 6. If SNMP manager receives response indicating SUCCESS then go to step 9. 7. If SNMP manager receives response-indicating FAILURE and if the number of retransmissions reaches a threshold value, then go to step 18. 8. If SNMP manager receives response indicating FAILURE and if the number of retransmission less than threshold value then go to step 2. 9. If there is no node other than SNMP manager and new v4/v6 node, then the method is completed, go to step 19. 10. If at least one more v4/v6 node is present other than SNMP manager and new v4/v6 node, then for each node i (node other than SNMP manager and new node) repeat steps 11 to 17. 11. SNMP manager will send the SNMP SET request with new v4/v6 nodes tunnel configuration information to node i. 12. The node i will process the SNMP SET request and configure the tunnel configuration information of new v4/v6 nodes. 13. If the configuration in step 12 is SUCCESS then new v4/v6 node will send a response to the SNMP manager indicating SUCCESS. 14. If the configuration in step 12 is FAILURE then new v4/v6 node will send a response to the SNMP manager indicating FAILURE. 15. If SNMP manager receives response indicating SUCCESS then go to step 10 if there are some more nodes to be processed otherwise go to 19. 16. If SNMP manager receives response-indicating FAILURE and if the number of retransmissions reaches a threshold value, then go to step 18. 17. If SNMP manager receives response indicating FAILURE and if the number of retransmission less than threshold value then go to step 11. 18. Some problem in the system, asks for the intervention of system administrator. 19. END (SUCCESS). According to an alternate embodiment of the invention, instead of configuring at the new node first and remaining v4/v6 nodes next, remaining v4/v6 nodes can be configured first and then new node can be configured. The above-mentioned steps are further elaborated herein with respect to the figures. Figure 1 shows as how two IPv6 networks are connected to each other using Configured Tunneling. R1 and R2 are two Dual-Stack Border Routers attached to their respective IPv6 networks and IPv4 is the backbone over which R1 and R2 communicate. Whenever packets destined to nodes in the iPv6 Island where R2 present are received at R1 or R1 wants to send, R1 tunnels the packets to R2. At R1, IPv6 packets are encapsulated into IPv4, and are sent through IPv4 network to R2. These encapsulated packets received at R2 will be decapsulated. Packet formats are also shown in the figure. That is, at R1, IPv4 header is added to the packet with source address as IPv4 address of R1 and destination address as IPv4 address of R2. This added IPv4 header would be removed from the packet at R2. Supplementing to the above. Figure 2 explains as how tunneling happens between two IPv6 networks (6to4 sites) connected over IPv4 backbone. R1 and R2 are two Dual-Stack Border Routers attached to their respective IPv6 networks. R1 and R2 are connected over IPv4 backbone and they support 6to4 tunneling. In this IPv4 addresses are derived from IPv6 addresses. For example, if packets are tunneling from R1 to R2, IPv4 address of the destination router R2 is derived from IPv6 address of router R2 and IPv4 address of the router R1 is derived from IPv6 address of router R1. IPv4 address of R1 will be used as source address and IPv4 address of R2 is used as destination address in the tunneled packet. Figure 3 depicts forming IPv6 address for hosts within a 6to4 site using 6to4 prefix and IPv4 address of the Dual-Stack Border Router to which they are connected. The Dual-Stack Border Router supports 6to4 tunneling. This figure shows how an isolated IPv6 domain can build a globally unique IPv6 prefix using IPv4 address. A well-known 0x2002 is appended to IPv4 address of dual-stack border router to form a 48-bit IPv6 prefix. For Example, consider IPv4 address of border router as 163.162.1.1, if 0x2002 is prepended to IPv4 address, the 48 bit IPv6 prefix formed is2002:A3A2:0101::/48. Bringing more details pertaining to the figure, Figure 4 shows an example network where two isolated IPv6 networks are connected over IPv4 backbone. In this figure each isolated IPv6 network contains a dual-stack border router. Two dual-stack border routers are connected to IPv4 backbone. Consider the case where IPv6 Hosti sends IPv6 packets destined to IPv6 Host2. These packets first reaches to dual-stack border routerl. and will be tunneled to dual-stack border router2 using v6 in v4 tunneling. Tunnel information at dual-stack border routerl such as IPv4 address of dual-stack border router2 and other information are taken from the information determined using the mechanism specified in this patent. Now coming to the details of the invention. Figure 5 shows the operation of the method disclosed in this invention when a first v4/v6 node is added, that is only SNMP manager is present. It depicts message flow between SNMP manager and new v4/v6 node. New nodes tunnel information such as IPv4 address of new node and other information are configured at SNMP Manager. The way in which new v4/v6 nodes tunnel information is configured at manager may be using manual configuration or some other method. Manager will send SNMP set request containing SNMP managers' tunnel information to new node, to configure SNMP Managers tunnel information. New v4/v6 node configures the tunnel information and returns SUCCESS or FAILURE. Figure 6 shows the operation of the method disclosed in this invention when v4/v6 nodes other than SNMP manager are present and if a new v4/v6 node is added. That is if some more v4/v6 nodes are present along with SNMP manager. New nodes' tunnel information such as IPv4 address and other information are configured at SNMP manager SNMP manager sends a set request containing tunnel information of all the v4/v6 nodes (including