Network device supporting multiple operating systems to enable optimized use of network device hardware

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021351981-A1
Application number	US-202017135442-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 28, 2020
Priority date	May 5, 2020
Publication date	Nov 11, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for managing a network device that includes a network operating system (NOS) and a third-party network operating system (3PNOS) includes detecting a 3PNOS state change in a 3PNOS database managed by the 3PNOS, translating the 3PNOS state change into a network device state change, storing the network device state change in a state database managed by the NOS, in response to the storing: detecting a change in the state database by a NOS agent executing in the NOS, initiating, in response to detecting the change in the state database, an update to hardware on the network device by the NOS, wherein the 3PNOS does not directly manage the hardware.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for managing a network device on which a network operating system (NOS) and a third-party network operating system (3PNOS) are executing, the method comprising:
detecting a 3PNOS state change in a 3PNOS database managed by the 3PNOS; translating the 3PNOS state change into a network device state change; storing the network device state change in a state database managed by the NOS; in response to the storing:
detecting a change in the state database by a NOS agent executing in the NOS;
initiating, in response to detecting the change in the state database, an update to hardware on the network device by the NOS, wherein the 3PNOS does not directly manage the hardware.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein
a 3PNOS agent executes on the 3PNOS to generate the 3PNOS state change, and the 3PNOS agent stores the 3PNOS state change in the 3PNOS database.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting the 3PNOS state change comprises monitoring the 3PNOS database by an interface agent executing in the NOS.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the interface agent executes in a first container on the network device, and the NOS executes in a second container on the network device.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein translating the 3PNOS state change into the network device state change comprises converting the 3PNOS state change from a first format to the network device state change in a second format, and wherein the 3PNOS database stores the 3PNOS state change in the first format and the state database stores the network device state change in the second format.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the NOS executes in a container in the network device.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the update modifies how the hardware processes packets received by the network device.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the hardware comprises an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a field-programmable gate array (FPGA).

9 . A network device, comprising:
a processor; a third-party network operating system (3PNOS) database; a state database; and memory comprising instructions which, when executed by the processor, perform a method, the method comprising:
detecting a 3PNOS state change in the 3PNOS database managed by the 3PNOS;
translating the 3PNOS state change into a network device state change;
storing the network device state change in the state database managed by the NOS;
in response to the storing:
detecting a change in the state database by a NOS agent executing in the NOS;
initiating, in response to detecting the change in the state database, an update to hardware on the network device by the NOS, wherein the 3PNOS does not directly manage the hardware.

10 . The network device of claim 9 , wherein:
a 3PNOS agent executes on the 3PNOS to generate the 3PNOS state change, and the 3PNOS agent stores the 3PNOS state change in the 3PNOS database.

11 . The network device of claim 9 , wherein detecting the 3PNOS state change comprises monitoring the 3PNOS database by an interface agent executing in the NOS.

12 . The network device of claim 11 , further comprising:
a first container, wherein the interface agent executes in the first container on the network device, a second container, wherein the NOS executes in a second container on the network device.

13 . The network device of claim 9 , wherein translating the 3PNOS state change into the network device state change comprises converting the 3PNOS state change from a first format to the network device state change in a second format, and wherein the 3PNOS database stores the 3PNOS state change in the first format and the state database stores the network device state change in the second format.

14 . The network device of claim 9 , further comprising a container, wherein the NOS executes in the container.

15 . The network device of claim 9 , wherein the update modifies how the hardware processes packets received by the network devices.

16 . The network device of claim 15 , wherein the hardware comprises an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

17 . A method for managing a network device, the method comprising:
detecting a third-party network operating system (3PNOS) state change in a 3PNOS database managed by a 3PNOS executing on the network device; in response to the detecting, generating and storing a network device state change in a state database managed by a network operating system (NOS) executing on the network device, wherein the network device state change is based on the 3PNOS state change; using the network device state change, initiating an update to hardware on the network device by the NOS, wherein the 3PNOS does not directly manage the hardware.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein
a 3PNOS agent executes on the 3PNOS to generate the 3PNOS state change, and the 3PNOS agent stores the 3PNOS state change in the 3PNOS database.

19 . The method of claim 17 , wherein detecting the 3PNOS state change comprises monitoring the 3PNOS database by an interface agent executing in the NOS.

20 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the hardware comprises an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

Assignees

• Arista Networks Inc

Inventors

• Torres Gil Adrian
• Angebault Samuel

Classifications

• H04L41/0823 Primary

  characterised by the purposes of a change of settings, e.g. optimising configuration for enhancing reliability (for optimising operational conditions of wireless networks H04W24/02) · CPC title

• G06F9/541 Primary

  via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications · CPC title

• H04L41/0859

  by keeping history of different configuration generations or by rolling back to previous configuration versions · CPC title

• H04L41/046

  comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor · CPC title

• H04L41/022

  Multivendor or multi-standard integration · CPC title