Abstract:
A method of representing and managing hierarchical relationship configuration in a computing facility is described. The method includes providing and storing a first index of hardware identifier assigned to each object in the computing facility; providing and storing a second index of ancestry identifiers of each object in the computing facility, the ancestry identifier of an object being the hardware identifier of an ancestor object at 1 to n hierarchy levels above the object; providing and storing a type information element for each ancestor object indicative of a type of ancestor object; and identifying an ancestor object of a particular object in the computing facility by accessing the first index of hardware identifier of the particular object, and identifying an ancestor object thereof of a particular type by accessing the ancestry identifiers and the type information element of the particular object.

Description:
FIELD 
       [0001]    The present disclosure relates to a system and method for efficiently representing and managing a computer facility. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Today&#39;s data hosting computing facilities often encompass multiple data centers distributed in many countries in order to better serve globally-based customers. These facilities employs a large number of servers housed in server rooms. The servers provide myriad functionalities and services, and are networked so that each server may communicate with one another and with other equipment. Communication in the data centers are most often based on networks running the IP protocol suite. These computing facilities also use equipment such as routers and switches to transport traffic between the servers and to the outside world. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0003]    A system and method have been envisioned for efficiently representing and managing a computer network facility. 
         [0004]    A method of representing and managing hierarchical relationship configuration in a computing facility is described. The method includes providing and storing a first index of hardware identifier assigned to each object in the computing facility; providing and storing a second index of ancestry identifiers of each object in the computing facility, the ancestry identifier of an object being the hardware identifier of an ancestor object at 1 to n hierarchy levels above the object; providing and storing a type information element for each ancestor object indicative of a type of ancestor object; and identifying an ancestor object of a particular object in the computing facility by accessing the first index of hardware identifier of the particular object, and identifying an ancestor object thereof of a particular type by accessing the ancestry identifiers and the type information element of the particular object. 
         [0005]    A method of representing and managing network connectivity configuration in a computing facility is described. The method includes providing and storing a first index of hardware identifier assigned to each network object in the computing facility; providing and storing a second index of network connector identifiers to each connector object in the computing facility, the connector object of a network object being the hardware component that connects the network object to another network connector or network object; providing and storing an uplink level information element for each uplink network object connected to the network object indicative of an uplink level position from the network object; identifying an uplink network object of a particular network object in the computing facility by accessing the first index of hardware identifier of the particular network object, and identifying uplink network objects thereof by accessing the second index of network connector identifiers of the particular network object, and the level information element of the uplink network objects; and updating the indices and level information elements affected by a change of network connectivity in the computing facility. 
         [0006]    A computer-implemented method for managing an hierarchical configuration in a computing facility is described. The computer-implemented method includes providing and storing a first index of hardware identifier assigned to each object in the computing facility; providing and storing a second index of hardware identifiers of each object uplink from the object in the hierarchical configuration in the computing facility; providing and storing an information element associated with each object uplink from the object and indicative of a type of uplink object; and accessing the first index of hardware identifier of a particular object, and identifying the second index of the uplink objects filtered by the information element to determine a particular object uplink from the particular object. 
         [0007]    A computer-readable storage medium storing a representation of an hierarchical configuration in a computing facility is described. The computer-readable medium includes a first index of hardware identifier assigned to each object in the computing facility; a second index of hardware identifiers of each object uplink from the object in the hierarchical configuration in the computing facility; an information element associated with each object uplink from the object and indicative of a type of uplink object; wherein any uplink object of any object in the computing facility is identified by accessing the first index of hardware identifier of the object, and identifying the second index of the objects filtered by the information element; and updating the indices and information elements affected by a change of hierarchical configuration in the computing facility. 
