Implicit interprocess communications (IPC) versioning support

• US 20050155040A1
• Filed: 09/03/2004
• Published: 07/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Doshi, Sanjiv, Ishwar, Prashanth
• Granted Patent: US 7,653,911 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/313
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues

Abstract

Compatibility between applications in a network node with a distributed architecture is maintained after application upgrades by associating version compatibility information with interprocess communications (IPC) message structures and then utilizing the version compatibility information to identify IPC message structures that are used for communications between applications. Once the version compatibility information is associated with the IPC message structures, applications are configured to use only those IPC message structures that are compatible with the currently running version.

Claims

1. A method for managing applications in a network node that has a distributed architecture comprising:

associating version compatibility information with interprocess communications (IPC) message structures; and

utilizing the version compatibility information to identify the IPC message structures that are used in communications between applications.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the communications are between applications that reside on different independent computer systems of the network node.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein associating version compatibility information with IPC message structures comprises embedding version compatibility information into a message structure identifier field.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein associating version compatibility information with IPC message structures comprises embedding version compatibility information into a comment field that indicates the name of an IPC message structure.

5. The method of claim 1 further including indicating, in a communication from a first application to a second application, which version of the first application is being used.

6. The method of claim 1 further including:

creating a protocol header file that identifies IPC message structures;

identifying, in the protocol header file, which versions of an application are supported by the protocol header file; and

identifying, in the protocol header file, the version compatibility information that is associated with the IPC message structures.

7. The method of claim 6 further including utilizing the protocol header file to configure a message library of an application.

8. The method of claim 1 further including identifying a highest common version that is supported by first and second applications, where the first and second applications reside on different independent computer systems of the network node.

9. A method for managing applications in a network node that has a distributed architecture comprising:

associating version compatibility information with interprocess communications (IPC) message structures;

identifying the highest common version that is supported by first and second applications that reside on different independent computer systems of the network node; and

utilizing IPC message structures that are compatible with the identified highest common version for communications between the first and second applications.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein utilizing IPC message structures that are compatible with the identified highest common version includes negotiating the highest common version between the first and second applications.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein associating version compatibility information with IPC message structures comprises embedding version compatibility information into a message structure identifier field.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein associating version compatibility information with IPC message structures comprises embedding version compatibility information into a comment field that indicates the name of an IPC message structure.

13. The method of claim 9 further including identifying, in a protocol header file, which versions of the first application are supported.

14. The method of claim 9 further including utilizing protocol header files that include the version compatibility information to configure a message library of the first and second applications.

15. A network node for a packet-based communications network comprising:

a first independent computer system having a processing unit, an operating system, and an application;

a second independent computer system having a processing unit, an operating system, and an application; and

a switch fabric that provides data paths between the first and second independent computer systems;

wherein the applications of the first and second independent computer systems include version managers that are configured to;

associate version compatibility information with interprocess communications (IPC) message structures; and

utilize the version compatibility information to identify the IPC message structures that are used in communications between the applications of the first and second independent computer systems.

16. The network node of claim 15 wherein the version managers are further configured to embed version compatibility information into a message structure identifier field.

17. The network node of claim 15 wherein at least one of the version managers is further configured to indicate, in a communication from the application of the first independent computer system to the application of the second independent computer system, which version of the application of the first independent computer system is used in the communication.

18. The network node of claim 15 wherein at least one of the version managers is further configured to:

create a protocol header file that identifies IPC message structures;

identify, in the protocol header file, which versions of an application are supported by the protocol header file; and

identify, in the protocol header file, the version compatibility information that is associated with the IPC message structures.

19. The network node of claim 18 wherein the protocol header file is used to configure a message library.

20. The network node of claim 15 wherein the version managers are further configured to identify a highest common version that is supported by the applications of the first and second independent computer systems.

21. A network node for a packet-based communications network comprising:

a first independent computer system having a processing unit, an operating system, and an application;

a second independent computer system having a processing unit, an operating system, and an application; and

a switch fabric that provides data paths between the first and second independent computer systems;

wherein the applications of the first and second independent computer systems include version managers that are configured to;

associate version compatibility information with interprocess communications (IPC) message structures;

identify the highest common version that is supported by first and second applications that reside on different independent computer systems of the network node; and

utilize IPC message structures that are compatible with the identified highest common version for communications between the first and second applications.

22. The network node of claim 21 wherein the version managers are further configured to negotiate the highest common version between the applications of the first and second independent computer systems.

23. The network node of claim 21 wherein the version managers are further configured to embed version compatibility information into a message structure identifier field.

24. The network node of claim 21 wherein the version managers are further configured to identify, in a protocol header file, which versions of the application are supported by the protocol header file.

25. The network node of claim 24 wherein the protocol header file is used to configure a message library.