Route signalling based resilient application overlay network

• US 9,985,875 B1
• Filed: 09/30/2015
• Issued: 05/29/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Srinath, Harsha, Agrawal, Sanjay, Ramamoorthi, Sankar, Krishna, Gopi, Bernal Van der Ven, Juan-Antonio, Gal, Shauli, Minei, Ina
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Chi H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Agureyev, Vladislav
• Application Number:
  US14/871,492
• Time in Patent Office: 972 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1471 involving logging of persistent data for recovery
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/20 using active fault-masking, e.g. by switching out faulty elements or by switching in spare elements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2012 and using different communication protocols
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2023 Failover techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2028 eliminating a faulty processor or activating a spare
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2038 with a single idle spare processing component
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2041 with more than one idle spare processing component
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3006 where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3041 where the computing system component is an input/output interface interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units G06F13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0659 by isolating or reconfiguring faulty entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0663 Performing the actions predefined by failover planning, e.g. switching to standby network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/28 using route fault recovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/586 of virtual routers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/102 Gateways arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways, H04L12/66
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• 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

A system and method for handling critical events in service delivery gateways. Events are defined that cause a transition from a master redundancy state to a standby redundancy state in service delivery gateways and a plurality of signal-routes are stored. Each signal-route is associated with one or more of the defined events. A first defined event is detected in the first service delivery gateway and causes a transition from the first master redundancy state to the first standby redundancy state in the first service delivery gateway and a change in a first signal-route from the plurality of signal-routes in the first service delivery gateway. The change in the first signal-route is advertised and a second service delivery gateway transitions from the first standby redundancy state to the first master redundancy state.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving configuration information defining events that cause a transition from a master redundancy state to a standby redundancy state in service delivery gateways, including receiving configuration information defining a first event that causes a transition from a first master redundancy state to a first standby redundancy state in service delivery gateways;

in response to receiving the configuration information, storing a plurality of signal-routes, including a first signal-route, wherein each signal-route is a route used by applications to signal changes in application state and wherein each signal-route is associated with one or more of the defined events; and

in response to detecting occurrence of the first event in a first service delivery gateway;

transitioning, within the first service delivery gateway, from the first master redundancy state to the first standby redundancy state;

making a change in a set of available signal-routes stored in the first service delivery gateway, wherein making a change in a set of available signal-routes includes adding the first signal-route to or removing the first signal-route from the set of available signal routes in the first service delivery gateway; and

advertising, from the first service delivery gateway and to peer network devices, the change in the first signal-route.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein advertising the change in the first signal-route includes sending a route update message from a routing protocol process executing on one or more of the service delivery gateways in response to a message from a services redundancy process executing in the first service delivery gateway.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the route update message includes a route cost attribute, wherein the route cost attribute indicates that a route to the first service delivery gateway associated with the first signal-route is higher cost than a corresponding route to the second service delivery gateway.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the service delivery gateways include a second service delivery gateway and wherein the method further comprises:

transitioning, within the second service delivery gateway, from the first standby redundancy state to the first master redundancy state in response to detecting occurrence of the first event in the first service delivery gateway.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein each service delivery gateway includes an application layer, and wherein making a change in the first signal-route from the set of available signal-routes occurs at the application layer and causes a change in routing policy within the first service delivery gateway.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein each signal-route is a static route and wherein the first event is a critical event associated with a service provided by the first and second service delivery gateways.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each signal-route is a static route, wherein each service delivery gateway includes an application layer and wherein adding the first signal-route to or removing the first signal-route from the set of available signal-routes occurs at the application layer.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein advertising the change in the first signal-route includes advertising a different Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) priority for the first signal-route.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein each service delivery gateway is configured to support one or more redundancy sets, including a first redundancy set, wherein each redundancy set is associated with one or more of the defined events, wherein each of the defined events triggers a transition from master redundancy state to standby redundancy state in a state machine of the redundancy set associated with the defined event,

wherein each defined event is associated with a redundancy policy that establishes an action to be taken on occurrence of the defined event, and

wherein transitioning, within the first service delivery gateway, from the first master redundancy state to the first standby redundancy state in response to detecting the first event includes establishing a services redundancy process, monitoring for defined events with the services redundancy process, and initiating, within the services redundancy process, a transition from the first master redundancy state to the first standby redundancy state in the first service delivery gateway on occurrence of the first event.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein advertising a change in the first signal-route includes advertising a different Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) priority for the first signal-route.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein advertising a change in the first signal-route includes sending a route update message from a routing protocol process.