         [0008]    A computer-implemented method for managing an hierarchical configuration in a computing facility is described. The method includes accessing a first index of hardware identifier in a table identifying a particular object in the computing facility; accessing a second index of hardware identifier in the table indicative of objects uplink from the particular object in the hierarchical configuration in the computing facility; and filtering the uplink objects using an information element associated with each uplink object to identify a particular a particular type of object uplink from the particular object. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is a simplified block diagram of an exemplary hierarchical connectivity configuration of an exemplary computer network; 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a simplified block diagram of an exemplary hierarchical location configuration of computer facility; 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is a simplified diagram of an exemplary portion of a computer network; 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary hardware ID table of the exemplary portion of a computer network; 
           [0013]      FIG. 5  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary network component ID table of the exemplary portion of a computer network; 
           [0014]      FIG. 6  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary network connection ID table of the exemplary portion of a computer network; 
           [0015]      FIG. 7  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary network connectivity configuration table of the exemplary portion of a computer network; 
           [0016]      FIG. 8  is a simplified diagram of an exemplary portion of a computer network configuration in computer facility; 
           [0017]      FIG. 9  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary hardware location table of the exemplary portion of a computer network configuration; 
           [0018]      FIG. 10  is a diagram illustrating indexing to the hardware location table using a exemplary computer network ancestry table; and 
           [0019]      FIG. 11  is a flowchart of an exemplary method to update the network connectivity configuration and ancestry tables. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0020]      FIG. 1  is a simplified block diagram of an exemplary computer network  10  of a computing facility. Computer network  10  includes a variety of network nodes that perform myriad functions, such as servers  12 , switches  13 , aggregate switches  14 , and routers  15 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , each server  12  is coupled to a switch  13 , which is coupled to an aggregate switch  14 , which is in turn coupled to a router  15 . The switches  13 , aggregate switches  14 , and routers  15  primarily route data traffic so that the servers  12  may communicate with one another and with other equipment within and outside of the computing facility. In the computer network  10 , a router  15  may be coupled to one or more aggregated switches  14 ; an aggregate switch  14  may be coupled to one or more switches  13 ; and a switch  13  may be coupled to one or more servers  12 . 
         [0021]    The network nodes of the computer network  10  may be geographically located remotely from one another, or be co-located proximately in the same building or facility. For example, the servers  12  may be located in one or more cities or countries. The network links interconnecting the network nodes may be constructed of any suitable medium such as optical fiber, copper, wireless, etc. Further, any one or more network protocols now known, such IP (Internet Protocol), or to be developed may be used in the network links to transmit data and signals in the computer network  10 . 
         [0022]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , the network nodes of the computer network  10  are configured to have an hierarchical connectivity, where a router  15  is generally one level uplink from an aggregate switch  14 , two levels uplink from a switch  13 , and three levels uplink from a server  12 . 
         [0023]      FIG. 2  is a simplified block diagram representing an exemplary hierarchical location configuration of a computer facility  20 . The computing facility  20  may be dispersed among one or more countries, states, regions, cities, etc. In the example shown, a plurality of servers  22  belonging to the computing facility  20  are assigned and physically occupy slots in a plurality of racks  23 . The racks  23  may each hold one to fifty-five servers  22 , for example. The racks  23  are housed in a plurality of server rooms  24 , which are physically located in one or more data centers  25 . These data centers  25  may be located in one or more cities  26 . In the example shown, the data centers  25  are located in Seattle, San Jose, Dallas, and Houston. One or more data centers  25  may be located in each city  26 . The cities  26  are further mapped to states, e.g., Washington  27 , California  28 , and Texas  29 . Additional levels of hierarchy above the state level are contemplated herein, such as region, country, continent, etc. 
         [0024]    Accordingly, the simplified diagram in  FIG. 2  illustrates the physical location and hierarchical relationship of the “objects” or equipment in the computing facility  20 . It illustrates the nested relationship of a specific server in a specific rack, in a specific server room, in a specific data center, in a specific city, and in a specific state. 
         [0025]    Both the computer network connectivity illustrated in  FIG. 1  and the physical location and hierarchical relationship of the servers in the computer network and a computing facility, respectively, may be represented and managed according to the system and method described herein. The tables in  FIGS. 4-6  are tables used to represent the network node and network component connectivity configuration in the computer network. The table in  FIG. 7  is an additional new table that greatly simplified searching for and identifying network connectivity configuration. 
         [0026]      FIG. 3  is a simplified diagram of an exemplary portion  30  of a computer network including a server  32 , a switch  34 , and a router  36 . A first table  31  representing the computer network portion with the hardware ID and host name of the network components is shown in  FIG. 4 . The table  31  is referred to as the hardware ID table. The server  32 , SERVER1, has a network component such as an Ethernet port  38 , Eth1. The server  32  is coupled to the switch  34 , Fcs01, via another Ethernet port, GigabitEthernet1 (GBE1)  40 . The switch  34  is in turn coupled to a router  36 , Fcr01, via its own Ethernet port, Uplink10GigbitEthernet1 (U10GBE1)  42  and an Ethernet port of the router  40 , 10GigabitEthernet (10GBE)  44 . 
