ENERGY EFFICIENT SCALING OF NETWORK APPLIANCE SERVICE PERFORMANCE

• US 20110069613A1
• Filed: 09/21/2009
• Published: 03/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Phillips, Steven B., Sultan, Omar, Gourlay, Douglas, Farinacci, Dino
• Granted Patent: US 8,422,365 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer

Abstract

Systems and methods for automatically controlling efficient operation of a plurality of network appliances operatively linked and networked to balance network traffic load across a plurality of network appliances that are selectively enabled. The system facilitating performance of the method includes at least a plurality of network appliances operatively connected to a switch and controlled by a network access control module. During system operation, at any given moment in time, the plurality network appliances operate in one of two modes, fully operational or stand-by. The network appliances of the plurality that are fully operational and thereby consuming full operational power depends upon the network traffic load at any given moment in time. The network appliances functioning in a stand-by mode consume low power levels which are sufficient to allow a network appliance in stand-by mode to receive a command signal directing it to switch from stand-by to full operational mode.

Claims

1. A method of automatically controlling efficient operation of a plurality of network appliances operatively linked to share traffic within a network, wherein the number of network appliances of the plurality that are receiving sufficient power for standard operation is dependent upon network traffic load at a given moment in time flowing through the plurality of network appliances, the method comprising:

monitoring, by a network appliance capacity module, the load of the network traffic across the plurality of network appliances; and

upon determining, by the network appliance capacity module, that the network traffic load across the plurality of network appliances exceeds a maximum load threshold level, the network appliance capacity module transmitting a signal to a network access control module causing at least one of the plurality of network appliances operating in stand-by mode to be awakened.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein upon determining, by the network appliance capacity module, that the network traffic load across the plurality of network appliances is below a minimum load threshold level, at least one of said network appliances operating in a standard operational mode shall be transitioned to a stand-by mode of operation.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein monitoring, by the network appliance capacity module, comprises monitoring the load of the network traffic across the network appliances of the plurality of network appliances that are receiving full operational power.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the network appliance capacity module is operative on each of the plurality of network appliances and determines the network traffic load across the network appliance upon which the network appliance capacity module is operative and transmits a signal indicating that the network traffic load on the network appliance upon which the network appliance capacity module is operative has been exceeded.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein a portion of the network access control module is within the switch.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of network appliances is receiving full power and operating in standard operational mode and the remaining network appliances are receiving sufficient power to operate in a stand-by mode of operation.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the network access control module communicates with at least one of the plurality of network appliances that is not receiving full operational power through use of Wake-On-LAN causing the network appliances that is not receiving full operational power to transition from stand-by mode to standard operational mode.

8. A method of automatically controlling efficient operation of a plurality of network appliances linked to share network traffic load within a network, the method comprising:

operatively connecting the plurality of network appliances to a switch within the network, wherein the number of network appliances of the plurality of network appliances that are fully operational is dependent upon the network traffic load;

monitoring, by a network appliance capacity module, of the network traffic load on each of the plurality of network appliances, wherein upon determining that the network traffic load across at least one of said network appliances receiving full operational power exceeds a maximum load threshold level, the network appliance capacity module transmits a first signal to a network access control module that causes a first new network appliance of the plurality of network appliances operating in stand-by mode to become fully operational; and

balancing network traffic load across all fully operational network appliances.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein, upon the network access control module receiving the first signal, the network access control module transmits a signal causing the first new network appliance of the plurality of network appliances operating in stand-by mode to transition to standard operational mode.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein upon determining that the network traffic load across at least two of said plurality of network appliances receiving full operational power exceeds a maximum load threshold level, the network appliance capacity module transmits a second signal to the network access control module that causes the network access control module to enter a suspension mode during which the network access control module ignores any additional signals transmitted such as a third signal associated with a second appliance of the at least two of said plurality of network appliances.

11. A method of claim 8 wherein when at least two of the plurality of network appliances are receiving full operational power and it is determined that at least one of the at least two network appliances has a network traffic load that is below a minimum load threshold level, reducing the power supplied to at least one of the at least two network appliances.

12. A method of claim 11, wherein the step of reducing the power supplied to at least one of the two network appliances is comprised of transmitting a signal from a switch to the at least one network appliance to engage the at least one network appliance stand-by mode.

13. A network system comprising at least:

a plurality of network appliances linked and configured to share a load of network traffic transmitted through a network; and

a network switch coupled to the plurality of network appliances, wherein the network includes a network access control module configured to control a mode of operation of the plurality of network appliances, wherein the network access control module receives a stimulus indicating a load level of network traffic across at least one of the plurality of network appliances and transmits a signal in response to the stimulus indicating a load level that causes a transition from a first mode of operation to a second mode of operation within the network appliance of the plurality of network appliances that receives the signal.

14. The network system of claim 13 wherein the first mode of operation is a stand-by mode and the second mode of operation is a standard operational mode.

15. The network system of claim 13 wherein the first mode of operation is a standard operational mode and the second mode of operation is a stand-by mode.

16. The network system of claim 13 wherein each of the plurality of network appliances includes a network appliance capacity module operative to communicate with the network switch regarding whether the network traffic load across each appliance is above a maximum network traffic threshold load level.

17. The network system of claim 13 wherein each of the plurality of network appliances includes a network appliance capacity module operative to communicate with the network switch regarding whether the network traffic load across each appliance is below a minimum network traffic threshold load level.

18. The network system of claim 13 wherein the mode of operation of the plurality of network appliances includes at least one fully operational network appliance.

19. The network system of claim 13 wherein the network access control module enters a suspension mode, following receiving a signal from a network appliance capacity module, during which the network access control module ignores any additional signals transmitted by network appliance capacity modules associated with additional network appliances of the plurality of network appliances that are fully operational.

20. The network system of claim 19 wherein the suspension mode is temporary and is removed following the performance of one of transitioning one of the plurality of network appliances from stand-by mode to standard operational mode and transitioning one of the plurality of network appliances from standard operational mode to stand-by mode.