CONFIGURATION FILE FRAMEWORK TO SUPPORT HIGH AVAILABILITY SCHEMA BASED UPON ASYNCHRONOUS CHECKPOINTING

• US 20100042639A1
• Filed: 08/13/2008
• Published: 02/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Cilli, Bruce, Grinshpun, Ed
• Granted Patent: US 8,959,053 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: N/A
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0846 based on copy from other elements

Abstract

In various exemplary embodiments, a method and related system for configuration file management in a network element comprise one or more of the following: upon initialization of the network element, reading a first configuration file that is in a character-encoded format; for each application process, translating the first configuration file into a plurality of non-character-encoded configuration files; configuring each application process based on the respective plurality of non-character-encoded configuration files; modifying, in real-time, at least one of the non-character-encoded configuration files; and merging each of the non-character-encoded configuration files into a second configuration file that is in a character-encoded format.

Claims

1. A method for configuration file management in a network element that executes a plurality of application processes, the method comprising:

upon initialization of the network element, reading a first configuration file that is in a character-encoded format;

for each application process, translating the first configuration file into a plurality of non-character-encoded configuration files;

configuring each application process based on the respective plurality of non-character-encoded configuration files;

modifying, in real-time, at least one of the non-character-encoded configuration files; and

merging each of the non-character-encoded configuration files into a second configuration file that is in a character-encoded format.

2. The method for configuration file management in a network element according to claim 1, wherein the character-encoded format is the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) format.

3. The method for configuration file management in a network element according to claim 1, wherein the non-character-encoded format is a binary format.

4. The method for configuration file management in a network element according to claim 1, wherein the first configuration file is stored in a non-volatile memory in the network element.

5. The method for configuration file management in a network element according to claim 4, wherein the non-volatile memory is a flash memory device.

6. The method for configuration file management in a network element according to claim 1, wherein the non-character-encoded configuration files are written in dynamic random access memory.

7. The method for configuration file management in a network element according to claim 1, wherein the step of translating the first configuration file into a plurality of non-character-encoded configuration files is done per object type.

8. The method for configuration file management in a network element according to claim 1, further comprising:

requesting, via inter-process communication, that each application process create a temporary copy of the respective non-character-encoded configuration files.

9. The method for configuration file management in a network element according to claim 1, further comprising:

forwarding the second configuration file to a network operator for editing.

10. The method for configuration file management in a network element according to claim 1, wherein the step of merging the non-character-encoded configuration files occurs in the background without impacting execution of the plurality of application processes.

11. A network element for configuration file management in a high-availability, embedded system, the network element comprising:

a first computer-readable medium storing a first configuration file in a character-encoded format;

a second computer-readable medium; and

a processor configured to;

execute a plurality of application processes,

read the first configuration file upon receiving an initialization signal,

for each application process, translate the first configuration file into a plurality of non-character-encoded configuration files,

store the plurality of non-character-encoded configuration files on the second computer-readable medium,

configure each application process based on the respective plurality of non-character-encoded configuration files,

modify, in real-time, at least one of the non-character-encoded configuration files, and

merge each of the non-character-encoded configuration files into a second configuration file that is in a character-encoded format.

12. The network element according to claim 11, wherein the character-encoded format is the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) format.

13. The network element according to claim 11, wherein the non-character-encoded format is a binary format.

14. The network element according to claim 11, where in the first computer-readable medium is a non-volatile memory device.

15. The network element according to claim 14, wherein the non-volatile memory is a flash memory device.

16. The network element according to claim 11, wherein the second computer-readable medium is dynamic random access memory.

17. The network element according to claim 11, wherein the processor translates the first configuration file into a plurality of non-character-encoded configuration files per object type.

18. The network element according to claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to:

request, via inter-process communication, that each application process create a temporary copy of the respective non-character-encoded configuration files.

19. The network element according to claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to:

forward the second configuration file to a network operator for editing.

20. The network element according to claim 11, wherein processor merges the non-character-encoded configuration files in the background without impacting execution of the plurality of application processes.