Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090092141 | SWITCH WITH VIRTUAL NETWORK IDENTIFIER RE-WRITE CAPABILITY - A switch includes a processor, an ingress port having ingress port logic, and an egress port. It may also include a virtual network identifier rewrite component for rewriting a virtual network identifier in a data frame received the ingress port with a new virtual network identifier. Also included is a virtual network identifier rewrite rule set, where a rule may have one or more of the following: a received virtual network identifier, a source Fibre Channel identifier (FCID) address, an ingress port identifier, and a new virtual network identifier. The ingress port logic may insert a received virtual network identifier into the data frame received at the ingress port, where the virtual network identifier may correspond to the ingress port. The virtual network identifier rewrite component may assign the new virtual network identifier to the data frame according to a specific virtual network identifier rewrite rule. | 04-09-2009 |
20090141657 | FIBRE CHANNEL SWITCH THAT ENABLES END DEVICES IN DIFFERENT FABRICS TO COMMUNICATE WITH ONE ANOTHER WHILE RETAINING THEIR UNIQUE FIBRE CHANNEL DOMAIN_IDs - A Fibre Channel Switch which enables end devices in different Fabrics to communicate with one another while retaining their unique Fibre Channel Domain_IDs. The Switch is coupled to a first fabric having a first set of end devices and a second fabric having a second set of end devices. The Switch is configured to enable communication by the first set of end devices associated with the first fabric with the second set of end devices associated with the second set of end devices using the unique Domain_IDs of each of the first set and the second set of end devices. In one embodiment of the invention, the first and second fabrics are first and second Virtual Storage Array Networks (VSANs) respectively. In an alternative embodiment, the first fabric and the second fabric are separate physical fabrics. | 06-04-2009 |
20100074137 | ZONE BASED QUALITY OF SERVICE IN A FIBRE CHANNEL FABRIC - Methods and apparatus are provided for improving the configuration, management, and distribution of quality of service information in a fibre channel fabric using zoning mechanisms. Configuration of Quality of Service (QoS) information is made easy by using zones as a classifier for flows. QoS information is included in zone objects, thereby using the existing zone distribution mechanism to distribute QoS information. Devices not part of any zones are placed automatically in the default zone with a default QoS priority level. QoS information for a particular packet is available as soon as the zoning information is obtained. | 03-25-2010 |
20110022691 | OPTIMIZING FIBRE CHANNEL ZONESET CONFIGURATION AND ACTIVATION - In an example embodiment, a new qualifier is added to members in a Fibre Channel zone to specify whether each member is a target or initiator and in another embodiment a time-range attribute is added to a zone in the zoneset. When the zoneset is applied the number of ACL entries that must be programmed is reduced from k×(k−1) entries to 2(k−1) entries for a zone with k members where k−1 members are of one type (e.g. initiators) and one of the members is of a different type (e.g., a tape device). The time-range attribute is enforced by zone server software and enhances security by, for example, limiting access to sensitive data to specified times. In another embodiment, an incremental zoneset activation protocol is implemented where a hash of a zoneset is created by a switch updating the zoneset and the hash and ID of the switch updating the zoneset are sent to all other switches in the fabric when the zoneset is propagated. The hash and switch ID are stored in persistent storage at all switches in the fabric. When a target zoneset is updated by a source switch only the incremental change is propagated to other switches in the fabric along with the hash and switch ID of the target zoneset. Each switch checks a received hash and switch ID against its stored hash and switch ID to assure that the stored local zoneset is the same as the target zoneset before applying the incremental change. | 01-27-2011 |
20110022693 | HARD ZONING ON NPIV PROXY/NPV DEVICES - Techniques are disclosed for zoning information to be shared with an NPIV proxy device or an NPV device such as a blade switch in a blade chassis. Doing so allows the NPV device to enforce zoning locally for the attached server blades and virtualized systems. The NPV device may learn zoning rules using Fibre Channel name server queries and registered state change notifications. Additionally, the NPV device may snoop name server queries to retrieve zoning information (or state change messages) without using the zoning change protocols and without consuming a Fibre Channel domain from the Fibre Channel fabric. | 01-27-2011 |
