Automatic formation of a virtual chassis using zero touch provisioning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12008382-B2
Application number	US-202218053189-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 7, 2022
Priority date	Feb 18, 2020
Publication date	Jun 11, 2024
Grant date	Jun 11, 2024

Abstract

A network device may obtain information concerning a virtual chassis that indicates that the network device and an additional network device are to be included in the virtual chassis. The network device may determine, based on the information concerning the virtual chassis, that the network device is connected to the additional network device, wherein the network device is connected to the additional network device via a link between a network interface of the network device and a network interface of the additional network device. The network device may cause the network interface of the network device to be converted to a virtual chassis interface and the network interface of the additional network device to be converted to a virtual chassis interface to enable the network device and the additional network device to be included in the virtual chassis to allow bootstrapping of the virtual chassis as a single logical device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
sending, by a network device and to a bootstrap device, a request message to provide information about a virtual chassis,
receiving, by the network device and from the bootstrap device, a message that includes primary information to form the virtual chassis,
wherein the primary information includes information identifying the virtual chassis and information indicating an additional network device to be included in the virtual chassis,
wherein the network device is connected to the additional network device via a link between a network interface of the network device and a network interface of the additional network device, and
wherein the network device and the additional network device communicate with the bootstrap device;

sending, by the network device, via the link, and based on the primary information, a neighbor discovery request to the additional network device,
wherein the neighbor discovery request includes an identifier of the virtual chassis;

receiving, by the network device, via the link, and based on sending the neighbor discovery request to the additional network device, a neighbor discovery request acknowledgment from the additional network device based on matching the identifier of the virtual chassis;
determining, by the network device and based on the neighbor discovery request acknowledgment, that the network device is connected to the additional network device via the link; and
causing the network interface of the network device to be converted to a virtual chassis interface and the network interface of the additional network device to be converted to a virtual chassis interface to enable the network device and the additional network device to be included in the virtual chassis.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
parsing the message to identify the primary information concerning the virtual chassis based on receiving the message.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
communicating, via the virtual chassis interface of the network device and the virtual chassis interface of the additional network device, virtual chassis specific control traffic with the additional network device.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the virtual chassis specific control traffic comprises one or more of:
traffic regarding formation,
maintenance, or
operation.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the virtual chassis includes the network device and the additional network device; and
sending, based on determining that the virtual chassis includes the network device and the additional network device, a report concerning a status of the virtual chassis to a server device.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
communicating, via the virtual chassis interface of the network device and the virtual chassis interface of the additional network device, with the additional network device; and
determining, based on communicating with the additional network device, respective roles for the network device and the additional network device in the virtual chassis.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the neighbor discovery request is a vendor specific attribute (VSA) type-length-value (TLV).

8. A network device, comprising:
one or more memories; and
one or more processors to:
send, to a bootstrap device, a request message to provide information about a virtual chassis,
receive, from the bootstrap device, a message that includes primary information to form the virtual chassis,
wherein the primary information includes information identifying the virtual chassis and information indicating an additional network device to be included in the virtual chassis,
wherein the network device is connected to the additional network device via a link, and
wherein the network device and the additional network device communicate with the bootstrap device;

receive, via the link and based on sending a neighbor discovery request to the additional network device, a neighbor discovery request acknowledgment from the additional network device based on matching an identifier of the virtual chassis included in the neighbor discovery request;
determine, based on the neighbor discovery request acknowledgment, that the network device is connected to the additional network device via the link; and
cause a network interface of the network device to be converted to a virtual chassis interface and a network interface of the additional network device to be converted to a virtual chassis interface to enable the network device and the additional network device to be included in the virtual chassis.

9. The network device of claim 8 , wherein the one or more processors are further to:
select a particular network interface of one or more network interfaces; and
send the neighbor discovery request via the particular network interface.

10. The network device of claim 8 , wherein the one or more processors are further to:
communicate virtual chassis specific control traffic to cause the network device to be assigned a first role and the additional network device to be assigned a second role.

11. The network device of claim 8 , wherein the one or more processors, to cause the network interface of the additional network device to be converted to the virtual chassis interface, are to:
send, via the link, a conversion request to the additional network device;
receive, via the link and after sending the conversion request to the additional network device, a conversion request acknowledgment from the additional network device; and
send, via the link and after receiving the conversion request acknowledgment from the additional network device, a conversion command to the additional network device to cause the additional network device to convert the network interface of the additional network device to the virtual chassis interface.

12. The network device of claim 8 , wherein the one or more processors are further to:
communicate, via the virtual chassis interface of the network device and the virtual chassis interface of the additional network device, virtual chassis specific control traffic with the additional network device; and
determine, based on communicating the virtual chassis specific control traffic with the additional network device, that the virtual chassis includes the network device and the additional network device.

13. The network device of claim 8 , wherein the neighbor discovery request includes information identifying the virtual chassis, information identifying the additional network device, and information identifying the network interface of the additional network device.

14. The network device of claim 8 , wherein the one or more processors are further to:
sending a report to the bootstrap device which indicates a status of the virtual chassis.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:
one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a network device of a virtual chassis, cause the one or more processors to:
send, to a bootstrap device, a request message to provide information about the virtual chassis,
receive, from the bootstrap device, a message that includes primary information to form the virtual chassis,
wherein the primary information includes information identifying a virtual chassis and information indicating an additional network device to be included in the virtual chassis, and
wherein the network device and the additional network device communicate with the bootstrap device;

send, based on the primary inf

Assignees

• Juniper Networks Inc

Inventors

• Puhan Alfa Prakash
• Debnath Nandan

Classifications

• H04L41/122

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

• H04L41/0895

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

• H04L41/40

  using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities · CPC title

• G06F9/4416 Primary

  Network booting; Remote initial program loading [RIPL] · CPC title

• G06F9/45558 Primary

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title