International Business Machines Corporation

Lenovo (singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Vivek Kashyap

Erich Miles Nahum

Gregory Francis Pfister

Badari Pulavarty

Gerrit Huizenga

Russell H Weight

Xiuling Ma

Michael J Kravetz

Renato John Recio

Danny Marvin Neal

Robert Beverley Basham

Antonio Abbondanzio

Christopher Victor Lazzaro

Narasimha Nageshrao Sharoff

Charles Scott Graham

Charles Robert Lefurgy

Ronald Leroy Billau

Gregory Brian Pruett

Canio Cillis

Lee Anton Sendelbach

Dipankar Das Sarma

William Frederick Berg

Richard Ott

Chandra Seetharaman

Prasadarao Akulavenkatavara

David L Stevens, Jr

S Scott Moser

Chandrasekhara Seetharaman

Gerritt Huizenga

Scott S Moser

Sridhar Samudrala

David L Keskovec

Automatic server configuration by a switch may include determining, by a firmware interface application of the switch, a configuration pattern for a plurality of servers; generating, by a network caching application of the switch, a network cache; receiving, based on the configuration pattern, a solution stack; storing the solution stack in the network cache; and providing, from the network cache, the solution stack to the plurality of servers.

Automatic server configuration using a switch

There are provided a transparent performance enhancing proxy, a method for operating a transparent performance enhancing proxy between a source device and a destination device, and corresponding computer program product. The method includes preserving, without translation, packet header information of a header for a packet received from the source device to be forwarded to the destination device. The method further includes during a transmission control protocol connection setup phase for the packet, preserving transmission control protocol connection semantics. The method also includes during a transmission control protocol data transfer phase for the packet, running a transmission control protocol by masquerading as the source device to the destination device and masquerading as the destination device to the source device to transmit the packet to the destination device with the preserved packet header information.

Hybrid approach for performance enhancing proxies

In one embodiment, a method includes detecting that a processor is attempting to boot a server using a network boot option over a first network. The method also includes receiving a network address, using the processor, from an integrated management module (IMM) connected to the processor via a local connection without using a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server on the first network. In another embodiment, a computer program product includes a computer readable program medium. The computer readable program medium includes program instructions configured to cause a processor in an IMM to intercept a network boot option initiated by a server over a first network and acquire a network address for the server without using a DHCP in the first network. The IMM is connected to the server via a local connection. Other methods, systems, and computer program products are described according to more embodiments.

Secure network server boot without the use of DHCP and PXE

A virtual switch connected to at least one virtual machine of multiple virtual machines communicatively connected through an overlay network, receives a data packet, each of the virtual machines configured within a separate one of multiple virtual groups in the overlay network, the data packet comprising a packet header comprising at least one address. The virtual switch receives a virtual group identifier for the at least one address from at least one address resolution service returning the virtual group identifier and a resolved address for the at least one address, in response to an address resolution request for the at least one address. The virtual switch sends the data packet through the virtual switch to the resolved address only if the virtual group identifier is allowed according to a filtering policy applied by the virtual switch for a particular virtual group identified by the virtual group identifier.

Virtual group policy based filtering within an overlay network

Methods may provide peak load processing on a computer system. A method may include receiving at a remote computer system a request from a local computer system, coupled to the remote computer system by a network, to replicate at the remote computer system a local instance of an application executing on the local computer system that is subject to user requests received at the local computer system. The method may further include replicating on the remote computer system a remote instance of the application and redirecting user requests from the local computer system to the remote computer system. The method may further include executing on the remote computer system the remote instance of the application, including processing with the remote instance of the application user requests redirected from the local computer system to the remote instance of the application.

Processing of application peak load

Systems and computer program products may provide peak load processing on a computer system. A first computer system may include a processor and a memory storage device operatively coupled to the processor. The memory storage device may store instructions that are executed by the processor to receive from a second computer system coupled to the first computer system by a network, a request to replicate at the first computer system a first instance of an application executing on the second computer system, replicate on the first computer system the first instance of the application and execute the first instance of the application on the first computer system, including processing user requests related to the application received from the second computer system.

