Configuration of network devices in a network

Various embodiments of systems and methods to configure network devices in a network are described herein. In one aspect, upon determining an unsuccessful configuration of a first network device, configuring the first network device is retried for a predetermined number of times. Further, a configuration of a second network device is reverted when the configuration of the first network device is unsuccessful upon retrying for the predetermined number of times. Upon determining of a successful configuration of the first network device, the configuration of the first network device and the second network device is committed.

BACKGROUND

Network devices in a network include features or parameters, which needs to be configured periodically. Often, a group of similar network devices within the network may have to be uniformly reconfigured, or a group of newly installed network devices may have to be initially configured. For example, as part of “platform as a service” offering, which provides a computing platform and a solution stack as a service, a cluster of load balancers (example for network devices) may have to be consistently configured to meet business needs. The conventional configuring or modifying configuration of the network devices is performed separately on each network device and configuration statuses of the network devices are monitored. This could be a tedious and error prone task that may result in inconsistent configuration of network devices.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of techniques to configure network devices in a network are described herein. The network may include a number of network devices and may include wireless and/or wired communication mediums to enable network devices to communicate with one another. Network devices can be components used to connect computers or other electronic devices together so that they can share files or resources such as, but are not limited to load balancers.

According to one embodiment, network devices associated with a network are consistently configured. Network devices associated with the network are configured until configuration of a network device of the network devices is unsuccessful or until the network devices are configured. When configuration of the network device is unsuccessful, configuration of the network device is retried for a predetermined number of times. Further, configuration of the configured network devices may be reverted when configuring the network device is unsuccessful upon retrying for the predetermined number of times. Thereby ensuring consistency in the configuration of the network devices.

FIG. 1is a block diagram of network environment100illustrating configuration of network devices (e.g.,105A to105N), according to an embodiment. The network environment100includes network device configurator110to configure the network devices (e.g.,105A to105N). In one embodiment, the network devices (e.g.,105A to105N) are sequentially configured by the network device configurator110until configuration of a network device is unsuccessful or the network devices in the network are configured.

For example, network device105A is configured first and upon successful configuration of the network device105A, network device105B is configured and so on. Consider network device105C is not successfully configured. Then, configuration of the network device105C is retried for a predetermined number of times. The predetermined number of times can be defined by an administrator responsible for configuring the network devices.

When the configuration of the network device105C is unsuccessful after the predetermined number of times, the configurations of the configured network devices (e.g.,105A and105B) are reverted. When configuration of the network device105C is successful within the predetermined number of times, sequential configuration of the network devices is proceeded to configure next network device in the network. Further, upon successful configuration of the network devices (e.g.,105A to105N), the configurations of the network devices are committed by the network device configurator110.

In one embodiment, the network device configurator110includes a middleware application programing interface (API) defining both configuration of the network devices and reverting configuration of the configured network devices when the configuration of a network device is unsuccessful. The middleware application programming interface can be defined as connectivity software which includes a set of enabling services that allow a number of network devices to interact across a network. Further, the API of network device configurator110communicates with the network devices (e.g.,105A to105N) through node components associated with the network devices (e.g.,105A to105N). Therefore, through sequential configuration of the network devices (e.g.,105A to105N) and reverting the configuration of the configured network devices when the configuration of a network device is unsuccessful, the configurations of the network devices (e.g.,105A to105N) are consistent. Thus, ensuring uniformity of the network devices (e.g.,105A to105N).

FIG. 2is a flow diagram illustrating process200to configure network devices in a network, according to an embodiment. Configuration of the network devices can be defined as configuring or modifying settings of the network devices for user applications, server processes and operating system. In one exemplary embodiment, load balancers in a cloud environment are considered as network devices to describe the process200. Load balancing is a computer networking method for distributing workloads across computing resources such as, but are not limited to computers, network links, central processing units and disk drives. Further, consistency in configuration of a number of load balancers in the network may increase reliability of the network for executing multiple applications. However, the network devices can include other devices used to connect computers or other electronic devices together for sharing resources or providing security such as, but are not limited to, network address translation (NAT) devices, firewalls and servers.

