Combining virtual local area networks and load balancing with fault tolerance in a high performance protocol

• US 6,590,861 B1
• Filed: 03/18/1999
• Issued: 07/08/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: 3Com Corporation (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Nanda, Sameer, Maufer, Thomas Albert, Baker, Roman, Binder, James, Vepa, RamKrishna
• Primary Examiner(s): Rao, Seema S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Duong, Frank
• Application Number:
  US09/272,083
• Time in Patent Office: 1,573 Days
• Field of Search: 370/471, 370/401, 370/402, 370/216, 370/217, 370/218, 370/241, 370/242, 370/244, 370/245, 370/250, 370/392, 370/463, 370/466, 709/223, 709/224, 709/238, 709/105, 709/235, 709/250
• US Class Current: 370/216
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4691 GVRP [GARP VLAN registration protocol]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10015 Access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. using brokers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1034 Reaction to server failures by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/32 Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/325 in the network layer [OSI layer 3], e.g. X.25 H04L69/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A method to send and receive data packets over a network of computer systems (e.g., a plurality of virtual local area networks [VLANs] compliant with the IEEE 802.1Q standard) using a server computer system adapted to have a plurality of network interface cards (NICs) coupled thereto. An outgoing data packet is addressed using a first media access control (MAC) address, wherein the first MAC address is a virtual MAC address representing the plurality of NICs. A NIC is selected from the plurality of NICs using a load balancing scheme. The functionality of the selected NIC is verified using a fault tolerance scheme. The first MAC address in the outgoing data packet is replaced with a second MAC address, wherein the second MAC address represents the selected NIC. The outgoing data packet is then transmitted using the selected NIC. For an incoming data packet received at one of the plurality of NICs, the existing MAC address in the incoming data packet is replaced with the first MAC address. Thus, the present embodiment of the present invention provides a high performance method that supports multiple VLANs and elegantly combines a load balance scheme and a fault tolerance scheme into a software element implemented on a server computer system.

Claims

1. In a server computer system adapted to have a plurality of network interface cards (NICs) coupled thereto, a method for sending and receiving data packets over a network of computer systems, said method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

a) addressing an outgoing data packet using a first media access control (MAC) address and a second MAC address, wherein said first MAC address is a virtual MAC address representing said plurality of NICs and wherein said second MAC address is a virtual MAC address corresponding to a virtual local area network (VLAN) that is a destination of said outgoing data packet;

b) selecting a first NIC from said plurality of NICs using a load balancing scheme;

c) verifying functionality of said first NIC using a fault tolerance scheme;

d) replacing said first MAC address in said outgoing data packet with a MAC address representing said first NIC and replacing said second MAC address in said outgoing data packet with an identifier corresponding to said VLAN; and

e) sending said outgoing data packet using said first NIC.

2. The method for sending and receiving data packets over a network of computer systems as recited in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

f) receiving an incoming data packet at one of said plurality of NICs; and

g) replacing an existing MAC address in said incoming data packet with said first MAC address.

3. The method for sending and receiving data packets over a network of computer systems as recited in claim 1 wherein said step b) comprises:

selecting said first NIC based on a destination address specified in said outgoing data packet.

4. The method for sending and receiving data packets over a network of computer systems as recited in claim 1 wherein said step c) further comprises:

automatically switching from said first NIC to a second NIC when said fault tolerance scheme indicates said first NIC is not available.

5. The method for sending and receiving data packets over a network of computer systems as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

assigning a class of service priority to said outgoing data packet and placing said outgoing data packet in a queue according to said class of service priority.

6. The method for sending and receiving data packets over a network of computer systems as recited in claim 1 wherein said VLAN is compliant with the IEEE 802.1Q standard.

7. The method for sending and receiving data packets over a network of computer systems as recited in claim 1 wherein said outgoing data packet is configured according to Fast Internet Protocol (FIP).

8. The method for sending and receiving data packets over a network of computer systems as recited in claim 1 wherein said outgoing data packet is configured according to GARP (generic attributes registration protocol) multicast registration protocol (GMRP).

9. The method for sending and receiving data packets over a network of computer systems as recited in claim 1 wherein said outgoing data packet is configured according to GARP VLAN registration protocol (GVRP).

