Validation of layer 3 using virtual routing forwarding containers in a network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10673702-B2
Application number	US-201715663627-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 28, 2017
Priority date	Jun 19, 2017
Publication date	Jun 2, 2020
Grant date	Jun 2, 2020

Abstract

Disclosed are systems, methods, and computer-readable media for assuring tenant forwarding in a network environment. Network assurance can be determined in layer 1, layer 2 and layer 3 of the networked environment including, internal-internal (e.g., inter-fabric) forwarding and internal-external (e.g., outside the fabric) forwarding in the networked environment. The network assurance can be performed using logical configurations, software configurations and/or hardware configurations.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system to perform a network assurance check of proper deployment of a configuration in a fabric, the system comprising:
at least one memory configured to store data; and
at least one processor operable to execute instructions associated with the data, which when executed by the at least one processor, causes the processor to:
receive a global logic model, a plurality of software models, and a plurality of hardware models, wherein the global logic model including at least one virtual routing and forwarding instance (VRF) and information on connections between endpoints in the fabric, the plurality of software models including a subset of the global logic model and executable on network devices in the fabric, the plurality of hardware models including hardware configurations of the network devices converted from the plurality of software models;
create a plurality of local logical models from the global logical model;
create, for each VRF of the at least one VRF, a VRF container;
populate the VRF container with a subset of the plurality of software models, the plurality of hardware models, and/or the plurality of local logical models, the subset defined by one or more network devices in the fabric associated with the at least one VRF; and
identify, within the populated VRF container, one or more of the plurality of software models, the plurality of hardware models, and/or the local logical models corresponding to one or more network devices in the fabric not associated with the at least one VRF to yield a result that, when the result is a positive result, the positive result represents a discrepancy in the global logical model.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to validate that the global logical model is consistent with the plurality of software models and/or the plurality of hardware models.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to compare overlapping fields of content between one of the plurality of local logic models and one of the plurality of software models.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to compare overlapping fields of content between one of the plurality of software models and one of the plurality of hardware models.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of software models are based on the global logical model.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of hardware models are based on corresponding ones of the plurality of software models.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to generate an error event in response to the positive result.

8. A method to perform a network assurance check of proper deployment of a configuration in a fabric, the method comprising:
receiving a global logic model, a plurality of software models, and a plurality of hardware models, the global logic model including at least one virtual routing and forwarding instance (VRF) and information related to connections between endpoints in the fabric, the plurality of software models including a subset of the global logic model and executable on network devices of the fabric, the plurality of hardware models including hardware configurations of the network devices converted from the plurality of software models;
creating a plurality of local logical models from the global logical model;
creating, for each VRF of the at least one VRF, a VRF container;
populating the VRF container with a subset of the plurality of software models, the plurality of hardware models, and/or the plurality of local logical models, the subset defined by one or more network devices in the fabric associated with the at least one VRF; and
identifying, within the VRF container, any of the plurality of software models, the plurality of hardware models, and/or the plurality of local logical models corresponding to one or more network devices in the fabric not associated the at least one VRF, the identifying yielding a result that, when the result is a positive result, the positive result represents a discrepancy in the global logical model.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
validating the global logical model is consistent with the plurality of software models and/or the plurality of hardware models.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
comparing overlapping fields of content between one of the plurality of local logic models and one of the plurality of software models.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
comparing overlapping fields of content between one of the plurality of software models and one of the plurality of hardware models.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of software models are based on the global logical model.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of hardware models are based on corresponding ones of the plurality of software models.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
generating an error event in response to the positive result of the identifying.

15. At least one non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions, which when executed by a processor causes the processor to:
receive a global logic model, a plurality of software models, and a plurality of hardware models, the global logic model including at least one virtual routing and forwarding instance (VRF) and information on connections between endpoints in the fabric, the plurality of software models including a subset of the global logic model and executable on network devices of the fabric, the plurality of hardware models including hardware configurations of the network devices converted from the plurality of software models;
create a plurality of local logical models from the global logical model;
create, for each VRF of the at least one VRF, a VRF container;
populate the VRF container with a subset of the plurality of software models, the plurality of hardware models, and/or the plurality of local logical models, the subset defined by one or more network devices associated with the at least one VRF; and
identify, within the VRF container, one or more of the plurality of software models, the plurality of hardware models, and/or the plurality of local logical models corresponding to one or more network devices not associated with the at least one VRF to yield a result that, when the result is a positive result, the positive result represents a discrepancy in the global logical model.

16. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to validate that the global logical model is consistent with the plurality of software models and/or the plurality of hardware models.

17. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to compare overlapping fields of content between one of the local logic models and one of the software models.

18. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to compare overlapping fields of content between one of the plurality of software models and one of the plurality of hardware models.

19. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of software models are based on the global logical model.

20. The at least one non-transitory compu

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Harneja Sanchay

Classifications

• H04L41/145

  involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network · CPC title

• G06F9/45558

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• H04L41/12

  Discovery or management of network topologies · CPC title

• G06F11/006

  Identification (G06F11/2289 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04L41/0893

  Assignment of logical groups to network elements · CPC title