At210ofFIG. 2, upon determining an unsuccessful configuration of a first network device, configuring the first network device is retried for a predetermined number of times. For example,FIG. 3is a sequence diagram illustrating exemplary data flow300between load balancer configurator305and load balancers (e.g.,310A,310B and310C) in a network. The sequence diagram represents the interactions and the operations involved between the load balancer configurator305and the load balancers (e.g.,310A,310B and310C). The vertical lines of the load balancer configurator305and the load balancers (e.g.,310A,310B and310C) represent the processes that may exist simultaneously. The horizontal arrows (e.g.,315to380) represent the process steps between the vertical lines representing their respective process objects (e.g., the load balancer configurator305and the load balancers (e.g.,310A,310B and310C)). Activation boxes (e.g.,382to396) between the horizontal arrows represent the processes performed in the respective process object.

At315, the load balancer configurator305sends configuration data to load balancer310A for configuring the load balancer310A. Upon receiving confirmation of successful configuration of the load balancer310A (e.g., at320), the load balancer configurator305sends the configuration data to load balancer310B for configuring the load balancer310B (e.g., at325). The process of sequentially configuring the load balancers (e.g.,310A,310B and310C) continues until configuration of any load balancer is unsuccessful or the load balancers (e.g.,310A,310B and310C) are configured. For example at330, the load balancer310B is successfully configured. Further at335, the load balancer configurator305sends the configuration data to load balancer310C for configuring the load balancer310C. At340, a message indicating unsuccessful configuration of the load balancer310C is received at the load balancer configurator305.

As per step210ofFIG. 2, the load balancer configurator305retries to configure the load balancer310C ofFIG. 3for the predetermined number of times. Considering the predetermined number of times as two, the load balancer configurator305retries configuring the load balancer310C twice (e.g.,345to360). However, the load balancer310C was not configured after retrying for the predetermined number of times.

At220ofFIG. 2, a configuration of a second network device is reverted when the configuration of the first network device is unsuccessful upon retrying for the predetermined number of times. The first network device and the second network device are associated with a network. Reverting configuration of the second network device can be referred as “rollback”. For example, since configuration of load balancer310C ofFIG. 3is unsuccessful, the configuration of the load balancer310A and the load balancer310B are reverted (e.g.,365to380).

At230ofFIG. 2, upon determining of a successful configuration of the first network device, the configuration of the first network device and the second network device is committed. For example, when configuration of the load balancer310C is successful within the predetermined number of times, the configurations of the load balancer310A, the load balancer310B and the load balancer310C are committed.

In one embodiment, the load balancer configurator or the network device configurator defines reversible operations, which include both committing and rolling back configuration of the network devices. Thus, configurations of the load balancers (e.g.,310A,310B and310C) are maintained consistent.

FIG. 4is a block diagram of an exemplary computer system400. The computer system400includes a processor405that executes software instructions or code stored on a computer readable storage medium455to perform the above-illustrated methods. The processor405can include a plurality of cores. The computer system400includes a media reader440to read the instructions from the computer readable storage medium455and store the instructions in storage410or in random access memory (RAM)415. The storage410provides a large space for keeping static data where at least some instructions could be stored for later execution. According to some embodiments, such as some in-memory computing system embodiments, the RAM415can have sufficient storage capacity to store much of the data required for processing in the RAM415instead of in the storage410. In some embodiments, all of the data required for processing may be stored in the RAM415. The stored instructions may be further compiled to generate other representations of the instructions and dynamically stored in the RAM415. The processor405reads instructions from the RAM415and performs actions as instructed. According to one embodiment, the computer system400further includes an output device425(e.g., a display) to provide at least some of the results of the execution as output including, but not limited to, visual information to users and an input device430to provide a user or another device with means for entering data and/or otherwise interact with the computer system400. Each of these output devices425and input devices430could be joined by one or more additional peripherals to further expand the capabilities of the computer system400. A network communicator435may be provided to connect the computer system400to a network450and in turn to other devices connected to the network450including other clients, servers, data stores, and interfaces, for instance. The modules of the computer system400are interconnected via a bus445. Computer system400includes a data source interface420to access data source460. The data source460can be accessed via one or more abstraction layers implemented in hardware or software. For example, the data source460may be accessed by network450. In some embodiments the data source460may be accessed via an abstraction layer, such as, a semantic layer.

The above descriptions and illustrations of embodiments, including what is described in the Abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the one or more embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. While specific embodiments of, and examples for, the embodiments are described herein for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the embodiments, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. These modifications can be made in light of the above detailed description. Rather, the scope is to be determined by the following claims, which are to be interpreted in accordance with established doctrines of claim construction.