Application aware inter-chassis redundancy

• US 10,210,058 B1
• Filed: 09/30/2015
• Issued: 02/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Srinath, Harsha, Agrawal, Sanjay, Krishna, Gopi, Basu, Ananya
• Primary Examiner(s): Contino, Paul
• Application Number:
  US14/871,405
• Time in Patent Office: 1,238 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1471 involving logging of persistent data for recovery
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/20 using active fault-masking, e.g. by switching out faulty elements or by switching in spare elements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2012 and using different communication protocols
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2023 Failover techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2028 eliminating a faulty processor or activating a spare
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2038 with a single idle spare processing component
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2041 with more than one idle spare processing component
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3006 where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3041 where the computing system component is an input/output interface interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units G06F13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0659 by isolating or reconfiguring faulty entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0663 Performing the actions predefined by failover planning, e.g. switching to standby network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/28 using route fault recovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/586 of virtual routers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/102 Gateways arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways, H04L12/66
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 : for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A redundant service delivery gateway system and method. Configuration information defining roles for redundant service delivery gateways is received via a user interface defined for each of a plurality of redundant service delivery gateways. Configuration information defining one or more redundancy events, a redundancy policy associated with each redundancy event and two or more redundancy sets is also received via a user interface. Each redundancy set is associated with one or more of the redundancy events and each redundancy set includes a master redundancy state and a standby redundancy state. A first redundancy event detected in a first service delivery gateway leads to a transition, in the first service delivery gateway, from a master redundancy state to a standby redundancy state in the redundancy set associated with the first redundancy event.

Claims

1. A service delivery gateway comprising:

a forwarding component that directs received packet flows to service chains, each of the service chains being a different ordered combination of one or more services in a plurality of services, wherein performance levels of the services are independent of an overall operational state of the service delivery gateway;

a user interface configured to receive configuration information conforming to a syntax, the configuration information defining;

one or more redundancy events that include critical events defined as failures or degradations in specific services in the plurality of services;

a plurality of redundancy policies, wherein each respective redundancy policy of the plurality of redundancy policies specifies one or more of the redundancy events and one or more actions to take in response to an occurrence of the one or more redundancy events specified by the respective redundancy policy;

a plurality of redundancy sets, the plurality of redundancy sets including a first redundancy set, wherein for each respective redundancy set of the plurality of redundancy sets;

the configuration information defining the respective redundancy set specifies that the respective redundancy set corresponds to a group of one or more of the redundancy policies,

the service delivery gateway is configured to operate in either a master redundancy state for the respective redundancy set or a standby redundancy state for the respective redundancy set; and

a routing component configured to, in response to detecting occurrence of a particular redundancy event of the defined redundancy events specified by a particular redundancy policy of one of the one or more redundancy policies corresponding to the first redundancy set, trigger a transition from the service delivery gateway being in the master redundancy state for the first redundancy set to the service delivery gateway being in the standby redundancy state for the first redundancy set, wherein the routing component is configured such that, as part of triggering the transition, the routing component;

in response to detecting the particular redundancy event, adds a signal-route to a Routing Information Base (RIB); and

advertises the signal-route to routing protocol peer network devices, wherein the signal-route causes the routing protocol peer network devices to route traffic requiring services of one or more of the service chains to a second, different service delivery gateway.

2. The service delivery gateway of claim 1, wherein the service delivery gateway is a first service delivery gateway and, as part of triggering the transition, the routing component communicates the transition to the second service delivery gateway, which triggers, on the second service delivery gateway, a transition from the second service delivery gateway being in the standby redundancy state for the first redundancy set to the second service delivery gateway being in the master redundancy state for the first redundancy set.

3. The service delivery gateway of claim 2, wherein the routing component of the first service delivery gateway communicates, to the second service delivery gateway and via Inter-Chassis Control Protocol (ICCP), the transition from the first service delivery gateway being in the master redundancy state for the first redundancy set to the first service delivery gateway being in the standby redundancy state for the first redundancy set.

