Systems, methods, and apparatus for implementing agents in service appliances

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9602405-B1
Application number	US-201514603803-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jan 23, 2015
Priority date	Sep 25, 2014
Publication date	Mar 21, 2017
Grant date	Mar 21, 2017

Abstract

A method, service appliance, and non-transitory media for establishing connections to virtual device contexts (VDCs) whereby a communication channel for each of the VDCs is identified based on connection data corresponding to each of the VDCs. A service appliance receives, from each of one or more VDCs located on a switch, a message containing connection data that identifies at least one communication channel between the service appliance and a corresponding one of the one or more VDCs from which the message was received. The connection data is stored in a memory accessible to the service appliance. The service appliance identifies a communication channel for each of a plurality of VDCs based on the connection data and an identifier corresponding to each of the plurality of VDCs. The service appliance establishes a connection to each of the plurality of VDCs using the communication channel for each of the plurality of VDCs.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, by a service appliance, a message from each of one or more virtual device contexts (VDCs) located on a switch, wherein the message contains connection data that identifies at least one communication channel between the service appliance and a corresponding one of the one or more VDCs from which the message was received;
storing the connection data in a memory accessible to the service appliance;
identifying, by the service appliance, a communication channel for each of a plurality of VDCs based on the connection data and an identifier corresponding to each of the plurality of VDCs; and
establishing, by the service appliance, a connection to each of the plurality of VDCs using the communication channel for each of the plurality of VDCs.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting, by the service appliance, a message to each of the plurality of VDCs using the communication channel for each of the plurality of VDCs.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying the communication channel for each of the plurality of VDCs based on the connection data and the identifier corresponding to each of the plurality of VDCs comprises:
accessing an identifier that identifies a VDC, and a service slot number associated with the VDC; and
determining, using the connection data, an address for the communication channel based on the identifier and the service slot number.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifier and the service slot number are received from a process running on the one or more VDCs.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the switch has a set of available service slots and a corresponding set of service slot numbers; and each of the one or more VDCs on has been assigned a different subset of the corresponding set of service slot numbers.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising
receiving data from each of a plurality of VDCs on the switch, wherein the data was generated by transmitting a request to each of the plurality of VDCs on the switch; and
aggregating the received data from the each of the plurality of VDCs.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising detecting, based on the aggregation of the received data, an inconsistent configuration or an inconsistent policy.

8. A service appliance comprising:
a memory element configured to store electronic code,
a processor operable to execute instructions associated with the electronic code, and
a service module coupled to the processor and the memory element, wherein when the service module is executed performs operations comprising:
receiving a message from each of one or more virtual device contexts (VDCs) located on a switch, wherein the message contains connection data that identifies at least one communication channel between the service appliance and a corresponding one of the one or more VDCs from which the message was received;
storing the connection data in a memory accessible to the service appliance;
identifying a communication channel for each of a plurality of VDCs based on the connection data and an identifier corresponding to each of the plurality of VDCs; and
establishing a connection to each of the plurality of VDCs using the communication channel for each of the plurality of VDCs.

9. The service appliance of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise transmitting, by the service appliance, a message to each of the plurality of VDCs using the communication channel for each of the plurality of VDCs.

10. The service appliance of claim 8 , wherein the identifying the communication channel for each of the plurality of VDCs based on the connection data and the identifier corresponding to each of the plurality of VDCs comprises:
accessing an identifier that identifies a VDC, and a service slot number associated with the VDC; and
determining, using the connection data, an address for the communication channel based on the identifier and the service slot number.

11. The service appliance of claim 8 , wherein the identifier and the service slot number are received from a process running on the one or more VDCs.

12. The service appliance of claim 8 , wherein the switch has a set of available service slots and a corresponding set of service slot numbers; and each of the one or more VDCs on has been assigned a different subset of the corresponding set of service slot numbers.

13. The service appliance of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving data from each of a plurality of VDCs on the switch, wherein the data was generated by transmitting a request to each of the plurality of VDCs on the switch; and
aggregating the received data from the each of the plurality of VDCs.

14. The service appliance of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise detecting, based on the aggregation of the received data, an inconsistent configuration or an inconsistent policy.

15. One or more non-transitory media that includes code for execution and when executed by one or more processors performs operations comprising:
receiving, by a service appliance, a message from each of one or more virtual device contexts (VDCs) located on a switch, wherein the message contains connection data that identifies at least one communication channel between the service appliance and a corresponding one of the one or more VDCs from which the message was received;
storing the connection data in a memory accessible to the service appliance;
identifying, by the service appliance, a communication channel for each of a plurality of VDCs based on the connection data and an identifier corresponding to each of the plurality of VDCs; and
establishing, by the service appliance, a connection to each of the plurality of VDCs using the communication channel for each of the plurality of VDCs.

16. The one or more non-transitory media of claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise transmitting, by the service appliance, a message to each of the plurality of VDCs using the communication channel for each of the plurality of VDCs.

17. The one or more non-transitory media of claim 15 , wherein the identifying the communication channel for each of the plurality of VDCs based on the connection data and the identifier corresponding to each of the plurality of VDCs comprises:
accessing an identifier that identifies a VDC, and a service slot number associated with the VDC; and
determining, using the connection data, an address for the communication channel based on the identifier and the service slot number.

18. The one or more non-transitory media of claim 15 , wherein the identifier and the service slot number are received from a process running on the one or more VDCs.

19. The one or more non-transitory media of claim 15 , wherein the switch has a set of available service slots and a corresponding set of service slot numbers; and each of the one or more VDCs on has been assigned a different subset of the corresponding set of service slot numbers.

20. The one or more non-transitory media of claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving data from each of a plurality of VDCs on the switch, wherein the data was generated by transmitting a request to each of the plurality of VDCs on the switch; and
aggregating the received data from the each of the plurality of VDCs.

21. The one or more non-transitory media of claim 20 , wherein the operations further comprise detecting, based on the aggregation of the received data, an inconsistent co

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Sharma Samar
• Parthasarathy Mitali
• Baveja Avni
• Attarde Ashish Purushottam
• Mammen Biju Mathews

Classifications

• H04L45/745 Primary

  Address table lookup; Address filtering · CPC title

• H04L49/25 Primary

  Routing or path finding in a switch fabric · CPC title

• Y02D30/50

  in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate · CPC title

• H04L43/10

  Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route · CPC title

• H04L69/14

  Multichannel or multilink protocols · CPC title