Abstract:
Backup logical port service is provided by associating permanent virtual circuit (PVC) descriptions of a primary management information base (MIB) for a primary physical circuit with a service name that is also associated with a backup management information base and corresponding backup physical circuit. Switching from primary to backup service results in the PVC builds in the MIB for the primary circuit being established in the MIB for the backup circuit through association with the service name, rather than having an independently built set of PVCs in the backup MIB that may be error prone. Additionally, the backup service may be a full backup of all PVCs built to the primary service or a partial backup. Backup service may be configured and triggered by a terminal in communication with the management server, including client devices of customers accessing the management server through the Internet.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
       [0001]     The present invention relates to data networks with logical ports that transfer data through virtual circuits. More particularly, the present invention relates to providing backup logical port service for one or more virtual circuits.  
       BACKGROUND  
       [0002]     Networks such as frame relay clouds include interconnected network devices, such as switches, that channel data packets between a source location and a destination. The switches are assigned a logical port (LPort) address by a network management server that orchestrates the operations of the network. In a frame relay cloud, the network management server provides routing information to the switches enabling the switches to route a data packet with a particular header address to an appropriate LPort as specified in the routing information. The network management server groups information including the routing and LPort information for network data paths of a particular host in a management information base (MIB).  
         [0003]     The data packets from a host are delivered to the network cloud through a physical connection such as a T1 line that links to a switch of the network. The remote device that communicates with the host through the network cloud also has a physical connection to a switch of the network. The communication path between the host and the remote device that passes through the network cloud is known as a virtual circuit. In frame relay, a permanent virtual circuit (PVC) exists because the switch of the host&#39;s physical circuit always sends and receives data packets through the same path leading to the switch of the remote&#39;s physical circuit.  
         [0004]     The physical circuit between the host or remote device and the LPort is susceptible to failure. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a backup physical circuit to establish the LPort should the primary physical circuit fail. Ideally, the LPort of the backup physical circuit, when activated by the management server, provides some or all of the PVCs that were provided by the LPort of the primary physical circuit. However, conventional setup of the backup LPort service requires that every PVC built to the primary physical circuit&#39;s MIB be separately built to the backup physical circuit&#39;s MIB.  
         [0005]     Building PVCs to a MIB requires that several pieces of information for each PVC be correctly entered into the management server that controls the operation of the switches of the primary and backup physical circuits. One particular host may have hundreds of PVCs or more extending to hundreds of remote devices. Building the backup service for the host can take many hours and becomes very tedious. One incorrect entry for the MIB of a backup physical circuit can cause one or more PVCs of the backup service to be inoperable. If a backup PVC is inoperable, a technician must scan the PVC entries for the backup MIB to find the incorrectly built PVC.  
         [0006]     Hosts using frame relay, such as bank mainframes communicating with remote automatic teller machines, often cannot afford the downtime necessary to test the PVC builds of the backup physical circuit prior to its activation. The downtime necessary to repair the primary physical circuit or correct entries for the backup service is also unaffordable. The efficacy of the backup LPort service is vital in such cases, and an incorrectly built PVC in the backup service can become costly once backup service is necessary.  
         [0007]     Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method of creating backup LPort service without individually rebuilding every PVC of the primary physical circuit that is desired for the backup physical circuit.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0008]     Embodiments of the present invention provide backup LPort service by associating the PVC builds of the primary physical circuit&#39;s MIB to a service name that is also associated with the backup physical circuit&#39;s MIB. The network management server contains the LPort information describing the PVC builds of the primary circuit and groups the information to the service name. When the primary physical circuit is active, the PVC definitions of the primary circuit&#39;s MIB are established through the primary physical circuit. When the backup physical circuit is active, the PVCs defined in the backup circuit&#39;s MIB through association with the service name are established through the backup physical circuit. The backup service may establish all PVCs of the physical circuit or a subset. Since the PVC builds for the primary physical circuit are linked through the service name to the backup physical circuit, it is unnecessary to manually build a duplicate set of PVCs for the backup circuit, and the risk of incorrect PVC builds for the backup service is eliminated.  