4. The service delivery gateway of claim 2, wherein the service delivery gateway is included in a plurality of service delivery gateways in a service delivery system, and each of the service delivery gateways communicates, to other ones of the service delivery gateways and via Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP), the transition from the first service delivery gateway being in the master redundancy state for the first redundancy set to the first service delivery gateway being in the standby redundancy state for the first redundancy set.

5. The service delivery gateway of claim 1,

wherein the service delivery gateway is included in a plurality of service delivery gateways in a service delivery system, and the service delivery gateways route packets to application services, wherein each of the service delivery gateways monitors the application services and generates application service critical errors on detecting problems with the application services, and

wherein the configuration information classifies the application service critical errors as redundancy events.

6. The service delivery gateway of claim 1, wherein the service delivery gateway is included in a plurality of service delivery gateways in a service delivery system, the syntax further allows the user to assign link interface critical events to one of the redundancy events, wherein the service delivery gateways of the service delivery system include link interfaces connected to a plurality of links, wherein the service delivery gateways monitor the link interfaces and generate link interface critical events on detecting problems with one of the link interfaces.

7. The service delivery gateway of claim 1, wherein the service delivery gateway is included in a plurality of service delivery gateways in a service delivery system, the service delivery gateway is a first service delivery gateway and, the syntax supported by the user interface further allows the user to configure each of the redundancy sets such that, for each respective redundancy set of the plurality of redundancy sets, when one of the redundancy events specified by a redundancy policy associated with the respective redundancy set triggers a transition from the first service delivery gateway being in the master redundancy state for the respective redundancy set to the first service delivery gateway being in the standby state for the respective redundancy set, the routing component redirects traffic associated with the respective redundancy set from the first service delivery gateway to the second service delivery gateway in the plurality of service delivery gateways and communicates the transition to the second service delivery gateway, which triggers a transition from the second service delivery gateway being in the standby redundancy state for the respective redundancy set to the second service delivery gateway being in the master redundancy state for the respective redundancy set.

8. The service delivery gateway of claim 7, wherein the routing component maintains a set of signal-routes and wherein the syntax allows the user to configure the routing component to redirect the traffic associated with the respective redundancy set by adding the signal-route to or deleting the signal-route from the set of signal-routes and by advertising to routing peers a change in the set of signal-routes.

9. The service delivery gateway of claim 7, wherein the syntax further allows the user to configure the routing component to redirect the traffic associated with the respective redundancy set by adding the signal-route to or deleting the signal-route from the set of signal-routes and by advertising a change in the set of signal-routes using VRRP.

10. The service delivery gateway of claim 7, wherein the syntax further allows the user to install signal-routes, and to define a routing policy associated with each of the signal-routes, wherein the routing policy advertises routes based on the existence or non-existence of signal-routes.

11. The service delivery gateway of claim 10, wherein the routing component includes a routing protocol process, wherein the routing protocol process advertises changes in the set of signal-routes.

12. The service delivery gateway of claim 1, wherein the service delivery gateway is included in a plurality of service delivery gateways in a service delivery system, and the routing component further includes a service redundancy daemon, and

wherein the syntax allows the user to configure the first redundancy set such that, when the particular redundancy event triggers the transition the service redundancy daemon communicates the transition to the second service delivery gateway, which triggers a transition on a redundancy set state machine executing on the second service delivery gateway from being in the standby redundancy state for the first redundancy set to being in the corresponding master redundancy state for the first redundancy set.

13. The service delivery gateway of claim 1, wherein the service delivery gateway is included in a plurality of service delivery gateways in a service delivery system, and the syntax allows the user to specify one or more redundancy groups and to specify a communication mechanism for communication between the redundancy groups,

wherein each of the redundancy groups includes one or more of the redundancy sets, and

wherein each of the redundancy groups defines common peering properties across two or more of the plurality of service delivery gateways.

14. The service delivery gateway of claim 13, wherein the communication mechanism includes Inter-Chassis Control Protocol (ICCP).

15. The service delivery gateway of claim 14, wherein the communication mechanism further includes Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD).

