Mass activation of network devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9253034-B1
Application number	US-50284609-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 14, 2009
Priority date	Jun 1, 2009
Publication date	Feb 2, 2016
Grant date	Feb 2, 2016

Abstract

Techniques are described for initializing a plurality of network devices with similar network configurations, such as a common management device, platform, operating system, and network hostname. In one example, a management device comprises a computer-readable medium encoded with instructions for a configlet generator module and a device manager module and a processor to execute modules stored in the computer-readable medium of the management device. The processor executes the configlet generator module to generate a bulk configlet for a plurality of network devices, wherein the bulk configlet comprises a bulk identifier. The processor also executes the device manager module to receive a network session request from one of the plurality of network devices, wherein the network session request includes the bulk identifier, and to send specific configuration data to the one of the plurality of network devices in response to the network session request.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
generating, with a management device, a bulk configlet executable by a plurality of network devices to be managed by the management device, wherein the bulk configlet specifies a bulk identifier associated with the plurality of network devices, wherein the bulk identifier is associated with information on the management device indicating that specific configuration information is to be sent to the plurality of network devices in response to receiving network session requests from the plurality of network devices specifying the bulk identifier as an identifier for the plurality of network devices, and wherein the bulk configlet is configured to cause, during execution, each of the plurality of network devices to initialize a respective network stack and connect to the management device over a network using the network stack;
receiving, with the management device, a network session request from one of the plurality of network devices via the network, wherein the network session request specifies the bulk identifier as an identifier for the one of the plurality of network devices; and
based on the network session request specifying the bulk identifier, sending, with the management device, specific configuration data, to replace the bulk configlet, to the one of the plurality of network devices in response to receiving the network session request that specifies the bulk identifier, wherein the specific configuration data includes a specific identifier to replace the bulk identifier, and wherein the specific configuration data is configured to cause, during execution, the one of the plurality of network devices to reconnect to the management device using the specific identifier and to become fully enabled.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising assigning an Internet protocol address to the one of the plurality of network devices according to Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network session request comprises a first network session request, wherein the one of the plurality of network devices comprises a first one of the plurality of network devices, and wherein sending specific configuration data comprises sending a first set of specific configuration data to the one of the plurality of network devices, the method further comprising:
receiving a second network session request from a second one of the plurality of network devices, wherein the second network session request includes the bulk identifier; and
sending a second set of specific configuration data to the one of the plurality of network devices, wherein the second set of specific configuration data differs from the first set of specific configuration data.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a schema that defines one or more requirements for the bulk configlet with respect to the plurality of network devices; and
validating, with the management device, the generated bulk configlet against the received schema.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the received schema defines a minimum number of occurrences for at least one element of the bulk configlet.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the received schema defines a maximum number of occurrences for at least one element of the bulk configlet.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the received schema comprises an extensible markup language (XML) schema, and wherein the generated bulk configlet comprises an XML file.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein the received schema defines an ask-info element for the bulk configlet, and wherein generating the bulk configlet comprises generating an ask-info element for the bulk configlet, wherein the ask-info element of the bulk configlet is configured to cause a network device executing the bulk configlet to prompt a user for data for the corresponding element.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the ask-info element of the bulk configlet comprises a hostname ask-info element that is configured to cause a network device executing the bulk configlet to prompt a user for a network hostname to be used by the network device.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising maintaining, with the management device, a plurality of device objects in a database, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of device objects corresponds to the plurality of network devices, and wherein the device objects correspond to elements of a network model for a network including the plurality of network devices.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
receiving a number N defining a number of the plurality of network devices;
generating, within the network model, N device objects comprising the plurality of device objects in the database before receiving any network session request from any of the plurality of network devices; and
generating, within the network model, a bulk device object to represent the device objects in the database,
wherein sending specific configuration data comprises retrieving configuration data from one of the plurality of device objects that is next available, associating the one of the plurality of device objects with the one of the plurality of network devices, and updating a next available device object pointer to identify a second next available one of the plurality of device objects.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
dynamically creating, within the model, one of the plurality of device objects upon receiving the network session request, wherein maintaining the plurality of device objects comprises adding the dynamically created one of the plurality of device objects to the database and associating the one of the plurality of network devices with the dynamically created one of the plurality of device objects,
wherein sending specific configuration data comprises sending configuration data from the dynamically created one of the plurality of device objects to the one of the plurality of network devices as the specific configuration data.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein maintaining a plurality of device objects comprises assigning a unique Internet protocol address and a unique device name to each of the plurality of device objects.

14. A management device comprising:
a computer-readable medium encoded with instructions for a configlet generator module and a device manager module; and
a processor to execute modules stored in the computer-readable medium of the management device;
wherein the processor executes the configlet generator module to generate a bulk configlet executable by a plurality of network devices to be managed by the management device, wherein the bulk configlet specifies a bulk identifier associated with the plurality of network devices, wherein the bulk identifier is associated with information on the management device indicating that specific configuration information is to be sent to the plurality of network devices in response to receiving network session requests from the plurality of network devices specifying the bulk identifier as an identifier for the plurality of network devices, and wherein the bulk configlet is configured to cause, during execution, each of the plurality of network devices to initialize a respective network stack and connect to the management device over a network using the network stack, and
wherein the processor executes the device manager module to receive a network session request from one of the plurality of network devices via the network, wherein the network session request specifies the bulk identifier as an identifier for the one of the plurality of network devices, and based on the network s

Assignees

• Krishnamurthy Pradeep H
• Watsen Kent A
• Joyce Roshan
• Juniper Networks Inc

Inventors

• Krishnamurthy Pradeep H
• Watsen Kent A
• Joyce Roshan

Classifications

• H04L41/0806 Primary

  for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play · CPC title

• H04L41/0889

  Techniques to speed-up the configuration process · CPC title

• H04L41/0843

  based on generic templates · CPC title