Pod-Level Failover for High Availability in Network Software
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing Cable Modem Termination Systems (CMTS) face significant service outages due to software component failures, as failover processes often affect thousands of subscribers and are costly and stressful, with monolithic software releases leading to unanticipated bugs and issues during upgrades.
Innovation Solution
Distributing workload and software resources across protection groups composed of pods, allowing for failover at the pod level, quick restarts without reboots, and implementing a 'canary' service group for validated software upgrades with zero downtime, leveraging Kubernetes or similar container-orchestration systems.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If monolithic software releases are used in CMTS, then software upgrades can be implemented, but service outages and system instability occur due to unanticipated bugs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the monolithic CMTS software into multiple independent software components or modules that can be upgraded individually. This allows specific software components to be updated without requiring system-wide upgrades, thereby maintaining service availability while enabling software evolution. The segmentation isolates bugs to specific modules rather than affecting the entire system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic software component loading and activation mechanisms that allow software upgrades to occur without system downtime. Software components can be loaded, tested, and activated dynamically while the system continues to operate with remaining components, enabling continuous service availability during software evolution.
2Reliability
If redundant hardware entities are used for failover, then high availability is achieved, but service outages occur during failover processes affecting thousands of subscribers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary replication of software components and pre-establishment of failover capabilities at the software level. Standby software components are pre-loaded and configured in advance, allowing immediate takeover upon failure detection without requiring hardware reconfiguration or extensive failover procedures, thereby minimizing service outage duration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional hardware-based failover mechanisms with software-based failover using virtualization and container orchestration. This substitution enables faster, more flexible failover transitions without the physical reconfiguration delays inherent in hardware systems, reducing service outage time while maintaining high availability.
3Reliability
If software components are distributed across protection groups, then failure isolation is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces Kubernetes or similar container orchestration systems as intermediary layers that manage the distributed software components across protection groups. This intermediary automates the complexity of component distribution, deployment, and failure isolation, providing a standardized framework that simplifies management while maintaining robust failure isolation capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs universal containerization technologies that can be applied across multiple software components and protection groups using the same orchestration framework. This multi-functional approach standardizes the management of distributed components, reducing overall system complexity by applying consistent patterns rather than custom solutions for each component.
Data Source
AI summary
Ensuring the high availability of a Passive Optical Network (PON). A broadband network architecture comprises (a) at least a portion of optical fiber in a communication path to individual subscriber premises, (b) one or more software-implemented Optical Line Terminal (OLT) Controllers, (c) one or more software-implemented Service Provisioning Applications (SPAs), and (d) one or more software-implemented Broadband Network Gateways (BNGs). Each of the one or more OLT Controllers, one or more SPAs, and one or more BNGs execute on Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) computer systems and entirely upon a plurality of protection groups. Each of the plurality of protection groups consists of a plurality of pods. The pods in a particular protection group which are active are dynamically adjusted to ensure the high availability of the broadband network architecture.