16. A method comprising:

receiving, via a user interface, configuration information defining roles for a plurality of redundant service delivery gateways, wherein the redundant service delivery gateways include a first service delivery gateway and a second service delivery gateway, each of the redundant service delivery gateways including a respective forwarding component configured to direct received packet flows to service chains, each of the service chains being a different ordered combination of one or more services in a plurality of services;

receiving, via the user interface, configuration information defining one or more redundancy events that include critical events defined as failures or degradations in specific services in a plurality of services, wherein performance levels of the services are independent of overall operational states of the service delivery gateways, the one or more redundancy events including a first redundancy event, wherein the first redundancy event includes a first critical event;

receiving, via the user interface, configuration information defining a plurality of redundancy policies, where each respective redundancy policy of the plurality of redundancy policies specifies one or more of the redundancy events and one or more actions to be taken in response to an occurrence of the one or more redundancy events specified by the respective redundancy policy, the plurality of redundancy policies including a first redundancy policy that specifies the first redundancy event;

receiving, via the user interface and within each of the redundant service delivery gateways, configuration information defining a plurality of redundancy sets, wherein for each respective redundancy set of the plurality of redundancy sets;

the configuration information defining the respective redundancy set specifies that the respective redundancy set corresponds to a group of one or more of the redundancy policies,

for each respective service delivery gateway of the service delivery gateways, the respective service delivery gateway is configured to operate either in a master redundancy state for the respective redundancy set or a standby redundancy state for the respective redundancy set;

wherein the plurality of redundancy sets includes a first redundancy set, the first redundancy set including the first redundancy policy,

in response to detecting, in the first service delivery gateway, an occurrence of the first critical event, initiating, in the first service delivery gateway, a transition from the first service delivery gateway being in the master redundancy state for the first redundancy set to the first service delivery gateway being in the standby redundancy state for the first redundancy set wherein initiating the transition comprises;

in response to detecting the particular redundancy event, adding a signal-route to a Routing Information Base (RIB); and

advertising the signal-route to routing protocol peer network devices, wherein the signal-route causes the routing protocol peer network devices to route traffic requiring services of one or more of the service chains to the second service delivery gateway.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein initiating the transition from the first service delivery gateway being in the master redundancy state for the first redundancy set to the first service delivery gateway being in the standby redundancy state for the first redundancy set includes notifying the second service delivery gateway of the transition.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein notifying includes transmitting an Inter-Chassis Control Protocol (ICCP) message.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein notifying includes transmitting a Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) message.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein:

the configuration information defining the one or more redundancy events includes configuration information defining a second redundancy event, wherein the second redundancy event includes a second critical event,

the method further comprises receiving, via the user interface, configuration information defining a second redundancy policy that specifies one or more actions to be taken on occurrence of the second redundancy event,

wherein the configuration information defining the plurality of redundancy sets includes configuration information defining a second redundancy set, wherein the second redundancy set is associated with the second redundancy event, and

wherein the method further comprises;

detecting occurrence of the second critical event in the first service delivery gateway;

executing, in the first service delivery gateway, the redundancy policy associated with the second redundancy event; and

initiating, in the first service delivery gateway, a transition from the first service delivery gateway being in the master redundancy state for the second redundancy set to the first service delivery gateway being in the standby redundancy state for the second redundancy set.

21. A system comprising:

a plurality of links; and

a plurality of service delivery gateways connected by the links, the plurality of service delivery gateways including a first service delivery gateway and a second service delivery gateway, wherein each respective service delivery gateway of the plurality of service delivery gateways includes a corresponding routing component, a corresponding forwarding component and a corresponding user interface, wherein;

for each respective service delivery gateway of the plurality of service delivery gateways, the forwarding component of the respective service delivery gateway directs packet flows received by the respective service delivery gateway to service chains providing one or more services in a plurality of services, wherein performance levels of the services are independent of overall operational states of the service delivery gateways, and the user interface of the respective service delivery gateway is configured to receive confirmation information conforming to a syntax, the configuration information defining;

