Patent · US Active

In-service configuration upgrade using virtual machine instances

US8799422B1 · kind B1 · utility

34Cited by
17References
24Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 28, 2011
Grant dateAug 5, 2014
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 15, 2031

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L49/70
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Techniques described in this disclosure relate to configuration updates, such as performing an in-service software upgrade on a device, using virtual machines. In a routing device, a routing engine utilizes a virtual machine executing on a hypervisor to provide control plane functions. In one example, an in-service software upgrade may be performed between a first virtual machine and a second virtual machine without a managing virtual machine. More specifically, a first virtual machine in the control plane of the router may control the upgrade process, including requesting initialization of the second virtual machine, installing a new software system on the second virtual machine, and replicating state data from the first virtual machine to the second virtual machine. In this example, the first virtual machine may operate as a master virtual machine and the second virtual machine may operate as a slave virtual machine that synchronizes with the master virtual machine.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.