CONTENT SWITCH MANAGEMENT

• US 20080162609A1
• Filed: 12/27/2006
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Feldmeier, John T., Yang, Connie Y., Bigian, Armond
• Granted Patent: US 8,949,297 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066

Abstract

Embodiments of a system and method manage a configuration of a plurality of content switching devices in a networked system by generating a first configuration data file and translating the first configuration data file into one or more device specific configuration data files, each device specific configuration file corresponding to a device type of the one or more content switching devices. Some embodiments of the system and method then communicate the one or more device specific configuration data files to each content switching device of a corresponding device type to configure each content switching device.

Claims

1. A method, including:

managing a configuration of one or more content switching devices by;

creating a first configuration data file;

translating the first configuration data file into one or more device specific configuration data files, each device specific configuration file corresponding to a device type of the one or more content switching devices; and

communicating the one or more device specific configuration data files to each content switching device of a corresponding device type to configure each content switching device.

2. The method of claim 1, further including prior to the generating of the first configuration file, for each content switching device type of the one or more content switching devices:

receiving raw configuration data from a content switching device;

creating a raw configuration data file from the raw configuration data; and

associating the raw configuration data file to a template configuration data file associated with the device type of the content switching device.

3. The method of claim 2, further including after the creating the raw configuration data file, storing the raw configuration data file in a configuration repository.

4. The method of claim 1, further including prior to the communicating the one or more device specific configuration data files to each content switching device, determining if the content switching device targeted is available.

5. The method of claim 1, further including prior to the communicating the one or more device specific configuration data files to each content switching device:

registering a new content switching device of a specific device type; and

determining if the new content switching device is available to receive the device specific configuration data file.

6. The method of claim 1, further including validating a device specific configuration by:

comparing the last deployed device specific configuration data file to the current device specific configuration data file; and

identifying any differences between a last deployed configuration data file and a current configuration data file.

7. The method of claim 1, including comparing a device specific configuration data file operating on a content switching device to a last deployed device specific configuration data file associated with the content switching device and generating a report when detecting a mismatch.

8. The method of claim 1, including prior to the communicating the one or more device specific configuration data files to each content switching device:

reserving the content switching device to be configured;

querying the content switching device for its existing services, expressions and policies;

validating the device specific configuration data file; and

ceasing communication of the device specific configuration data file to the content switching device if there is a mismatch based on the validation.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the managing the configuration of the plurality of content switching devices includes managing the configuration of a plurality of load balancers configured to balance incoming web data.

10. The method of claim 1, including prior to the communicating the one or more device specific configuration data files to each content switching device, receiving a ticket approving deployment of the device specific configuration data files to each content switching device.

11. A system, including:

one or more content switching devices; and

a configuration manager coupled to the content switching devices to generate a first configuration data file;

to translate the first configuration data file into one or more device specific configuration data files, each device specific configuration file corresponding to a device type of the one or more content switching devices; and

to communicate the one or more device specific configuration data files to each content switching device of a corresponding device type to configure each content switching device.

12. The system of claim 11, further including:

a GUI (graphical user interface) module communicatively coupled to the configuration manager, the GUI module to receive raw configuration data from a content switching device; and

wherein the configuration manager is to create a raw configuration data file from the raw configuration data and to associate the raw configuration data file to a template configuration data file associated with the device type of the content switching device.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the configuration manager also includes a configuration repository to store the raw configuration data file.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the configuration manager is to communicate the one or more device specific configuration data files to each content switching device, and the configuration manager is to determine if the content switching device targeted is available.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the configuration manager is to register a new content switching device of a specific device type and is to determine if the new content switching device is available to receive the device specific configuration data file.

16. The system of claim 11, further including a GUI module communicatively coupled to the configuration manager, the configuration manager is further to:

compare the last deployed device specific configuration data file to the current device specific configuration data file;

identify any differences between a last deployed configuration data file and a current configuration data file; and

communicate those differences to the GUI module.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the configuration manager is to compare a device specific configuration data file that operates on a content switching device to a last deployed device specific configuration data file associated with the content switching device and is further to generate a report when a mismatch is detected.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the configuration manager is further to:

reserve a content switching device of the one or more content switching devices to be configured;

query the content switching device for its existing services, expressions and policies;

validate the device specific configuration data file; and

cease the communication of the device specific configuration data file to the content switching device if there is a mismatch based on the validation.

19. The system of claim 11, further including a ticketing module communicatively coupled to the configuration manager, the ticketing module to generate a ticket corresponding to an approval of a deployment of the device specific configuration data files to at least one content switching device.

20. A machine-readable medium that includes instructions to be executed by a machine, the instructions when executed causing the machine to:

generate a first configuration data file;

translate the first configuration data file into one or more device specific configuration data files, each device specific configuration file corresponding to a device type of the one or more content switching devices; and

communicate the one or more device specific configuration data files to each content switching device of a corresponding device type to configure each content switching device.