Systems And Methods For Automatic Access Layer Configuration

• US 20150271010A1
• Filed: 03/20/2014
• Published: 09/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Shetty, Sudhir V., Jayakumar, Raja S.
• Granted Patent: US 9,294,347 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/245 Link aggregation, e.g. trunking

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided that may be employed for automatic access layer configuration, for example, to achieve correct server profile provisioning so as to enable information handling system network connectivity from a server through one or more aggregator switches that is configured to fit a given workload and/or network connectivity architecture. The disclosed systems and methods may be implemented using intelligent platform enablement and exchange of information between information handling system compute resource/s and adjacent access layer switch/es.

Claims

1. An information handling system configured for coupling to an external network, comprising:

an access layer comprising at least one aggregator switch including an aggregator switch processing device and multiple logical switches controlled by the processing device, the aggregator processing device being configured to control the multiple logical switches to selectably route network communications between the information handling system and the external network across one or more corresponding selected separate external network communication streams;

at least one in-band processing device;

at least one converged network adapter (CNA) coupled between the in-band processing device and the logical switches of the aggregator switch; and

at least one out-of-band processing device coupled to control the CNA, the out-of-band processing device being separate from the in-band processing device;

where the aggregator switch processing device is configured to automatically;

discover an identity of the selected external network communication streams corresponding to the network communications; and

communicate the discovered identity of the selected network communication streams from the aggregator switch to the out-of band processing device through the CNA.

2. The information handling system of claim 1, where each of the selected separate external network communication streams is a link aggregation group (LAG);

where the aggregator switch processing device is configured to automatically control the logical switches to selectably route network communications between the CNA and the external network across one or more corresponding selected separate LAGs.

3. The information handling system of claim 2, where the aggregator switch comprises at least one downstream aggregator switch port coupled between an upstream port of the CNA and the logical switches, and a separate and different uplink aggregator switch port coupled between the logical switches and each of the separate LAGs;

where the logical switches comprise multiple logical switch modules that provide communication between the downstream aggregator switch port and each of the separate LAGs through the multiple uplink aggregator switch ports of the aggregator switch;

where each of the selected separate LAGs is designated to transfer data traffic associated with one or more different virtual local area network (VLANs) between an uplink aggregator switch port and the external network;

where the aggregator switch processing device is configured to discover the identity of the one or more VLANs associated with each of the separate LAGs; and

where the out-of band processing device is configured to provision a workload of the server by partitioning the upstream port of the CNA based at least in part on the discovered identity of the VLANs associated with each of the separate LAGs in order to provide connectivity between a given partition on the upstream port of the CNA with a given LAG through the corresponding logical switch module and uplink aggregator switch port that is coupled to the given LAG.

4. The information handling system of claim 2, where the out-of-band processing device is configured to automatically control the CNA to partition an upstream port of the CNA into multiple upstream partitions to meet network characteristics required for implementing a defined server workload based at least in part on the discovered identity of the selected external network communication streams.

5. The information handling system of claim 4, where each of the selected separate LAGs is designated to transfer data traffic associated with one or more different virtual local area network (VLANs) between an uplink aggregator switch port of the aggregator switch and the external network;

where the network characteristics required for implementing the defined server workload comprise at least one of an identity of one or more required virtual local area networks (VLANs) required for implementing the defined server workload, a type of network connection for implementing the server workload, a required network connection bandwidth, or a combination thereof.

6. The information handling system of claim 5, where the CNA is configured to automatically communicate an identity of the set of multiple upstream CNA partitions together with the network characteristics required for implementing the defined server workload to the aggregator switch processing device;

and where the aggregator switch processing device is configured to configure the appropriate down-link connectivity through the logical switches of the aggregator switch based on the received identity of the set of multiple upstream partitions of the CNA and the received network characteristics required for implementing the defined server workload such that each of the multiple upstream partitions of the CNA is automatically connected through the aggregator switch to the one or more VLANs with a connection that satisfies the received network characteristics required for implementing the defined server workload.

7. The information handling system of claim 4, where the aggregator switch processing device and the out-of-band processing device are configured to cooperate to automatically configure an appropriate down-link connectivity through the logical switches of the aggregator switch that satisfies the received network characteristics required for implementing the defined server workload without external control of either the aggregator switch processing device or the out-of-band processing device.

8. The information handling system of claim 4, where each of the selected separate LAGs is designated to transfer data traffic associated with one or more different virtual local area network (VLANs) between an uplink aggregator switch port of the aggregator switch and the external network;

where the network characteristics required for implementing the defined server workload comprise an identity of one or more required virtual local area networks (VLANs) required for implementing the defined server workload; and

where the out-of band processing device is configured to automatically provision the defined server workload by partitioning the upstream port of the CNA based at least in part on the discovered identity of the VLANs associated with each of the separate LAGs in order to enable connectivity between a given partition on the upstream port of the CNA with the one or more VLANs required for implementing the defined server workload through the aggregator switch.

