Redirecting data generated by network devices
View Patent ↗A system and method for efficiently and easily capturing data dumps generated by a network device is disclosed. In one embodiment, a storage management device is disposed between a network device and a storage device. The network device is programmed with a virtual address that is associated with the storage management device. Upon generating a data dump, the network device writes the data dump to the virtual address where the storage management device receives the data dump and redirects it to a long-term storage location. Additionally, the storage management device can generate a record of each data dump that indicates the network device that generated the data dump and where the data dump was stored.
1. A method for capturing error data generated by a router, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving, at a location remote from the router, the error data generated by the router;
recording an identity indicator for the router from which the error data was received;
redirecting the received error data to a storage location; and
recording, in a configuration record for the router, the identity of the storage location to which the error data was transferred.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
writing the error data to a virtual address.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the error data comprises a core dump from the router.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
storing the received error data in the storage location.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
recording an indicator for the error data in a configuration record that is unique to the router.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the configuration record is stored remotely from the router.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of redirecting comprises the step of:
redirecting the received error data to a remote storage location.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
posting an error data indicator to a network manager.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the step of posting an error data indicator further comprises the steps of:
posting the identity indicator to the network manager; and
posting the identity of the storage location to the network manager.
10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising the step of:
executing a predefined action responsive to the error data indicator being posted to the network manager.
11. A system for capturing error data generated by a router, the system comprising:
means for receiving the error data from the router;
means for routing the received error data to a storage location;
means for recording, in a configuration record for the router, the identity of the router from which the error data was received; and
means for recording the address of the storage location in association with the recorded identity of the router.
12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising:
means for storing the routed error data.
13. The system of claim 11 , further comprising:
means for generating an indication that the error data was received from the router.
14. The system of claim 13 , further comprising:
means for determining a response to the generated indication.
15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the determined response comprises at least one of resetting the router and taking the router offline.
16. The system of claim 11 , further comprising:
means for writing the error data to a virtual address.
17. The system of claim 16 , further comprising:
means for determining the virtual address to which the error data should be written.
18. The system of claim 11 , wherein the means for receiving the error data is addressable via a virtual address.
19. The system of claim 11 , further comprising:
means for determining the address of the storage location.
20. The system of claim 11 , further comprising:
means for buffering the error data.
21. A method for capturing error data generated by a network-traffic device, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving the error data from the network-traffic device;
recording an identity indicator for the network-traffic device from which the error data was received;
redirecting the received error data to a storage location; and
recording, in a configuration record corresponding to the network-traffic device, an indication of the error data and an indication of the storage location to which the error data was transferred;
wherein the identity of the storage location is recorded in association with the recorded identity indicator for the network-traffic device.
22. The system of claim 21 , wherein the network-traffic device comprises a router.
23. The system of claim 21 , wherein the network-traffic device comprises a switch.