Methods and systems for serial device replacement within a branch routing architecture

• US 9,906,402 B2
• Filed: 09/16/2015
• Issued: 02/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Palo Alto Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cloudgenix, Inc. (Palo Alto Networks Incorporated)
• Inventors: Ramachandran, Kumar, Anand, Venkataraman, Yadav, Navneet, Ramasamy, Arivu
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Brian D
• Application Number:
  US14/856,474
• Publication Number:
  US 20160080195A1
• Time in Patent Office: 895 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 deploying in series a plurality of configurable devices in a network configured to communicate with one another via a protocol for exchanging state information wherein at least one of the plurality of configurable devices is in an active state and at least one of the plurality of devices is in a standby state, detecting, by the at least one of the plurality of configurable devices in a standby state, a failure of a configurable device in an active state via a protocol and switching the at least one configurable device in a standby state to an active state.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

deploying in series a plurality of configurable devices in a network, the plurality of configurable devices configured to communicate with one another via a protocol for exchanging state information, wherein a first configurable device of the plurality of configurable devices is in an active state and a second configurable device of the plurality of devices is in a standby state;

detecting, by the second configurable device, a failure of the first configurable device via a protocol; and

switching the second configurable device from the standby state to an active state and switching the first configurable device from the active state to a bypass condition when a failure of the first configurable device is detected, wherein the bypass condition allows the same data to flow through both the first and the second configurable devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a network connectivity is physical.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising deploying one or more branch components selected from the group consisting of switches and routers.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein configurable devices comprise spoke devices.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the switching is performed by a switch type selected from the group consisting of managed switch, unmanaged switch and stackable switch.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the network connectivity is logical.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the network connectivity is hybrid.

8. A system comprising:

a plurality of configurable devices in a network deployed in series and configured to communicate with one another via a protocol for exchanging state information, wherein a first configurable device of the plurality of configurable devices is in an active state and a second configurable device of the plurality of devices is in a standby state;

wherein the second configurable device is adapted to detect a failure of the first configurable device via a protocol and switch the second configurable device from the standby state to an active state and switch the first configurable device from the active state to a bypass condition when a failure of the first configurable device is detected, wherein the bypass condition allows the same data to flow through both the first and the second configurable devices.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the network connectivity is physical.

10. The system of claim 8 further configured to deploy one or more branch components selected from the group consisting of switches and routers.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein configurable devices comprise spoke devices.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the switching is performed by a switch type selected from the group consisting of managed switch, unmanaged switch and stackable switch.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the network connectivity is logical.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the network connectivity is hybrid.

15. A method comprising:

deploying in series a plurality of configurable devices in a network, the plurality of configurable devices configured to communicate with one another via a protocol for exchanging state information, wherein a first configurable device of the plurality of configurable devices is self-selected to be in an active state and a second configurable device of the plurality of devices is in a standby state;

detecting, by the second configurable device, a failure of the first configurable device via a protocol; and

switching the second configurable device from the standby state to an active state and switching the first configurable device from the active state to a bypass condition when a failure of the first configurable device is detected, wherein the bypass condition allows the same data to flow through both the first and the second configurable devices.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the network connectivity is physical.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising deploying one or more branch components selected from the group consisting of switches and routers.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein configurable devices comprise spoke devices.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the switching is performed by a switch type selected from the group consisting of managed switch, unmanaged switch and stackable switch.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the network connectivity is logical.