DISJOINT MULTI-PATHING FOR A DATA CENTER NETWORK

• US 20160028611A1
• Filed: 09/24/2015
• Published: 01/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: DeCusatis, Casimer M., Kamble, Keshav G., Kumbhare, Abhijit P., Recio, Renato J., Singh, Simarbir
• Granted Patent: US 9,455,899 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/021 Ensuring consistency of routing table updates, e.g. by using epoch numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/1283 with disjoint links
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/24 Multipath
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/357 Fibre channel switches
• 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

According to one embodiment, an apparatus includes a processor and logic integrated with and/or executable by the processor. The logic is configured to determine paths between a plurality of switches connected together in a system by performing path calculations based on a topology of the system. The logic is also configured to calculate one or more disjoint multi-paths from among the paths, the one or more disjoint multi-paths connecting a source device to a destination device. The source device is connected to a first switch of the plurality of switches, and the destination device is connected to a second switch of the plurality of switches. Moreover, the logic is configured to write the one or more disjoint multi-paths into a forwarding table of at least one device. Other systems and computer program products are presented according to more embodiments.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor and logic integrated with and/or executable by the processor, the logic being configured to;

determine paths between a plurality of switches connected together in a data center fabric network system via a plurality of communication links by performing path calculations based on a topology of the data center fabric network system;

calculate one or more disjoint multi-paths from among the paths, the one or more disjoint multi-paths connecting a source device to a destination device, wherein the source device is connected to a first switch of the plurality of switches, and wherein the destination device is connected to a second switch of the plurality of switches; and

write the one or more disjoint multi-paths into a forwarding table of at least one device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one device is the source device.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one device is the first switch.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one device is a nearest shared switch to the source device.

5. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the logic is configured to store the determined paths to a switch forwarding table in each switch in the data center fabric network system.

6. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the logic is configured to:

calculate at least one disjoint multi-path between a third switch and other switches in the data center fabric network system; and

write the at least one disjoint multi-path into a switch forwarding table of the third switch.

7. The apparatus as recited in claim 6, wherein the logic is configured to:

detect a change in the data center fabric network system that affects the third switch;

re-calculate at least one disjoint multi-path between the third switch and other switches in the data center fabric network system in response to the change in the data center fabric network system; and

write the at least one disjoint multi-path into the switch forwarding table of the third switch.

8. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein the logic configured to re-calculate the at least one disjoint multi-path between the third switch and other switches in the data center fabric network system is configured to:

determine whether a fully disjoint multi-path exists through the data center fabric network system;

select the fully disjoint multi-path in response to the fully disjoint multi-path existing through the data center fabric network system; and

select a partially disjoint multi-path in response to the fully disjoint multi-path not existing through the data center fabric network system.

9. The apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein the change in the data center fabric network system comprises addition of a switch to the data center fabric network system.

10. The apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein the change in the data center fabric network system comprises removal of a switch from the data center fabric network system.

11. The apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein the change in the data center network fabric system comprises change of a property of a switch in the data center fabric network system.

12. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the logic is configured to:

detect a change in the data center fabric network system affecting a disjoint multi-path between the source device and the destination device;

re-calculate one or more disjoint multi-paths from the source device to the destination device in response to detecting the change in the data center fabric network system; and

write the one or more re-calculated disjoint multi-paths into a forwarding table.

13. The apparatus as recited in claim 12, wherein the logic configured to re-calculate the one or more disjoint multi-paths from the source device to the destination device is configured to:

determine whether a fully disjoint multi-path exists from the source device to the destination device;

select the fully disjoint multi-path in response to the fully disjoint multi-path existing from the source device to the destination device; and

select a partially disjoint multi-path in response to the fully disjoint multi-path not existing from the source device to the destination device.

14. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more disjoint multi-paths from the source device to the destination device are calculated in response to a request from the source device being received.

15. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more disjoint multi-paths from the source device to the destination device are calculated in response to a request from the nearest shared switch to the source device being received.

16. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the one or more disjoint multi-paths comprise at least two paths that are disjoint from one another resulting in at least one fully redundant path, and wherein a partially disjoint multi-path comprises at least two paths that share a minimum number of devices in the data center fabric network system.

17. A computer program product, comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, wherein the computer readable storage medium is not a transitory signal per se, the embodied program instructions readable/executable by a processor to cause the processor to:

determine, by the processor, paths between a plurality of switches connected together in a data center fabric network system via a plurality of communication links by performing path calculations based on a topology of the data center fabric network system;

calculate, by the processor, one or more disjoint multi-paths from among the paths, the one or more disjoint multi-paths connecting a source device to a destination device, wherein the source device is connected to a first switch of the plurality of switches, and wherein the destination device is connected to a second switch of the plurality of switches; and

write, by the processor, the one or more disjoint multi-paths into a forwarding table of at least one device.

18. The computer program product as recited in claim 17, wherein the at least one device is the source device.

19. The computer program product as recited in claim 17, wherein the at least one device is the first switch.

20. The computer program product as recited in claim 17, wherein the at least one device is a nearest shared switch to the source device.