9. The information handling system of claim 4, where the out-of-band processing device is configured to receive the defined server workload from a user.

10. The information handling system of claim 1, where the information handling system is a scalable information handling chassis system comprising multiple modular server units, each given one of the modular server units including at least one of the in-band processing devices and at least one of the CNAs coupled between the in-band processing processing device of the given modular server unit and the aggregator switch.

11. The information handling system of claim 10, where the scalable information handling chassis system comprises a modular blade server chassis system;

and where each of the modular server units comprises a blade server.

12. A method for automatically configuring an access layer of an information handling system having an in-band processing device that is coupled to an external network through at least one converged network adapter (CNA) and an aggregator switch of the access layer, the method comprising:

controlling multiple logical switches of the aggregator switch with an aggregator switch processing device to selectably route in-band processing device communications between the CNA of the information handling system and the external network across one or more corresponding selected separate external network communication streams that extend between the aggregator switch and the external network;

using at least one out-of-band processing device of the information handling system that is separate from the in-band processing device to control the CNA; and

using the aggregator switch processing device to automatically;

discover an identity of the selected external network communication streams corresponding to the network communications; and

communicate the discovered identity of the selected network communication streams to the out-of band processing device from the aggregator switch through the CNA.

13. The method of claim 12, where each of the selected separate external network communication streams is a link aggregation group (LAG);

and where the method further comprises using the aggregator switch processing device to automatically control the logical switches to selectably route network communications between the CNA and the external network across one or more corresponding selected separate LAGs.

14. The method of claim 13, where the aggregator switch comprises at least one downstream aggregator switch port coupled between an upstream port of the CNA and the logical switches, and a separate and different uplink aggregator switch port coupled between the logical switches and each of the separate LAGs;

where the logical switches comprise multiple logical switch modules that provide communication between the downstream aggregator switch port and each of the separate LAGs through the multiple uplink aggregator switch ports;

where each of the selected separate LAGs is designated to transfer data traffic associated with one or more different virtual local area network (VLANs) between an uplink aggregator switch port and the external network; and

where the method further comprises;

using the aggregator switch processing device to discover the identity of the one or more VLANs associated with each of the separate LAGs; and

using the out-of band processing device to provision a workload of the server by partitioning the upstream port of the CNA based at least in part on the discovered identity of the VLANs associated with each of the separate LAGs in order to provide connectivity between a given partition on the upstream port of the CNA with a given LAG through the corresponding logical switch module and uplink aggregator switch port that is coupled to the given LAG.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising using the out-of-band processing device to automatically control the CNA to partition an upstream port of the CNA into multiple upstream partitions to meet network characteristics required for implementing a defined server workload based at least in part on the discovered identity of the selected external network communication streams.

16. The method of claim 15, where each of the selected separate LAGs is designated to transfer data traffic associated with one or more different virtual local area network (VLANs) between an uplink aggregator switch port of the aggregator switch and the external network;

where the network characteristics required for implementing the defined server workload comprise at least one of an identity of one or more required virtual local area networks (VLANs) required for implementing the defined server workload, a type of network connection for implementing the server workload, a required network connection bandwidth, or a combination thereof; and

where the method further comprises;

using the CAN to automatically communicate an identity of the set of multiple upstream CNA partitions together with the network characteristics required for implementing the defined server workload to the aggregator switch processing device; and

using the aggregator switch processing device to configure the appropriate down-link connectivity through the logical switches of the aggregator switch based on the received identity of the set of multiple upstream partitions of the CNA and the received network characteristics required for implementing the defined server workload such that each of the multiple upstream partitions of the CNA is automatically connected through the aggregator switch to the one or more VLANs with a connection that satisfies the received network characteristics required for implementing the defined server workload.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising using the aggregator switch processing device and the out-of-band processing device together to automatically configure an appropriate down-link connectivity through the logical switches of the aggregator switch that satisfies the received network characteristics required for implementing the defined server workload without external control of either the aggregator switch processing device or the out-of-band processing device.

18. The method of claim 15, where each of the selected separate LAGs is designated to transfer data traffic associated with one or more different virtual local area network (VLANs) between an uplink aggregator switch port of the aggregator switch and the external network;

where the network characteristics required for implementing the defined server workload comprise an identity of one or more required virtual local area networks (VLANs) required for implementing the defined server workload; and

where the method further comprises using the out-of band processing device to automatically provision the defined server workload by partitioning the upstream port of the CNA based at least in part on the discovered identity of the VLANs associated with each of the separate LAGs in order to enable connectivity between a given partition on the upstream port of the CNA with the one or more VLANs required for implementing the defined server workload through the aggregator switch.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising using the out-of-band processing device to receive the defined server workload from a user.

20. The method of claim 12, where the information handling system is a scalable information handling chassis system comprising multiple modular server units, each given one of the modular server units including at least one of the in-band processing devices and at least one of the CNAs coupled between the in-band processing processing device of the given modular server unit and the aggregator switch.