System and methods for providing server virtualization assistance

• US 9,661,112 B2
• Filed: 02/21/2008
• Issued: 05/23/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chao, Tienwei, Pandey, Vijoy, Yao, Wang
• Primary Examiner(s): Jagannathan, Melanie
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ansari, Najeebuddin
• Application Number:
  US12/070,985
• Publication Number:
  US 20080205377A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,379 Days
• Field of Search: 370351-356
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/25 Routing or path finding in a switch fabric
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/557 Error correction, e.g. fault recovery or fault tolerance
• 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 67/1027 Persistence of sessions during load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

An improved system and method for network switching that provides the ability to automatically and seamlessly migrate policies for network hosts under certain conditions to local or remote switch ports. The improved switch automatically migrates switch policies for virtual and physical hosts from a source port to a destination port when hosts have been physically moved or replaced. For elements that have failed, the improved switch also migrates host network policies for both physical hosts and virtual machines when the old host network policy will maintain serviceability of the element when applied to the new port.

Claims

1. A network switch system comprising:

at least one source port for receiving a packet from a source;

at least one destination port as a destination for the packet;

at least one processing unit coupled to a memory storage device; and

program instructions, stored on the memory storage device for execution by the at least one processing unit to;

detect that a first host computer is removed from a first predetermined physical location of a circuit, said first host computer associated with a switch policy comprising simple network management protocol simple network protocol traps, a first quality of access level, a first quality of service level and a first access control list;

detect that a second host computer, different from the first host computer, is installed into a second predetermined physical location of the circuit different from the first predetermined physical location of the first host computer;

provide an adaptive change of at least one switch configuration by migrating said switch policy associated with the first host computer to the second host computer located in the second predetermined physical location, wherein said second host computer receives and becomes associated with said switch policy comprising the simple network management protocol, the simple network protocol traps, the first quality of access level, the first quality of service level, and the first access control list; and

verify the migrated switch policy against the at least one switch configuration by identifying MAC address information corresponding to the second physical location of the circuit.

2. The network switch system of claim 1, wherein said switch policy further includes statistics items temperature, time, and a management information base.

3. The network switch system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions migrate a host network policy from said first host computer to said second host computer.

4. A method for operating a computer network communications device comprising:

detecting a host computer of a server farm is removed from a first predetermined physical location of a circuit, said first host computer in communication with a network switch having a switch policy comprising simple network management protocol, simple network protocol traps, a first quality of access level, a first quality of service level and a first access control list;

detecting a second host computer, different from the first computer, of the server farm is installed into a second predetermined physical location, different from the first predetermined location, of the circuit;

providing, by the network switch, an adaptive change of a switch configuration of the network switch by migrating said switch policy from the first host computer to the second host computer located in the second predetermined physical location, said second host computer, receiving and becoming associated with said switch policy comprising the simple network management protocol, the simple network protocol traps, the first quality of access level, the first quality of service level, and the first access control list, migrating a host network policy to the second host computer located in the second predetermined physical location, and verifying the migrated switch policy against the switch configuration by identifying MAC address information corresponding to the second physical location of the circuit.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the network switch is a remote switch.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the network switch provides an adaptive change of modifying a second configuration of the second predetermined physical location of the circuit, referring to a first configuration of the first predetermined physical location of a circuit.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein a change in host configuration of the server farm triggers said switch policy whereby the network switch detects the change.