20110090816 | FIBRE CHANNEL SWITCH THAT ENABLES END DEVICES IN DIFFERENT FABRICS TO COMMUNICATE WITH ONE ANOTHER WHILE RETAINING THEIR UNIQUE FIBRE CHANNEL DOMAIN_IDs - A Fibre Channel Switch which enables end devices in different Fabrics to communicate with one another while retaining their unique Fibre Channel Domain_IDs. The Switch is coupled to a first fabric having a first set of end devices and a second fabric having a second set of end devices. The Switch is configured to enable communication by the first set of end devices associated with the first fabric with the second set of end devices associated with the second set of end devices using the unique Domain_IDs of each of the first set and the second set of end devices. In one embodiment of the invention, the first and second fabrics are first and second Virtual Storage Array Networks (VSANs) respectively. In an alternative embodiment, the first fabric and the second fabric are separate physical fabrics. | 04-21-2011 |
20110317707 | SWITCH WITH VIRTUAL NETWORK IDENTIFIER RE-WRITE CAPABILITY - A switch includes a processor, an ingress port having ingress port logic, and an egress port. It may also include a virtual network identifier rewrite component for rewriting a virtual network identifier in a data frame received the ingress port with a new virtual network identifier. Also included is a virtual network identifier rewrite rule set, where a rule may have one or more of the following: a received virtual network identifier, a source Fibre Channel identifier (FCID) address, an ingress port identifier, and a new virtual network identifier. The ingress port logic may insert a received virtual network identifier into the data frame received at the ingress port, where the virtual network identifier may correspond to the ingress port. The virtual network identifier rewrite component may assign the new virtual network identifier to the data frame according to a specific virtual network identifier rewrite rule. | 12-29-2011 |
20120014253 | MITIGATING THE EFFECTS OF CONGESTED INTERFACES ON A FABRIC - Techniques are provided for mitigating the effects of slow or no drain devices on a fabric. One or more of the described embodiments can be used alone or in combination to address problems associated with inter-switch link blocking and to address the situation where flows which are not associated with slow/no drain devices suffer the negative impacts of slow or no drain devices on a fabric. | 01-19-2012 |
20120110185 | Distributed Hierarchical Rendering and Provisioning of Cloud Services - Techniques are provided herein for distributed and hierarchical rendering and provisioning of cloud services. At a device in a cloud computing system comprising a plurality of hierarchical levels, a cloud service request is received for rendering and provisioning of a virtual data center. A determination is made as to which aspects of the cloud service request are to be satisfied by devices in a first hierarchical level and which aspects of the cloud service request are to be satisfied by devices in a second hierarchical level and in subsequent hierarchical levels. Rendering and provisioning commands are provided to one or more devices in the first hierarchical level that are selected to satisfy aspects of the cloud service request in the first hierarchical level. A subset cloud service request for aspects of the cloud service request that are to be satisfied by devices in the second hierarchical level is sent to a device in the second hierarchical level. | 05-03-2012 |
20120110186 | Disaster Recovery and Automatic Relocation of Cloud Services - Techniques are provided to move the services performed on one device to another device in a cloud computing system for a variety of reasons including failure, maintenance or upgrade of the device. A notification is received that services performed by an impacted device in a domain of a plurality of hierarchical domains need to be moved. A determination is made as to whether there are replacement resources available in the domain to perform the services, and if so, the replacement resources are automatically rendered to perform the services. The process continues to higher level domains that have a view into the capabilities of subordinate domains in order to determine where to move the services within the cloud computing system. | 05-03-2012 |
20120134672 | Fiber Channel Identifier Mobility for Fiber Channel and Fiber Channel Over Ethernet Networks - Techniques are provided for a switch to assign proxy FCIDs to endpoint device so that the endpoint devices may achieve FCID mobility by retaining their originally assigned FCIDs. At a switch in a network, e.g., a Virtual Storage Area Network (VSAN), a fabric login request is received from a first endpoint device that is associated with a first FC identifier (FCID) that was previously assigned to the first endpoint device by another switch in the VSAN. The fabric login request is responded to with the first FCID. The first endpoint device is assigned a second FCID associated with a domain of the switch where the endpoint device is directly attached to, and the second FCID is used as a proxy FCID within the VSAN for the first endpoint device. A frame is received from the first endpoint device with a source FCID comprising the first FCID and a destination FCID comprising an FCID for a second endpoint device. The source FCID in the frame is overwritten with the second FCID. The frame is forwarded to the second endpoint device. | 05-31-2012 |
