Automatic formation of a virtual chassis using zero touch provisioning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021255876-A1
Application number	US-202016793905-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 18, 2020
Priority date	Feb 18, 2020
Publication date	Aug 19, 2021
Grant date	—

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:
obtaining, by a network device, information concerning a virtual chassis,
wherein the information concerning the virtual chassis indicates that the network device and an additional network device are to be included in the virtual chassis;
determining, by the network device and 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; 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 , wherein obtaining the information concerning the virtual chassis comprises:
sending a bootstrap request message to a server device; receiving, after sending the bootstrap request message to the server device, a bootstrap response message from the server device; and processing the bootstrap response message to determine the information concerning the virtual chassis.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the information concerning the virtual chassis includes at least one of:
information identifying the virtual chassis; information identifying a mode of the virtual chassis; information identifying two or more network devices to be included in the virtual chassis; information identifying at least one network interface of each network device, of the two or more network devices to be included in the virtual chassis, to be converted to a virtual chassis interface; or information identifying a respective role of the two or more network devices to be included in the virtual chassis.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the network device is connected to the additional network device comprises:
sending, via the link, a neighbor discovery request to the additional network device; receiving, via the link and after sending the neighbor discovery request to the additional network device, a neighbor discovery request acknowledgment from the additional network device; and determining, based on the neighbor discovery request acknowledgment and the information concerning the virtual chassis, that the network device is connected to the additional network device via the link.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein causing the network interface of the network device to be converted to a virtual chassis interface comprises:
sending a conversion command to a chassis manager module of the network device to cause the chassis manager module to convert the network interface of the network device to a virtual chassis interface.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein causing the network interface of the additional network device to be converted to a virtual chassis interface comprises:
sending, via the link, a conversion request to the additional network device; receiving, via the link and after sending the conversion request to the additional network device, a conversion request acknowledgment from the additional network device; and sending, 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 a virtual chassis interface.

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

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the virtual chassis includes the network device and the additional network device; and sending, after 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.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the report concerning the status of the virtual chassis indicates that the virtual chassis is partially formed or that the virtual chassis is fully formed.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
communicating, via the virtual chassis interface of the network device and a 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.

11 . A network device, comprising:
one or more memories; and one or more processors to:
receive, via a network interface of the network device, a neighbor discovery request from a different network device associated with a virtual chassis;
send, via the network interface of the network device and after receiving the neighbor discovery request, a neighbor discovery request acknowledgment;
receive, via the network interface of the network device and after sending the neighbor discovery request acknowledgment, a conversion request from the different network device;
send, via the network interface of the network device and after receiving the conversion request, a conversion request acknowledgment;
receive, via the network interface of the network device and after sending the conversion request acknowledgment, a conversion command from the different network device; and
cause, based on the conversion command, the network interface of the network device to be converted to a virtual chassis interface to facilitate the network device being included in the virtual chassis.

12 . The network device of claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors are further to:
send a bootstrap request message to a server device; receive, after sending the bootstrap request message to the server device, a bootstrap response message from the server device; and process the bootstrap response message to determine information identifying the virtual chassis,
wherein the information identifying the virtual chassis enables the network device to send the neighbor discovery request acknowledgment.

13 . The network device of claim 12 , wherein the one or more processors, when sending the neighbor discovery request acknowledgment, are to:
determine that the information identifying the virtual chassis matches information included in the neighbor discovery request; and send, based on determining that the information identifying the virtual chassis matches the information included in the neighbor discovery request, the neighbor discovery request acknowledgment.

14 . The network device of claim 11 , wherein the neighbor discovery request includes information identifying the virtual chassis, information identifying the different network device, and information identifying a network interface of the different network device,
wherein the neighbor discovery request acknowledgment includes information identifying the network device and information identifying the network interface of the network device.

15 . The network

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