         [0009]     The system for providing backup LPort service includes a management server that maintains the MIBs for the primary and backup circuits. The primary circuit&#39;s MIB contains the LPort information describing the PVCs that are grouped to a service name. A primary physical circuit in communication with the management server establishes the PVCs grouped to the service name when primary LPort service is activated by the management server. A backup physical circuit in communication with the management server establishes the PVCs defined in the backup physical circuit&#39;s MIB through association to the service name when backup LPort service is activated by the management server.  
         [0010]     The LPort information grouped to the service name may be a subset of the LPort information describing the PVCs of primary LPort service. The primary physical circuit establishes the PVCs described by all of the LPort information when activated by the management server. The backup physical circuit establishes the PVCs described by the subset of LPort information grouped to the service name when activated by the management server.  
         [0011]     The various aspects of the present invention may be more clearly understood and appreciated from a review of the following detailed description of the disclosed embodiments and by reference to the drawings and claims. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]      FIG. 1  shows a frame relay cloud and management system.  
         [0013]      FIG. 2  shows an example of logical port information of a MIB describing a set of PVCs.  
         [0014]      FIG. 3  is a first portion of an operational flow for configuring backup LPort service.  
         [0015]      FIG. 4  is a second portion of an operational flow for configuring backup LPort service.  
         [0016]      FIG. 5  is an operational flow for toggling between primary and backup LPort service.  
         [0017]      FIG. 6  is an exemplary screenshot for receiving backup service information in accordance with the operational flow of  FIG. 3 .  
         [0018]      FIG. 7  is an exemplary screenshot for providing a service name error indication in accordance with the operational flow of  FIG. 3 .  
         [0019]      FIG. 8  is an exemplary screenshot for providing a primary circuit error indication in accordance with the operational flow of  FIG. 3 .  
         [0020]      FIG. 9  is an exemplary screenshot for providing a non-existent backup circuit error indication in accordance with the operational flow of  FIG. 4 .  
         [0021]      FIG. 10  is an exemplary screenshot for providing a working backup error indication in accordance with the operational flow of  FIG. 4 .  
         [0022]      FIG. 11  is an exemplary screenshot for receiving partial backup selections in accordance with the operational flow of  FIG. 4 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0023]      FIG. 1  shows a network  100  that includes a network cloud  102 , such as frame relay, and a management server  106  in communication with the network cloud  102 . The network cloud  102  includes several network devices, such as switches  114 ,  116 , and  118 . The switches  114 ,  116 , and  118  are interconnected so as to form selectable data paths through the network cloud  102 . For example, one data path  122  is established between a port of switch  114  and a port of switch  118  while another data path  120  is established between a port of switch  116  and a port of switch  118 .  
         [0024]     The management server  106  communicates with the network devices through a management trunk  124  that forms a communication path  126  to switch  118 , a communication path  128  to switch  116 , and a communication path  130  to switch  114 . The management server  106  maintains the MIBs, discussed in more detail with reference to  FIG. 2 , responsible for defining the PVCs established through the network cloud  102 . The management server communicates with a user terminal  110  through a network connection  132  that is typically part of a local area network (LAN). The user terminal  110 , with display screen  112 , allows a technician to interface with the MIB information for the network cloud  102 .  
         [0025]     A host device  104  communicates through the network cloud  102  with a remote device  108 . The host device  104  sends and receives data through a primary physical circuit  134  that establishes an LPort through a port of switch  114 . A port of switch  114  is configured by a MIB of management server  106  to act as the LPort for primary physical circuit  134 . The MIB of management server  106  creates a PVC between the host  104  and remote device  108  by describing the PVC as path  122  between switch  114  and switch  118 . The remote device  108  communicates with the network cloud  102  through a physical circuit  138  connected to switch  118 .  
         [0026]     The host device  104  has subscribed to backup LPort service, and a backup physical circuit  136  is in place to provide a communication path between the host  104  and a switch  116  that establishes the backup LPort. The backup LPort of switch  116  establishes the PVC, as described in a MIB of server  106  corresponding to the backup physical circuit  136 , between the host  104  and the remote device  108  through communication path  120  that leads to switch  118 . The backup physical circuit  136  thereby provides redundancy for the PVC between host device  104  and remote device  108  so that the backup physical circuit  136  can handle all duties of the primary physical circuit  134  once the primary physical circuit fails.  
