Link Aggregation Master Component Identification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing network configurations using link and port aggregation protocols face challenges in maintaining reliable network connectivity and efficiency, particularly in scenarios involving multiple failures or errors within virtual network devices, where identifying a master component and assigning service preferences across physical links is complex and inefficient.
Innovation Solution
The method involves transmitting master status information and service preferences using link aggregation protocols, such as LACP or PAgP, to ensure continued connectivity by identifying and reconfiguring master components and optimizing service assignments across physical links within a virtual network device, thereby enhancing redundancy and efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple point to point links are used to achieve reliable network connectivity, then network reliability is improved, but device complexity and interaction complexity between providers increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple physical links into a single logical link using link aggregation protocols (LACP/PAgP). This merging approach maintains the reliability benefits of multiple links while presenting a simplified single-link interface to upper layers, thereby reducing interaction complexity between service providers while preserving network reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The link aggregation bundle serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides redundancy for reliability, aggregates bandwidth for capacity, and presents a single logical interface for simplified management. This multi-functionality resolves the contradiction by achieving reliability without proportionally increasing complexity.
2Device complexity
If multiple network devices are coupled together to appear as a single virtual network device, then interaction complexity is reduced, but difficulty in identifying master component and maintaining connectivity during failures increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent establishes master-slave relationships and service preferences in advance through pre-configured link aggregation protocols. This preliminary action ensures that when failures occur, the system can quickly identify the master component and maintain connectivity without complex real-time detection, thereby reducing the difficulty of master component identification during failure scenarios.
Solution Approach 2:
The link aggregation protocols implement feedback mechanisms that continuously monitor link status and component health. This feedback enables automatic detection of master component status and failure conditions, simplifying the identification process while maintaining the virtual device architecture that reduces interaction complexity.
3Ease of manufacture
If service preferences are not explicitly defined across physical links, then configuration simplicity is maintained, but network efficiency and hop counts increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces service preference parameters into the link aggregation configuration, allowing explicit definition of which services use which physical links. This parameter change enables optimized traffic routing that improves network efficiency and reduces hop counts, while maintaining configuration simplicity through standardized protocol parameters rather than complex manual routing tables.
Data Source
AI summary
In one embodiment, a method includes receiving at a network device, a packet from a component in a virtual network device, the packet transmitted across a link aggregation bundle connecting the virtual network device to the network device and indicating if the component is a master component in the virtual network device, and determining if an error exists in operation of the component as the master component or a slave component. An apparatus for assigning services to physical links in an aggregated link bundle is also disclosed.