20120226789 | Hiearchical Advertisement of Data Center Capabilities and Resources - A cloud computing system is provided comprising a plurality of data centers, each data center comprising a plurality of pods each of which comprises network, compute, storage and service node devices. At a designated device of a data center, data center level capabilities summary data is generated that summarizes the capabilities of the data center. Messages advertising the data center level capabilities summary data is sent from a designated device of each data center to a designated device at a provider edge network level of the computing system. At the designated device at the provider edge network level, provider edge network level capabilities summary data is generated that summarizes capabilities of compute, storage and network devices for each data center as a whole and without exposing individual compute, storage and service node devices in each data center. | 09-06-2012 |
20120226790 | Extensible Attribute Summarization - In one embodiment a method includes at first a network device, identifying an attribute of the first network device, selecting a function that defines how the attribute is to be summarized together with a same attribute of a second network device, generating a message that comprises a set of information comprising an identification of the attribute and the function, and sending the message to, e.g., a next higher node in a network hierarchy of which the network device is a part. Multiple such messages may be received at an aggregation node that then summarizes the attributes according to respective functions, and sends or publishes a summarized version of the attributes to a still next higher node in the network hierarchy. | 09-06-2012 |
20120226797 | Active Load Distribution for Control Plane Traffic Using a Messaging and Presence Protocol - Techniques are provided herein for a device in a network to receive information configured to indicate a control plane traffic load level for one or more server devices that are configured to manage traffic for messaging and presence clients communicating via a messaging and presence protocol. The control plane traffic is associated with the messaging and presence protocol. A determination is made as to when the control plane traffic load level has become unbalanced among the two or more server devices and in response to determining that the control plane traffic load level has become unbalanced, sending a transfer message to one or more clients comprising information configured to initiate migration of one or more clients from a server device that is relatively overloaded to a server device that is relatively underloaded in order to balance the control plane traffic load level among the two or more server devices. | 09-06-2012 |
20120226799 | Capabilities Based Routing of Virtual Data Center Service Request - Systems and methods are provided for receiving at a provider edge routing device capabilities data representative of capabilities of computing devices disposed in a data center, the capabilities data having been published by an associated local data center edge device, and advertising, by the provider edge routing device, the capabilities data to other provider edge routing devices in communication with one another in a network of provider edge routing devices. The provider edge routing device also receives respective capabilities data from each of the other provider edge routing devices, wherein each of the other provider edge routing devices is associated with a respective local data center via a corresponding data center edge device, and stores all the capabilities data in a directory of capabilities. Thereafter, a request for computing services is received at the provider edge network and the methodology provides for selecting, based on the directory of capabilities, one of the data centers to fulfill the request for computing services to obtain a selected data center, and for routing the request for computing services to the selected data center. | 09-06-2012 |
20120233333 | Resource Negotiation for Cloud Services Using a Messaging and Presence Protocol - Techniques are provided for sending from a client in a first network device a first session-initiate message to a second network device that is configured to provide network layer, data link layer, or associated convergence layer based service connection information in order for the second network device to accept or reject a network layer, data link layer, or associated convergence layer based service connection with the first network device. The first session-initiate message is based on a messaging and presence protocol. A session-accept message is received at the client in the first network device that is configured to accept the service connection and provide a network layer, data link layer, or associated convergence layer based service connection information in order for the first network device to establish the service connection with the second network device. The session-accept message is based on the messaging and presence protocol. In response to receiving the session-accept message, the service connection is established. | 09-13-2012 |
