Patent Document

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    Not applicable 
       STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
       [0002]    Not applicable 
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    The present disclosure relates generally to naming conventions for hardware devices, and more specifically to resolving inconsistencies between internal names and physical labels of hardware devices in a network appliance. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    Network appliances, as discussed herein, are communication devices that can be used to provide networking capability by offering a communication platform, which can be composed of one or more components, that includes hardware to which cabling can be connected to form a network with other devices also connected to the cabling. A network appliance can be implemented to provide specific networking functionality according to a chosen topology or protocol, such as functionality in accordance with implementing an Ethernet network. In general, a network appliance can provide one or more input/output (I/O) connection points that can be used for communications with other devices. Typically, some number of I/O connection points can be network cable receptacles that can permit connection of network cabling to the network appliance to contribute to implementing a network. 
         [0005]    Network cable receptacles that can be provided by a network appliance are often physically labeled with identifiers that can indicate a function or characteristic of the network cable receptacle. For example, if the network cable receptacles are used to contribute to implementing an Ethernet network, the associated physical labels may include identifiers such as “Ethxx,” where the “xx” portion represents a number that uniquely identifies a given network cable receptacle on the network appliance. Such physical labels can be important as assisting in permitting other Ethernet devices to be properly connected to the network appliance, since persons such as network technicians may look for and expect to see certain physical labels for Ethernet network cable receptacles to which Ethernet network cables are to be connected. 
         [0006]    The network appliance also typically includes an operating system (OS), which may be implemented as a so-called “open source” OS, an example of which is a Linux-based OS. Some examples of OS implementations that are each a Linux-based OS include Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Novell/SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES). The OS performs a number of functions with respect to the network appliance, such as, for example, executing program code to locate or discover hardware devices, as well as providing for the configuration or setup of such discovered hardware devices. Such hardware device discovery is typically achieved with commands provided by the OS to certain hardware addresses to prompt a response from each hardware device installed at such hardware addresses. 
         [0007]    One type of hardware device that a network appliance may implement and that the OS can discover is a network port. A network port is a hardware device that can be used to implement a network connection between the network appliance and another device connected to the network appliance with a network cable. The network port can be connected to a network cable receptacle, such as is discussed above, and can provide signaling over such a network cable connected to the network cable receptacle to contribute to implementing a network. Upon discovering a network port as a hardware device, the OS can provide a configuration to permit the discovered network port to operate in accordance with an expected behavior. For example, the OS can determine that the discovered network port is an Ethernet network port, and can thus provide a configuration to permit the Ethernet network port to operate in accordance with the Ethernet protocol. As part of providing such a configuration, the OS may provide a unique internal logical name for each discovered network port, so that the OS and other software programs can uniquely refer to the discovered network ports by their respective logical names. 
         [0008]    There is no OS convention or standard for associating a specific logical name with a specific hardware device. Typically, in a network appliance, the OS assigns a logical name that depends on the type of hardware device and the order in which the hardware device is discovered relative to other discovered hardware devices. Thus, for a group of network ports in a network appliance, each network port would typically be assigned a logical name in accordance with the order in which the OS discovers and configures each of the network ports. For example, the logical names assigned to a group of Ethernet network ports may take the form “Ethxx,” where “xx” represents a unique number for each discovered Ethernet network port, which number is typically assigned in linear increasing order, in accordance with the order of discovery of each Ethernet network port. The order of discovery of hardware devices, such as network ports in a network appliance, may be impacted by the arrangement of the hardware devices in the network appliance, the OS type, OS vendor, OS version, or other factors that can influence the OS in the discovery of hardware devices. Accordingly, it can be difficult to predict the OS discovery order and thus the logical names that will be assigned to given hardware devices. 
         [0009]    One drawback associated with the difficulty in predicting the discovery order of hardware devices in a network appliance is that the assigned logical name may not match a physical label for a given hardware device. Some of the issues that may arise with mismatches between assigned logical names and the physical labels associated with hardware devices in a network appliance are discussed with reference to  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  illustrates a network appliance chassis portion  110  that provides a number of network cable receptacles  112 . Each network cable receptacle  112  is provided with a physical label  120  that describes the expected logical name of a network port (not shown) connected to the respective network cable receptacle  112 . Programmers and/or network technicians or other persons responsible for installing and maintaining the network appliance may often expect to depend upon physical labels  120  to indicate a respective logical name for each of the network ports that are connected to respective network cable receptacles  112 . 
