Network Shutdown Response Engine for Seamless Data Path Rerouting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing information handling systems face inefficiencies when network devices automatically shut down due to malfunctioning components, leading to data traffic disruptions and losses as other switches reroute data paths, which can take time and result in lost data traffic during the transition.
Innovation Solution
An information handling system with a shutdown response engine that detects impending shutdown conditions in network devices and proactively determines and stores alternative data paths, allowing for seamless rerouting of data traffic flows without including the failing device, thereby minimizing data losses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If network devices use automatic shutdown to protect against component malfunctioning, then device reliability is improved, but data traffic disruptions and losses occur during the shutdown transition
Solution Approach 1:
The system proactively determines alternative data paths before the network device actually shuts down. When a device indicates it will shut down, the system pre-calculates and prepares backup routes, so that when shutdown occurs, traffic can be immediately redirected without loss. This transforms the reactive shutdown process into a managed transition with minimal disruption.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a buffer or cushion by having alternative paths ready in advance. This cushioning mechanism ensures that when the primary path becomes unavailable due to shutdown, there is already a prepared alternative to absorb the transition, preventing data traffic losses that would otherwise occur during the shutdown gap.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If network devices automatically shut down when components malfunction, then harmful factors are prevented, but network efficiency decreases due to rerouting time
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs the path determination action in advance, before the shutdown actually occurs. By calculating alternative paths proactively when a shutdown is announced but not yet executed, the system eliminates the time-consuming rerouting that would normally happen during the shutdown transition, thus maintaining network efficiency while still preventing harmful factors.
Solution Approach 2:
The system skips the traditional sequential process of shutdown-then-reroute by rushing through the path determination step beforehand. This allows the network to transition directly from active traffic flow to alternative path usage without the efficiency-loss gap that characterizes conventional shutdown handling.
3Device complexity
If network devices shut down without advance notification, then device complexity is reduced, but response time increases leading to data loss
Solution Approach 1:
The system leverages the advance shutdown notification to perform preliminary path determination. The notification triggers proactive calculation of alternative paths before the actual shutdown occurs, transforming the response time from a critical gap into a preparation window, thus reducing data loss without adding significant complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The shutdown notification mechanism provides feedback to the system about impending failures. This feedback loop enables the system to react in advance by determining alternative paths, converting the notification from a simple alert into a trigger for proactive protective action that minimizes data loss.
Data Source
AI summary
A shutdown response system includes a network with a first network device and a second network device. The first network device sends a first data traffic flow through the network along a first data path that includes the second network device. If the second network device determines that a shutdown condition is within a predetermined shutdown notification range of a predetermined shutdown threshold, it sends a first shutdown response notification to the first network device. The first network device receives the first shutdown response notification and, in response, determines and stores a second data path for sending the first data traffic flow through the network that does not include the second network device. In the event the second network device shuts down, the first network device immediately begins sending the first data traffic flow through the network along the second data path that does not include the second network device.