Seamless spanning tree upgrade of a linecard
First Claim
1. A method of restarting a first network device having a plurality of ports for receiving and transmitting layer 2 data, wherein the first network device belongs to a network of network devices, the method comprising:
- when a restart of at least a portion of the first network device is imminent whereby the restarting network device portion can no longer alter a spanning tree protocol (STP) state of one or more of the ports and such ports that remain in a fixed state during the restart are referred to as restarting ports, maintaining a forwarding state of each restarting port that is in a forwarding state during the restart under predefined conditions; and
during the restart, each of the restarting ports of the restarting network device portion cooperating with its peer port of a second non-restarting network device that is a neighbor of the first network device so as to prevent layer 2 loops in the network.
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Abstract
Disclosed are methods and apparatus for restarting a first network device having a plurality of ports for receiving and transmitting layer 2 data is disclosed. The first network device belongs to a network of network devices. When a restart of at least a portion of the first network device is imminent whereby the restarting network device portion can no longer alter a spanning tree protocol (STP) state of one or more of the ports and such ports that remain in a fixed state during the restart are referred to as restarting ports, a current state (such as forwarding) of each restarting port is maintained during the restart under predefined conditions. During the restart, each of the restarting ports of the restarting network device portion cooperate with its peer port of a second non-restarting network device that is a neighbor of the first network device so as to prevent layer 2 loops in the network.
35 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A method of restarting a first network device having a plurality of ports for receiving and transmitting layer 2 data, wherein the first network device belongs to a network of network devices, the method comprising:
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when a restart of at least a portion of the first network device is imminent whereby the restarting network device portion can no longer alter a spanning tree protocol (STP) state of one or more of the ports and such ports that remain in a fixed state during the restart are referred to as restarting ports, maintaining a forwarding state of each restarting port that is in a forwarding state during the restart under predefined conditions; and
during the restart, each of the restarting ports of the restarting network device portion cooperating with its peer port of a second non-restarting network device that is a neighbor of the first network device so as to prevent layer 2 loops in the network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A first network device operable to restart, wherein the first network device has a plurality of ports for receiving and transmitting layer 2 data, wherein the first network device belongs to a network of network devices, the first network device comprising:
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one or more processors;
one or more memory, wherein at least one of the processors and memory are configured for;
when a restart of at least a portion of the first network device is imminent whereby the restarting network device portion can no longer alter a spanning tree protocol (STP) state of one or more of the ports and such ports that remain in a fixed state during the restart are referred to as restarting ports, maintain a forwarding state of each restring port that is in a forwarding state during the restart under predefined conditions; and
during the restart, each of the restarting ports of the restarting network device portion cooperating with its peer port of a second non-restarting network device that is a neighbor of the first network device so as to prevent layer 2 loops in the network. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. An apparatus for restarting a first network device having a plurality of ports for receiving and transmitting layer 2 data, wherein the first network device belongs to a network of network devices, the apparatus being in the form of the first network device and comprising:
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means for when a restart of at least a portion of the first network device is imminent whereby the restarting network device portion can no longer alter a spanning tree protocol (STP) state of one or more of the ports and such ports that remain in a fixed state during the restart are referred to as restarting ports, maintaining a forwarding state of each restating port that is in a forwarding state during the restart under predefined conditions; and
means for during the restart, each of the restarting ports of the restarting network device portion cooperating with its peer port of a second non-restarting network device that is a neighbor of the first network device so as to prevent layer 2 loops in the network.
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28. A network system restarting a first network device having a plurality of ports for receiving and transmitting layer 2 data, wherein the first network device belongs to a network of network devices, comprising:
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a plurality of switches including a first switch and at least one neighbor switch coupled to the first network switch, the first switch being operable to;
when a restart of at least a portion of the first switch is imminent whereby the restarting switch portion can no longer alter a spanning tree protocol (STP) state of one or more of the ports and such ports that remain in a fixed state during the restart are referred to as restarting ports, maintaining a forwarding state of each restarting port during the restart under predefined conditions; and
during the restart, at least one of the restarting ports of the restarting switch portion cooperating with a peer port of the neighbor switch so as to prevent layer 2 loops in the network.
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Specification