         [0027]    A second table  50  representing the computer network components  38 - 44  is shown in  FIG. 5 . The table  50  is referred to as the network component ID table. The table  50  includes a first column including the network component ID of the network components  38 - 44 . The second column includes the hardware ID of the network nodes associated with the respective network components. For example, for network component  38 , Eth1, its associated network node is identified by the hardware ID=1, which denotes the server network node  32 , SERVER1. The third column of the table includes the names of the network components. The fourth column denotes which ports in the network component the connections are made. 
         [0028]    A third table  60  representing the computer network connections is shown in  FIG. 6 . The table  60  is referred to as the network connection ID table. The network connection ID table  60  includes a first column that denotes the network connection ID between the network nodes  32 ,  34 , and  36 . The network connection ID α identifies the link  62  between network component  38  (Eth1) and network component  40  (GBE1). Further, the network connection ID β identifies the link  64  between network component  42  (U10GBE1) and network component  44  (10GBE). The second column of the table  60  provides the network component ID of the network components uplink and downlink of the network connection. Thus, for example, for network connection  62  (α), network component  38  (Eth1) having network component ID=A is downlink therefrom, and network component  40  (GigabitEthernet1 or GBE1) having network component ID=B is uplink therefrom. 
         [0029]    It should be noted that the tables  31 ,  50 , and  60  are greatly simplified in that many additional columns and rows have been omitted from the figures in order to provide a clear and concise explanation. 
         [0030]    Using the tables  31 ,  50 , and  60 , a user at the computing facility may execute computer code to determine, for example, which router is coupled to a specific server. For example, using the hardware ID=1, SERVER1 is identified in tables  31  and  50 . The hardware ID=1 of the hardware ID table  31  is used to join the network component table  50  to arrive at the network component ID=A, which identifies the network component  38  (Eth1). The network component ID=A in the table  50  is then used to join the network connection ID table  60  to determine its uplink network component, which is network component  40  (GBE1) having network component ID=B. The network component ID=B in table  60  is then used to join the network component ID=B in the network component ID table  50 , to determine that the network node  34  having hardware ID=2 is associated with network component ID=B. 
         [0031]    In the network component ID table  50 , hardware ID=2 is also associated with network component ID=C, which is Uplink10GigbitEthernet1 (U10GBE1)  42 . This is used to join the network connection ID table  60  to determine that the corresponding uplink network component ID is D, which is 10GigabitEthernet (10GBE)  44 . The network component ID=D is used to join the network component ID table  50 , to determine that its network node is identified as having the hardware ID=3, which corresponds to the router (Fcr01)  36  identified in the table  31 . Accordingly following these steps, the router (Fcr01)  36  is identified as the router that is coupled to the server (Eth1)  32 . 
         [0032]    As seen above, these repeated table join steps for even a simple query as “get me the router coupled to server X” are expensive and taxing on resources. The above steps may be carried out in the form of database table joins as known in the art or other manners of data structure manipulations later to be developed. 
         [0033]      FIG. 7  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary network connectivity configuration table  70  of the exemplary portion of a computer network in  FIG. 3 . The table  70  is referred to as the network connectivity configuration table. The network connectivity configuration table  70  enables a more efficient way to determine which network node are coupled to one another so that a user in the computing facility may determine, for example, which router is coupled to a specific server. The first column in the network connectivity configuration table  70  is an index. The second column is the network component ID of a network component, the third column is the hardware ID of the network nodes associated with the network component identified by the network component ID, and the fourth column is the number of levels uplink from the network component. The number of uplink levels is indicative of the type of the network node. For example in  FIG. 3 , an object uplink level 1 from a server is a switch, and an object uplink level 2 from a server is a router. 
         [0034]    Using the same example described above, SERVER1 has hardware ID=1, which is associated with the network component identified by network component ID=A, at index=101 in the network connectivity configuration table  70 . The network component ID=A identifies network component  38  (Eth1). Therefore all three rows having indices 101-103 associated with network component ID=A are relevant to the inquiry as they each indicate a network node that is coupled to SERVER1. Accordingly, filtering using the uplink_level=2, since the router is two levels uplink from the server, the row indicated by index=103 and hardware ID=3, is properly identified as the router (Fcr01)  36  that is the target of the inquiry. Accordingly, instead of having to consult three tables and making many table joining operations, the task of determining the network connectivity configuration is significantly simplified by using the network connectivity configuration table  70 . The number of table joins is reduced to one. 