         [0027]      FIG. 2  shows an example of logical port information of a MIB  200  containing entries for an LPort for a particular host having several PVCs leading to several remote devices. The entries include values for several parameters that describe the PVC. The first parameter  202  includes the name assigned to the PVC (e.g., xxxyyy). The second parameter  204  includes the name assigned to the switch (e.g., aabb) that provides the LPort establishing the PVC. The third parameter  206  includes the name of the LPort (e.g., abcxyz) assigned for the physical circuit of the host. As can be seen, the MIB entries for a host contain the same switch name and the same LPort name indicating that all PVCs for the host are established through the same LPort of the same switch.  
         [0028]     The fourth parameter  208  defines the card slot (e.g.,  11 ) of the switch where the port for the near end physical circuit connection is located. The fifth parameter  210  defines the port location (e.g.,  1 ) of the physical circuit connection for the card slot defined by the fourth parameter  208 . The fourth parameter  208  and fifth parameter  210  are automatically populated by the management server in response to a specification of the near end logical port name  206  for the PVC.  
         [0029]     The PVC communication path is specifically defined by the sixth and seventh parameters. The sixth parameter (IF_A)  212  identifies the particular MIB (e.g.,  147 ) that defines the PVCs of the LPort. As PVC descriptions for one MIB  200  are shown, all IF_A values of  FIG. 2  are the same. The seventh parameter (DLCIA)  214  is the data link connection identifier (e.g.,  147 ) of a PVC instance of the MIB, and defines the near end of the PVC communication path in the network cloud.  
         [0030]     The eighth parameter  218  provides the name of the switch (e.g., aabc) at the far end of the PVC where the remote device is linked to the network cloud. The ninth parameter  220  defines the LPort name (e.g., abcdef) for the switch&#39;s connection to the remote device. The tenth parameter  222  defines the card slot of the switch (e.g.,  3 ) where the port for the far end physical circuit connection is located. The eleventh parameter  224  defines the port location (e.g.,  1 ) of the physical circuit connection for the card slot defined by the tenth parameter  222 . As with the near end, the tenth parameter and eleventh parameter  224  are automatically populated by the management server in response to an identification of the far end logical port name  220 .  
         [0031]     The twelfth parameter (IF_B)  226  provides the identity of the particular MIB (e.g.,  39 ) of a management server that defines the particular PVC for sending data from the remote device to the host. The thirteenth parameter (DLCIB)  228  is another data link connection identifier (e.g.,  200 ) of the PVC instance of the MIB, and defines the far end of the PVC communication path in the network cloud.  
         [0032]      FIG. 3  shows a first portion of the operational flow of the process  300  for configuring backup LPort service which occurs after the primary service and its PVCs have already been built to the primary MIB of the management server  106 . The process  300  begins at receive operation  302  where the screenshot  500  of  FIG. 6  is displayed at the terminal  110 . The user enters the service name for the backup service into the entry field  502  of the display  500  at receive operation  302 . The terminal  110  then transmits the service name to the management server  106  at send operation  304 . The management server  106  then detects whether the service name already exists for existing MIBs at query operation  306 .  
         [0033]     If query operation  306  detects that the service name already exists, then operational flow transitions to send operation  308  where the management server  106  sends an error indication to the terminal  110 . At display operation  310 , the terminal  110  displays the error indication, such as the message  510  of screenshot  510  in  FIG. 7 . If query operation  306  detects that the service name does not already exist, then the terminal  110  receives the primary circuit name (LPort name) from the user in entry field  504  of  FIG. 6  at receive operation  312  and sends it to the management server. The management server  106  then detects whether the primary circuit&#39;s MIB already has a service name associated with it at query operation  314 .  
         [0034]     If query operation  314  detects that the primary circuit&#39;s MIB already has a service name associated with it, then an error notice is provided to the terminal  110  at send operation  316 . The terminal  110  then displays the error indication, such as the message  516  of screenshot  514  in  FIG. 8  at display operation  318 . If query operation  314  detects that the primary circuit does not already have a service name associated with it, then the terminal  110  receives the backup circuit name from the user in entry field  506  at receive operation  320  and sends it to the management server  106 . Operational flow then continues to query operation  322  of  FIG. 4  where the management server  106  detects whether the backup circuit exists in the network, such as by referencing the MIB corresponding to the specified backup circuit.  
