SYSTEM AND METHOD OF A HARDWARE SHADOW FOR A NETWORK ELEMENT
First Claim
1. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having executable instructions to cause one or more processing units to perform a method to switch control of processing functions of a network element from an active central processing unit to a standby central processing unit, the method comprising:
- receiving a signal that the active central processing unit has failed, wherein the active central processing unit controls the processing functions of the network element and the network element includes a hardware forwarding engine;
for each shadow table in a plurality of shadow tables in a hardware shadow, copying data from that shadow table to a corresponding one of a plurality of hardware tables for the hardware forwarding engine, wherein a hardware shadow is a copy of the data stored in the plurality of hardware tables for the hardware forwarding engine; and
in response to the copying, switching control of processing functions of the network element from the active central processing unit to a standby central processing unit.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus of a device that uses a hardware shadow for a central processing unit failover is described. In an exemplary embodiment, a device receives a signal that the active central processing unit has failed, where the active central processing unit controls the processing functions of the network element and the network element includes a hardware forwarding engine and a hardware shadow. The hardware shadow additionally includes multiple shadow tables. For each shadow table, the device copies data from that shadow table to a corresponding table in the hardware forwarding engine, where the hardware shadow is a copy of the data stored in hardware tables for the hardware forwarding engine. In response to the copying, the device further switches control of the network element processing functions from the active central processing unit to a standby central processing unit.
20 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having executable instructions to cause one or more processing units to perform a method to switch control of processing functions of a network element from an active central processing unit to a standby central processing unit, the method comprising:
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receiving a signal that the active central processing unit has failed, wherein the active central processing unit controls the processing functions of the network element and the network element includes a hardware forwarding engine; for each shadow table in a plurality of shadow tables in a hardware shadow, copying data from that shadow table to a corresponding one of a plurality of hardware tables for the hardware forwarding engine, wherein a hardware shadow is a copy of the data stored in the plurality of hardware tables for the hardware forwarding engine; and in response to the copying, switching control of processing functions of the network element from the active central processing unit to a standby central processing unit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having executable instructions to cause one or more processing units to perform a method to update a hardware shadow of a network element, the method comprising:
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receiving a hardware shadow update, wherein the hardware shadow is used in a process of failing over control of processing functions of the network from an active central processing unit to a standby processing unit, the hardware shadow includes configuration data for one of a plurality of hardware forwarding engines of the network element, and the hardware shadow update is an update to one of a plurality of shadow tables of the hardware shadow; and applying the update to the one of the plurality of hardware shadow tables. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having executable instructions to cause one or more processing units to perform a method to switch control of processing functions of a network element from an active central processing unit to a standby central processing unit, the method comprising:
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receiving a signal that the active central processing unit has failed, wherein the active central processing unit controls the processing functions of the network element, and the network element includes a hardware forwarding engine, a hardware shadow and a partial software index for the standby central processing unit; for each hardware table in the plurality of hardware tables referenced in the partial software index, switching control to the standby central processing unit of a processing function of the network element that utilizes data stored in that hardware table; and for each shadow table in a plurality of shadow tables in the hardware shadow, copying data from that shadow table to a corresponding one of a plurality of hardware tables in the hardware forwarding engine, wherein the hardware shadow is a copy of the data stored in the plurality of hardware tables for the hardware forwarding engine and not referenced by the partial software index, and in response to the copying, switching control to the standby central processing unit of a processing function of the network element that utilizes data associated with that shadow table.
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21. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having executable instructions to cause one or more processing units to perform a method to update a hardware shadow or a partial software index of a network element, the method comprising:
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receiving an update, wherein the update is an update for one of the hardware shadow and the partial software index, the hardware shadow is used to failover a control of processing functions of the network from an active central processing unit to a standby processing unit, the hardware shadow includes configuration data for one of a plurality of hardware forwarding engines of the network element, and the partial software index references data stored in a plurality of hardware tables and not stored in the hardware shadow; determining if the update is for the hardware shadow or the partial software index; and if the update is for the hardware shadow, applying the update to the hardware shadow update for the one of the plurality of hardware shadow tables; and if the update is for the partial software index, applying the update to the partial software index.
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Specification