Multi-fabric manager

• US 9,807,005 B2
• Filed: 03/17/2015
• Issued: 10/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2015
• 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., Vobbilisetty, Suresh, Gowda, Manjunath A. G.
• Primary Examiner(s): PANCHOLI, RINA C
• Application Number:
  US14/660,740
• Publication Number:
  US 20160277214A1
• Time in Patent Office: 959 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0233 Object-oriented techniques, for representation of network management data, e.g. common object request broker architecture [CORBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/745 Address table lookup; Address filtering

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention provides a computing system. The computing system includes processing circuitry, one or more ports, a persistent storage module, and a management module. The persistent storage module stores a plurality of persistent storage instances associated with a plurality of switch groups. A respective persistent storage instance stores configuration information associated with a switch group in a data structure. The management module identifies at least two switch groups, which are associated with a logical network, from the plurality of switch groups and configures a respective virtual network representing the logical network in a respective identified switch group. The management module also maintains a mapping between a respective virtual network and the logical network.

Claims

1. A computing system, comprising:

processing circuitry;

one or more ports;

persistent storage circuitry configured to store a first and a second persistent storage instances storing configuration information associated with first and a second networks of interconnected switches, respectively, wherein the first and the second networks of interconnected switches are identified by a first and a second fabric identifiers, respectively; and

a management circuitry configured to;

identify a logical network representing a tenant network associated with the first and second storage instances;

configure a first virtual network representing the logical network in the first network of interconnected switches and a second virtual network representing the logical network in the second network of interconnected switches; and

maintain a first mapping between the first virtual network and the logical network, and a second mapping between the second virtual network and the logical network.

2. The computing system of claim 1, further comprising tunnel circuitry configured to establish a tunnel between the first and second networks of interconnected switches.

3. The computing system of claim 2, wherein the tunnel is terminated at a logical interface, wherein the logical interface is associated with one or more switches of one of the first and second networks of interconnected switches.

4. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the management circuitry is further configured to:

obtain a media access control (MAC) address learned at the first network of interconnected switches; and

store the MAC address in a local data structure in association with a switch group identifier which identifies the first network of interconnected switches.

5. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the management circuitry is further configured to program reachability of a MAC address learned at the first network of interconnected switches in the second network of interconnected switches.

6. The computing system of claim 1, wherein a header of a packet belonging to the logical network includes an identifier of the first virtual network.

7. The computing system of claim 6, wherein the header of the packet belonging to the logical network includes an identifier of the second virtual network.

8. The computing system of claim 1, further comprising switch group circuitry configured to maintain a membership in the first and second networks of interconnected switches.

9. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the management circuitry is further configured to:

generate a first control message comprising configuration information associated with the first network of interconnected switches for a principal switch of the first network of interconnected switches;

generate a second control message indicating whether the configuration information is prepared for storage in the first persistent storage instance; and

commit the configuration information to the first persistent storage instance based on an instruction message from the principal switch.

10. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the management circuitry is further configured to:

verify whether configuration information is prepared for storage in a persistent storage instance of a replica of the computing system; and

in response to verifying that the configuration information is prepared for storage in the persistent storage instance of the replica of the computing system, generate an instruction message instructing to commit the configuration information to the persistent storage instance of the replica of the computing system.

11. The computing system of claim 1, wherein persistent storage instance is an object relational database instance, and wherein a data structure in a persistent storage instance is a table in the database instance.

12. A method, comprising:

storing a first and a second persistent storage instances storing configuration information associated with a first and a second networks of interconnected switches, respectively, wherein the first and the second networks of interconnected switches are identified by a first and a second fabric identifiers, respectively;

identifying a logical network representing a tenant network associated with the first and second storage instances;

configuring a first virtual network representing the logical network in the first network of interconnected switches and a second virtual network representing the logical network in the second network of interconnected switches; and

maintaining a first mapping between the first virtual network and the logical network, and a second mapping between the second virtual network and the logical network.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising establishing a tunnel between first and second networks of interconnected switches.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the tunnel is terminated at a logical interface, wherein the logical interface is associated with one or more switches of one of the first and second networks of interconnected switches.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

obtaining a media access control (MAC) address learned at the first network of interconnected switches; and

storing the MAC address in a local data structure in association with a switch group identifier which identifies the first network of interconnected switches.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising programming reachability of a MAC address learned at the first network of interconnected switches in the second network of interconnected switches.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein a header of a packet belonging to the logical network includes an identifier of the first virtual network.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the header of the packet belonging to the logical network includes an identifier of the second virtual network.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising maintaining a membership in the first and second networks of interconnected switches.

20. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

generating a first control message comprising configuration information associated with the first network of interconnected switches for a principal switch of the first network of interconnected switches;

generating a second control message indicating whether the configuration information is prepared for storage in the first persistent storage instance; and

committing the configuration information to the first persistent storage instance based on an instruction message from the principal switch.

21. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

verifying whether configuration information is prepared for storage in a replica persistent storage instance of the first persistent storage instance; and

in response to verifying that the configuration information is prepared for storage in the replica persistent storage instance, generating an instruction message instructing to commit the configuration information to the replica persistent storage instance.

22. The method of claim 12, wherein a persistent storage instance is an object relational database instance, and wherein a data structure in a persistent storage instance is a table in the database instance.

23. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computing system cause the computing system to perform a method for managing a group of switches, the method comprising:

storing a first and a second persistent storage instances storing configuration information associated with a first and a second networks of interconnected switches, respectively, wherein the first and the second networks of interconnected switches are identified by a first and a second fabric identifiers, respectively;

identifying a logical network representing a tenant network associated with the first and second storage instances;

configuring a first virtual network representing the logical network in the first network of interconnected switches and a second virtual network representing the logical network in the second network of interconnected switches; and

maintaining a first mapping between the first virtual network and the logical network, and a second mapping between the second virtual network and the logical network.