         [0010]    However, as illustrated in  FIG. 1 , network ports connected to network cable receptacles  112  may be assigned logical names  130  that do not match respective physical labels  120 . Such a mismatch or inconsistency in naming convention may typically occur due to the unpredictability of the order of discovery of hardware devices, such as network ports, by the OS in a network appliance, as discussed above. In the example of  FIG. 1 , a group of network cable receptacles  140 ,  141 ,  142  and  143  for Ethernet cable connections have respective physical labels  120  of Eth4, Eth5, Eth6 and Eth7. Network cable receptacles  140 - 143  are illustrated as belonging to a network interface controller (NIC) PCIe card  150  that occupies a PCIe slot indicated as Slot 0 in  FIG. 1 . The network ports associated with network cable receptacles  140 - 143  are the first discovered network ports, are determined to be Ethernet network ports, and are thus assigned respective sequential logical names  130  of Eth0, Eth1, Eth2 and Eth3, which do not match the respective physical labels  120  of Eth4, Eth5, Eth6 and Eth7. Accordingly, programmers and/or network technicians involved in maintaining or installing the network appliance may not be able to rely on the value of a logical name  130  being matched to a physical label  120  for a given network port and associated network cable receptacle  112 . 
         [0011]    Such a mismatch between assigned logical names  130  and physical labels  120  may result in a programmer and/or network technician being uncertain as to which network port is actually connected to a network cable inserted into a given network cable receptacle  112 . In such a situation, the network ports involved in a naming mismatch may thus not operate as expected, which may lead to unpredicted behavior for the network appliance, or may cause the network appliance to appear to malfunction, for example. Network ports are sometimes assigned specific functionality in accordance with physical labels  120 , which functionality might depend on the network port capability, physical location or intended usage. For example, two or more network ports with network cable receptacles  112  that are located near each other may be paired for a given task related to redundancy or link aggregation. In addition, the physical location of a given network cable receptacle  112  for a network port may implicate security functionality, such as for administrative or management operations. When the relationship between a logical name  130  and a physical label  120  of a network port is uncertain, the physical arrangement-dependent configurations described above may not function properly. 
         [0012]    Some OS facilities may be available to modify the logical names of the hardware devices located by the OS, which modifications may be permitted to persist upon being implemented. These configuration changes may involve manual modification of system configuration files, and may depend upon OS type, OS vendor, OS version, NIC arrangement, NIC vendor or NIC version, for example. Such modifications might be applied to associate each desired network port with a desired logical name that matches a corresponding physical label. However, such modifications may involve a somewhat sophisticated understanding of the network appliance, NIC and/or the OS used to generate the new logical name assignment, so that the task is non-trivial. For example, an administrator making such a change may need to be aware of specific hardware addresses for the hardware device being reconfigured, which hardware addresses may differ among different manufacturers. 
         [0013]    In general, it is not desirable to reassign the physical labeling of the hardware devices, such as network ports, to match the logical names of the respective hardware devices. The physical labels are typically fixed in place during manufacturing to resist being removed, while the logical name order can change based on a number of factors, so that even if physical labels are moved, they might not always reflect the desired relationship with a corresponding logical name for associated hardware devices. Accordingly, it is often left to the user of the network appliance to manually configure the logical names assigned by the OS to match those provided by the physical labels. Such a process tends to be complex and time consuming, and also might be repeated, for example, in the event of OS reinstalls or updates or hardware modifications as may occur with the addition, modification or removal of a pertinent hardware device. 
