Managing network device configuration using versioning and partitioning

• US 20060007944A1
• Filed: 01/25/2005
• Published: 01/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ward, David, Jain, Kapil, Puvvala, Sukumar, McDonnell, Neal, Letchworth, C. Michael, Movassaghi, Yassin
• Granted Patent: US 7,779,404 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0813 characterised by the conditions triggering a change of settings
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0866 Checking the configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration

Abstract

Configuration versioning and partitioning are provided as methods for managing large configuration for a network element such as a router or switch. In one aspect, a method performed in a network element, the network element comprising a plurality of software components that control operations and features of the network element, wherein operations and features of the network element are defined in part by a configuration, comprises creating and storing one or more configuration partition namespaces each comprising a version identifier and one or more configuration tuples; associating one or more of the configuration partition namespaces in a configuration partition; associating one of the software components and the one or more configuration partition namespaces; and creating and storing information identifying one of the software components, its associated configuration partition namespaces, and the version identifier of each of the configuration partition namespaces.

Claims

1. A method performed in a network element, the network element comprising a plurality of software components that control operations and features of the network element, wherein operations and features of the network element are defined in part by a configuration, the method comprising:

creating and storing one or more configuration partition namespaces each comprising a version identifier and one or more configuration tuples;

associating one or more of the configuration partition namespaces in a configuration partition;

associating one of the software components and the one or more configuration partition namespaces; and

creating and storing information identifying one of the software components, its associated configuration partition namespaces, and the version identifier of each of the configuration partition namespaces.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein associating one of the software components and the one or more configuration partition namespaces comprises creating a namespace component data structure that contains an association of one of the software components and the one or more configuration partition namespaces.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the network element is a router comprising a distributed plurality of nodes, wherein nodes comprise route processors or line cards.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a different configuration partition is associated with each of the nodes.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein a further configuration partition is associated with an administration plane of the network element.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a different configuration partition is associated with each of a plurality of technology features of the network element that are implemented in the software components.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a different configuration partition is associated with each of a plurality of logical interfaces of the network element.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the version identifier comprises a major version number and a minor version number, the method further comprising:

receiving information defining a configuration commit representing a change in one or more of the configuration tuples;

determining whether the change comprises only adding one or more configuration tuples;

incrementing only the minor version number when the change comprises only adding one or more configuration tuples, and otherwise incrementing the major version number.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

loading an active set of configuration partition namespaces as part of a boot up process;

installing a software component that is not associated with the active set of configuration partition namespaces;

creating and storing a new configuration partition namespace corresponding to the installed software component.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

processing a command to uninstall a software component from the network element while the network element is running;

identifying one or more of the configuration partition namespaces that are associated with the software component to be uninstalled;

removing, from a system database that holds an active configuration, all configuration tuples associated with the identified configuration partition namespaces;

removing the identified configuration partition namespaces;

deactivating the software component.

11. The method of claim 9 or claim 10, further comprising:

storing information describing the installed software component and the uninstalled software component in a namespace change set;

storing the namespace change set in persistent storage.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving information defining a configuration commit;

storing, in persistent storage, metadata describing the configuration commit as part of a rollback point among a plurality of rollback points, wherein the rollback point includes a version number, wherein the version number is associated with an active partition and a software component;

receiving a request to roll back to an earlier version number;

selecting one of the rollback points that corresponds to the earlier version number;

determining whether software components associated with the selected one of the rollback points are compatible with other software components associated with an active namespace set.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

periodically deleting old rollback points from the persistent storage;

determining whether a particular namespace change set is referenced by no rollback points, and if so, deleting the particular namespace change set.

14. A machine-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of any of claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, or 13.

15. An apparatus comprising means for performing the functions provided in steps of any of claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, or 13.

16. An apparatus comprising a memory storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of any of claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, or 13.

18. A packet router as recited in claim 17, wherein the sequences of instructions further comprise instructions which, when executed by any of the processing nodes, cause any of the processing nodes to perform the steps of any of claims 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, or 13.

17. A packet router, comprising:

a plurality of distributed processing nodes, wherein each of the nodes is controlled by a network device operating system comprising a plurality of software components that control operations and features of the router, wherein operations and features of the router are defined in part by a configuration;

one or more sequences of instructions, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by any of the processing nodes causes any of the processing nodes to perform the steps of;

creating and storing one or more configuration partition namespaces each comprising a version identifier and one or more configuration tuples;

associating one or more of the configuration partition namespaces in a configuration partition;

associating one of the software components and the one or more configuration partition namespaces; and

creating and storing information identifying one of the software components, its associated configuration partition namespaces, and the version identifier of each of the configuration partition namespaces.