Method For Upgrading The Communication Device

• US 20070220503A1
• Filed: 02/04/2005
• Published: 09/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Luo, Bing, Fan, Jinfei, Ye, Weichuan, She, Jiangfa
• Granted Patent: US 8,495,616 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1433 during software upgrading
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0856 by backing up or archiving configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

Disclosed is a method for updating communication equipment through a server in a communication system, where the server stores the updated files used for updating the communication equipment. In this method, configuration data in the communication equipment are backed up in the server at first, and then the updated files are downloaded to the communication equipment from the server, and the updated files are loaded to the communication equipment to implement the communication equipment update; at last, the configuration data backed up in the server are recovered to the communication equipment. The disclosed method can guarantee the successful update of the communication equipment and no data loss after the update, thus the security of the communication equipment update is greatly improved.

Claims

1. A method for updating communication equipment in a communication system through a server, which stores updated files used for updating the communication equipment, comprising:

backing up configuration data in the communication equipment to the server;

downloading the updated files to the communication equipment from the server, and loading the updated files to the communication equipment to implement the communication equipment update;

recovering the configuration data backed up in the server to the communication equipment.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, the step of backing up the configuration data in the communication equipment to the server further comprises:

the server monitoring the backup procedure of the configuration data and judging whether the configuration data are successfully backed up, if yes, executing the step of downloading the updated files to the communication equipment from the server and loading the updated files to the communication equipment to implement the communication update;

otherwise, instructing the communication equipment to execute the backup operation for the configuration data again.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein, the step of the server judging whether the configuration data are successfully backed up comprises one of the two following procedures:

judging whether a backup failure message is received from the communication equipment; and

judging whether the backup operation exceeds a scheduled time.

4. The method according to claim 2, before instructing the communication equipment to execute the backup operation for the configuration data again further comprising:

notifying a user the current configuration data backup has failed and asking the user whether to back up the data over again;

after receiving the user'"'"'s instruction to back up the data over again, executing the step of instructing the communication equipment to execute the backup operation again;

otherwise, ending the current process.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein, the communication equipment is an Integrated Access Device (IAD) and the server is a File Transfer Protocol/Trivial File Transfer Protocol (FTP/TFTP) server, and the step of backing up the configuration data in the communication equipment to the server further comprises:

an IAD Management System (IADMS) sending a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) backup configuration data command to the IAD;

and the step of backing up the configuration data in the communication equipment to the server comprises;

after receiving the SNMP backup configuration data command, the IAD transmitting the configuration data files to the specified FTP/TFTP server via the FTP/TFTP protocol.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein, the configuration data comprise one or more than one type among user data, port data, protocol parameter data and default parameter data for guaranteeing the normal operation of the equipment.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein, the step of downloading the updated files to the communication equipment from the server and loading the updated files to the communication equipment to implement the communication update further comprises:

the server monitoring the update procedure of the communication equipment and judging whether the update is successful, if yes, executing the step of recovering the configuration data backed up in the server to the communication equipment;

otherwise, instructing the communication equipment to execute the update operation over again.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein, the step of the server judging whether the update is successful comprises one of the two following procedures:

judging whether an update failure message is received from the communication equipment; and

judging whether the update operation exceeds the scheduled time.

9. The method according to claim 7, before instructing the communication equipment to execute the update operation again further comprising:

notifying the user that the current update has failed and asking the user whether to update the equipment over again;

after receiving the user'"'"'s instruction to update the equipment over again, executing the step of instructing the communication equipment to execute the update operation over again;

otherwise, ending the current process.

10. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

a step of storing an old software version in the communication equipment before executing the update operation, and

a step of instructing the communication equipment to recover the current software to the old version before instructing the communication equipment to execute the update operation over again.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein, the communication equipment is the IAD, and the server is the FTP/TFTP server, and the step of downloading the updated files to the communication equipment from the server and loading the updated files to the communication equipment to implement the communication update further comprises:

the IADMS sending an SNMP update command which comprises the address information of the FTP/TFTP server and the name information of the updated files;

and the step of downloading the updated files to the communication equipment from the server and loading the updated files to the communication equipment comprises;

after receiving the SNMP update command, the IAD downloading the updated files corresponding to the updated files name from the specified FTP/TFTP server via the FTP/TFTP protocol, and then loading the updated files.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein, the step of recovering the configuration data backed up in the server to the communication equipment further comprises:

the server monitoring the recovery procedure of the configuration data, and judging whether the configuration data are successfully recovered, if yes, ending the current process;

otherwise, instructing the communication equipment to execute the recovery operation for the configuration data over again.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein, the step of the server judging whether the configuration data are successful recovered comprises one of the two following procedures:

judging whether a recovery failure message is received from the communication equipment; and

judging whether the recovery operation exceeds the scheduled time.

14. The method according to claim 12, before instructing the communication equipment to execute the recovery operation for the configuration data over again, further comprising:

notifying the user that the current configuration data recovery has failed and asking the user whether to recover the configuration data over again;

after receiving the user'"'"'s instruction to recover the configuration data over again, executing the step of instructing the communication equipment to execute the recovery operation over again;

otherwise, ending the current process.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein, the communication equipment is the IAD, and the server is the FTP/TFTP server, and the step of recovering the configuration data backed up in the server to the communication equipment further comprises:

the IADMS sending an SNMP recovery configuration data command which comprises the address information of the FTP/TFTP server and the name information of the configuration data files;

and the step of recovering the configuration data backed up in the server to the communication equipment comprises;

after receiving the SNMP recovery configuration data command, the IAD downloading the configuration data files corresponding to the configuration data files name from the specified FTP/TFTP server via the FTP/TFTP protocol, and then loading the configuration data files.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein, the step of recovering the configuration data backed up in the server to the communication equipment further comprises a step of modifying the format of the configuration data.