12. A service delivery gateway system, comprising:

a plurality of links; and

a plurality of service delivery gateway network devices connected by the plurality of links, wherein the plurality of service delivery gateway network devices includes a first service delivery gateway network device and a second service delivery gateway network device, wherein each service delivery gateway network device includes a memory and one or more processors connected to the memory, wherein the one or more processors are configured to;

receive configuration information defining events that cause a transition from a master redundancy state to a standby redundancy state in service delivery gateway network devices, including receiving configuration information defining a first event that causes a transition from a first master redundancy state to a first standby redundancy state in service delivery gateway network devices;

in response to receiving the configuration information, store a plurality of signal-routes, including a first signal-route, wherein each signal-route is a route used by applications to signal changes in application state and wherein each signal-route is associated with one or more of the defined events; and

in response to detecting occurrence of the first event in the first service delivery gateway network device;

transition, within the first service delivery gateway network device, from the first master redundancy state to the first standby redundancy state;

transition, within the second service delivery gateway, from the first standby redundancy state to the first master redundancy state;

make a change in a set of available signal-routes stored in the first service delivery gateway, wherein making a change in a set of available signal-routes includes adding the first signal-route to or removing the first signal-route from the set of available signal routes in the first service delivery gateway; and

advertise, from the first service delivery gateway and to peer network devices, the change in the first signal-route.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein a process executing in an application layer makes the change in the first signal-route by adding or removing, at the application layer, the first signal-route from a routing information base.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the service delivery gateway network device advertises the change in the first signal-route by advertising a different Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) priority for the first signal-route.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the service delivery gateway network device advertises the change in the first signal-route by sending a route update message from a routing protocol process in response to a message from a services redundancy process executing in the first service delivery gateway network device.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the route update message includes a route cost attribute, wherein the route cost attribute indicates that a route to the first service delivery gateway network device associated with the first signal-route is higher cost than a corresponding route to the second service delivery gateway network device.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein a services redundancy process executing in the first service delivery gateway network device makes a change in the first signal-route via a message to a routing protocol process.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein each signal-route is a static route and wherein the first event is a critical event associated with a service provided by the first and second service delivery gateways network devices.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein each service delivery gateway network device further includes a communication interface and a user interface, wherein the user interface configures each service delivery gateway network device as one or more redundancy sets, including a first redundancy set, via the configuration information,

wherein each redundancy set is associated with one or more of the defined events, wherein each of the defined events triggers a transition from master redundancy state to standby redundancy state in a state machine of the redundancy set associated with the defined event,

wherein each defined event is associated with a redundancy policy that establishes an action to be taken on occurrence of the defined event, and

wherein the processors are configured, via the configuration information, to transition, within the first service delivery gateway network device, from the first master redundancy state to the first standby redundancy state in response to detecting the first event by establishing a services redundancy process, monitoring for defined events with the services redundancy process, and initiating a transition from the first master redundancy state to the first standby redundancy state in the first service delivery gateway on occurrence of the first event.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the services redundancy communicates the transition via a Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) message.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein advertising a change in the first signal-route includes sending a route update message from a routing protocol process.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to:

receive configuration information defining events that cause a transition from a master redundancy state to a standby redundancy state in service delivery gateway network devices, including receiving configuration information defining a first event that causes a transition from a first master redundancy state to a first standby redundancy state in service delivery gateway network devices;

in response to receiving the configuration information, store a plurality of signal-routes, including a first signal-route, wherein each signal-route is a route used by applications to signal changes in application state and wherein each signal-route is associated with one or more of the defined events; and

in response to detecting occurrence of the first event in a first service delivery gateway network device;

transition, within the first service delivery gateway network device, from the first master redundancy state to the first standby redundancy state;

make a change in a set of available signal-routes stored in the first service delivery gateway, wherein making a change in a set of available signal-routes includes adding the first signal-route to or removing the first signal-route from the set of available signal routes in the first service delivery gateway; and

advertise, from the first service delivery gateway and to peer network devices, the change in the first signal-route.