| US 7,492,704 B2 | ||
| Protocol definition for software bridge failover | ||
| Vinit Jain, Austin, Tex. (US); Jorge Rafael Nogueras, Austin, Tex. (US); Vasu Vallabhaneni, Austin, Tex. (US); and Patrick Tam Vo, Houston, Tex. (US) | ||
| Assigned to International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, N.Y. (US) | ||
| Filed on Sep. 15, 2005, as Appl. No. 11/227,033. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2007/0058526 A1, Mar. 15, 2007 | ||
| Int. Cl. H04J 1/16 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 370—216 [370/218; 370/221] | 1 Claim |
| 1. A computer implemented method for providing a protocol definition for software bridge failover in a logical partition data
processing system, the method comprising:
sending keep-alive packets by the first software bridge to the second software bridge, wherein the keep-alive packets are
protocol packets that are sent periodically and continuously on a control channel, and wherein a first keep-alive packet contains
a priority value of the first software bridge;
monitoring, by the second software bridge, the keep-alive packets, wherein the keep-alive packet informs the second software
bridge that the first software bridge is active and that failover is not necessary;
responsive to a failure to detect the keep-alive packets from the first software bridge, initiating the bridging of traffic
by the second software bridge;
initiating the first software bridge;
monitoring the first software bridge for the keep-alive packets on the control channel;
responsive to the failure to receive the keep-alive packets, asserting primary control by the first software bridge;
initiating bridging of traffic by the first software bridge;
responsive to receiving the keep-alive packets, determining if the keep-alive packets contain a higher priority value than
the priority value of the first software bridge;
responsive to the keep-alive packets containing the higher priority value, asserting backup status by the first software bridge;
monitoring the control channel by the first software bridge;
responsive to the keep-alive packets containing a lower priority value than the priority value of the first software bridge,
asserting primary control by the first software bridge; and
initiating the bridging of traffic by the first software bridge;
monitoring for a failure in a first software bridge;
responsive to detecting the failure in the first software bridge, sending a limbo packet to a second software bridge alerting
the second software bridge that the first software bridge is no longer bridging traffic, wherein the failure in the first
software bridge is a physical adapter failure;
receiving at the second software bridge the limbo packet;
responsive to receiving the limbo packet at the second software bridge, initiating bridging of traffic by a second software
bridge in place of the first software bridge; and
asserting primary control by the second software bridge.
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