Extending center cluster membership to additional compute resources

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10797956-B2
Application number	US-201916379526-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 9, 2019
Priority date	Nov 20, 2018
Publication date	Oct 6, 2020
Grant date	Oct 6, 2020

Abstract

The present technology addresses a need to automatically configure a new compute resource to join an existing cluster of computing resources. The present technology provides a mechanism to ensure that the new compute resource is executing the same kernel version which further permits subsequent exchange at least one configuration message informing the new compute resource of necessary configuration parameters and an address to retrieve required software packages.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
sending, by a computing resource, a request to join a computing cluster including at least one member;
receiving, in one or more communications, a reply including metadata describing requirements to join the computing cluster and a reference to a software bundle used by devices in the computing cluster;
installing the software bundle; and
establishing membership in the computing cluster.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the request to join the cluster is a request to the at least one member of the computing cluster for the metadata describing requirements to join the computing cluster.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , comprising:
installing a software or configuration update by the at least one member of the computing cluster; and
generating the software bundle containing the software or configuration included in the update and labeling the software bundle with a release version.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving of the reply including the reference to the software bundle is a result of a determination made by a member of the computing cluster that the computing resource is not running the same version of the software bundle as the at least one member of the computing cluster.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , comprising:
prior to the sending of the request to join the computing cluster, sending a preboot executing environment request;
receiving a boot image in response to the preboot execution environment request; and
initializing, by the computing resource, using the received boot image.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the metadata describing requirements to join the computing cluster includes membership authentication information, the method comprising:
authenticating, by the computing resource, using the membership authentication information prior to the establishing membership in the cluster.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the software bundle is contained in a Docker container that is executable by the computing resource.

8. A distributed computing management system for managing a cluster of computing resources comprising:
an existing member of the cluster of computing resources to receive a request for information needed to join the cluster of computing resources from a computing resource, and in response, to send information describing protocols, identification of a software package, information for retrieving the software package, configuration parameters, and authentication information to the computing resource; and
a software package repository to receive a request from the computing resource and in response to provide the software package to the computing resource.

9. The distributed computing management system of claim 8 comprising:
the computing resource to receive the response from the software package repository and to execute the software package, thereby configuring the computing resource with all necessary software and configurations to join the cluster of computing resources.

10. The distributed computing management system of claim 8 , wherein the software package is a Docker container.

11. The distributed computing management system of claim 8 , comprising:
a certificate authority to receive a request to authenticate the computing resource and to accept the computing resource as a member of the cluster of computing resources, and in response, to accept the computing resource as a member of the cluster.

12. The distributed computing management system of claim 8 , comprising:
a preboot execution environment server to receive a preboot execution environment request from the computing resource that is not part of the cluster of computing resources, and to send a boot image used by the cluster of computing resources to the computing resource to initialize the computing resource.

13. The distributed computing management system of claim 8 , wherein the existing member of the cluster of computing resources is configured to install a software or configuration update, and generate the software package containing the software or configuration included in the update and labeling the software package with a release version.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon that when executed are effective to cause one or more processors of a management cloud system to:
send, by a computing resource, a request to join an existing computing cluster including at least one member;
receive, in one or more communications, a reply including metadata describing requirements to join the computing cluster and a reference to a software bundle used by devices in the computing cluster;
install the software bundle; and
establish membership in the computing cluster.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the request to join the cluster is a request to the at least one member of the computing cluster for the metadata describing requirements to join the existing computing cluster.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions are effective to cause one or more processors of the management cloud system to:
installing a software or configuration update by the at least one member of the computing cluster; and
generating the software bundle containing the software or configuration included in the update and labeling the software bundle with a release version.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the receiving of the reply including the reference to the software bundle is a result of a determination made by a member of the existing computing cluster that the computing resource is not running the same version of the software bundle as the at least one current member of the existing computing cluster.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the instructions are effective to cause one or more processors of the management cloud system to:
send a preboot executing environment request prior to the sending of the request to join the existing computing cluster;
receive a boot image in response to the preboot execution environment request; and
initialize, by the computing resource, using the received boot image.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the metadata describing requirements to join the existing computing cluster includes membership authentication information, wherein the instructions are effective to cause one or more processors of the management cloud system to:
authenticate, by the computing resource, using the membership authentication information prior to the establishing membership in the existing cluster.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the software bundle is contained in a Docker container that is executable by the computing resource.

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Vadapalli Ravi Kumar
• Nandy Kousik
• Khoe Daniel
• Nethi Ramesh

Classifications

• H04L41/122

  of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV] · CPC title

• H04L41/0894

  Policy-based network configuration management · CPC title

• H04L41/0895

  Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements · CPC title

• H04L41/0893 Primary

  Assignment of logical groups to network elements · CPC title

• G06F8/61 Primary

  Installation · CPC title