         [0014]    Therefore, it would be desirable to permit hardware devices in a network appliance to be configured with logical names to match physical labels associated with the hardware devices to aid in the installation, configuration and/or maintenance of the network appliance. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0015]    In accordance with the present disclosure, a computer implemented method for automatically configuring logical names in a network appliance to correspond to desired physical labels for hardware devices is provided. According to an aspect of the disclosure, the method determines the logical names assigned to certain hardware devices by an operating system (OS) and compares the determined logical names to desired or expected logical names that are established to be consistent with physical labels associated with hardware devices in the network appliance. If the determined logical name assignments do not match the desired logical name assignments, the method queries the hardware configuration of the network appliance, and assigns desired logical names to the hardware devices, in accordance with a predetermined association between hardware configuration of the hardware devices and the desired logical names. 
         [0016]    According to an aspect of the disclosure, the hardware devices are network ports, some of which may be integrated with a system board of the network appliance, while others may be provided on plug-in network interface controller (NIC) cards, such as PCIe NIC cards. The hardware addresses for the network ports are read using the OS and/or hardware configuration information that may be provided in configuration files or determined by accessing the network ports. 
         [0017]    According to another aspect, configuration files maintained and used by the OS are modified to reflect the desired logical names assigned to desired hardware devices, such as network ports. 
         [0018]    According to another aspect, a file containing references to physical labels is provided to the network appliance, the contents of which file can be used to determine whether the assigned logical names are consistent with the physical labeling provided to the hardware devices of interest. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0019]    The present disclosure is described in greater detail below, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0020]      FIG. 1  is a diagram of a portion of a chassis of a network appliance that includes network cable receptacles that are labeled in accordance with a conventional technique; 
           [0021]      FIG. 2  is a simplified hardware diagram of a network appliance in accordance with the present disclosure; 
           [0022]      FIG. 3  is a diagram of a network appliance showing hardware and software components that implement or use logical names or physical labels in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; and 
           [0023]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating a process in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0024]    In accordance with the present disclosure, methods and systems are provided to establish a beneficially consistent naming convention for hardware devices identified by components of an operating system (OS) operating on a network appliance. More specifically, the present disclosure permits the resolution of inconsistencies between internal logical names and external physical labels associated with hardware devices, such as network ports, in a network appliance. 
         [0025]    Systems and methods of the present disclosure are described below in an exemplary embodiment that addresses naming inconsistencies between logical names and physical labels associated with hardware devices in the form of network ports within a network appliance. However, it should be appreciated that the presently disclosed systems and methods are also applicable to address naming inconsistencies between logical names and physical labels of other hardware devices in a network appliance as discussed subsequently. 
         [0026]    Referring to  FIG. 2 , a simplified hardware diagram of a network appliance  200  is illustrated. Network appliance  200  includes a processor  210  and a memory  220  that interact to provide control and communication services for components of network appliance  200 . For example, processor  210  can retrieve and execute instructions from memory  220  to implement a software construct, such as an OS (not shown) and/or file management system (not shown). Although not shown in  FIG. 2 , memory  220  can store application programs, an OS, information involved in communications, and generally any type of information that may be generated or used by network appliance  200 . A port controller  230  is coupled to memory  220  and processor  210 , and can receive control instructions from processor  210  related to controlling network ports  240 . Information that may be sent or received by network ports  240  may be managed by port controller  230 , and may be stored in memory  220  under the control of processor  210 . 
         [0027]    Referring now to  FIG. 3 , a diagram of a network appliance  300  that is implemented in accordance with the present disclosure is illustrated. Network appliance  300  may be implemented as network appliance  200  shown in  FIG. 2 . Network appliance  300  includes items illustrated as hardware elements, such as network hardware  310 , which represents a portion of network appliance  300  that includes network ports (not shown) and externally accessible components. Network hardware  310  may be implemented as network ports  240  illustrated in  FIG. 2 . Another illustrated hardware element is a port controller  324 , which provides a mechanism for communicating information between network hardware  310  and a control portion  330 . Port controller  324  may be implemented as port controller  230  illustrated in  FIG. 2 . Control portion  330  can be implemented as a software construct that can provide processing and control services for controlling port controller  324 , which in turn controls network hardware  310 . Control portion  330  can be implemented with memory  220  and processor  210  illustrated in  FIG. 2 . 
