Universal upgrade architecture

• US 20060041881A1
• Filed: 08/19/2004
• Published: 02/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Adkasthala, Bheema Prakash
• Application Number:
  US10/921,439
• Publication Number:
  US 20060041881A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/658 Incremental updates; Differential updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0859 by keeping history of different configuration generations or by rolling back to previous configuration versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A method of upgrading a wireless communication network node comprises transferring new software modules to the node as needed, saving existing configuration information for the old version of software, and configuring the node for operation with the new version of software using the saved configuration information where appropriate. The upgrade method saves a listing of data instances used by the old software, and saves the actual configuration values for those data instances. Then, the upgrade method configures the node for operation with the software by determining which data instances used in the new version of software had corresponding data instances in the old software, and using the saved configuration information for those data instances. For data instances where reuse of prior configuration data is not possible, or is not desired, the method uses default configuration data, which may be supplied in the form of an upgrade configuration file.

Claims

1. A method of upgrading from old software to new software at a node in a wireless communication network comprising:

receiving an upgrade configuration file at the node that includes default configuration values for the new software and a list of software modules comprising the new software;

initiating transfer of software modules needed at the node for the new software based on the list;

saving snapshot data representing the existing node configuration for the old software and then activating the new software at the node; and

configuring the node for operation with the new software by carrying forward actual configuration values saved in the snapshot data where appropriate, and otherwise by using default configuration values from the upgrade configuration file.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating transfer of software modules needed at the node for the new software based on the list comprises comparing a list of software modules existent at the node to the list included in the upgraded configuration file to identify software modules that are new or changed, and initiating transfer of the new or changed software modules to the node.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein saving snapshot data representing the existing node configuration for the old software and then activating the new software at the node comprises saving a listing of data instances existent in the old software and saving corresponding attribute values for those data instances.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein configuring the node for operation with the new software by carrying forward actual configuration values saved in the snapshot data where appropriate, and otherwise by using default configuration values from the upgrade configuration file comprises identifying data instances existent in the new software that have corresponding data instances in the old software, and configuring those data instances using the saved attribute values, and configuring remaining data instances in the new software using default configuration values from the upgrade configuration file.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein saving snapshot data representing the existing node configuration for the old software and then activating the new software at the node comprises saving a list of managed object instances in the old software, along with saving actual configuration values for those managed object instances.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein configuring the node for operation with the new software by carrying forward actual configuration values saved in the snapshot data where appropriate, and otherwise by using default configuration values from the upgrade configuration file comprises configuring managed object instances in the new software using either actual configuration values from the saved snapshot data or default configuration values from the upgrade configuration file depending on whether a given managed object instance in the new software has a corresponding managed object instance in the old software.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising translating from an old data type to a new data type for actual configuration values carried forward from the saved snapshot data where configuration value data types have changed between the old and new software.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein activating the new software at the node comprises marking the software modules comprising the new software for execution, and then restarting the node.

9. A computer readable medium storing a computer program for upgrading from old software to new software at a node in a wireless communication network, said computer program comprising:

program instructions to receive an upgrade configuration file at the node that includes default configuration values for the new software and a list of software modules comprising the new software;

program instructions to initiate transfer of software modules needed at the node for the new software based on the list;

program instructions to save snapshot data representing the existing node configuration for the old software and then activate the new software at the node; and

program instructions to configure the node for operation with the new software by carrying forward actual configuration values saved in the snapshot data where appropriate, and otherwise by using default configuration values from the upgrade configuration file.

10. The computer readable medium storing the computer program of claim 9, wherein the program instructions to initiate transfer of software modules needed at the node for the new software based on the list comprise program instructions to compare a list of software modules existent at the node to the list included in the upgraded configuration file to identify software modules that are new or changed, and initiate transfer of the new or changed software modules to the node.

11. The computer readable medium storing the computer program of claim 9, wherein the program instructions to save snapshot data representing the existing node configuration for the old software and then activate the new software at the node comprise program instructions to save a listing of data instances existent in the old software and saving corresponding attribute values for those data instances.

12. The computer readable medium storing the computer program of claim 11, wherein the program instructions to configure the node for operation with the new software by carrying forward actual configuration values saved in the snapshot data where appropriate, and otherwise by using default configuration values from the upgrade configuration file comprise program instructions to identify data instances existent in the new software that have corresponding data instances in the old software, and configure those data instances using the saved attribute values, and configure remaining data instances in the new software using default configuration values from the upgrade configuration file.

13. The computer readable medium storing the computer program of claim 9, wherein the program instructions to save snapshot data representing the existing node configuration for the old software and then activating the new software at the node comprise program instructions to save a list of managed object instances in the old software, and to save actual configuration values for those managed object instances.

14. The computer readable medium storing the computer program of claim 13, wherein the program instructions to configure the node for operation with the new software by carrying forward actual configuration values saved in the snapshot data where appropriate, and otherwise by using default configuration values from the upgrade configuration file comprise program instructions to configure managed object instances in the new software using either actual configuration values from the saved snapshot data or default configuration values from the upgrade configuration file depending on whether a given managed object instance in the new software has a corresponding managed object instance in the old software.

15. The computer readable medium storing the computer program of claim 9, further comprising program instructions to translate from an old data type to a new data type for actual configuration values carried forward from the saved snapshot data where configuration value data types have changed between the old and new software.

16. The computer readable medium storing the computer program of claim 9, wherein the program instructions to activate the new software at the node comprise program instructions to mark the software modules comprising the new software for execution, and then restart the node.

17. A method of upgrading from old software to new software at a node in a wireless communication network comprising:

saving attribute values for data instances existent in the old software before activating the new software at the node;

identifying data instances in the new software having corresponding data instances in the old software; and

configuring attribute values of said identified data instances in the new software using the attribute values saved for the corresponding data instances in the old software, and configuring attribute values of any remaining data instances in the new software using default configuration values.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the data instances in the old software and in the new software comprise instantiations of managed objects as defined by the old and new software.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein identifying data instances in the new software having corresponding data instances in the old software comprises comparing a first list of data instances existent in the new software to a second list of data instances existent in the old software to identify which data instances in the new software have corresponding data instances in the old software.

20. A method of upgrading from old software to new software at a node in a wireless communication network comprising executing an upgrade management program at the node that is configured to:

read an upgrade configuration file to identify software modules needed at the node for the new software, and to initiate transfer of such software modules to the node;

save configuration values associated with the old software before activating the new software at the node; and

configure the node for operation with the new software using saved configuration values for data instances common to the old and new software, and using default configuration values for data instances not common to the old and new software.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the upgrade manager program is configured to identify data instances common to the old and new software by comparing a first listing of data instances existing in the new software to a second listing of data instances existing in the old software.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the upgrade management program is configured to read the first listing from the upgrade configuration file.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the upgrade manager program is configured to generate the second listing of data instances before activating the new software at the node by querying an information management database stored at the node.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the data instances existing in the old software and in the new software comprise instances of managed objects respectively defined in the old and new software.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein the upgrade management program is configured to obtain the default configuration values from the upgrade configuration file.