SNMP manager) other than new v4/v6 node, to new v4/v6 node to configure tunnel information. New v4/v6 node returns SUCCESS or FAILURE. SNMP manager sends tunnel information of new v4/v6 node to all other nodes (nodes other than SNMP manager and new v4/v6 node) and these nodes will return SUCCESS or FAILURE. Referring to Figure 7, the operation of the invention when new v4/v6 node receives SNMP SET request to configure tunnel information from SNMP manager is herein explained. It shows the message sequence in new v4/v6 node. New node configures the tunnel information present in the set request and returns SUCCESS or FAILURE of the configuration. Figure 8 shows the operation of the method disclosed in this invention when new v4/v6 node receives SNMP SET request to configure tunnel information from SNMP manager. It can be understood that SNMP agent present on the new v4/v6 node asks layer 3 (IP layer) to configure the tunnel information that is received in SNMP set request. Layer 3 configures tunnel information and returns SUCCESS or FAILURE to SNMP Agent; in turn SNMP Agent will send SUCCESS or FAILURE to SNMP manager. Figures 9,10 and 11 represents the case where only SNMP manager (v4/v6 node) is attached to 4bone network. It depicts how network looks like when only one SNMP manager (v4/v6 node) is present. The operation herein is substantially same as depicted by Figures 5 and 6, and the respective description. The invention possesses the following major advantages. a. If n v4/v6 nodes present and a new v4/v6 node is added then for manual configuration total 2*n configurations are required. For this method only one manual configuration is required, that is initial configuration at SNMP manager. b. Complexity of configuring for all the nodes for manual configuration is 0(n) where as for this method is 0(1) where n is number of v4/v6 nodes connected to v4 infrastructure. c. This method automates the process of configuring tunnel information. d. This method is very easy to implement and requires very minimal implementation changes. Only for SNMP manager this procedure need to be added, for other nodes if SNMP agent is preset and tunnel MIB is supported then nothing need to be changed. It will also be obvious to those skilled in the art that other control methods and apparatuses can be derived from the combinations of the various methods and apparatuses of the present invention as taught by the description and the accompanying drawings and these shall also be considered within the scope of the present invention. Further, description of such combinations and variations is therefore omitted above. It should also be noted that the host for storing the applications include but not limited to a microchip, microprocessor, handheld communication device, computer, rendering device or a multi function device. Although the present invention has been fully described in connection with the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications are possible and are apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as included within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims unless they depart therefrom. WE CLAIM 1. A method for automating the process of creating Tunnel End Points for a configured IPv6 over IPv4 tunnel using SNMP in a system having Dual-Stack Border Router as v4/v6 nodes wherein one of them possesses the capacity of SNMP manager and the rest owning the capability of SNMP, the method comprising the steps of: a) configuring the tunnel configuration pertaining to the new node (cloud) at the SNMP manager whenever a new v4/v6 node is added to the v4 network; b) SNMP manager sending SNMP SET request to the new v4/v6 node with the tunnel configuration information of all the nodes; c) processing the SNMP SET request by the said new v4/v6 node and configuring the tunnel configuration information of all the nodes if the attempt succeeds; d) sending a response to the SNMP manager indicating success or failure of the configuration; e) repeating the above steps for configuring each and every existing node other than SNMP manager and the new node in order to effect the incorporation of tunnel configuration information of new v4/v6 node. 2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the SNMP manager continues to send, consequent on failure message, SNMP SET request to the v4/v6 node being configured until the number of retransmissions reaches a threshold value. 3. The method according to claim 2 wherein system asks for the intervention of system administrator if all the retransmissions within threshold value returns failure information. 4. The method as claimed in claim 3 wherein the administrator configures the alerting threshold value of the counter determining the number of retransmissions. 5. A method for automating the process of creating Tunnel End Points for a configured IPv6 over IPv4 tunnel using SNMP in a system having Dual-Stack Border Router as v4/v6 nodes wherein one of them possesses the capacity of SNMP manager and the rest owning the capability of SNMP, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Documents:

1473-CHE-2004 FORM-1 10-02-2014.pdf

1473-CHE-2004 OTHER PATENT DOCUMENT 10-02-2014.pdf

1473-CHE-2004 AMENDED CLAIMS 10-02-2014.pdf

1473-CHE-2004 AMENDED PAGES OF SPECIFICATION 10-02-2014.pdf

1473-CHE-2004 EXAMINATION REPORT REPLY RECEIVED 10-02-2014.pdf

1473-CHE-2004 POWER OF ATTORNEY 10-02-2014.pdf

1473-CHE-2004 FORM-13 19-06-2006.pdf

1473-CHE-2004 FORM-13 12-12-2013.pdf

1473-CHE-2004 FORM-13 17-12-2013.pdf

1473-che-2004-abstract.pdf

1473-che-2004-claims.pdf

1473-che-2004-correspondnece-others.pdf

1473-che-2004-description(complete).pdf

1473-che-2004-description(provisional).pdf

1473-che-2004-drawings.pdf

1473-che-2004-form 1.pdf

1473-che-2004-form 26.pdf

1473-che-2004-form 5.pdf

1473-che-2004-other documents.pdf