         [0028]    Network hardware  310  includes physical labels  316  used to identify network connector hardware in the form of network cable receptacles  312 . Physical labels  316  include a plurality of identifiers that are intended to match internal logical names that are used to refer to network ports  240  ( FIG. 2 ) that are connected to corresponding network cable receptacles  312 .  FIG. 3  provides an example in which there are twelve physical labels  316 , with identifiers Eth0-Eth11; however, it is understood that the actual number of network cable receptacles  312  and associated physical labels  316  may be greater or less than twelve in accordance with the present disclosure and without undue experimentation. 
         [0029]    In accordance with the exemplary embodiment shown in  FIG. 3 , network hardware  310  includes network cable receptacles  314  that are connected to network ports that are onboard ports or integrated in a system board (not shown) of network appliance  300 . Network hardware  310  also includes network cable receptacles  318  that are connected to network ports that are provided on network interface controller (NIC) cards  350  that can be PCIe cards that are installed in PCIe card slots labeled 0 and 1 that permit connection with a PCIe bus (not shown) in network appliance  300 . Network cable receptacles  312  can be implemented as Ethernet connectors to provide cable connectivity to a connected network port that can be implemented as an Ethernet network port. 
         [0030]    Network cable receptacles  314  are identified with physical labels  316  of Eth0, Eth1, Eth2 and Eth3 are representative of system integrated network ports. Likewise, network cable receptacles  318  are PCIe cards that are physically installed on a system board (not shown) that forms a part of network appliance  300 . Thus in  FIG. 3 , network hardware  310  represents physical connections and locations for hardware that are divided into system integrated network cable receptacles  314  and NIC cards  350  based network cable receptacles  318 , each of which are connected to network ports  240  ( FIG. 2 ) that can be used to implement Ethernet network ports. 
         [0031]    In  FIG. 3 , control portion  330  illustrates components of network appliance  300  that can be implemented in software as an architecture that provides processing and control services. Control portion  330  components include OS  320 , which can configure and utilize naming conventions  322 , and direct the operations of network communications using port controller  324 . Naming conventions  322  can represent storage locations in disk files or computer memory for storing internal nomenclature such as logical names used to identify network ports  240  ( FIG. 2 ) to OS  320 . Accordingly, naming convention  322  provides logical names for network ports  240 , which are each connected to and associated with a respective network cable receptacle  312 . In the case of network ports  240  being implemented as Ethernet network ports, the logical names can have designations Eth0-Eth11, which are used by port controller  324  to address specific ones of network ports  240 . 
         [0032]    When network appliance  300  is initialized, such as by being powered on to load OS  320  from nonvolatile memory storage, or by receiving a new version of OS  320 , the hardware devices in network appliance  300  are discovered and configured. As part of this process, OS  320  includes programming instructions to examine various aspects of network hardware  310  that makes up network appliance  300 , to permit the hardware to be configured for operation. In some instances, network hardware  310  is configured for operation by installing software drivers (not shown) that receive and execute commands to operate the hardware to which the software driver is assigned. In some circumstances, OS  320  identifies network hardware  310  upon initialization and creates internal identifiers or logical names that are used to refer to the hardware devices. The logical names can be stored in files on disk media, or can be stored in operating system memory or other storage locations that permit OS  320  to refer to those hardware devices identified by the logical names. 
         [0033]    OS  320  uses port controller  324  to determine the content and configuration of network hardware  310 . Port controller  324 , under the direction of OS  320 , can help identify hardware devices such as network ports  240  ( FIG. 2 ), typically in accordance with a sequence defined by OS  320 . As OS  320  discovers each of the hardware devices in network hardware  310 , a logical name is assigned to each discovered hardware device in naming conventions  322 . The logical names are typically assigned in accordance with a convention, such as by having a text prefix followed by a number used to specify a particular hardware device in a group of like devices. For example, in the case of Ethernet network ports, the logical names assigned to the ports can take the form “Ethxx,” where “xx” represents a number for identifying a specific port. In general, upon initialization, OS  320  assigns logical names in numerical sequence order for like hardware devices, thus resulting in one of the logical names, designated as Eth0-Eth11 in the case of Ethernet network ports, being assigned to one of network ports  240  ( FIG. 2 ). After each of the network ports  240  has been assigned an associated logical name in naming conventions  322 , those logical names can be used by OS  320  to refer to individual ones of network ports  240 , through commands provided to port controller  324 , for example. 
