Method and apparatus providing automatic connection announcement from a modular network device to a network management point
First Claim
1. An apparatus for provisioning modular network devices, the apparatus comprising:
- one or more processors;
a communication interface configured to receive information about a device, wherein the information comprises an inventory that describes absolute interface references for interfaces associated with the device;
a configuration server configured to locate, based on the information received about the device, a template that describes relative interface references that are generic with respect to interfaces associated with the device and to create a configuration for the device by resolving the relative interface references with the absolute interface references;
wherein, prior to resolving the relative interface references with the absolute interface references, the relative interface references are placeholders that do not specify absolute values;
wherein each relative interface reference of the relative interface references specifies at least a type of interface and a logical port number and includes a delimiting character that delimits configuration commands from the at least the type of interface and the logical port number;
wherein resolving the relative interface references with the absolute interface references comprises, for each relative interface reference of the relative interface references, placing a corresponding absolute interface reference in place of the delimiting character and said at least the type of interface and the logical port number;
wherein the communication interface communicates the configuration to the device.
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Abstract
A method of provisioning modular network devices is described. A generic configuration is placed on a device; the configuration comprises commands for configuring interfaces associated the device. At the device, each interface associated with the device is configured with at least one command associated with the configuration. The device then attempts to connect with a management point through the current interface. If the current interface can connect to the management point, then an inventory of all interfaces associated with the device is self-initiated and automatically communicated by the device to the management point. In other embodiments, based on the inventory information, a configuration template containing relative interface references may be resolved into a permanent device configuration that includes absolute interface references. As a result, modular network devices in which interfaces of various types are installed at different slot locations may acquire a permanent configuration automatically from a remote management station.
61 Citations
25 Claims
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1. An apparatus for provisioning modular network devices, the apparatus comprising:
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one or more processors; a communication interface configured to receive information about a device, wherein the information comprises an inventory that describes absolute interface references for interfaces associated with the device; a configuration server configured to locate, based on the information received about the device, a template that describes relative interface references that are generic with respect to interfaces associated with the device and to create a configuration for the device by resolving the relative interface references with the absolute interface references; wherein, prior to resolving the relative interface references with the absolute interface references, the relative interface references are placeholders that do not specify absolute values; wherein each relative interface reference of the relative interface references specifies at least a type of interface and a logical port number and includes a delimiting character that delimits configuration commands from the at least the type of interface and the logical port number; wherein resolving the relative interface references with the absolute interface references comprises, for each relative interface reference of the relative interface references, placing a corresponding absolute interface reference in place of the delimiting character and said at least the type of interface and the logical port number;
wherein the communication interface communicates the configuration to the device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A computer-implemented method of provisioning modular network devices, comprising:
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receiving information about a device, wherein the information comprises an inventory that describes absolute interface references for interfaces associated with the device; locating, based on the information received about the device, a template that describes relative interface references that are generic with respect to interfaces associated with the device; creating a configuration for the device by resolving the relative interface references with the absolute interface references; wherein, prior to resolving the relative interface references with the absolute interface references, the relative interface references are placeholders that do not specify absolute values; wherein each relative interface reference of the relative interface references specifies at least a type of interface and a logical port number and includes a delimiting character that delimits configuration commands from the at least the type of interface and the logical port number; wherein resolving the relative interface references with the absolute interface references comprises, for each relative interface reference of the relative interface references, placing a corresponding absolute interface reference in place of the delimiting character and said at least the type of interface and the logical port number; communicating the configuration to the device; wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of:
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receiving information about a device, wherein the information comprises an inventory that describes absolute interface references for interfaces associated with the device; locating, based on the information received about the device, a template that describes relative interface references that are generic with respect to interfaces associated with the device; creating a configuration for the device by resolving the relative interface references with the absolute interface references; wherein, prior to resolving the relative interface references with the absolute interface references, the relative interface references are placeholders that do not specify absolute values; wherein each relative interface reference of the relative interface references specifies at least a type of interface and a logical port number and includes a delimiting character that delimits configuration commands from the at least the type of interface and the logical port number; wherein resolving the relative interface references with the absolute interface references comprises, for each relative interface reference of the relative interface references, placing a corresponding absolute interface reference in place of the delimiting character and said at least the type of interface and the logical port number; communicating the configuration to the device. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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- 24. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause automatically provisioning a modular network device, the computer-readable storage medium further storing a template having (1) interface identifiers, wherein each interface identifier specifies at least (a) an interface type, (b) a logical port number, and (c) a delimiting character that delimits at least the interface type and the logical port number from device configuration commands, wherein the interface identifiers are in the form of substitution strings, wherein each substitution string is generic with respect to interfaces associated with the device, and wherein each substitution string is resolvable into an absolute interface value, by placing the absolute interface value in place of the substitution string that included at least (a) the interface type, (b) the logical port number, and (c) the delimiting character, by a management point based on device inventory information that is received at the management point from the device, and the template having (2) one or more device interface configuration commands associated with each of the interface identifiers.
Specification