Method and apparatus for changing configurations

• US 10,069,942 B2
• Filed: 02/08/2016
• Issued: 09/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Inventors: Jiang, Bangjie, Suan, Chenghao, Zhu, Shunmin, Xiao, Han
• Primary Examiner(s): Boutah, Alina A
• Application Number:
  US15/018,003
• Publication Number:
  US 20160241441A1
• Time in Patent Office: 939 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0813 characterised by the conditions triggering a change of settings
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0859 by keeping history of different configuration generations or by rolling back to previous configuration versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0873 Checking configuration conflicts between network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method for changing configurations at a client device is presented. The configuration changing method comprises: a) sending a heartbeat request message to a network device over a network, wherein the heartbeat request message carries a current first configuration change code of a client device; b) receiving from the network device a heartbeat response message in accordance with the first configuration change code, wherein the heartbeat response message carries a current second configuration change code of the network device; c) sending, in accordance with the first configuration change code and the second configuration change code, a request message to the network device for synchronizing configurations; d) obtaining configuration synchronization information sent from the network, synchronizing configurations of associated services according to the configuration synchronization information, and updating the first configuration change code in accordance with the results of the configuration synchronization.

Claims

1. A method of changing configurations at a client device, wherein the method comprises:

sending a heartbeat request message to a network device, wherein the heartbeat request message carries a current first configuration change code of a client device;

receiving from the network device a heartbeat response message in accordance with the first configuration change code, wherein the heartbeat response message comprises a current second configuration change code of the network device;

sending, in accordance with the first configuration change code and the second configuration change code, a request message to the network device for synchronizing configurations;

obtaining configuration synchronization information from the network device;

synchronizing configurations of associated services according to the configuration synchronization information; and

updating the first configuration change code in accordance with results of the configuration synchronization.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a configuration code of the current second configuration change code of the network device carried by the heartbeat response message is the same as a configuration code of the first configuration change code.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending the request message for synchronizing configurations to the network device in accordance with the first configuration change code and the second configuration change code comprises one of the following operations:

a) sending a request to create a configuration for an associated service to the network device when a configuration version of the first configuration change code of the client device is labeled as uncreated;

b) sending a request to update a configuration of the associated service to the network device when a configuration version of the second configuration change code is labeled as updated in comparison to a configuration version of the first configuration change code of the client device;

c) sending a delete request when a configuration version of the second configuration change code is labeled as ready to be deleted; and

d) sending a request to rebuild a configuration of the associated service to the network device when a timestamp of a configuration version of the first configuration change code of the client device is different from the timestamp of the second configuration change code.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the obtaining the configuration synchronization information sent from the network device further comprises:

obtaining a configuration synchronization response message responding to a configuration synchronization request message sent from the network device, wherein the configuration synchronization response message comprises configuration information of an associated service.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the configuration information of the associated service carried by the response message comprises information of one or more of the following:

a) configuration information of a service configuration'"'"'s creation;

b) configuration information of the service configuration'"'"'s update;

c) configuration information of the service configuration'"'"'s deletion; and

d) configuration information of the service configuration'"'"'s reconstruction.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the updating the first configuration change code in accordance with results of the configuration synchronization comprises one or more of the following operations:

a) generating a configuration version and a timestamp of the first configuration change code after the service configuration'"'"'s creation;

b) updating the configuration version of the first configuration change code after the service configuration'"'"'s update;

c) labeling the configuration version of the first configuration change code as deleted after the service configuration'"'"'s deletion; and

d) updating the timestamp of the first configuration change code after the service configuration'"'"'s reconstruction.

7. The method according to claim 2, wherein configuration codes of the first configuration change code and the second configuration change code comprise a cyclic redundancy code obtained in accordance with a service name of an associated configuration.

8. The method according to claim 3, wherein configuration versions of the first configuration change code and the second configuration change code comprise version information of associated service configurations.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein timestamps of the first configuration change code and the second configuration change code comprise generation time of associated service configurations.

