Triggered notification

• US 8,554,980 B2
• Filed: 11/02/2006
• Issued: 10/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bose, Patrick Glen
• Primary Examiner(s): Nawaz, Asad
• Assistant Examiner(s): HARLEY, JASON A
• Application Number:
  US11/556,123
• Publication Number:
  US 20070115818A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,532 Days
• Field of Search: 370/230, 709/223
• US Class Current: 711/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/342 between virtual entities, e.g. orchestrators, SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1012 based on compliance of requirements or conditions with available server resources

Abstract

In one embodiment, a virtual frame director may receive association data regarding a virtual server and a physical server, send instructions to a management module based on the received association data, send a control command to the physical server based on the received association data, and send a notification regarding completion of an association between the virtual server and the physical server. A management module may configure the virtual server and/or a gateway according to the instructions received from the virtual frame director. In one embodiment, a virtual frame director may receive a request message for a server, determine whether the request message for the server meets a policy implemented in the virtual frame director, and perform an action directed by the policy when the request message meets the policy.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a virtual frame director implemented by one or more processors and operative to;

determine that a request message does not meet a policy;

determine whether to generate one or more new policies responsive to the determination that the request message does not meet the policy and, if so, generate the one or more new policies based on user input;

receive association data regarding a virtual server and a physical server,

send instructions to a management module based on the received association data,

send a control command to the physical server based on the received association data, and

send a notification regarding completion of an association between the virtual server and the physical server; and

a management module implemented by one or more processors and operative to configure at least one of the virtual server and a gateway according to the instructions received from the virtual frame director,

the policy for defining the association data to be received by the virtual frame director when the request messages meets the policy, wherein the policy comprises

a category input for receiving a variable name that is being monitored;

a type input for receiving instructions on how to evaluate data in the request message;

a threshold input for receiving a threshold value;

an operator input for defining how the request message should be compared to a threshold value of the threshold input;

an action input for defining an action to be made when specified criteria of the policy are met; and

a description input for user reference in a user interface;

wherein the policy is represented by a policy data structure having a plurality of fields, each comprising a corresponding one of the inputs.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the association is a virtual server to the physical server association.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the association is a virtual server to the physical server disassociation.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a third party management tool operative to;

receive the notification, and

perform at least one of application patching, monitoring, data analysis, or statistics based on the receipt of the notification.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

the user interface for receiving an assignment change and providing the association data to the virtual frame director.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the policy is a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) trigger based policy.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the notification comprises:

a virtual server name input for receiving a virtual server name associated with the notification;

a physical server name input for receiving a physical server name associated with the notification;

an internet protocols (IPs) input for receiving an array of IP interfaces for a virtual server or a name corresponding to an alias listed in a user interface; and

an assigned input to indicate if the physical server associated with the notification has been assigned or unassigned.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

the physical server booting up or powering down in response to the control command received from the virtual frame director.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the association data indicates at least one of an addition or a removal of a virtual server to a virtual server group.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the virtual frame director is further configured to:

determine whether to redefine one or more existing policies responsive to the determination that the request message does not meet the policy and, if so, redefine the one or more existing policies based on the user input.

11. A system comprising:

a virtual frame director implemented by one or more processors and operative to;

receive a request message for a virtual server,

determine that the request message does not meet a policy implemented in the virtual frame director, and

determine whether to generate one or more new policies responsive to the determination that the request message does not meet the policy and, if so, to generate the one or more new policies based on user input,

wherein the request message comprises;

a virtual server group (VSG) name input for receiving a name of a virtual server group for which the request message is directed;

a category input for receiving a category of the request message;

a message value input for receiving a current value for the category input; and

a name of a specific physical server and/or a name of a specific virtual server;

wherein the virtual frame director is further operative to;

receive association data regarding a virtual server and a physical server,

send instructions to a management module based on the received association data,

send a control command to the physical server based on the received association data, and

send a notification regarding completion of an association between the virtual server and the physical server; and

a management module implemented by one or more processors and operative to configure at least one of the virtual server and a gateway according to the instructions received from the virtual frame director.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the action is at least one of sending an email, adding at least one of a physical server or the virtual server, removing at least one of the physical server, or the virtual server, failover, rebooting the physical server, or setting a virtual server state of the virtual server.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the policy comprises:

a type input for receiving instructions on how to evaluate data in the request message;

a threshold input for receiving a threshold value;

an operator input defining how the request message should be compared to a threshold value of the threshold input; and

an action input defining the action to be made when specified criteria of the policy are met.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the virtual frame director is further operative to:

associate the request message with a virtual server group (VSG) according to the policy.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the request message is a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) based trigger.

16. An apparatus comprising a virtual frame director implemented by one or more processors and configured to:

receive association data;

send instructions to a management module based on the received association data;

send a control command to one or more physical servers based on the received association data;

send a notification regarding completion of an association from the association data;

receive a request message for a virtual server, wherein the request message comprises;

a virtual server group (VSG) name input for receiving a virtual server group for which the request message is directed;

a category input for receiving a category of the request message;

a message value input for receiving a current value for the category input;

a name of a specific physical server and/or a name of a specific virtual server;

determine that the request message does not meet a policy implemented in a virtual frame director,

determine whether to generate one or more new policies responsive to the determination that the request message does not meet the policy; and

generate the one or more new policies based on user input.

17. A method comprising:

receiving a trigger comprising a category field value;

determining that the trigger does not meet a policy;

determining, using one or more processors, whether to generate one or more new policies responsive to the determination that the trigger does not meet the policy and, if so, generating the one or more new policies based on user input;

accessing association data regarding an association between a virtual server and a physical server;

providing instructions to a management module based on the received association data;

providing a control command to the physical server based on the received association data;

providing a notification regarding completion of the association between the virtual server and the physical server, wherein the association is a virtual server to physical server association; and

providing the association data for access when the category field value of the trigger matches a category field value of a policy data structure corresponding to the policy.