Methods and systems for hub high availability and network load and scaling

• US 9,871,691 B2
• Filed: 09/16/2015
• Issued: 01/16/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Palo Alto Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cloudgenix, Inc. (Palo Alto Networks Incorporated)
• Inventors: Anand, Venkataraman, Yadav, Navneet, Ramasamy, Arivu, Santhanam, Srinivasan Komandoor
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Brian D
• Application Number:
  US14/856,463
• Publication Number:
  US 20160080268A1
• Time in Patent Office: 853 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/18 for evaluating statistical data , e.g. average values, frequency distributions, probability functions, regression analysis forecasting specially adapted for a specific administrative, business or logistic context G06Q10/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0668 by dynamic selection of recovery network elements, e.g. replacement by the most appropriate element after failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/122 of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/14 Network analysis or design
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/34 Signalling channels for network management communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/062 related to network traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/065 related to network devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0864 Round trip delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/125 : based on throughput or bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 : Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/28 : using route fault recovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/302 : Route determination based on requested QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 : Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/38 : Flow based routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 : by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/22 : Traffic shaping
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 : Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 : by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/781 : Centralised allocation of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/825 : Involving tunnels, e.g. MPLS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2503 : Translation of Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 : using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4523 : using lightweight directory access protocol [LDAP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/061 : for key exchange, e.g. in peer-to-peer networks cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key agreement H04L9/0838
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 : Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 : specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 : Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/04 : Large scale networks; Deep hierarchical networks

Abstract

A method includes receiving at a branch device an assigned first hub device and an assigned second hub device associated with a data center, establishing a VPN data tunnel to the assigned first and second hub devices, designating the first hub device as a primary device, designating the second hub device as a secondary device and switching traffic destined for the primary device to the secondary device based, at least in part, on a cost of a link.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving at a branch device an identifier of an assigned first hub device and an identifier of an assigned second hub device associated with a data center;

establishing a VPN data tunnel to the assigned first and second hub devices;

designating the first hub device as a primary device;

designating the second hub device as a secondary device; and

switching traffic destined for the primary device to the secondary device based, at least in part, on a cost of a link;

wherein the first hub device and second hub device are assigned via an algorithm based, at least in part, on at least one of a plurality of current allocated branch devices to each hub device in a cluster and the sum of their estimated load on the hub device.

2. A method comprising:

receiving at a branch device an identifier of an assigned first hub device and an identifier of an assigned second hub device associated with a data center;

establishing a VPN data tunnel to the assigned first and second hub devices;

designating the first hub device as a primary device;

designating the second hub device as a secondary device; and

switching traffic destined for the primary device to the secondary device based, at least in part, on a cost of a link wherein the first hub device and second hub device are assigned via an algorithm based, at least in part, on at least one of a plurality of current allocated branch devices to each hub device in a cluster and an actual load on the hub device.

3. A method comprising:

receiving at a branch device an identifier of an assigned first hub device and an identifier of an assigned second hub device associated with a data center;

establishing a VPN data tunnel to the assigned first and second hub devices;

designating the first hub device as a primary device;

designating the second hub device as a secondary device; and

switching traffic destined for the primary device to the secondary device based, at least in part, on a cost of a link wherein the first hub device and second hub device are assigned via an algorithm based, at least in part, on network reachability of a new branch device to one or more elements of a hub cluster.

4. A method comprising:

receiving at a branch device an identifier of an assigned first hub device and an identifier of an assigned second hub device associated with a data center;

establishing a VPN data tunnel to the assigned first and second hub devices;

designating the first hub device as a primary device;

designating the second hub device as a secondary device;

switching traffic destined for the primary device to the secondary device if a failure of the VPN data tunnel to the primary device is detected; and

switching traffic to the primary device and the secondary device in a revertive mode and non-revertive mode;

wherein the first hub device and second hub device are assigned via an algorithm based, at least in part, on the at least one of a plurality of current allocated branch devices to each hub device in a cluster and the sum of their estimated load on the hub device.

5. A method comprising:

receiving at a branch device an identifier of an assigned first hub device and an identifier of an assigned second hub device associated with a data center;

establishing a VPN data tunnel to the assigned first and second hub devices;

designating the first hub device as a primary device;

designating the second hub device as a secondary device;

switching traffic destined for the primary device to the secondary device if a failure of the VPN data tunnel to the primary device is detected; and

switching traffic to the primary device and the secondary device in a revertive mode and non-revertive mode;

wherein the first hub device and second hub device are assigned via an algorithm based, at least in part, on at least one of a plurality of current allocated branch devices to each hub device in a cluster and an actual load on the hub device.

6. A method comprising:

receiving at a branch device an identifier of an assigned first hub device and an identifier of an assigned second hub device associated with a data center;

establishing a VPN data tunnel to the assigned first and second hub devices;

designating the first hub device as a primary device;

designating the second hub device as a secondary device;

switching traffic destined for the primary device to the secondary device if a failure of the VPN data tunnel to the primary device is detected; and

switching traffic to the primary device and the secondary device in a revertive mode and non-revertive mode;

wherein the first hub device and second hub device are assigned via an algorithm based, at least in part, on availability of total capacity of a hub cluster.

7. A method comprising:

receiving at a branch device an identifier of an assigned first hub device and an identifier of an assigned second hub device associated with a data center;

establishing a VPN data tunnel to the assigned first and second hub devices;

designating the first hub device as a primary device;

designating the second hub device as a secondary device;

switching traffic destined for the primary device to the secondary device if a failure of the VPN data tunnel to the primary device is detected; and

switching traffic to the primary device and the secondary device in a revertive mode and non-revertive mode;

wherein the first hub device and second hub device are assigned via an algorithm based, at least in part, on network reachability of a new branch device to one or more elements of a hub cluster.

8. A networked branch device configured to:

receive at a branch device an identifier of an assigned first hub device and an identifier of an assigned second hub device associated with a data center;

establish a VPN data tunnel to the assigned first and second hub devices;

designate the first hub device as a primary device;

designate the second hub device as a secondary device; and

switch traffic destined for the primary device to the secondary device if a failure of the VPN data tunnel to the primary device is detected;

wherein the first hub device and second hub device are assigned via an algorithm based, at least in part, on at least one of a plurality of current allocated branch devices to each hub device in a cluster and the sum of their estimated load on the hub device.

9. The networked branch device of claim 8 wherein the first hub device and second hub device are assigned via an algorithm based, at least in part, on data transfer statistics information collected from the branch device used as an input to estimate traffic load.