         [0034]    Conventionally, the logical names assigned to network ports  240  may not match physical labels  316  that are used to identify network cable receptacles  312  that provide connection access for network ports  240 . Such a mismatch typically leads to uncertainty and confusion as to which network port is configured for which network cable receptacle, especially from the viewpoint of a service technician seeking to connect network cables to appropriate network cable receptacles for proper system operation. 
         [0035]    In accordance with the present disclosure, a naming process  340  embodies an exemplary method for collecting information on the identification process undertaken by OS  320  and determining the logical names used to refer to network ports  240 . Moreover, naming process  340  can determine certain physical network port properties, such as a media access control (MAC) address for a network port implemented as an Ethernet network port. Naming process  340  can also identify PCIe address bus information that OS  320  may obtain and store. Naming process  340  can determine a relationship between the logical names in naming conventions  322  and hardware addresses, such as MAC addresses, for network ports. For example, naming process  340  can obtain hardware addresses for network ports  240 , and use such hardware addresses to lookup the associated logical names through queries posed in OS  320 . With the originally assigned logical name information, hardware addresses of the network ports and/or PCIe address bus information, naming process  340  can map, or assign, new logical names to each of network ports  240 . 
         [0036]    In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, a physical labeling specification  342  is provided to network appliance  300  to define a set of desired logical names for network ports  240 . Physical labeling specification  342  can provide information about physical labels  316 , for example, to permit naming process  340  to establish logical names in naming conventions  322  that directly correspond with physical labels  316 . Physical labeling specification  342  can also provide information relating desired logical names to hardware addresses, such as MAC addresses, at which specific hardware devices, such as Ethernet network ports, are installed. For example, physical labeling specification  342  can provide information on hardware device location, such as hardware locations associated with network ports  240  that are to be associated with desired logical names that reflect the arrangement of physical labels  316 . Naming process  340  can use the hardware addresses for network ports  240  to lookup desired logical names associated with those hardware addresses within physical labeling specification  342 . Naming process  340  can then determine if the already assigned logical names and the desired logical names are inconsistent, and then replace inconsistent already assigned logical names with desired logical names for the associated hardware addresses that correspond to a desired network port  240  for a given desired logical name. Naming process  340  may alternately, or in addition, omit a comparison between already assigned logical names and desired logical names for associated hardware addresses, and directly provide the desired logical names to naming conventions  322  to be associated with hardware addresses to refer to desired network ports  240 . 
         [0037]    Naming process  340  can construct or replace logical names provided to naming conventions  322 , so that OS  320  can refer to the network ports (not shown) in network hardware  310  in accordance with the re-assigned references provided by naming process  340 . Accordingly, naming process  340  can modify files or memory in which logical names used by naming conventions  322  are stored, or can modify files or memory used to generate the contents of naming conventions  322  to generate the logical names as desired for referring to network ports  240  ( FIG. 2 ) to be consistent with physical labels  316  provided on network hardware  310 . Moreover, naming process  340  can generate the logical names used to refer to network ports  240  in network hardware  310  to be persistent, so that the assigned mapping of logical names survives events such as re-initialization or updates to form OS  320 . 
         [0038]    Naming process  340  operates to automatically generate the logical names in naming conventions  322  in accordance with physical labeling specification  312 , so that naming process  340  can be included in an initialization process to re-establish the desired logical names for network ports  240  in accordance with physical labels  316  in network hardware  310  upon a system re-initialization, restart or operating system update. Naming process  340  may also be invoked as part of a manufacturing process used to create network appliance  300 . For example, network appliance  300  may be initialized with OS  320  during manufacture, resulting in logical names being defined for network ports  240  that may not be consistent with or match the arrangement of associated physical labels  316 . Naming process  340  may then be employed to reassign logical names in naming conventions  322  in accordance with physical labeling specification  312 . Such a logical name reassignment can be made persistent, so that consistent hardware device naming can be provided with network appliance  300  as it is deployed. 
