Virtual clustering for scalable network control and management
First Claim
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1. A method for virtual clustering and network control in a hierarchical network having a plurality of computing nodes, comprising:
- autonomously determining, by a node, whether the node should be promoted, demoted or stay at a same level in the network hierarchy, the promotion and demotion of the node is to a current cluster level from a previous cluster level, wherein a promoted node rises to a cluster level above the previous cluster level and becomes part of a virtual cluster at the level above, while remaining in a virtual cluster of the previous level, and wherein a demoted node falls to a cluster level below the previous cluster level and no longer remains in the virtual cluster at the higher level;
providing management and control service functions to cluster k peer nodes when the node has been promoted to a cluster-head of the cluster k; and
providing management and control service functions to other nodes in cluster levels below the current cluster level of the node from which the node has been promoted,wherein self-promotion and demotion are based on the node'"'"'s behavior relating to (a) reachability, (b) stability and (c) performance efficiency, andwherein information used to enable self-promotion and demotion of the node from the previous cluster is based on collected states, and the information is distributed among nodes in the hierarchical network residing with nodes having a relationship to the previous cluster and wherein the information is not guaranteed to be held by any one node in the hierarchical network, and wherein membership of the node in a cluster is irrelevant to a physical network model except when related to the node'"'"'s behavior regarding reachability, stability and performance efficiency, andwherein there is no prohibition or rule against a cluster having only one member or having as many clusters as there are nodes in the network, and wherein cluster membership is based on self-promotion and demotion.
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Abstract
In some embodiments, the invention involves a system and method relating to a framework to build a new class of network control (policy) and (state) management services. The framework may be used to build a number of self-management services to support decentralized (mesh) networks. In at least one embodiment, the present invention is intended to hybridize centralized and decentralized network models to generate a more stable and robust network environment using clustering. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method for virtual clustering and network control in a hierarchical network having a plurality of computing nodes, comprising:
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autonomously determining, by a node, whether the node should be promoted, demoted or stay at a same level in the network hierarchy, the promotion and demotion of the node is to a current cluster level from a previous cluster level, wherein a promoted node rises to a cluster level above the previous cluster level and becomes part of a virtual cluster at the level above, while remaining in a virtual cluster of the previous level, and wherein a demoted node falls to a cluster level below the previous cluster level and no longer remains in the virtual cluster at the higher level; providing management and control service functions to cluster k peer nodes when the node has been promoted to a cluster-head of the cluster k; and providing management and control service functions to other nodes in cluster levels below the current cluster level of the node from which the node has been promoted, wherein self-promotion and demotion are based on the node'"'"'s behavior relating to (a) reachability, (b) stability and (c) performance efficiency, and wherein information used to enable self-promotion and demotion of the node from the previous cluster is based on collected states, and the information is distributed among nodes in the hierarchical network residing with nodes having a relationship to the previous cluster and wherein the information is not guaranteed to be held by any one node in the hierarchical network, and wherein membership of the node in a cluster is irrelevant to a physical network model except when related to the node'"'"'s behavior regarding reachability, stability and performance efficiency, and wherein there is no prohibition or rule against a cluster having only one member or having as many clusters as there are nodes in the network, and wherein cluster membership is based on self-promotion and demotion. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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10. A system for virtual clustering and network control, comprising:
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a plurality of computing nodes in a hierarchical network, each node comprising; logic for autonomous self-promotion and demotion in the network, the promotion and demotion of the node is to a current cluster level from a previous cluster level, wherein a promoted node rises to a cluster level above the previous cluster level and becomes part of a virtual cluster at the cluster level above, while remaining in a virtual cluster of the previous cluster level, and wherein a demoted node falls to a cluster level below the previous cluster level and no longer remains in the virtual cluster at the higher level; logic to provide management and control service functions to cluster k peer nodes in a node that has been promoted to a cluster-head of the cluster k; logic to provide management and control service functions to other nodes in cluster levels below the current cluster level of the node from which the node has been promoted, wherein self-promotion and demotion are based on a node'"'"'s behavior relating to (a) reachability, (b) stability and (c) performance efficiency, and wherein information used to enable self-promotion and demotion of the node from the previous cluster is based on collected states, and the information is distributed among nodes in the hierarchical network residing with nodes having a relationship to the previous cluster and wherein the information is not guaranteed to be held by any one node in the hierarchical network, and wherein membership of the node in a cluster is irrelevant to a physical network model except when related to the node'"'"'s behavior regarding reachability, stability and performance efficiency, and wherein there is no prohibition or rule against a cluster having only one member or having as many clusters as there are nodes in the network, and wherein cluster membership is based on self-promotion and demotion.
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21. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium having instructions stored therein, the instructions for virtual clustering and network control in a hierarchical network having a plurality of computing nodes, that when the instructions are executed in a machine, cause the machine to:
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autonomously determine, by a node, whether the node should be promoted, demoted or stay at a same level in the network hierarchy, the promotion and demotion of the node is to a current cluster level from a previous cluster level, wherein a promoted node rises to a cluster level above the previous cluster level and becomes part of a virtual cluster at the level above, while remaining in a virtual cluster of the previous level, and wherein a demoted node falls to a cluster level below the previous cluster level and no longer remains in the virtual cluster at the higher level; provide management and control service functions to cluster k peer nodes when the node has been promoted to a cluster-head of the cluster k; and provide management and control service functions to other nodes in cluster levels below the current cluster level of the node from which the node has been promoted, wherein self-promotion and demotion are based on a node'"'"'s behavior relating to (a) reachability, (b) stability and (c) performance efficiency, and wherein information used to enable self-promotion and demotion of the node from the previous cluster is based on collected states, and the information is distributed among nodes in the hierarchical network residing with nodes having a relationship to the previous cluster and wherein the information is not guaranteed to be held by any one node in the hierarchical network, and wherein membership of the node in a cluster is irrelevant to a physical network model except when related to the node'"'"'s behavior regarding reachability, stability and performance efficiency, and wherein there is no prohibition or rule against a cluster having only one member or having as many clusters as there are nodes in the network, and wherein cluster membership is based on self-promotion and demotion. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification