INTERFACE MONITORING FOR LINK AGGREGATION
First Claim
1. A link aggregation system in a computer network, comprising:
- a plurality of network interfaces including a first network interface and a second network interface aggregated into a single bond and providing an aggregated communication link to a network; and
a link aggregation monitor coupled to the aggregated first and second network interfaces, the link aggregation monitor configured to provide heartbeats to and receive heartbeats from the aggregated network interfaces to determine a health status of each aggregated network interface;
wherein each heartbeat is configured by the link aggregation monitor as an Ethernet frame having a destination address, source address and heartbeat identifier.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides network interface monitoring and management that may be employed with link aggregation technologies. Multiple network interfaces may be aggregated into a single bond and data may be transferred to and from a backbone network via this aggregated bond. A link aggregation monitor employs a heartbeat generator, sniffer and data store to keep track of health and availability of network interfaces. The heartbeat generator sends heartbeats to the network interfaces, which pass the heartbeats around in a token ring configuration. If a network interface fails or otherwise goes offline, detection of this condition causes the monitor and heartbeat generator to prepare new or modified heartbeats so that data may be efficiently and accurately routed around the token ring and health of all remaining alive interfaces can be monitored properly. If a network interface re-enters or is added to the aggregate bond, new/modified heartbeats are then employed.
126 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A link aggregation system in a computer network, comprising:
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a plurality of network interfaces including a first network interface and a second network interface aggregated into a single bond and providing an aggregated communication link to a network; and a link aggregation monitor coupled to the aggregated first and second network interfaces, the link aggregation monitor configured to provide heartbeats to and receive heartbeats from the aggregated network interfaces to determine a health status of each aggregated network interface; wherein each heartbeat is configured by the link aggregation monitor as an Ethernet frame having a destination address, source address and heartbeat identifier. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A link aggregation monitoring apparatus, comprising:
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a heartbeat generator configured to prepare heartbeats for a plurality of network interfaces arranged in an aggregated communication link to a network; a data store configured to maintain source and destination addresses of the heartbeats for use by each of the network interfaces, the data store being further configured to provide network interface data to the heartbeat generator; and a sniffer device configured to observe the heartbeats received by the plurality of network interfaces, the sniffer device being further configured to send information associated with the observed heartbeats to the data store; wherein the heartbeat generator is further configured to analyze a health status of each network interface in the aggregated communication link based on the network interface data received from the data store, and to prepare new heartbeats to account for any nonfunctional network interfaces and any added network interfaces. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A link aggregation method for use in a computer network, the method comprising:
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configuring a plurality of network interfaces including a first network interface and a second network interface into an aggregated single bond for providing an aggregated communication link to a network; providing heartbeats to the aggregated network interfaces for circulation among each of the network interfaces in the aggregated single bond; receiving the heartbeats from the aggregated network interfaces; and determining a health status of each aggregated network interface based upon the received heartbeats; wherein each heartbeat is configured as an Ethernet frame having a destination address, source address and heartbeat identifier. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A link aggregation monitoring method, comprising:
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preparing heartbeats for a plurality of network interfaces arranged in an aggregated communication link to a network; maintaining in a data store source and destination addresses of the heartbeats for use by each of the network interfaces, the data store being configured to provide network interface data to a heartbeat generator; observing the heartbeats received by the plurality of network interfaces with a sniffer device, the sniffer device being configured to send information associated with the observed heartbeats to the data store; analyzing a health status of each network interface in the aggregated communication link based on the network interface data received from the data store; and preparing new heartbeats with the heartbeat generator to account for any nonfunctional network interfaces and any added network interfaces. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification