FABRIC SWITCHOVER FOR SYSTEMS WITH CONTROL PLANE AND FABRIC PLANE ON SAME BOARD

• US 20150263884A1
• Filed: 05/29/2015
• Published: 09/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: SHARMA, Usha
• Granted Patent: US 9,866,428 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/16 Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2005 using redundant communication controllers
• 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 49/25 Routing or path finding in a switch fabric
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/557 Error correction, e.g. fault recovery or fault tolerance
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A network device includes a first and a second control board, with each control board having a separate control plane and fabric plane. The network device is configured to establish an active control plane on the first control board and an active fabric plane on the second control board. The network device is configured to establish a standby fabric plane on the first control board and a standby control plane on the second control board. The network device is configured to detect a failure on the first control board or the second control board and switch the status of the control plane on the second control board from standby to active, when the failure is on the first control board, and switches the status of the fabric plane on the first control board from standby to active when the failure is on the second control board.

Claims

1. A method performed by a network device that includes a first control board and a second control board, with each of the first and second control board having a separate control plane and fabric plane, the method comprising:

setting, by the network device, the control plane on the first control board as an active control plane;

establishing, by the active control plane on the first control board, the fabric plane on the second control board as an active fabric plane;

establishing, by the active control plane on the first control board, the fabric plane on the first control board as a standby fabric plane;

establishing, by the active control plane on the first control board, the control plane on the second control board as a standby control plane;

detecting, by the network device, a failure on the first control board or the second control board;

switching, by the network device, the standby control plane on the second control board from to an active control plane, without switching the active fabric plane on the second control board or the standby fabric plane on the first control board, when the failure is on the first control board; and

switching, by the active control plane on the first control board, the standby fabric plane on the first control board to an active fabric plane, without switching the active control plane on the first control board or the standby control plane on the second control board, when the failure is on the second control board.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

forwarding, by the network device, traffic from one or more input/output units through the active fabric plane on the first control board when the failure is on the second control board.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

detecting, by the network device and after the failure on the first control board or the second control board, that the first control board or the second control board has been restored; and

establishing, by the active control plane on the first or second control board, the fabric plane on the restored control board as the active fabric plane.

4. The method of claim 1, where the switching the standby control plane on the second control board does not block traffic through the active fabric plane on the second control board.

5. The method of claim 1, where each of the control plane on the first control board, the fabric plane on the first control board, the control plane on the second control board, and the fabric plane on the second control board include separate links to a group of input/output units for sending and receiving traffic.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting, upon powering up of the network device, a redundant control board configuration having an active control plane and an active fabric plane on the first control board and a standby control plane and an standby fabric plane on the second control board.

7. The method of claim 1, where only one of the control planes and only one of the fabric planes are active at the same time.

8. The method of claim 1, where switching the standby fabric plane on the first control board includes:

providing instructions to each of a plurality of input/output units to send traffic over the fabric plane on the first control board.

9. The method of claim 1, where switching the standby control plane on the second control board includes:

receiving a signal that the control plane on the first control board has failed, and

establishing communications with each of a plurality of input/output units and the second switching plane.

10. A network device, comprising:

a first control board having a first control plane and a first fabric plane;

a second control board having a second control plane and a second fabric plane; and

a plurality of input/output units to receive instructions from the first or second control plane and to transmit traffic through the first or second fabric plane, where the network device is to;

designate as active the first control plane to communicate with the plurality of input/output units,

designate as active the second fabric plane to receive traffic from the plurality of input/output units,

designate as standby the second control plane,

designate as standby the first fabric plane,

identify a failure of the first control board, and

switch, based on the identification of the failure, a status of the second control plane from standby to active without blocking traffic between the second control plane and the plurality of input/output units.

11. The network device of claim 10, where the network device is further to:

identify a failure of the second control board, and

switch a status of the first fabric plane from standby to active without affecting communication between the first control plane and the plurality of input/output units.

12. The network device of claim 11, where the network device is further to:

detect, after switching the status of the first fabric plane from standby to active, that the second control board has been restored; and

designating as active the second fabric plane on the second control board.

13. The network device of claim 10, where the network device is further to:

detect, after switching the status of the second fabric plane from standby to active, that the first control board has been restored;

designating as active the first fabric plane on the first control board; and

switching the status of the second fabric plane from active to standby.

14. The network device of claim 10, further comprising communication links between the plurality of input/output units and each of the first control plane, the first fabric plane, the second control plane, and the second fabric plane.

15. The network device of claim 10, where the network device includes one of:

a router,

a gateway,

a switch,

a firewall,

a hub,

a bridge,

a proxy server, or

an optical add-drop multiplexer (OADM)

16. The network device of claim 10, where only one of the first and second control planes and only one of the first and second fabric planes are active at the same time.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions, the computer-readable medium comprising one or more instructions to:

identify, as a master controller for a network device, a first controller card on a first control board;

identify, as an active fabric plane for the network device, a first switch fabric on the first control board;

identify a second control board for the network device, the second control board including a second controller card and a second switch fabric;

designate, as a standby controller for the network device, the second controller card;

designate, as the active fabric plane for the network device, the second switch fabric to receive traffic from a plurality of input/output units;

designate, as a standby fabric for the network device, the first switch fabric; and

provide instructions to the plurality of input/output units to forward traffic through the second switch fabric.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, where the computer-readable medium further comprises one or more instructions to:

identify a failure of the second control board; and

switch the first switch fabric from the standby switch fabric to the active switch fabric without blocking traffic between the first controller card and the plurality of input/output units.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, where the one or more instructions to switch the first switch fabric from the standby switch fabric to the active switch fabric includes:

one or more instructions to provide instructions to the plurality of input/output units to forward traffic through the first switch fabric.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, where the computer-readable medium further comprises one or more instructions to:

detect, after switching the first switch fabric from the standby switch fabric to the active switch fabric, that the second control board has been restored;

designate the second switch fabric on the second control board as the active switch fabric; and

designate the first switch fabric on the first control board as the standby switch fabric.