         [0039]    Referring now to  FIG. 4 , a flowchart  400  illustrates an exemplary embodiment of naming process  340  ( FIG. 3 ) in accordance with the present disclosure. As indicated in block  410 , the internal logical names assigned to network ports  240  ( FIG. 2 ) by OS  320  ( FIG. 3 ) are determined. The associated hardware addresses for network ports  240  are also determined. These pieces of information can be determined by reading specific files or memory locations originated or maintained by OS  320  ( FIG. 3 ) when discovering or configuring hardware devices, such as may occur upon initialization of OS  320 , for example. The hardware addresses associated with network ports  240  referenced by the logical names can also be determined from files or memory locations originated or maintained by OS  320  as well. Alternately, or in addition, system components, such as various hardware items or memory storage, can be queried to obtain the hardware addresses. Hardware addresses for system integrated hardware devices, such as network ports  240  ( FIG. 2 ) can be determined by examining the hardware configuration of bus-connected components determined by OS  320 , or by querying the components themselves, such as by querying properties of network ports  240  and network hardware  310  ( FIG. 3 ). Various OS facilities such as, for example, Ethernet device configuration files or system log files can be used to collect the OS-assigned logical names for the devices, as well as the associated hardware addresses. For example, in the case where OS  320  is implemented as RHEL, naming process  340  ( FIG. 3 ) illustrated in flowchart  400  may inspect device configuration files and system log files such as /var/log/messages* and/or /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-*, as well as other potentially related files providing configuration information that may be maintained by RHEL. 
         [0040]    Once the logical names and associated hardware addresses for the hardware devices, such as network ports  240  ( FIG. 2 ) in network hardware  310  ( FIG. 3 ), are determined, naming process  340  ( FIG. 3 ) illustrated in flowchart  400  can divide and group the logical names with respective hardware addresses for the system integrated and added-on devices, as illustrated in block  412 . The logical names and hardware addresses may be grouped according to physical locations in network appliance  300  ( FIG. 3 ), the specific capabilities or design criteria for the hardware devices, and/or the properties of the hardware devices. For example, network ports  240  may be grouped by logical name and hardware address in accordance with whether the devices are system integrated devices, such as is indicated with physical labels  316  ( FIG. 3 ) Eth0-Eth3, or whether the hardware devices belong to a specific add-on NIC card  350  ( FIG. 3 ) such as is shown in slot 0 for Eth4-Eth7 or slot 1 for Eth8-Eth11. The separation and grouping of logical names and hardware addresses can contribute to organizing the hardware devices in accordance with certain goals for setting up or maintaining network appliance  300  ( FIG. 3 ), such as implementing security or administrative provisions. 
         [0041]    Naming process  340  ( FIG. 3 ) illustrated in flowchart  400  then makes a determination as to whether the logical names of the devices assigned by OS  320  is in accordance with physical labels  316  as illustrated in network hardware  310  of  FIG. 3 , for example. If the logical names assigned to network ports  240  ( FIG. 2 ) are consistent with the physical labels  316 , naming process  340  ( FIG. 3 ) illustrated in flowchart  400  continues with appliance specific device pairing, as illustrated by the Yes branch being taken out of decision block  414  to block  424 . Application specific device pairing refers to the practice of using multiple network connections to implement an application function, such as security or administrative tasks, or can refer to the provision of the features of redundancy or aggregation to an implemented application function. If the logical names do not match physical labels  316 , actions are taken to reassign or remap the logical names, as indicated by the No branch being taken out of decision block  414 . 
