Network path validation based on user-specified criteria

• US 20080056123A1
• Filed: 08/29/2006
• Published: 03/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Valtrus Innovations Limited (f/k/a Dolya Holdco 9 Limited) (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Allen, Jeffrey D., Howard, Gregory T., McGee, Michael Sean
• Granted Patent: US 8,369,212 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/225
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0663 Performing the actions predefined by failover planning, e.g. switching to standby network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/28 using route fault recovery

Abstract

A method of operating a network computer system to manage failover in the network computer system comprising communicating traffic via the plurality of network resources, and failing over from a primary pathway to a secondary pathway of the pathway plurality based on failure to receive the user-specified traffic defined by the failover criteria in the primary pathway in combination with availability of the user-specified traffic via the secondary pathway.

Claims

1. A computer system comprising:

at least one processing resource configured to control and communicate with at least one network device;

a plurality of network resources coupled by a plurality of pathways between the at least one processing resource and the at least one network device; and

teaming drivers and/or applications executable on the at least one processing resource and configured to manage failover in the network computer system comprising communicating traffic via the plurality of network resources and failing over from a primary pathway to a secondary pathway of the pathway plurality based on failure to receive user-specified traffic defined by the failover criteria in the primary pathway in combination with availability of the user-specified traffic via the secondary pathway.

2. The computer system according to claim 1 further comprising:

the teaming drivers and/or applications adapted to present a plurality of different traffic types for specifying a heartbeat indicating presence and/or absence of a signal indicative of failure in at least one of the pathway plurality and enable a user to select from among the traffic type plurality.

3. The computer system according to claim 1 further comprising:

the teaming drivers and/or applications enabling a user to selectively specify a multicast address for usage as a heartbeat.

4. The computer system according to claim 1 further comprising:

the teaming drivers and/or applications managing failover in the network computer system comprising a plurality of servers connected to a first switch in the plurality of network resources, monitor for absence of a user-specified traffic at the first switch in combination with presence of the user-specified traffic at one or more second switches, and manage failover from the first switch to a second switch of the one or more second switches that is selected based on user-specified criteria.

5. The computer system according to claim 1 further comprising:

a graphical user interface (GUI) executable on the at least one processing resource and configured to specify a hierarchy of user-specified traffic that are defined by the failover criteria, the hierarchy determining an imposed secondary pathway from among a plurality of secondary pathways eligible for failover.

6. The computer system according to claim 5 further comprising:

the graphical user interface (GUI) configured to direct a user to select the failover criteria from among at least one of a plurality of sets of user-defined criteria, the user-defined criteria sets selected from among a group consisting of predefined traffic types, EtherType indicative of an incoming traffic type that satisfies a receive test, input Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, input Media Access Control (MAC) addresses, maximum frame size, and minimum frame size.

7. The computer system according to claim 1 further comprising:

a finite state machine configurable by a user that executes a multiple-variant analysis to select a secondary pathway from among a plurality of potential pathways for failover from the primary pathway.

8. A method of operating a network computer system comprising:

managing failover in the network computer system comprising;

communicating traffic via a plurality of network resources that form a plurality of pathways to at least one network device;

enabling user-specification of traffic that defines failover criteria; and

failing over from a primary pathway to a secondary pathway of the pathway plurality based on failure to receive the user-specified traffic defined by the failover criteria in the primary pathway in combination with availability of the user-specified traffic via the secondary pathway.

9. The method according to claim 8 further comprising:

presenting a plurality of different traffic types for specifying a heartbeat indicating presence and/or absence of a signal indicative of failure in at least one of the pathway plurality; and

enabling a user to select from among the traffic type plurality.

10. The method according to claim 8 further comprising:

enabling a user to selectively specify a multicast address for usage as a heartbeat.

11. The method according to claim 8 further comprising:

managing failover in the network computer system comprising a plurality of servers connected to a first switch in the plurality of network resources;

monitoring for absence of a user-specified traffic at the first switch in combination with presence of the user-specified traffic at one or more second switches; and

managing failover from the first switch to a second switch of the one or more second switches that is selected based on user-specified criteria.

12. The method according to claim 8 further comprising:

operating at least a group of the plurality of network resources as a single virtual network resource.

13. The method according to claim 8 further comprising:

enabling a user to selectively specify a traffic type selected from among a group consisting of Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP), Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP), and an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) protocol for usage as a heartbeat.

14. The method according to claim 8 further comprising:

enabling a user to selectively specify an EtherType value that indicates a traffic type for usage as a heartbeat.

15. The method according to claim 8 further comprising:

enabling a user to selectively specify an Internet Protocol (IP) address for validating a receive path for usage as a heartbeat; and

maintaining IP addresses in a table for checking when data frames are received.

16. The method according to claim 15 further comprising:

enabling a user to selectively specify a Media Access Control (MAC) address for validating a receive path for usage as a heartbeat; and

maintaining MAC addresses in a table for checking when data frames are received.

17. The method according to claim 16 further comprising:

enabling a user to selectively specify a maximum and/or minimum size frame for validating a receive path for usage as the heartbeat; and

maintaining frame sizes in a table for checking when data frames are received.

18. A computer system comprising:

at least one processing resource configured to control and communicate with at least one network device;

a plurality of network resources coupled by a plurality of pathways between the at least one processing resource and the at least one network device; and

a graphical user interface (GUI) executable on the at least one processing resource and configured to specify a hierarchy of user-specified traffic that are defined by the failover criteria for directing teaming drivers and/or applications to manage failover from a primary pathway to a secondary pathway on the pathway plurality, the hierarchy determining an imposed secondary pathway from among a plurality of secondary pathways eligible for failover.

19. The computer system according to claim 18 further comprising:

the graphical user interface (GUI) configured to direct a user to select the failover criteria from among at least one of a plurality of sets of user-defined criteria, the user-defined criteria sets selected from among a group consisting of predefined traffic types, EtherType indicative of an incoming traffic type that satisfies a receive test, input Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, input Media Access Control (MAC) addresses, maximum frame size, and minimum frame size.

20. The computer system according to claim 18 further comprising:

a finite state machine configurable by a user using the graphical user interface (GUI) that executes a multiple-variant analysis based on the user-defined criteria to select a secondary pathway from among a plurality of potential pathways for failover from the primary pathway.