         [0035]    Recall that  FIG. 2  described above is a simplified block diagram of an exemplary hierarchical location configuration of the computing facility  20  which may be dispersed in one or more countries, states, regions, cities, etc.  FIG. 8  is a simplified diagram of an exemplary portion  80  of a computer network location configuration in the computing facility  20 . The computing facility  20  includes a server  82  having a hardware ID=101, which resides in a slot of a particular rack  83  having a hardware ID=50. The server rack  83  is situated inside a server room  84  assigned a hardware ID=10. The server room  84  is further located in a data center  85  with a hardware ID=1. 
         [0036]      FIG. 9  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary hardware location table  90  of the exemplary portion  80  shown in  FIG. 8 . In the first column the hardware IDs of the objects or hardware equipment in the computing facility are listed. In the second column of the hardware location table  90  are the hardware IDs of the “parent” of the respective pieces of hardware. For example in  FIG. 8 , the data center  85  is a “parent” of the server room  84 , and the rack  83  is a “parent” of the server  82 . The third column of the hardware location table  90  indicates the type of “hardware,” such as “slot,” “rack,” “server room,” and “data center,” for example. The fourth column indicates the respective names assigned to the hardware. 
         [0037]    A user at the computing facility  20  may want to know the data center location of a particular server. Using the hardware location table  90  shown in  FIG. 9 , many table join steps are required to make that query. For example, using the hardware ID, the server  82  is located in the table  90 . The slot occupied by the server  82  is identified by the parent ID=50. The parent ID of the slot is then used to join back to the table to determine the “parent” of the rack  83 , which is the server room  84  with a hardware ID=10. Then the parent ID of the server room  84  is then used to join back to the table to determine the “parent” of the server room  84 , which is the data center  85  with a hardware ID=1. As seen above, these repeated table join steps for even a simple query as “get me the data center of server X” are expensive and taxing on resources. 
         [0038]      FIG. 10  is a diagram illustrating indexing to a computer network ancestry table  100  using the hardware location table  90 . The computer network location table  100  includes a first column identifying the hardware IDs of the objects in the computing facility  20 . Entries having the same hardware ID are preferably grouped together in successive rows. The second column of the table includes an “ancestor” ID, which identifies the hardware IDs of objects that are associated with one another. For example, the rack  83 , the server room  84 , and the data center  85  are all identified as “ancestors” of the server  82  with the hardware ID=101 in the table. In other words, these objects or hardware are all associated with the server  82  based on location. In the third column is the type information element that identifies the type of object or hardware, such as rack, server room, data center, etc. 
         [0039]    Accordingly, in answering the query “in which data center is the server having hardware ID=101,” a table join is made from the hardware location table  90  to the network ancestry table  100  which identifies all the entries with hardware ID=101. Accordingly, filtering using the type data element=“data center” in the third column of these entries, the data center  85  with hardware ID=1 is easily identified in the network ancestry table  100 . Therefore, the number of table joins of the improved method is reduced to one. 
         [0040]      FIG. 11  is a flowchart of an exemplary method  110  to update the network connectivity table  70  and/or the network ancestry table  100 . Any time a change (add or remove) is made in the network configuration tables  31 ,  50 , and  60  and/or the network location configuration table  90 , as detected in block  112 , the network connectivity table  70  and the network ancestry table  100  are automatically updated to reflect the change so that subsequent queries would produce the correct results. In block  114 , the network configuration table tree and/or the network location table tree is traversed to determine what has changed, and the corresponding record(s) reflecting the change are inserted in or removed from the connectivity and/or ancestry table. Accordingly, the network connectivity table  70  and the network ancestry table  100  are updated by database triggers. 
         [0041]    It may be noted that although the example described above made representation of hardware equipment in the computer network in the tables, other forms of network nodes and network components may also be included. For example, software applications, logical entities, and other objects may be similarly represented and managed as described above. 
         [0042]    The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel are set forth below with particularity in the appended claims. However, modifications, variations, and changes to the exemplary embodiments described above will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the system and method described herein thus encompass such modifications, variations, and changes and are not limited to the specific embodiments described herein.