MECHANISM FOR MANAGEMENT CONTROLLERS TO LEARN THE CONTROL PLANE HIERARCHY IN A DATA CENTER ENVIRONMENT

摘要

Mechanisms to enable management controllers to learn the control plane hierarchy in data center environments. The data center is configured in a physical hierarchy including multiple pods, racks, trays, and sleds and associated switches. Management controllers at various levels in a control plane hierarchy and associated with switches in the physical hierarchy are configured to add their IP addresses to DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol) responses that are generated by a DCHP server in response to DCHP requests for IP address requests initiated by DHCP clients including manageability controllers, compute nodes and storage nodes in the data center. As the DCHP response traverses each of multiple switches along a forwarding path from the DCHP server to the DHCP client, an IP address of the manageability controller associated with the switch is inserted. Upon receipt at the DHCP client, the inserted IP addresses are extracted and used to automate learning of the control plane hierarchy.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
receiving a DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol) response message at a first switch in a data center hierarchy, the DHCP response issued from a DHCP server in response to a DHCP request made by a requesting DHCP client and including a destination address of the requesting DHCP client, wherein the first switch comprises a current switch; a) inserting an IP (Internet Protocol) address corresponding to a manageability controller associated with the current switch to the DHCP response; b) forwarding the DHCP response to a next downstream switch in a forwarding path toward the destination address of the requesting DHCP client, the next downstream switch becoming a new current switch; if the DHCP client comprises a manageability controller;
repeating operations a) and b) until the DHCP response is received at a switch associated with the manageability controller; andextracting the IP addresses added by the manageability controllers in operation a); andupdating control plane hierarchy information for the manageability controller with the IP addresses appended to the DHCP response.