Patent ID: 8990619
Filing Date: 2015-03-24
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: receiving an upgrade request for a stack comprising a plurality of network devices; establishing a first memory segment comprising identifiers for stack members that have been designated for upgrade according to the upgrade request; performing a requested update procedure on a first network device in the stack; establishing a second memory segment comprising an identifier of the updated first network device, wherein a control plane of the first memory segment is in communications with a control plane of the second memory segment; deleting the identifier of the updated first network device from the first memory segment; preventing data forwarding between the first memory segment and the second memory segment; operating a first stack manager on the first memory segment; operating a second stack manager on the second memory segment, wherein the first stack manager and the second stack manager operate the respective stacks as separate stacks for all procedures not directly related to the upgrade process; sequentially performing the requested update procedure on the remaining members of the first memory segment until the first memory segment is empty, wherein upon update of each individual network device performing the steps of: