METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MIGRATING CONTENT ON A NETWORK

• US 20100238945A1
• Filed: 06/02/2010
• Published: 09/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: McKernan, James, Moshiri, Nojan
• Granted Patent: US 7,941,502 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272

Abstract

A method and system for migrating content on a network. In one method embodiment, the present invention accesses a directory having a network address. A business rule is created and a directory is scripted based on the business rule. Next, a content switch automatically directs future access to the directory to a new environment based on the scripting, wherein the future access to the directory uses the same network address. In so doing, the migration of content on a network is greatly simplified.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a memory unit storing data including a current network address and a new network address;

a content switch configured to read application-level information in a packet header, wherein the application-level information corresponds to Open Systems Interconnection data connectivity model layer 7, and wherein the content switch is further configured to receive a request to access the current network address, wherein the request comprises a packet header;

read application-level information provided in the packet header;

look-up the new network address from the memory unit; and

automatically direct the request to access the current network address to the new network address based on the application-level information.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the comprises switch compliant files.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the switch compliant files are in extensible markup language (XML) format.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the switch compliant files are uploaded to the content switch via scripts.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the new network address is associated with data that resides on a server distinct from a server maintaining data associated with the current network address.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the new network address is associated with data that resides on a same server as data associated with the current network address.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the new network address is associated with data that partially resides on a new server distinct from a server maintaining data associated with the current network address.

8. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, wherein when the instructions are executed by at least one device, they are operable to:

direct a request for access to a network address based on switching instructions provided in a first switch compliant file;

reformat a migration file comprised of a plurality network entries associated with one or more current network addresses including the requested network address, and further associated with one or more new network addresses, wherein the migration file is reformatted using a switch compliant language;

update the first switch compliant file with the reformatted plurality of network entries to create a second switch compliant file comprised of a new network address corresponding to the requested network address;

redirect a future request to access the requested network address to the new network address based on switching instructions provided in the second switch compliant file;

restore the first switch compliant file; and

direct a further request to access the network address based on switching instructions provided in the first switch compliant file.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 wherein the switch compliant file comprises an extensible markup language (XML) format.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 wherein the new network address is associated with data that resides on a new server distinct from a server maintaining data associated with the current network address.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 wherein the new network address is associated with data that resides on a same server as data associated with the current network address.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 wherein the new network address corresponds with data that is partially stored on a new server distinct from a server maintaining data corresponding with the current network address.

13. A method for migrating content on a network comprising:

storing data including a current network address and a new network address;

receiving a packet including a request to access the current network address;

reading application-level information in the header of the packet, wherein the application-level information corresponds to Open Systems Interconnection data connectivity model layer 7;

accessing a database containing at least one directory;

inputting the directory into a spreadsheet template;

creating a business rule and scripting the database based on the business rule; and

automatically redirecting future access to the directory to a new environment associated with the new address based on the scripting if no error occurs corresponding to the redirecting, else automatically directing future access to the directory to an old environment associated with the current network address if an error occurs during redirecting.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprises building the spreadsheet template using simple tables parsed with scripts to create switch compliant files.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising inputting a directory status into the spreadsheet template, wherein the directory status includes one or more of the following:

a directory location, a current rule owner, an operational status and a future location of the directory.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the new environment is on a separate subnet from the old environment and wherein the new environment may be associated with a different virtual local area network (VLAN) from the old environment.

17. The method of claim 13 further comprising determining whether to redirect access to the new environment based on one or more errors associated with one or more previous requests to access particular content residing in the old environment.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein the new environment is on the same server as the old environment.

19. The method of claim 13 wherein the new environment is partially stored on a new server distinct from a server maintaining the old environment and the same servers as the old environment.

20. The method of claim 13 further comprising seamlessly delivering content and applications from the old environment and the new environment using a same virtual Internet protocols.