         [0042]    The reassignment or remapping of logical names begins with a determination of a PCIe bus address, such as may be acquired for slot 0 and/or slot 1 of network hardware  310  ( FIG. 3 ). Once the PCIe bus address for slot 0 and slot 1 is found, as illustrated in block  416 , the hardware addresses for the network ports on NIC cards  350  in slot 0 and slot 1 are determined, using, as illustrated in block  418 , the previously determined PCIe ( FIG. 3 ) bus addresses for slot 0 and slot 1. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, naming process  340  ( FIG. 3 ) illustrated in flowchart  400  can tag the logical names assigned by OS  320  to network ports  240  associated with slot 0 and slot 1, such as network ports  240  that are connected to network cable receptacles  318 , for reassignment and/or remapping. The respective network ports in slot 0 and slot 1 are, in this example, located on PCIe cards that are added-on or installed in expansion card receptacles (not shown) provided in hardware  300  (see  FIG. 3 ). The inserted PCIe cards are thus established to be located at hardware positions identified as slot 0 or slot 1, which identification can be used for physically referencing the network ports located on each of the inserted PCIe cards. 
         [0043]    Once the hardware addresses for the network ports are determined, as illustrated in block  418 , naming process  340  ( FIG. 3 ) illustrated in flowchart  400  remaps the hardware addresses to desired logical names that are consistent with physical labels  316  illustrated as Eth0-Eth11 in network appliance  300 . The step of remapping hardware addresses to desired logical names is illustrated in block  420 . According to an exemplary embodiment, an OS facility can be used to identify the PCIe bus addresses for NIC cards in slot 0 and slot 1 of network hardware  310  ( FIG. 3 ). For example, in the case of an OS implemented in accordance with RHEL, an OS facility such as “lspci” can be used to list the PCIe address bus information as well as the device information associated with addresses on the PCIe bus. 
         [0044]    Although discovery of hardware devices in slots 0 and/or 1 may occur in any particular order, some OS implementations may cause hardware devices in slot 1 to be discovered and configured before those in slot 0. In such an instance, slot 1 may be assigned a bus address that is lower in value than that of slot 0. Thus, for example, the bus address for a NIC card  350  located in slot 0 may be higher in value than that for a NIC card  350  located in slot 1. The respective bus addresses are used to identify the respective hardware addresses for hardware devices respectively located in slot 0 and slot 1. These identified hardware addresses can then be used to identify the logical names associated with the hardware devices located in respective slots 0 and 1. Logical names may then be reassigned to the hardware devices located in respective slots 0 and 1, based on, for example, device enumeration offsets used in conjunction with the bus address respectively assigned to slot 0 and slot 1. Thus, hardware devices in slot 0 may be provided with logical names, e.g., Eth4, Eth5 . . . Eth7, that are sequentially prior to the logical names assigned to hardware devices in slot 1, e.g., Eth8, Eth9, . . . Eth11, even though slot 1 may have a bus address that is lower in value than slot 0. 
         [0045]    The PCIe bus address information that can be determined from OS facilities can be used to identify the hardware addresses associated with network ports  240  ( FIG. 2 ) located in respective slots 0 and 1. The hardware addresses for the hardware devices in slot 0 and slot 1 can be used to identify the logical names assigned to those hardware addresses. In the case of system integrated network ports  240  associated with physical labels  316  designated as Eth0-Eth3, as illustrated in network hardware  310  of  FIG. 3 , the logical names and hardware address relationship is reordered and a new logical name is assigned to respective ones of network ports  240  in accordance with physical labels  316  and appliance requirements. In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the logical names are assigned to the appropriate device using device enumeration offset that is applicable for use with system integrated network ports  240  connected to network cable receptacles  314 . For example, naming process  340  ( FIG. 3 ) may determine a base hardware address for a network port  240  with a logical name of Eth0 in the operations indicated in block  412 . The base hardware address may then be used to refer to the hardware addresses for network ports  240  with logical names of Eth1-Eth3 by using device enumeration offsets combined with the base hardware address for network port  240  with the logical name of Eth0. With the determination of the relationship between the logical names and the hardware addresses, the logical names can be remapped in accordance with physical labels  316  of network appliance  310  using, for example, the settings provided in physical labeling specification  342 . 