Application peak load processing

A system, method and computer program product for implementing network connection failover during application service interruption. While the application is quiesced, a network socket that terminates a network connection to a network peer is maintained on behalf of the application. The socket's network connection state information is sustained by providing acknowledgements of incoming network traffic to the network peer that prevent the peer from terminating the connection. Upon restart, the application is brought up with a blocked socket. The state of the blocked socket is conformed to a current network connection state of the original socket and the blocked socket is unblocked.

Network connection failover during application service interruption

Systems and computer program products are provided for dynamically defining network access control rules. A placeholder for a parameter of an interface to an endpoint such as a data processing system or virtual machine may be provided in a network access control rule, instead of a static parameter. The parameter may be dynamically determined, by a firewall or a hypervisor for example, and the placeholder may be replaced with the dynamically determined parameter.

Dynamically defining network access rules

Methods are provided for dynamically defining network access control rules. A placeholder for a parameter of an interface to an endpoint such as a data processing system or virtual machine may be provided in a network access control rule, instead of a static parameter. The parameter may be dynamically determined, by a firewall or a hypervisor for example, and the placeholder may be replaced with the dynamically determined parameter.

Dynamically defining rules for network access

Automated techniques reduce packet fragmentation in a communications network environment, including a networking environment that uses tunnels. In a tunneling environment, a tunnel endpoint evaluates whether tunnel processing for an outbound packet will cause the packet to exceed a particular size such as a message transmission unit ('MTU') size, which in turn would lead to error processing and/or fragmentation of the packet. Similar MTU and packet mismatch may occur in a system across the virtual machine and the hypervisor, a networking stack and the physical MTU possible on the network. If so, the tunnel endpoint or the network driver simulates an error condition and returns an error message to the protocol stack that prepared the packet, so that the packet size can be reduced before the packet is actually sent on the tunnel. Existing functionality is leveraged to perform the size reduction, thus obviating the need for administrator intervention.

Reducing fragmentation of packets in a networking environment

Embodiments of the invention relate to post-install configuration of virtual appliances in a virtual machine. A packaging and distribution format is provided with two tools to support the configuration of the virtual machine. The first tool is employed to support configuration of the virtual machine, and employs an activation script during a boot operation. The second tool is employed by a call from the first tool. The second tool configures a virtual application in communication with the virtual machine with use of a configuration script. The configuration script is separate from the activation script and disassociated from an image binary of the virtual machine. The disassociation of the configuration script from the activation script supports changes to the configuration script without affecting the image binary.

Configuration of virtual appliances

A network endpoint system and related method and computer program product for use in a network to support enhanced end-to-end QoS in the network. The network endpoint system is adapted to receive network data of varying priority on behalf of a data consumer operating at the application layer of a network protocol stack implemented by the network endpoint system. The network endpoint system includes a network interface controller adapted to receive network frames containing the network data, plural network data handling channels each having an associated priority, and priority processing logic adapted to transfer the network data from the network interface controller to the plural data handling channels on a prioritized basis according to the network data priority. Also disclosed are a network interface controller and a network node to support enhanced end-to-end QoS in a network.

Enhancement of end-to-end network QoS

A TCP context is transferred to a Gi Optimizer to provide cooperative mobility management in a mobile data network with a breakout system. The breakout system includes an Iub Optimizer at the MIOP@NodeB, and the Gi Optimizer at the MIOP@Core. When a MIOP@NodeB detects a mobility event for a broken out user equipment (UE), the Iub optimizer in the MIOP@NodeB coordinates with the Gi optimizer to transfer the TCP/UDP connection established between the UE and the IuB Optimizer to the Gi Optimizer. After the transfer, the UE is served by the Gi Optimizer. The transfer of the TCP/UDP connection to the Gi optimizer may require tunnel stitching at the MIOP@RNC depending on the PDP context state and the RRC state of the UE.

Growing community of inventors

Beaverton, OR, United States of America

Vivek Kashyap