APPLICATION NETWORK APPLIANCES WITH INTER-MODULE COMMUNICATIONS USING A UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS

• US 20090063747A1
• Filed: 04/11/2008
• Published: 03/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rohati Systems, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Patra, Abhijit, Prabhu, Kirti, Thakar, Anant, Bagepalli, Nagaraj, Gandhi, Prashant
• Application Number:
  US12/101,874
• Publication Number:
  US 20090063747A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/313
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/20 Traffic policing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/02 for separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/166 at the transport layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/205 involving negotiation or determination of the one or more network security mechanisms to be used, e.g. by negotiation between the client and the server or between peers or by selection according to the capabilities of the entities involved negotiation of communication capabilities H04L69/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/321 Interlayer communication protocols or service data unit [SDU] definitions; Interfaces between layers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3242 involving keyed hash functions, e.g. message authentication codes [MACs], CBC-MAC or HMAC
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 70/5827 Axially movable clutch

Abstract

An application network appliance having inter-module communication using a universal serial bus (USB) is described herein. According to one embodiment, a network element includes a lossless data transport fabric (LDTF), multiple service modules coupled to each other over the LDTF, and a service control module (SCM) coupled to each of the service modules over the LDTF for routing network data between the SCM and the service modules. The SCM is also coupled to each of the service modules via a universal serial bus (USB) for managing the service modules, where the network element operates as a security gateway to a datacenter having multiple servers. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Claims

1. A network element, comprising:

a lossless data transport fabric (LDTF);

a plurality of service modules coupled to each other over the LDTF; and

a service control module (SCM) coupled to each of the service modules over the LDTF for routing data between the SCM and the service modules, wherein the SCM is also coupled to each of the service modules via a universal serial bus (USB) for managing the service modules, and wherein the network element operates as a security gateway to a datacenter having a plurality of servers.

2. The network element of claim 1, wherein the service modules are configured to perform different layer processes on packets of a network transaction between a client and a server of the datacenter.

3. The network element of claim 2, wherein the service modules comprise at least one network service module (NSM) and at least one application service module (ASM), and wherein the at least one NSM is configured to perform layer 2 to layer 5 (layer 2-5) processes and the at least one ASM is configured to perform layer 5 to layer 7 (layer 5-7) processes.

4. The network element of claim 1, wherein the SCM is configured to communicate with only one selected service module, which is configured to perform layer 2 to layer 7 (layer 2-7) processes.

5. The network element of claim 1, wherein the SCM comprises a host USB device and each of the service modules comprises a slave USB device, and wherein the host USB device initiates exchange of data between the SCM and a service module.

6. The network element of claim 5, wherein the USB bus is used to communicate between the SCM and a service module for exchanging status and control messages regarding diagnostics, initialization, power up/down, reset, and health monitoring of the service modules.

7. The network element of claim 6, wherein the USB bus is used to communicate between the SCM and a service module for software/firmware download.

8. The network element of claim 7, wherein the USB bus is used to communicate between the SCM and a service module for configuration management of ports and various device blocks.

9. The network element of claim 6, further comprising a fan module for cooling purposes, wherein the SCM is configure to control the fan module via the USB bus.

10. The network element of claim 9, further comprising a power supply module for providing power to the network element, wherein the SCM is configure to control the power supply module via the USB bus.

11. The network element of claim 10, wherein the SCM is implemented as a control card and the service modules are implemented in a plurality of line cards communicating with the control card via a backplane, wherein the backplane includes a portion of the USB bus and a portion of LDTF.

12. The network element of claim 11, wherein the SCM further comprises a USB host controller coupled to each line card via a line card management FPGA (field programmable gate array) for communicating with each line card using a USB compatible protocol, wherein the line card management FPGA is used to convert other management signals that are not USB compatible into USB compatible signals.

13. The network element of claim 11, wherein the SCM further comprises a USB hub device coupled to the USB host controller, wherein the fan module and the power supply module are coupled to the USB hub device.

14. The network element of claim 13, wherein the SCM further comprises a PCI (peripheral connection interface) bus coupled to the USB host controller to allow one or more other USB devices to reach the USB host controller via the PCI bus.

15. The network element of claim 14, further comprising a redundant SCM module implemented on a redundant control card coupled to the backplane via the LDTF and USB bus, wherein the USB hub device is coupled with a fan module and a power supply module of a redundant control card having a redundant SCM module.

16. The network element of claim 15, wherein the fan module and the power supply module are also coupled with a corresponding USB hub device of the redundant control card.

17. The network element of claim 15, wherein the USB host controller is also coupled with one or more USB devices of the redundant control card.

18. The network element of claim 9, further comprising a display module for displaying information regarding operations of the network element, wherein the SCM is configured to control the display module via the USB bus.

19. The network element of claim 15, wherein the one or more other USB devices are coupled with a corresponding USB host controller of the redundant control card.

20. The network element of claim 1, wherein each of the service modules and the SCM module are hot pluggable using a plug-and-play protocol via the USB bus.