Remote procedure call for a distributed system

• US 9,378,073 B2
• Filed: 08/14/2012
• Issued: 06/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Anantharam, Sushma, Ghosh, Nirapada, Kamath, Dayavanti Gopal, Kamble, Keshav Govind, Leu, Dar-Ren, Mendon, Chandarani J., Pandey, Vijoy A., Peethambaram, Nandakumar
• Primary Examiner(s): Vostal, O. C.
• Application Number:
  US13/585,587
• Publication Number:
  US 20140052771A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,414 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/547 Remote procedure calls [RPC]; Web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/133 Protocols for remote procedure calls [RPC]

Abstract

A distributed system includes first-tier entities, and a master entity in communication with each first-tier entity. The master entity provides a single access point through which an administrator can submit commands to manage all entities. The master entity maintains a table of virtual slots. Each virtual slot points to one of the first-tier entities, and each first-tier entity is pointed to by at least one virtual slot. The processor runs an RPC (remote procedure call) client to submit RPC requests to the first-tier entities, and determines a destination first-tier entity for a given RPC request in response to which virtual slot the administrator submits a command. The distributed system can include second-tier entities, each indirectly communicating with the master entity through a first-tier entity. The table has a virtual slot for each second-tier entity, which points to the first-tier entity acting as proxy for the second-tier entity.

Claims

1. A distributed system, comprising:

a plurality of first-tier entities; and

a master entity in communication with each of the first-tier entities over a communication network, the master entity providing a single access point through which an administrator can submit commands to manage all of the entities, the master entity comprising;

a microprocessor; and

memory storing an RPC (remote procedure call) client and a virtual slot table, the virtual slot table having a plurality of virtual slots, each virtual slot pointing to one of the first-tier entities, each first-tier entity being pointed to by at least one virtual slot,

wherein the microprocessor runs the RPC client to submit RPC requests to the first-tier entities in response to commands submitted by the administrator, and determines a destination first-tier entity for a given RPC request based on which of the virtual slots the administrator submits a given command; and

one or more second-tier entities, each second-tier entity being in indirect communication with the master entity through one of the first-tier entities, the virtual slot table having a virtual slot for each second-tier entity, the virtual slot of each second-tier entity identifying the first-tier entity through which that second-tier entity is in indirect communication with the master entity;

wherein one or more of the first-tier entities manages a control plane of one or more of the second-tier entities.

2. The distributed system of claim 1, wherein the master entity is directly connected to each of the first-tier entities by Ethernet links.

3. The distributed system of claim 1, wherein each of the master entity and first-tier entities are switches.

4. The distributed system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of networked first tier entities entity is a switch.

5. A networked first tier entity directly connected to a master entity, and directly connected to a second tier entity, comprising:

a microprocessor;

memory storing an RPC (remote procedure call) client and

an interface directly connected to the master entity;

wherein the microprocessor runs the RPC client to process RPC requests received through the interface from the master entity, determines a virtual slot number from a given received RPC request, and in response to determining the virtual slot number, determines whether to perform a function call requested by the RPC request or to forward a request to perform the function call to the second-tier entity for which the networked first tier entity acts as an RPC proxy;

wherein the second tier entity is connected to the master entity indirectly through the first tier entity; and

wherein one or more of the first-tier entities manages a control plane of one or more of the second-tier entities.

6. The networked first tier entity of claim 5, wherein the networked first tier entity stores a proxy agent for each second-tier entity for which the networked first tier entity acts as an RPC proxy running program code for managing a control plane of each second-tier entity, and a table associating the virtual slot number with each second-tier entity.

7. The networked first tier entity of claim 5, wherein the interface is directly connected to the master entity by an Ethernet link.