         [0046]    According to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, physical labeling specification  342  specifies a relationship or association between desired logical names and hardware addresses that are each identified with one of physical labels  316 . Naming process  340  matches the hardware addresses specified in physical labeling specification  342  with the hardware addresses for network ports  240  that were determined by naming process  340 , as illustrated in block  418 . Each desired logical name associated with a hardware address specified in physical labeling specification  342  is then assigned as the logical name for the matched hardware address in network appliance  300 . Thus, naming process  340  uses an association between logical names and hardware addresses in a specification as may be provided by physical labeling specification  342  to determine the logical name to assign to a hardware device such as a network port  240 . The specified association between logical names and hardware addresses is configured so that each hardware address is defined as being associated with one of physical labels  316 . 
         [0047]    Once the logical names are remapped or reassigned to the hardware address locations as desired, as illustrated in block  420 , naming process  340  ( FIG. 3 ) illustrated in flowchart  400  causes the OS facilities to be updated with the new mappings between the desired logical names and associated device hardware addresses, as illustrated in block  422 . For example, OS facilities may be employed to update Ethernet device configuration files maintained by OS  320 . Some configuration files may include “udev” persistent rules, which are modified with the new mappings and assignments between the desired logical names and associated hardware addresses. These persistent rules can preserve the new mappings and assignments between logical names and hardware addresses, even with the occurrence of certain events such as system restart or initialization, or OS upgrade. 
         [0048]    Once the relationship between desired logical names and hardware addresses associated with physical labels  316  is established or verified, naming process  340  ( FIG. 3 ) illustrated in flowchart  400  continues with operations to configure network device pairing or to provide other configuration settings for network deployment to achieve desired network operation, as is illustrated in block  424 . The device pairing can be a logical based construct for aggregating network traffic over several network cables with the grouping or pairing of certain network devices or ports. Such logical constructs may also be employed to establish or improve security redundancy for network communications, for example. 
         [0049]    By establishing a consistent reference between physical labeling and internal logical naming, network appliance  300  can provide deterministic operation that is consistent with service technician expectations for setting up network appliances and network cabling. The present disclosure obtains these benefits with newly manufactured systems, as well as with legacy systems that have an installation and operation history. The benefits of the subject matter of the present disclosure can also be attained with system reconfiguration, as may occur with the insertion of NIC cards into a network appliance, or with the installation or upgrade of an OS, since the disclosed processes, such as naming process  340  ( FIG. 3 ) can be executed on system restart or reconfiguration to establish consistent naming practices between logical names and physical labeling. In addition, the present disclosure provides for persistency of the generated mapping or assignment between logical names and hardware devices associated with a physical label. 
         [0050]    The operations herein depicted and/or described herein are purely exemplary and imply no particular order. Further, the operations can be used in any sequence when appropriate and can be partially used. With the above embodiments in mind, it should be understood that they can employ various computer-implemented operations involving data transferred or stored in computer systems. These operations are those requiring physical manipulation of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical, magnetic, or optical signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared and otherwise manipulated. 
         [0051]    Any of the operations depicted and/or described herein that form part of the embodiments are useful machine operations. The embodiments also relate to a device or an apparatus for performing these operations. The apparatus can be specially constructed for the required purpose, or the apparatus can be a general-purpose computer selectively activated or configured by a computer program stored in the computer. In particular, various general-purpose machines employing one or more processors coupled to one or more computer readable medium, described below, can be used with computer programs written in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may be more convenient to construct a more specialized apparatus to perform the required operations. 
         [0052]    The disclosed systems and methods can also be embodied as computer readable code on a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium is any data storage device that can store data, which can be thereafter be read by a computer system. Examples of the computer readable medium include hard drives, read-only memory, random-access memory, CD-ROMs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs, magnetic tapes and other optical and non-optical data storage devices. The computer readable medium can also be distributed over a network-coupled computer system so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion. 
         [0053]    The foregoing description has been directed to particular embodiments of this disclosure. It will be apparent, however, that other variations and modifications may be made to the described embodiments, with the attainment of some or all of their advantages. The procedures, processes and/or modules described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, embodied as a computer-readable medium having program instructions, firmware, or a combination thereof. For example, the function described herein may be performed by a processor executing program instructions out of a memory or other storage device. Therefore, it is the object of the appended claims to cover all such variations and modifications as come within the true spirit and scope of the disclosure.

Technology Category: 3