Global network management configuration

• US 20050198215A1
• Filed: 12/23/2003
• Published: 09/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Helmerich, Lawrence
• Granted Patent: US 7,698,394 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0843 based on generic templates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0856 by backing up or archiving configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4523 using lightweight directory access protocol [LDAP]

Abstract

A method and system are disclosed for remotely storing information for initializing a configurable network device at a direct server in the network. The information for initializing the configurable network device is automatically retrieved and used by the network device to self-initialize after the network address of the directory server is provided. Included in the information in some embodiments are the network addresses of a policy server and an authentication server, thereby allowing the network device to automatically retrieve policy information and authentication information as needed. Remote storage of substantially all information used to setup and run the network device substantially reduces the effort needed to backup or change information for large distributed networks including numerous configurable network devices.

Claims

1. An automated setup method in a first configurable network device (CND) associated with device-specific setup information (DSSI), the CND operably coupled to a distributed network comprising a DSSI server having a DSSI server identifier, a policy server having a policy server identifier, and an authentication server having an authentication server identifier, the method comprising the steps of:

storing substantially all the DSSI at the DSSI server, the DSSI comprising the policy server identifier and the authentication server identifier;

storing policy information for the CND at the policy server;

storing authentication information for the CND at the authentication server;

inputting the DSSI server identifier to the CND; and

retrieving the DSSI for the CND from the DSSI server.

2. The automated setup method of claim 1, wherein the step of retrieving occurs automatically upon initialization and boot-up of the CND.

3. The automated setup method of claim 2, wherein the method further includes the step of retrieving policy information from the policy server using the policy server identifier retrieved from the DSSI server.

4. The automated setup method of claim 3, wherein substantially all the policy information is automatically retrieved at initialization and boot-up.

5. The automated setup method of claim 3, wherein the policy server identifier is a network address.

6. The automated setup method of claim 2, wherein the method further includes the step of retrieving authentication information from the authentication server using the authentication server identifier retrieved from the DSSI server.

7. The automated setup method of claim 6, wherein substantially all the authentication information is automatically retrieved at initialization and boot-up.

8. The automated setup method of claim 6, wherein the authentication server identifier is a network address.

9. The automated setup method in claim 1, wherein the CND is a multi-layer switching device.

10. The automated setup method of claim 9, wherein the DSSI comprises:

system settings, chassis and interface settings, Internet Protocol routing information, device-specific setup (DSS) policy information, DSS authorization and security settings, accounting settings, simple network management protocol, server load balancing properties, web accesses properties, domain name service, group mobility advertisement protocol, virtual local area network advertisement Protocol, and asynchronous transfer mode setup information.

11. The automated setup method in claim 1, wherein the DSSI server is a directory server.

12. The automated setup method in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

repeating the DSSI retrieving step one or more times while the CND is in a standard operational state; and

caching the DSSI information acquired in the retrieving step in a CND memory.

13. The automated setup method in claim 12, wherein the method further comprises, after the step of retrieving the associated DSSI, the steps of:

determining whether the current policy server identifier retrieved from the DSSI server is different than a previous policy server identifier retained in CND memory; and

retrieving policy information from the policy server using the current policy server identifier if different than the previous policy server identifier.

14. The automated setup method in claim 12, wherein the method further comprises, after the step of retrieving the associated DSSI, the steps of:

determining whether the current authentication server identifier retrieved from the DSSI server is different than a previous authentication server identifier retained in CND memory; and

retrieving authentication information from the authentication server using the current authentication server identifier if different than the previous authentication server identifier.

15. The automated setup method in claim 12, wherein the DSSI further comprises a DSSI server identifier associated with the DSSI server.

16. The automated setup method in claim 15, wherein further includes, after the step of retrieving the associated DSSI, the steps of:

determining whether the current DSSI server identifier retrieved from the DSSI server is different than a previous DSSI server identifier retained in CND memory; and

retrieving DSSI from the DSSI server using the current DSSI server identifier retrieved if different than the previous DSSI server identifier.

17. The automated setup method in claim 1, wherein the DSSI server and the policy server are the directory server.

18. The automated setup method in claim 1, wherein the DSSI server and the policy server are different servers.

19. A configurable network device (CND) associated with device-specific setup information (DSSI);

wherein the CND is operably coupled to a distributed network comprising a DSSI server with an associated DSSI server identifier, a policy server with an associated policy server identifier, and an authentication server with an associated authentication server identifier, the CND comprising;

a local memory for retaining the DSSI server identifier;

an update manager adapted for;

retrieving the DSSI associated with the CND from the DSSI server using the DSSI server identifier, wherein the DSSI comprises the policy server identifier; and

caching, in the local memory, the DSSI information acquired in the DSSI retrieving step;

retrieving policy information from the policy server using the policy server identifier; and

caching, in the local memory, the policy information acquired in the policy retrieving step.

20. The configurable network device of claim 19, wherein the update manager is further adapted for:

retrieving authentication information from the authentication server using the authentication server identifier in the DSSI; and

caching, in the local memory, the authentication information acquired in the authentication retrieving step.

21. A method for configuring a first node in a communication network having a plurality of nodes, comprising the steps of:

storing on a second node first configuration information for the first node;

storing on a third node second configuration information for the first node;

retrieving by a fourth node the first and second configuration information in response to a configuration request received by the fourth node from the first node; and

applying the first and second configuration information to configure the first node.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the first configuration information is authentication information.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the second configuration information is policy information.