Management of wireless access points via virtualization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016241702-A1
Application number	US-201414290434-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 29, 2014
Priority date	May 29, 2014
Publication date	Aug 18, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Wireless access point (AP) and methods for providing wireless connectivity to wireless client are provided. According to one embodiment, a wireless AP includes a host hardware platform and a hypervisor for providing a first virtual machine where a first guest operating system (OS) is configured to run on the first virtual machine. A wireless module is configured to run on the first guest OS for managing the wireless connection to at least one wireless client. A wireless AP management console is configured to run on the wireless AP but outside the first guest OS and to manage operations of the wireless module and the first guest OS.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A wireless access point (AP) comprising:
a host hardware platform comprising:
at least one central processing unit (CPU);
at least one memory including code, which when executed by the at least one CPU provides wireless connectivity to at least one wireless client;
a radio frequency (RF) transceiver providing a wireless connection to the at least one wireless client;
a network adaptor connecting the wireless AP to a network;
a hypervisor providing a first virtual machine for hosting a first guest operating system (OS) configured to run on the first virtual machine; a wireless module configured to run on the first guest OS for managing the wireless connection to the at least one wireless client; and a wireless AP management console configured to run on the wireless AP outside of the first guest OS and configured to manage operations of the wireless module and the first guest OS.

2 . The wireless AP of claim 1 , wherein
the wireless AP management console is configured to receive a command from a wireless AP controller (AC) that is configured to control the AP; wherein the command indicates an operation that the AC intends the first guest OS or the wireless module to execute; and the wireless AP management console causes the operation to be executed by the first guest OS or the wireless module.

3 . The wireless AP of claim 2 , wherein the command is any one of a reset command, a power off command, a power on command, a power cycle command, a debug command or a log transfer command.

4 . The wireless AP of claim 2 , wherein the wireless AP management console is configured to run on any one of the hypervisor, another guest OS and a host OS.

5 . The wireless AP of claim 1 , further comprising a wireless AP state monitor which resides on the wireless AP but outside of the first guest OS for monitoring the state of the first guest OS or the wireless module; wherein the wireless AP state monitor is configured to send a command controlling the first guest OS or the wireless module to the wireless AP management console based on the state of the first guest OS or the wireless module.

6 . The wireless AP of claim 5 , wherein the wireless AP state monitor is configured to run on any one of the hypervisor, another guest OS and a host OS.

7 . The wireless AP of claim 1 , further comprising a backup virtual machine that is a clone of the first virtual machine; wherein the backup virtual machine is in a suspended or power off state when the first virtual machine is running; and wherein the backup virtual machine is activated by the wireless AP management console when the first virtual machine is powered off so that a wireless module on the backup virtual machine replaces the wireless module on the first virtual machine to manage the wireless connection to the at least one wireless client.

8 . The wireless AP of claim 1 , wherein the wireless AP is a dual-band wireless AP that comprises:
a first wireless module, configured to run on the first guest OS hosted by the first virtual machine, for managing wireless connectivity via a first radio band; and a second wireless module, configured to run on a second guest OS hosted by a second virtual machine, for managing wireless connectivity via a second radio band.

9 . The wireless AP of claim 1 , further comprising a host OS; wherein
the first guest OS is configured to run within the host OS; the wireless AP management console is configured to run on the host OS; the host OS is a thin OS and more resources of the wireless AP are allocated to the first guest OS than are allocated to the host OS.

10 . The wireless AP of claim 1 , wherein
a tunnel is established between the AC and the first guest OS and data messages and control messages are transferred directly between the wireless module and the AC; a connection is established between the AC and the wireless AP management console responsive to detecting a failure associated with the wireless module; and the wireless AP management console that is running on a host OS is configured to receive a command for controlling the first guest OS or wireless module from the AC through the connection.

11 . The wireless AP of claim 1 , wherein
a tunnel is established between the AC and a host OS that hosts the first guest OS; an internal connection is established between the host OS and the first guest OS; data messages and control messages are transferred between the host OS and the AC; the data messages and control messages are transferred to the first guest OS through the internal connection a connection; and the wireless AP management console that is running on the host OS is configured to receive a command for controlling the first guest OS or wireless module from the AC through the tunnel.

12 . The wireless AP of claim 1 , wherein the hypervisor comprises a bare-metal hypervisor or a hosted hypervisor.

13 . A method comprising:
setting up a virtualized environment on a wireless access point (AP); creating a first virtual machine and a first guest operating system (OS) within the virtualized environment; operating a wireless module on the first guest OS for managing the wireless connection to the at least one wireless client; and managing operations of the wireless module and the first guest OS by a wireless AP management console that is running on the wireless AP outside of the first guest OS.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
receiving a command by the wireless AP management console from a wireless AP controller (AC) that is configured to control the AP; wherein the command indicates an operation that the AC intends to be executed by the first guest OS or the wireless module; and causing, by the wireless AP management console, the operation to be executed by the first guest OS or the wireless module.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the command is any one of a reset command, a power off command, a power on command, a power cycle command, a debug command or a log transfer command.

16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the wireless AP management console is configured to run on any one of the hypervisor, another guest OS and a host OS.

17 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
monitoring a state of the first guest OS or the wireless module by a wireless AP state monitor residing on the wireless AP outside the first guest OS; and sending a command controlling the first guest OS or the wireless module to the wireless AP management console based on the state of the first guest OS or the wireless module.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the wireless AP state monitor is configured to run on any one of the hypervisor, another guest OS and a host OS.

19 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
creating a backup virtual machine that is a clone of the first virtual machine; wherein the backup virtual machine is in a suspended or a power off state when the first virtual machine is running; and activating the backup virtual machine by the wireless AP management console when the first virtual machine is powered off so that a wireless module on the backup virtual machine replaces the wireless module on the first virtual machine to manage the wireless connection to the at least one wireless client.

20 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the wireless AP is a dual-band wireless AP and the method further comprising:
managing wireless connectivity via a first radio band of the dual-band wireless AP by a first wireless mod

Assignees

• Fortinet Inc

Inventors

• Gorajala Chandra Sekhar Sumanth
• Lee Chih-Hao

Classifications

• H04W72/29

  between an access point and the access point controlling device · CPC title

• H04L1/22

  using redundant apparatus to increase reliability · CPC title

• H04M1/72533 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W72/0433

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title