The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 15, 2005
Filed:
Dec. 15, 2000
Lucern K. MA, San Jose, CA (US);
Murali Duvvury, San Jose, CA (US);
Lucern K. Ma, San Jose, CA (US);
Murali Duvvury, San Jose, CA (US);
Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
A method provides high reliability to management of a cluster of network devices. The cluster including a command network device and at least one member network device. The command network device has a commander IP address and a commander MAC address. The method includes: defining a standby group by assigning a virtual IP address and a virtual MAC address; selecting a first network device; which is the command network device, for the standby group; selecting at least one second network device, which has an IP address, for the standby group; defining a standby priority for each network device in the standby group; and binding the standby group to the cluster, by replacing the commander IP address with the virtual IP address and replacing the commander MAC address with the virtual MAC address. Upon the binding, the network device with a highest priority becomes an active commander, and the network device with a second highest priority becomes a standby commander. The the network device with a third highest priority, if any, becomes a passive commander. The cluster is controlled through the active commander using the virtual IP address. The active commander periodically forwards the cluster configuration information to the passive commander. The control of the cluster is switched from the active commander to the standby commander upon a failure of the active commander, the standby commander becoming a current active commander.