PERFORMING CONFIGURATION IN A MULTIMACHINE ENVIRONMENT

• US 20100180015A1
• Filed: 01/15/2009
• Published: 07/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Maguire, Jill S., Rowlett, Jonathan M., Wei, Yonghua
• Granted Patent: US 8,271,623 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/00 Data switching networks interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units G06F13/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to performing configuration in a multi-machine environment. In aspects, a client connects with one of a plurality of storage appliances. This storage appliance is sometimes called the coordinator appliance. Any of the storage appliances may act as the coordinator appliance. The coordinator appliance receives configuration data from the client and configures itself and the other storage appliances. During configuration, connectivity between the client and the coordinator appliance and between the coordinator appliance and the other appliances may be lost and re-established.

Claims

1. A method implemented at least in part by a computer, the method comprising:

receiving, from a client, configuration data for a plurality of appliances, the configuration data being received at a coordinator appliance that is one of the appliances, each of the appliances being able to act as the coordinator appliance, the plurality of appliances adapted to provided storage accessible via a network;

generating a plurality of tasks to perform to configure the appliances in accordance with the configuration data;

ordering the tasks according to pre-loss of connectivity tasks, during loss of connectivity tasks, and after regaining connectivity tasks;

sending instructions corresponding to the tasks from the coordinator appliance to other appliances of the plurality to configure the other appliances; and

sending a message to the client that informs the client as to progress in configuring the plurality of appliances.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein sending instructions from the coordinator appliance to other appliances comprises sending an indication of a synchronization point at which the other appliances are to wait to perform additional configuration tasks until receiving a message from the coordinator appliance.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the synchronization point is immediately prior to a reboot instruction, the reboot instruction having been previously sent by the coordinator appliance.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising attempting to re-establish connectivity with an appliance after the appliance has rebooted.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein attempting to re-establish connectivity with an appliance after the appliance has rebooted comprises one or more of attempting to connect using a new machine name of the appliance, attempting to connect using an old machine name of the appliance, attempting to connect to the appliance using a new network address of the appliance, attempting to connect to the appliance using an old network address of the appliance, attempting to connect to the appliance using new credentials of the appliance, and attempting to connect to the appliance using old credentials of the appliance.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein, from a client, receiving configuration data for a plurality of appliances comprises receiving the configuration data via a Web server of the coordinator appliance.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein sending instructions from the coordinator appliance to the other appliances comprises sending the instructions via Web servers of the other appliances.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising writing the tasks and return codes from the other appliances to non-volatile storage prior to rebooting the coordinator appliance.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing credentials of the other appliances in a secure, persistent store of the coordinator appliance.

10. A computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions, which when executed perform actions, comprising:

sending configuration data to a coordinator appliance, the coordinator appliance being one of a plurality of appliances adapted to provide storage accessible via a network, each of the appliances being able to act as the coordinator appliance, the coordinator appliance being operable to configure other appliances of the plurality of appliances based on the configuration data;

waiting for the coordinator appliance to apply changes corresponding to the configuration data to the plurality of appliances;

losing connectivity with the coordinator appliance during at least one point while the coordinator appliance applies the changes;

re-establishing connectivity with the coordinator appliance; and

receiving progress data that indicates progress in configuring the appliances in accordance with the configuration data.

11. The computer storage medium of claim 10, wherein sending configuration data to a coordinator appliance comprises sending the configuration data via a Web server hosted on the coordinator appliance, each of the other appliances also hosting a Web server capable of receiving the configuration data.

12. The computer storage medium of claim 10, wherein re-establishing connectivity with the coordinator appliance comprises periodically attempting to re-establish connectivity with the coordinator appliance until a timeout period expires.

13. The computer storage medium of claim 12, wherein periodically attempting to re-establish connectivity with the coordinator appliance includes one or more of attempting to connect to the coordinator appliance using a new machine name of the coordinator appliance, attempting to connect to the coordinator appliance using an old machine name of the coordinator, attempting to connect to the coordinator appliance using a new network address of the coordinator appliance, attempting to connect to the coordinator appliance using an old network address of the coordinator appliance, attempting to connect to the coordinator appliance using new credentials of the coordinator appliance, and attempting to connect to the coordinator appliance using old credentials of the coordinator appliance.

14. The computer storage medium of claim 10, further comprising selecting the coordinator appliance from the plurality of appliances.

15. The computer storage medium of claim 10, further comprising displaying an indication that the coordinator appliance is about to lose connectivity.

16. The computer storage medium of claim 10, further comprising displaying an indication of attempting to re-establish connectivity with the coordinator appliance.

17. The computer storage medium of claim 10, further comprising displaying a new name of an appliance when receiving configuration changes for the appliance.

18. In a computing environment, an apparatus, comprising:

a configuration manager operable to receive configuration data for one or more appliances, the appliances adapted to provide storage accessible via a network, each of the appliances including an instance of the configuration manager, the configuration manager being operable to configure the one or more appliances based on the configuration data;

a task sequencer operable to order tasks to configure the one or more appliances based on the configuration data, the task sequencer operable to order the tasks according to pre-loss of connectivity actions, during loss of connectivity actions, and after regaining connectivity actions; and

a serializer operable to write the tasks and associated state to a store.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising a synchronization manager operable to indicate to wait at a synchronization point until instructed to proceed.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising a reboot task scheduler operable to indicate a program to execute upon reboot, the program operable at least to re-start the configuration manager upon reboot and to read the tasks and associated state from the store.