Network operating system for maintaining redundant master control blade management information
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- executing a network operating system (NOS) on each processor element of a switch;
via the NOS, creating a distributed messaging layer channel among a dynamic set of control blades of a plurality of control blades of the switch that are present and intercommunicating in the switch;
maintaining master control blade management information, including an object manager global database containing information regarding and configuration of active virtual private networks (VPNs) within the switch, active virtual routers (VRs) within the switch, object groups within the switch and objects within the switch, on a master control blade of the dynamic set of control blades;
maintaining redundant master control blade management information, including a replica of the object manager global database, on one or more standby control blades of the dynamic set of control blades bythe distributed messaging layer channel notifying the master control blade and the one or more standby control blades of detection of dynamic events within the switch, including (i) a peer up event, indicating a new control blade of the dynamic set of control blades has become reachable, (ii) a peer down event, indicating one of the dynamic set of control blades has become unreachable, (iii) a master up event, indicating a new master control blade has been elected, and (iv) a master down event, indicating the master control blade has become unreachable,performing bulk updates and flash updates to the redundant master control blade management information, the bulk updates being triggered by the dynamic events, the flash updates being triggered by individual changes to the object manager global database, including creation or deletion of a virtual router;
each of the one or more standby control blades periodically performing a consistency check against the replica of the object manager global database; and
if the consistency check indicates one or more of a plurality of consistency rules, including one or more rules relating to internal consistency of the redundant master control blade management information, has failed, then the standby control blade requesting a bulk update from the master control blade.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for maintaining redundant master control blade management information in switch. According to one embodiment, a network operating system (NOS) is executed on processor elements of a switch. A distributed messaging layer channel is created among a dynamic set of control blades intercommunicating within the switch. Master control blade management information is maintained on a master control blade. Redundant master control blade management information is maintained on one or more standby control blades by performing bulk updates and flash updates to the redundant master control blade management information and the standby control blades periodically performing a consistency check against the redundant information. The bulk updates are triggered by dynamic events. The flash updates are triggered by individual changes to a global database. If the consistency check fails, then the standby control blade requests a bulk update from the master control blade.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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executing a network operating system (NOS) on each processor element of a switch; via the NOS, creating a distributed messaging layer channel among a dynamic set of control blades of a plurality of control blades of the switch that are present and intercommunicating in the switch; maintaining master control blade management information, including an object manager global database containing information regarding and configuration of active virtual private networks (VPNs) within the switch, active virtual routers (VRs) within the switch, object groups within the switch and objects within the switch, on a master control blade of the dynamic set of control blades; maintaining redundant master control blade management information, including a replica of the object manager global database, on one or more standby control blades of the dynamic set of control blades by the distributed messaging layer channel notifying the master control blade and the one or more standby control blades of detection of dynamic events within the switch, including (i) a peer up event, indicating a new control blade of the dynamic set of control blades has become reachable, (ii) a peer down event, indicating one of the dynamic set of control blades has become unreachable, (iii) a master up event, indicating a new master control blade has been elected, and (iv) a master down event, indicating the master control blade has become unreachable, performing bulk updates and flash updates to the redundant master control blade management information, the bulk updates being triggered by the dynamic events, the flash updates being triggered by individual changes to the object manager global database, including creation or deletion of a virtual router; each of the one or more standby control blades periodically performing a consistency check against the replica of the object manager global database; and if the consistency check indicates one or more of a plurality of consistency rules, including one or more rules relating to internal consistency of the redundant master control blade management information, has failed, then the standby control blade requesting a bulk update from the master control blade. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A switch comprising:
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a master control blade having stored thereon an object manager global database containing information regarding virtual private network (VPN) and virtual router (VR) configuration as well as global objects and global object groups, wherein objects represent a basic unit of management within the switch for purposes of fault tolerance; a plurality of standby control blades each having stored thereon a replica of the object manager global database; and a separate instance of a network operating system (NOS) running on the master control blade and on each of the plurality of standby control blades, the NOS including an object manager component concerned with maintaining the object manager global database; a control blade redundancy module, which creates and maintains the plurality of replicas by sending updates to each of the plurality of replicas responsive to one or more predefined dynamic events within the switch and changes to the object manager global database; and wherein the NOS is operative to notify the master control blade and the plurality of standby control blades of detection of the one or more predefined dynamic events including (i) a peer up even, indicating a new control blade has become reachable, (ii) a peer down event, indicating one of the plurality of standby control blades has become unreachable, (iii) a master up event, indicating a new master control blade has been elected and (iv) a master down event indicating the master control blade has become unreachable; cause bulk updates and flash updates to be performed for the plurality of replicas, the bulk updates being triggered by the one or more predefined dynamic events, the flash updates being triggered by individual changes to the object manager global database, including creation or deletion of a virtual router within the switch; cause a set of consistency checks to be performed periodically on the plurality of replicas; and if the set of consistency checks indicates internal inconsistency of a replica of the plurality of replicas, then initiating a bulk update of the replica from the object manager global database. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A program storage device readable by a switch, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a plurality of processor elements of the switch to perform method steps for maintaining redundant master control blade management information, said method steps comprising:
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executing a network operating system (NOS) on each processor element of the plurality of processor elements; via the NOS, creating a distributed messaging layer channel among a dynamic set of control blades of a plurality of control blades of the switch that are present and intercommunicating in the switch; maintaining master control blade management information, including an object manager global database containing information regarding and configuration of active virtual private networks (VPNs) within the switch, active virtual routers (VRs) within the switch, object groups within the switch and objects within the switch, on a master control blade of the dynamic set of control blades; maintaining redundant master control blade management information, including a replica of the object manager global database, on one or more standby control blades of the dynamic set of control blades by the distributed messaging layer channel notifying the master control blade and the one or more standby control blades of detection of dynamic events within the switch, including (i) a peer up event, indicating a new control blade of the dynamic set of control blades has become reachable, (ii) a peer down event, indicating one of the dynamic set of control blades has become unreachable, (iii) a master up event, indicating a new master control blade has been elected, and (iv) a master down event, indicating the master control blade has become unreachable, performing bulk updates and flash updates to the redundant master control blade management information, the bulk updates being triggered by the dynamic events, the flash updates being triggered by individual changes to the object manager global database, including creation or deletion of a virtual router; each of the one or more standby control blades periodically performing a consistency check against the replica of the object manager global database; and if the consistency check indicates one or more of a plurality of consistency rules, including one or more rules relating to internal consistency of the redundant master control blade management information, has failed, then the standby control blade requesting a bulk update from the master control blade. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
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Specification