10. A server-side computer system comprising:

a bus;

a processor coupled to said bus; and

a computer-readable memory unit coupled to said bus;

said computer system adapted to have a plurality of network interface cards (NICs) coupled thereto;

said processor for performing a method for sending and receiving data packets over a network of computer systems, said method comprising the steps of;

a) addressing an outgoing data packet using a first media access control (MAC) address and a second MAC address, wherein said first MAC address is a virtual MAC address representing said plurality of NICs and wherein said second MAC address is a virtual MAC address corresponding to a virtual local area network (VLAN) that is a destination of said outgoing data packet;

b) selecting a first NIC from said plurality of NICs using a load balancing scheme;

c) verifying functionality of said first NIC using a fault tolerance scheme;

d) replacing said first MAC address in said outgoing data packet with a MAC address representing said first NIC and replacing said second MAC address in said outgoing data packet with an identifier corresponding to said VLAN; and

e) sending said outgoing data packet using said first NIC.

11. The computer system of claim 10 wherein said outgoing data packet is configured according to Fast Internet Protocol (FIP).

12. The computer system of claim 10 wherein said processor performs said method for sending and receiving data packets over a network of computer systems further comprising the steps of:

f) receiving an incoming data packet at one of said plurality of NICs; and

g) replacing an existing MAC address in said incoming data packet with said first MAC address.

13. The computer system of claim 10 wherein said processor performs said method for sending and receiving data packets over a network of computer systems wherein said step b) comprises:

selecting said first NIC based on a destination address specified in said outgoing data packet.

14. The computer system of claim 10 wherein said processor performs said method for sending and receiving data packets over a network of computer systems wherein said step c) further comprises:

automatically switching from said first NIC to a second NIC when said fault tolerance scheme indicates said first NIC is not available.

15. The computer system of claim 10 wherein said processor performs said method for sending and receiving data packets over a network of computer systems further comprising:

assigning a class of service priority to said outgoing data packet and placing said outgoing data packet in a queue according to said class of service priority.

16. The computer system of claim 10 wherein said VLAN is compliant with the IEEE 802.1Q standard.

17. The computer system of claim 10 wherein said outgoing data packet is configured according to GARP VLAN registration protocol (GVRP).

18. The computer system of claim 10 wherein said outgoing data packet is configured according to GARP (generic attributes registration protocol) multicast registration protocol (GMRP).

19. A computer-usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for causing a server-side computer system adapted to have a plurality of network interface cards (NICs) coupled thereto to perform the steps of:

a) addressing an outgoing data packet using a first media access control (MAC) address and a second MAC address, wherein said first MAC address is a virtual MAC address representing said plurality of NICs and wherein said second MAC address is a virtual MAC address corresponding to a virtual local area network (VLAN) that is a destination of said outgoing data packet;

b) selecting a first NIC from said plurality of NICs using a load balancing scheme;

c) verifying functionality of said first NIC using a fault tolerance scheme;

d) replacing said first MAC address in said outgoing data packet with a MAC address representing said first NIC and replacing said second MAC address in said outgoing data packet with an identifier corresponding to said VLAN; and

e) sending said outgoing data packet using said first NIC.

20. The computer-usable medium of claim 19 wherein said outgoing data packet is configured according to Fast Internet Protocol (FIP).

21. The computer-usable medium of claim 19 wherein said outgoing data packet is configured according to GARP VLAN registration protocol (GVRP).

22. The computer-usable medium of claim 19 wherein said computer-readable program code embodied therein causes a server-side computer system to perform the steps of:

f) receiving an incoming data packet at one of said plurality of NICs; and

g) replacing an existing MAC address in said incoming data packet with said first MAC address.

23. The computer-usable medium of claim 19 wherein said computer-readable program code embodied therein causes a server-side computer system to perform the step of:

selecting said first NIC based on a destination address specified in said outgoing data packet.

24. The computer-usable medium of claim 19 wherein said computer-readable program code embodied therein causes a server-side computer system to perform the step of:

automatically switching from said first NIC to a second NIC when said fault tolerance scheme indicates said first NIC is not available.

25. The computer-usable medium of claim 19 wherein said computer-readable program code embodied therein causes a server-side computer system to perform the step of:

assigning a class of service priority to said outgoing data packet and placing said outgoing data packet in a queue according to said class of service priority.

26. The computer-usable medium of claim 19 wherein said VLAN is compliant with the IEEE 802.1Q standard.

27. The computer-usable medium of claim 19 wherein said outgoing data packet is configured according to GARP (generic attributes registration protocol) multicast registration protocol (GMRP).