         [0035]     If the backup circuit does not exist, then the management server  106  sends an error indication to the terminal  110  at send operation  324 . The terminal then displays the error indication, such as the message  520  of screenshot  518  in  FIG. 9  at display operation  326 . If the backup circuit does exist, then the management server  106  detects whether the backup circuit already has working PVCs at query operation  328 , again by referencing the backup physical circuit&#39;s MIB. If the backup physical circuit does have working PVCs, then the management server  106  sends an error indication to the terminal  110  at send operation  330 . The terminal  110  then displays the error indication, such as the message  524  of screenshot  522  in  FIG. 10  at display operation  332 .  
         [0036]     If the management server  106  detects that the backup physical circuit does not have working PVCs, then the terminal  110  receives the backup option selection for a full or partial backup in entry field  508  of  FIG. 6  at receive operation  334 . The terminal  110  or management server  106  then detects from the selection whether the user wants a full or partial backup at query operation  336 . If a full backup (i.e., all PVCs of the primary circuit) is desired, then at backup operation  338  the management server  106  associates all PVCs built to the primary MIB to the service name so that the PVC builds are now automatically built to the backup MIB corresponding to the backup physical circuit by altering the LPort name and port position. The DLCIA and all of the far end information for the PVCs stays the same for the full backup service. If a partial backup selection is obtained at receive operation  334  so that query operation  336  detects a partial backup, then PVCs to be backed up are selected by the user at receive operation  340 .  
         [0037]     At receive operation  340 , the screenshot  526  of  FIG. 11  is displayed at the terminal  110 . The screenshot  526  displays a listing of the PVCs built to the primary MIB. The exemplary listing in  FIG. 11  contains the name  528  of each PVC, the name  540  of the near end switch of the PVC, the LPort name  542  of the near end switch, and additional information  544  such as the DLCIA, DLCIB, and the far end LPort name.  
         [0038]     The listing of screenshot  526  allows the user to select the PVCs to be backed up. For example, a user may prefer to only backup the most important PVCs to conserve the bandwidth being provided by the backup physical circuit. At the receive operation  340 , the user may alter any parameters such as the far end LPort name and DLCIB for the backup LPort service if desired, such as in the case where data needs to be redirected to a different location while backup is active. At backup operation  342  after receiving the PVC selections and/or alterations, the management server  106  associates all selected PVCs to the service name previously entered for the backup service so that the selected PVC builds are now automatically built to the backup MIB corresponding to the backup physical circuit by altering the LPort name and port position. The DLCIA and all of the far end information for the selected PVCs stays the same for the partial backup service.  
         [0039]      FIG. 5  shows the operational flow that occurs when a user toggles between the primary LPort service and the backup LPort service configured through the operations of  FIGS. 3 and 4 . At receive operation  402 , the management server  106  receives a request for a change in service. The request may be entered by a technician using the terminal  110 . Alternatively, the host  104  or other computing device that communicates directly with the management server  106  through the Internet or other WAN connection may receive the request.  
         [0040]     After the request for a change in service has been received, the terminal  110  or other device sends the request to the management server at send operation  404 . The management server then determines whether the request is for backup LPort service to be implemented. If backup service is desired, then circuit operation  412  deactivates the primary LPort service through the primary physical circuit, and backup operation  414  activates the backup LPort service dictated by the backup MIB so that the host may begin transmitting and receiving data through the LPort of the backup physical circuit. If query operation  406  detects that primary operation is desired, then circuit operation  408  deactivates the backup physical circuit, and primary operation  410  activates the primary LPort service dictated by the primary MIB so that the host may begin transmitting and receiving data through the LPort of the primary physical circuit.  
         [0041]     Although the present invention has been described in connection with various exemplary embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that many modifications can be made thereto within the scope of the claims that follow. Accordingly, it is not intended that the scope of the invention in any way be limited by the above description, but instead be determined entirely by reference to the claims that follow.