one or more redundancy events that include critical events defined as failures or degradations in specific services in the plurality of services;

a plurality of redundancy policies, wherein each of the redundancy policies specifies one or more of the redundancy events and one or more actions to take in response to an occurrence of the one or more redundancy events specified by the redundancy policy;

a plurality of redundancy sets, the plurality of redundancy sets including a first redundancy set, wherein, for each respective redundancy set of the plurality of redundancy sets, the configuration information defining the respective redundancy set specifies that the respective redundancy set corresponds to a group of one or more of the redundancy policies,

for each respective service delivery gateway of the plurality of service delivery gateways, the respective service delivery gateway is configured to operate either in a master redundancy state for the respective redundancy set or a standby redundancy state for the respective redundancy set, and

the routing component of the first service delivery gateway is configured to, in response to detecting occurrence of a particular redundancy event of the defined redundancy events specified by a particular redundancy policy of the one or more redundancy policies corresponding to the first redundancy set, trigger a transition from the first service delivery gateway being in the master redundancy state for the first redundancy set to the first service delivery gateway being in the standby redundancy state for the first redundancy set and trigger a transition, in the second service delivery gateway, from the second delivery gateway being in the standby redundancy state for the first redundancy set to second delivery gateway being in the master redundancy state for the first redundancy set, wherein the routing component of the first service delivery gateway is configured such that, as part of triggering the transition from the first service delivery gateway being in the master redundancy state for the first redundancy set to the first service delivery gateway being in the standby redundancy state for the first redundancy set, the routing component of the first service delivery gateway;

in response to detecting the particular redundancy event, adds a signal-route to a Routing Information Base (RIB); and

advertises the signal-route to routing protocol peer network devices, wherein the signal-route causes the routing protocol peer network devices to route traffic requiring services of one or more of the service chains to the second service delivery gateway.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein each service delivery gateway of the plurality of service delivery gateways includes a means for monitoring delivery of the plurality of services and for generating a critical error on detecting a problem with the delivery of the plurality of services, wherein the critical error is associated with a first redundancy event in the one or more redundancy events.

23. A service delivery gateway comprising:

a user interface;

a routing component connected to the user interface;

a forwarding component that receives packet flows and directs the received packet flows to service chains, each of the service chains being a different ordered combination of one or more services in a plurality of services, wherein performance levels of the services are independent of an overall operational state of the service delivery gateway; and

error detection means, connected to the service delivery means, for detecting an error in delivery of the services;

wherein the user interface includes;

means for receiving, via the user interface, configuration information defining one or more redundancy events that includes critical events defined as failures or degradations in specific services in the plurality of services;

means for receiving, via the user interface, configuration information defining a redundancy policy specifying the one or more redundancy events and specifies one or more actions to be taken in response to an occurrence of the one or more redundancy events specified by the redundancy policy;

means for receiving, via the user interface and within each of the redundant service delivery gateways, configuration information defining a plurality of redundancy sets, the plurality of redundancy sets including a first redundancy set, wherein for each respective redundancy set of the plurality of redundancy sets;

the configuration information defining the respective redundancy set specifies that the respective redundancy set corresponds to a group of one or more of the redundancy policies,

the service delivery gateway is configured to operate either in a master redundancy state for the respective redundancy set or a standby redundancy state for the respective redundancy set;

means for initiating, in response to detecting in the first service delivery gateway an occurrence of a particular event of the defined redundancy events specified by a particular redundancy policy of the one or more redundancy policies corresponding to the first redundancy set, a transition from the service delivery gateway being in the master redundancy state for the first redundancy set to the service delivery gateway being in the standby redundancy state for the first redundancy set, wherein the means for initiating the transition comprises;

means for adding, in response to detecting the particular redundancy event, a signal-route to a Routing Information Base (RIB); and

means for advertising the signal-route to routing protocol peer network devices, wherein the signal-route causes the routing protocol peer network devices to route traffic requiring services of one or more of the service chains to a second, different service delivery gateway.