Patent ID: 8934378
Filing Date: 2015-01-13
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of automatically detecting and mapping the topology of a dynamically changing logical cluster of a network data center comprising a plurality of hosts and a plurality of network switches, the method being performed automatically by a machine and comprising: assigning selected hosts and selected switches to said logical cluster, and listing said selected hosts and said selected switches in respective logical cluster host and logical cluster switch tables, said tables being updated as said assigned hosts and switches change; creating activity on all host and switch network interfaces of the logical cluster; truncating a switch state table by deleting data in the switch state table that lists switch names and MAC addresses of hosts previously determined to be connected to ports of the switches and repopulating the switch state table with MAC addresses of hosts determined by said activity to be currently connected to the ports of each selected switch listed in said logical cluster switch table, any switch listed in the logical cluster switch table that is currently unavailable being excluded from said repopulating of the switch state table; truncating a host information table that lists hostnames and MAC addresses of network interfaces to hosts by deleting previously determined host information table data and repopulating said host information table with MAC addresses of network interfaces of the selected hosts listed in said logical cluster host table, any host that is determined by said activity to be currently unavailable being excluded from said repopulating of said host information table; updating, without truncating, a host information cache table with data from said host information table following said truncating and repopulating said host information table, said updating comprising updating existing data in said host information cache table by removing any host from said host information cache table that is not currently listed in the logical cluster host table and inserting any new data from said host information table; truncating a cluster map table by deleting previously determined map data that indicates a previous topology mapping of said logical cluster, and repopulating said cluster map table by joining switch records in said switch state table with host records in said host information table, joining records in said host information cache table with records in said switch state table, and by adding records from a cluster map cache table that contains previous logical cluster map information not currently in said cluster map table to provide a current logical cluster topology mapping; and iterating said foregoing steps at predetermined intervals to maintain current said logical cluster topology mapping.