20120239792 | PLACEMENT OF A CLOUD SERVICE USING NETWORK TOPOLOGY AND INFRASTRUCTURE PERFORMANCE - Techniques are described for selecting an optimal data center for instantiating a first cloud service. Embodiments of the invention receive a request specifying a topology of a first cloud service to be hosted by one of a plurality of data centers which provide computing resources to host a plurality of cloud services. A suitability value is then determined for each of the data centers which measures a fitness of the data center for instantiating the first cloud service. In one embodiment, the suitability value is determined by calculating a plurality of metric values for the data center, normalizing the metric values and calculating a weighted average of the normalized values. One of the data centers is then selected for instantiating the first cloud service, based at least in part on the determined suitability values. | 09-20-2012 |
20120303618 | Clustering-Based Resource Aggregation within a Data Center - Data representing capabilities of devices in a data is aggregated on a cluster-basis. Information representing capability attributes of devices in the data center is received. The information representing the capability attributes is analyzed to generate data that groups devices based on similarity of at least one capability attribute. Aggregation data is stored that represents the grouping of the devices based on similarity of the at least one capability attribute and identifies the devices in corresponding groups. | 11-29-2012 |
20120331147 | HIERARCHICAL DEFRAGMENTATION OF RESOURCES IN DATA CENTERS - Techniques are provided herein for defragmenting resources within a cloud computing system. The cloud computing system includes a plurality of servers deployed in a plurality of respective racks, wherein the respective racks are deployed in a pod of a data center. An element of the cloud computing system determines for each server in a given rack of servers a number of free resource slots available thereon and a number of resource slots in an idle state, and then further determines whether the number of free resource slots on a first server in the plurality of servers is greater than a predetermined threshold. When the number of free resource slots in the first server is greater than the predetermined threshold, a second server in the plurality of servers is identified with sufficient resource slots thereon to accommodate the number of resource slots in the idle state on the first server, and the resource slots in the idle state on the first server are caused to be migrated to the second server. | 12-27-2012 |
20130007261 | VIRTUAL DATA CENTER MONITORING - Techniques are provided for monitoring the state or status of virtual data centers. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving state information representing the state of hardware devices supporting instantiations of virtual data centers operating within a physical data center. The state information is mapped to hardware devices supporting a selected instantiation of a virtual data center to identify state information for the selected instantiation of a virtual data center. An assessment is then made, based on the state information for the selected instantiation of a virtual data center, regarding a degree to which the selected instantiation of a virtual data center is operating in accordance with predetermined policy. A user is then notified of the assessment via, e.g., a color-coded dashboard representation of the selected instantiation of a virtual data center or a color-coded aspect of the selected instantiation of a virtual data center. | 01-03-2013 |
20130018999 | PLACEMENT OF SERVICE DELIVERY LOCATIONS OF A DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING SERVICE BASED ON LOGICAL TOPOLOGYAANM MERRILL; JoshuaAACI ParkerAAST COAACO USAAGP MERRILL; Joshua Parker CO USAANM DAI; HuidaAACI CupertinoAAST CAAACO USAAGP DAI; Huida Cupertino CA USAANM ZHU; JiangAACI SunnyvaleAAST CAAACO USAAGP ZHU; Jiang Sunnyvale CA USAANM KAPUR; SukhdevAACI SaratogaAAST CAAACO USAAGP KAPUR; Sukhdev Saratoga CA USAANM BANERJEE; SubrataAACI Los AltosAAST CAAACO USAAGP BANERJEE; Subrata Los Altos CA USAANM ELDER; DannyAACI San DiegoAAST CAAACO USAAGP ELDER; Danny San Diego CA USAANM GANESAN; AshokAACI San JoseAAST CAAACO USAAGP GANESAN; Ashok San Jose CA USAANM ZHANG; ShujinAACI Palo AltoAAST CAAACO USAAGP ZHANG; Shujin Palo Alto CA USAANM MEDVED; JanAACI PleasantonAAST CAAACO USAAGP MEDVED; Jan Pleasanton CA US - In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving a request for a distributed service, the distributed service offered by a service provider via a data communications network having service delivery locations reachable via a prescribed physical topology; identifying the service delivery locations within a prescribed logical topology overlying the prescribed physical topology, the prescribed logical topology segregating the distributed service from other network traffic on the prescribed physical topology; and identifying one or moreof the service delivery locations optimized for providing the distributed service to at least one service consumption location in the prescribed logical topology according to a prescribed service level agreement with the service provider. | 01-17-2013 |
20130055091 | Graph-Based Virtual Data Center Requests - Graph-based virtual data center requests are described. In some implementations, a method includes displaying a graph having graphical elements representing network resources. A user can select one of the graphical elements and provide input specifying requirements for a network resource corresponding to the selected graphical element. A virtual data center request can be generated based on the graph and the specified requirements. The virtual data center request can be transmitted to a data center device for processing. In some implementations, the virtual data center request can be an extensible markup language (XML) representation of the graph that includes the specified service requirements. In some implementations, a data center server can receive a graph-based virtual data center request and allocate data center resources based on the virtual data center request. | 02-28-2013 |
20130073552 | Data Center Capability Summarization - A method for summarizing capabilities in a hierarchically arranged data center includes receiving capabilities information, wherein the capabilities information is representative of capabilities of respective nodes at a first hierarchical level in the hierarchically arranged data center, clustering nodes based on groups of capabilities information, generating a histogram that represents individual node clusters, and sending the histogram to a next higher level in the hierarchically arranged data center. Relative rankings of capabilities may be used to order a sequence of clustering operations. | 03-21-2013 |
20130212279 | Resource Allocation Mechanism - A first network device determines capabilities of resources in a section of a network that is accessible using the first network device. The first network device groups the resources into a resource cluster. The first network device advertises the resource cluster in the network, wherein each of a plurality of network devices advertise a resource cluster associated with sections of the network. A second network device receives a request for providing a service. The second network device groups the request into a plurality of request clusters. The second network device selects at least one resource cluster for providing the service based on information associated with the request clusters and the advertised resource clusters. The second network device allocates resources included in the at least one resource cluster for providing the service based on selecting the at least one resource cluster. | 08-15-2013 |
20130290536 | GENERALIZED COORDINATE SYSTEM AND METRIC-BASED RESOURCE SELECTION FRAMEWORK - In one embodiment, an n-dimensional resource vector for each of a plurality of resources in a computer network is determined, each n-dimensional resource vector having n property values for a corresponding resource of the plurality of resources. Upon receiving a request for one or more resources of the plurality of resources, where the request indicates one or more desired property values, the techniques convert the desired property values of the request into an n-dimensional request vector, determine a distance between each resource vector and the request vector, and provide a response to the request, the response indicating one or more closest match resources for the request based on the distances. | 10-31-2013 |
20140059178 | CLOUD RESOURCE PLACEMENT USING PLACEMENT PIVOT IN PHYSICAL TOPOLOGY - In one embodiment, a method comprises retrieving a request graph specifying request nodes identifying respective requested cloud computing service operations, and at least one request edge specifying a requested path requirements connecting the request nodes; identifying a placement pivot among feasible cloud elements identified in a physical graph representing a data network having a physical topology, each feasible cloud element an available solution for one of the request nodes, the placement pivot having a maximum depth in the physical topology relative to the feasible cloud elements; ordering the feasible cloud elements, according to increasing distance from the placement pivot to form an ordered list of candidate sets of feasible cloud elements; and determining an optimum candidate set, from at least a portion of the ordered list, based on the optimum candidate set having an optimized fitness function in the physical graph among the other candidate sets in the ordered list. | 02-27-2014 |
20140086054 | MITIGATING THE EFFECTS OF CONGESTED INTERFACES ON A FABRIC - Techniques are provided for mitigating the effects of slow or no drain devices on a fabric. One or more of the described embodiments can be used alone or in combination to address problems associated with inter-switch link blocking and to address the situation where flows which are not associated with slow/no drain devices suffer the negative impacts of slow or no drain devices on a fabric. | 03-27-2014 |