Network management

• US 10,270,652 B2
• Filed: 04/25/2012
• Issued: 04/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: Chang, Jichuan, Ranganathan, Parthasarathy
• Primary Examiner(s): Higa, Brendan Y
• Application Number:
  US14/374,808
• Publication Number:
  US 20150074250A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,554 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/022 Multivendor or multi-standard integration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0226 Mapping or translating multiple network management protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/06 Management of faults, events, alarms or notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0654 using network fault recovery ring fault isolation or reconfiguration in loop networks without recovery actions by a network management system H04L12/437
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0659 by isolating or reconfiguring faulty entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0661 by reconfiguring faulty entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/344 Out-of-band transfers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/50 Network service management, e.g. ensuring proper service fulfilment according to agreements

Abstract

A system and method for network management are described herein. The system includes a number of servers and a first network coupling the servers to each other and configured to connect the servers to one or more client computing devices. The system also includes a second network coupling the servers to each other, wherein data transferred between the servers is transferred though the second network. Network management requests for configuring the second network are communicated to the servers through the first network.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a plurality of servers;

a first network coupling the plurality of servers to each other and configured to connect the plurality of servers to one or more client computing devices;

a second network coupling the plurality of servers to each other, wherein data transferred between the plurality of servers is transferred through the second network; and

at least a first server, among the plurality of servers, configured to receive network management requests for configuring the second network from the one or more client computing devices through the first network, the network management requests comprising a request to update a configuration of the second network.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first network is an Ethernet network and the second network is a PCIe network.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of servers comprises a driver configured to receive the network management requests, translate the network management requests into actions to be performed on the second network, and issue the actions to one or more components of the second network.

4. The system of claim 1, comprising a network management agent coupled to the first network and configured to issue the network management requests.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein a network management request comprises a data-flow control request to be implemented on the second network.

6. The system of claim 1, comprising a network monitoring agent configured to monitor the first network and the second network and issue network management requests.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a monitoring agent, at one or more of the plurality of servers, that determines whether the update to the configuration of the second network has been completed and reports a result of the determination to the one or more client computing devices through the first network.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a monitoring agent, at the one or more client devices, that determines that the update to the configuration of the second network has not been completed and causes a second request to update the configuration of the second network to be transmitted via the first network.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the request to update the configuration of the second network comprises information that indicates that the request is to occur on the second network.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the first network comprises an Ethernet network, the network management requests are transmitted via Ethernet data packets, and the information that indicates that the request is to occur on the second network is encoded into a header of an Ethernet data packet.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the request to update the configuration of the second network comprises a request to change a configuration setting that specifies a data buffer size or data packet priority between the plurality of servers over the second network.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the request to update the configuration of the second network comprises a request to provide fault tolerance and server fault isolation.

13. A system comprising:

a plurality of servers;

a first network coupling the plurality of servers to each other and configured to connect the plurality of servers to one or more client computing devices; and

a second network coupling the plurality of servers to each other, wherein data transferred between the plurality of servers is transferred though the second network;

wherein network management requests for configuring the second network are communicated to the plurality of servers through the first network, wherein a network management request comprises a request to notify a switch of the second network to include a rebooted server as part of the second network.

14. A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium that stores computer-readable instructions that direct a processor to:

receive a network management request comprising a request to update a configuration of a second network for configuring the second network from one or more client computing devices through a first network, and determine that the network management request is directed to the second network and comprises a request to update a configuration of the second network, wherein the first network coupling the plurality of servers to each other and configured to connect the plurality of servers to the one or more client computing devices, and wherein the second network coupling the plurality of servers to each other, wherein data transferred between the plurality of servers is transferred through the second network;

translate the network management request into an action to be performed on the second network; and

issue the action to one or more components of the second network.

15. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the action changes a configuration setting that specifies a data buffer size or data packet priority between the plurality of servers via the second network.