10. A method of changing configurations of a network device side, the method comprising:

obtaining a heartbeat request message sent from a client device, wherein the heartbeat request message carries a current first configuration change code of the client device;

searching for a current second configuration change code of a network device associated with an associated service in accordance with the first configuration code;

sending to the client device a heartbeat response message, wherein the heartbeat response message comprises the second configuration change code of the network device; and

obtaining a configuration synchronizing request message sent from the client device and then sending, in accordance with the configuration synchronizing request message, configuration synchronization information.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising, after the heartbeat response message is returned to the client device, synchronizing a configuration of the associated service at the network device, wherein a configuration version of the current first configuration change code is greater than a configuration version of the current second configuration change code of the network device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the searching for the current second configuration change code of the network device associated with the associated service in accordance with the first configuration code further comprises:

obtaining, in accordance with a configuration code of the current first configuration change code of the client device, the current second configuration change code of the network device having a configuration code identical to the configuration code of the current first configuration change code.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the configuration synchronization information further comprises:

a configuration synchronizing response message, wherein the configuration synchronizing response message carries configuration information of the associated service.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein configuration codes of the first configuration change code and the second configuration change code comprise a cyclic redundancy code obtained in accordance with a service name of an associated service configuration, and wherein configuration versions of the configuration codes of the first configuration change code and the second configuration change code comprise version information of the associated service configuration, and wherein timestamps of the configuration codes of the first configuration change code and the second configuration change code comprise generation time of the associated service configuration.

15. A client device for changing configurations, the client device comprising:

a heartbeat sending computer configured for sending a heartbeat request message to a network device, wherein the heartbeat request message carries a current first configuration change code of the client device;

a heartbeat receiving computer configured for obtaining a heartbeat response message sent from the network device in accordance with the first configuration change code, wherein the heartbeat response message comprises a current second configuration change code;

first configuration synchronizing computer configured for sending a configuration synchronizing request message to the network device in accordance with the first configuration change code and the second configuration change code; and

second configuration synchronizing computer configured for obtaining configuration synchronization information sent from the network device to synchronize a configuration of an associated service and further configured for updating the first configuration change code in accordance with results of the configuration synchronization information.

16. The client device of claim 15, wherein a configuration code of the current second configuration change code of the network device carried by the heartbeat response message is identical to a configuration code of the first configuration change code.

17. The client device of claim 15, wherein the first configuration synchronizing computer is further configured for performing one or more of the following operations:

a) sending a request to create a configuration for the associated service to the network device when a configuration version of the first configuration change code of the client device is marked as uncreated;

b) sending a request to update a configuration for the associated service to the network device when a configuration version of the second configuration change code is marked as updated in comparison to the configuration version of the first configuration change code of the client device;

c) sending a request to delete a configuration of the associated service to the network device when a configuration version of the second configuration change code is marked for deletion; and

d) sending a request to reconstruct a configuration of the associated service to the network device when a timestamp of the configuration version of the first configuration change code of the client device is different from the timestamp of the second configuration change code.

18. The client device of claim 15, wherein the second configuration synchronizing computer is further configured for obtaining a configuration synchronizing response message sent from the network device, wherein the configuration synchronizing response message comprises configuration information of the associated service.

19. The client device of claim 18, wherein the configuration information of the associated service carried by the configuration synchronizing response message comprises information of one or more of the following:

a) configuration information of a service configuration'"'"'s creation,

b) configuration information of the service configuration'"'"'supdate,

c) configuration information of the service configuration'"'"'s deletion, and

d) configuration information of the service configuration'"'"'s reconstruction.

20. The client device of claim 19, wherein the second configuration synchronizing computer is further configured for one of the following operations:

a) generating a configuration version and a timestamp of the first configuration change code after the service configuration'"'"'s creation;

b) updating the configuration version of the first configuration change code after the service configuration'"'"'s update;

c) labeling the configuration version of the first configuration change code as deleted after the service configuration'"'"'s deletion; and

d) updating the timestamp of the first configuration change code after the service configuration'"'"'s reconstruction.