Method and apparatus for maintaining user-defined state information during a reboot event
View Patent ↗A network device is able to selectively preserving or over-writing user-defined state information during a reboot event using intelligent scripts. In one embodiment, the network device is configured to run a script containing intelligence during a reboot event. The intelligence is able to ascertain the cause of the reboot event and use a script appropriate for the particular reboot event. Additionally, the network device, running the script, is able to ascertain whether any user-defined state information exists, whether that user-defined state information conflicts with any scripted state information, and how any conflict between the user-defined state information and the scripted state information should be resolved.
1. A method of maintaining user-defined state information during a reboot event in a network device, said network device comprising at least one of a router and a switch, the method comprising the steps of:
running a reboot event script on the network device, the reboot event script containing intelligence enabling the script to ascertain a nature of the reboot event;
selectively applying a portion of the reboot event script according to the ascertained nature of the reboot event; and
selectively preserving at least a portion of the user-defined state information during the reboot event, said user-defined state information comprising customer defined settings and customer input configuration information,
wherein the reboot event script contains scripted state information, and wherein the step of selectively preserving at least a portion of the user-defined state information includes detecting a conflict between the scripted state information and the user-defined state information.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scripted state information contains permanence indicators associated with items of the scripted state information, and wherein the step of selectively preserving at least a portion of the user-defined state information includes applying the permanence indicators to ascertain whether at least one of the items of user-defined state information should be preserved.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the method further comprises the step of generating a report where the at least one of the items of user-defined state information is not preserved.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
reading an user-defined script, and at least one of:
supplementing the reboot event script with the user-defined script; and
supplanting the reboot event script with the user-defined script.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user-defined state information contains settings for the network device to enable the network device to perform network services.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the network services include at least one of:
hosting a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server to enable the network device to be used to assign UP addresses to other network devices or resources on a communication network;
hosting a Domain Name Server (DNS) to enable the network device to resolve domain name queries from the other network devices or the resources on the communication network;
hosting a Telnet server; and
hosting an accounting module to enable the network device to perform accounting services for the other network devices on the communication network.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user-defined state information contains settings for the network device to enable the network device to perform routing functions.
8. The network device of claim 1 , wherein the user-defined state information contains settings for the network device to enable the network device to function as a VPN server.
9. A network device, comprising:
control logic implemented on a tangible computer readable medium containing program instructions configured to:
run a reboot event script on the network device, the reboot event script containing intelligence enabling the script to ascertain a nature of the reboot event;
selectively apply a portion of the reboot event script according to the ascertained nature of the reboot event; and
selectively preserve at least a portion of a user-defined state information during the reboot event; and
wherein the network device is at least one of a router and a switch, wherein the reboot event script contains scripted state information, and wherein the control logic selectively preserves at least a portion of the user-defined state information by detecting a conflict between the scripted state information and the user-defined state information.
10. The network device of claim 9 , further comprising a routing module.
11. The network device of claim 9 , further comprising a VPN server.
12. The network device of claim 9 , further comprising a network services functional module configured to perform network services for at least one of another network device and a communication network.
13. The network device of claim 12 , wherein the network device includes at least one of:
a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server to enable the network device to be used to assign IP addresses to other network devices or resources on the communication network;
a Domain Name Server (DNS) to enable the network device to resolve domain name queries from the other network devices or the resources on the network;
a Telnet server; and
an accounting module to enable the network device to perform accounting services for the other network device or for the communication network.
14. The network device of claim 9 , wherein the scripted state information contains permanence indicators associated with items of the scripted state information, and wherein the control logic selectively preserves at least a portion of the user-defined state information by applying the permanence indicators to ascertain whether at least one of the items of user-defined state information should be preserved.
15. The network device of claim 14 , wherein the control logic is further configured to generate a report where the at least one of the items of user-defined state information is not preserved.
16. The network device of claim 9 , wherein the control logic is further configured to:
read an user-defined script, and at least one of:
supplement the reboot event script with the user-defined script; and
supplant the reboot event script with the user-defined script.
17. A network device, comprising:
means for running a reboot script during a reboot event, said reboot script containing scripted state information;
means for ascertaining user-defined state information of the network device;
means for detecting a conflict between the scripted state information and the user-defined state information; and
means for resolving the conflict between the scripted state information and the user-defined state information by selectively preserving at least a portion of the user-defined state information; and
wherein the network device is at least one of a router and a switch.
18. The network device of claim 17 , further comprising means for performing network services.