PROXYING AVAILABILITY INDICATIONS IN A FAILOVER CONFIGURATION
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:
- monitoring traffic of a first network element to determine if a high load condition exists for the first network element, wherein a network includes the first network element and a second network element in a failover configuration, wherein the first network element operates as a primary network element and the second network element operates as a backup to the first network element;
monitoring data transmitted from the first network element to determine if the first network element is transmitting availability indications to the second network element prior to expiration of a given interval, wherein the monitoring is performed at an intermediate network element;
if the high load condition exists for the first network element and the first network element fails to transmit an availability indication to the second network element before expiration of the given interval, then generating an availability indication at the intermediate network element for the first network element and transmitting the generated availability indication to the second network element for the first network element.
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Abstract
Under high load conditions, an intermediate network, element can act as a proxy for a primary network element and transmit availability indications for a heavily loaded primary network element. When the primary network element fails to provide an availability indication to one or more backup network, elements, an intermediate network element generates the availability indications and transmits them to the one or more backups. Generating and transmitting availability indications from an intermediate network element for an active primary network element avoids false failover and avoid dedication of a network interface solely for availability indications.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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monitoring traffic of a first network element to determine if a high load condition exists for the first network element, wherein a network includes the first network element and a second network element in a failover configuration, wherein the first network element operates as a primary network element and the second network element operates as a backup to the first network element; monitoring data transmitted from the first network element to determine if the first network element is transmitting availability indications to the second network element prior to expiration of a given interval, wherein the monitoring is performed at an intermediate network element; if the high load condition exists for the first network element and the first network element fails to transmit an availability indication to the second network element before expiration of the given interval, then generating an availability indication at the intermediate network element for the first network element and transmitting the generated availability indication to the second network element for the first network element. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A machine-readable medium encoded with instructions executable by a set of one or more processor units to cause the set of one or more processor units to perform operations that comprise:
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monitoring traffic of a first network element to determine if a high load condition exists for the first network element, wherein the first network element and a second network element are in a failover configuration in a network and the second network elements operates as a backup to the first network element; monitoring data transmitted from the first network element to determine if the first network element has transmitted an availability indication to the second network element prior to expiration of a given interval; if the high load condition exists for the first network element and the first network element fails to transmit an availability indication to the second network element before expiration of the given interval, then generating a proxy availability indication for the first network element and transmitting tire generated proxy availability indication to the second network element for the first network element. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An intermediate network element comprising:
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a plurality of network interfaces operable to transmit and to receive data; a set of one or more processor units; and a failover detection unit coupled with the plurality of network interfaces and the set of one or more processor units, the failover detection unit operable to detect a high load condition for a primary network element and operable to detect if the primary network element is available over at least one of the plurality of network interfaces, the failover detection unit operable to generate and to transmit availability indications for the primary network element to a backup network element when the failover detection unit detects the high load condition for the primary network element and detects that the primary network element fails to transmit an availability indication to the backup network element before expiration of a given interval. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification