Multiple software versions in a switch group

• US 9,628,407 B2
• Filed: 12/31/2014
• Issued: 04/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Guntaka, Vidyasagara R., Gowda, Manjunath A. G., Varshney, Himanshu
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Chirag
• Assistant Examiner(s): ULYSSE, JAEL M
• Application Number:
  US14/588,072
• Publication Number:
  US 20160191316A1
• Time in Patent Office: 839 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/10 characterised by the switching fabric construction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/111 Switch interfaces, e.g. port details
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/118 Address processing within a device, e.g. using internal ID or tags for routing within a switch
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/15 Interconnection of switching modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/351 for local area network [LAN], e.g. Ethernet switches

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch. The switch includes one or more ports, a switch group module, a persistent storage module, and a synchronization module. The switch group module maintains a membership in a switch group. The persistent storage module stores configuration information associated with the switch group in a data structure, which includes one or more columns for attribute values of the configuration information, in a local persistent storage. The synchronization module obtains update information, which includes a first set of attribute values, from a portable representation. The synchronization module identifies a software version of a second switch in the switch group and generates an update instruction to update the first data structure in a persistent storage in the second switch with target update information. The target update information comprises a second set of attribute values updated from the first set of attribute values.

Claims

1. A first switch, comprising:

one or more ports;

switch group circuitry configured to maintain a membership in a network of interconnected switches, wherein the network of interconnected switches is identified by a fabric identifier;

synchronization circuitry configured to;

obtain update information from a portable file format, wherein the update information comprises a first set of attribute values for a first data structure in a persistent storage of the first switch;

identify a software version of a second switch in the network of interconnected switches;

determine target update information for the second switch based on the software version of the second switch, wherein the target update information includes the update information in a representation compatible with the software version of the second switch; and

generate an update instruction comprising the target update information to update a second data structure in a persistent storage in the second switch using the target update information, wherein the second data structure includes one or more rows for corresponding attribute values of the target update information.

2. The first switch of claim 1, wherein the software version of the second switch is different than a software version of the first switch.

3. The first switch of claim 1, wherein the synchronization circuitry is further configured to identify the software version of the second switch from a mapping between an identifier of the second switch and the software version of the second switch.

4. The first switch of claim 1, wherein the synchronization circuitry is further configured to:

verify whether the target update information is prepared for storage in a persistent storage of a respective switch of the network of interconnected switches; and

in response to verifying that the update information is prepared, generate an instruction message instructing to commit the target update information to respective persistent storage of a respective switch of the network of interconnected switches.

5. The first switch of claim 4, wherein, in response to verifying that the target update information is not prepared, the synchronization circuitry is further configured to roll back the target update information from a persistent storage of a respective switch, which has succeeded in storage preparation, of the network of interconnected switches.

6. The first switch of claim 1, further comprising a conversion circuitry configured to convert a first attribute value to a second attribute value to determine the target update information, wherein the first attribute value is of a first attribute type, and wherein the second attribute value is of a second attribute type.

7. The first switch of claim 1, further comprising a conversion circuitry configured to assign a default attribute value to an attribute in the target update information.

8. The first switch of claim 1, wherein the persistent storage is an object relational database, and wherein a data structure in the persistent storage is a table in the database.

9. The first switch of claim 1, wherein the portable file format is based on one or more of:

Extensible Markup Language (XML) and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON).

10. The first switch of claim 1, wherein the network of interconnected switches is a fabric switch, wherein the plurality of switches included the network of interconnected switches operate as a single switch.

11. A first switch, comprising:

one or more ports;

switch group circuitry configured to maintain a membership in a network of interconnected switches, wherein the network of interconnected switches is identified by a fabric identifier;

synchronization circuitry configured to;

identify update information from a received user command, wherein the update information comprises a first set of attribute values for a first data structure in a persistent storage of the first switch;

generate a portable file format comprising the received update information; and

generate a notification message comprising the portable file format, wherein the notification message is destined to a second switch in the network of interconnected switches; and

persistent storage circuitry configured to store target update information in the first data structure, wherein the target update information is obtained from an instruction message received from the second switch, and wherein the target update information includes the update information in a representation compatible with a software version of the first switch.

12. The first switch of claim 11, wherein the synchronization circuitry is further configured to:

verify whether the target update information is prepared for storage in the persistent storage; and

in response to verifying that the target update information is prepared, generate an acknowledgement message comprising a transaction identifier associated with the preparation, wherein the acknowledgement message is destined to the second switch.

13. The first switch of claim 11, wherein the portable file format is based on one or more of:

Extensible Markup Language (XML) and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON).

14. A method, comprising:

maintaining a membership of a first switch in a network of interconnected switches, wherein the network of interconnected switches is identified by a fabric identifier;

obtaining update information from a portable file format, wherein the update information comprises a first set of attribute values for a first data structure in a persistent storage of the first switch;

identify a software version of a second switch in the network of interconnected switches;

determining target update information for the second switch based on the software version of the second switch, wherein the target update information includes the update information in a representation compatible with the software version of the second switch; and

generating an update instruction comprising the target update information to update a second data structure in a persistent storage in the second switch using the target update information, wherein the second data structure includes one or more rows for corresponding attribute values of the target update information.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the software version of the second switch is different than a software version of the first switch.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising identifying the software version of the second switch from a mapping between an identifier of the second switch and the software version of the second switch.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

verifying whether the target update information is prepared for storage in a persistent storage of a respective switch of the network of interconnected switches; and

in response to verifying that the update information is prepared, generating an instruction message instructing to commit the target update information to respective persistent storage of a respective switch of the network of interconnected switches.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising, in response to verifying that the target update information is not prepared, rolling back the target update information from a persistent storage of a switch, which has succeeded in storage preparation, of the network of interconnected switches.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the target update information comprises converting a first attribute value to a second attribute value, wherein the first attribute value is of a first attribute type, and wherein the second attribute value is of a second attribute type.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising assigning a default attribute value to an attribute in the target update information.

21. The method claim 14, wherein the persistent storage is an object relational database, and wherein a data structure in the persistent storage is a table in the database.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the file format representation is based on one or more of:

Extensible Markup Language (XML) and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON).

23. The method of claim 14, wherein the network of interconnected switches is a fabric switch, wherein the plurality of switches included the network of interconnected switches operate as a single switch.

24. A method, comprising:

maintaining a membership of a first switch in a network of interconnected switches, wherein the network of interconnected switches is identified by a fabric identifier;

identifying update information from a received user command, wherein the update information comprises a first set of attribute values for a first data structure in a persistent storage of the first switch;

generating a portable file format comprising the received update information;

generating a notification message comprising the portable file format, wherein the notification message is destined to a second switch in the network of interconnected switches; and

storing target update information in the first data structure, wherein the target update information is obtained from an instruction message received from the second switch, and wherein the target update information includes the update information in a representation compatible with a software version of the first switch.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

verifying whether the target update information is prepared for storage in the persistent storage; and

in response to verifying that the target update information is be prepared, generating an acknowledgement message comprising a transaction identifier associated with the preparation, wherein the acknowledgement message is destined to the second switch.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the portable file format is based on one or more of:

Extensible Markup Language (XML) and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON).