System and method for topological redundancy
An information handling system such as a server, network switch, or virtual host collects electronic network topology data to identify topological redundancies between networked devices. Each topological redundancy indicates that a particular networked device has at least two physical cable connections to at least two other, separate devices. A topological redundancy to two network switches, for example, ensures that a networked device remains communicatively available should one of the network switches fail.
1. A method, comprising:
receiving, by a hardware processor, electronic network topology data describing physical connections between a plurality of networked devices, the plurality of networked devices comprising at least one virtual hosting device, the at least one virtual hosting device executing a plurality of virtual computing resources, the plurality of virtual computing resources comprising (i) two or more virtual machines and (ii) two or more virtual switches;
determining, based on the electronic network topology data describing the physical connections, whether a given one of the plurality of virtual computing resources executing on the at least one virtual hosting device is allocated physical uplinks corresponding to at least two of the physical connections to at least two different ones of the plurality of networked devices;
determining that the given virtual computing resource executing on the at least one virtual hosting device has a topological redundancy in response to determining that the electronic network topology data describes that the given virtual computing resource executing on the at least one virtual hosting device is allocated physical uplinks corresponding to the at least two of the physical connections to the at least two different ones of the plurality of networked devices; and
allocating at least one additional physical uplink to the given virtual computing resource executing on the at least one virtual hosting device to create a topological redundancy in response to determining that the electronic network topology data does not describe that the given virtual computing resource executing on the at least one virtual hosting device is allocated physical uplinks corresponding to the at least two of the physical connections to the at least two different ones of the plurality of networked devices.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining whether the electronic network topology data describes a first physical connection of the physical connections between the given virtual computing resource executing on the at least one virtual hosting device and a first network switch of the plurality of networked devices.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising determining whether the electronic network topology data describes a second physical connection of the physical connections between the given virtual computing resource executing on the at least one virtual hosting device and a second network switch of the plurality of networked devices, the second network switch different from the first network switch.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising comparing the electronic network topology data describing an originating device and a terminating device.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising comparing the electronic network topology data describing an originating communications port and a terminating communications port.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising comparing the electronic network topology data describing terminating devices to determine the at least two of the physical connections.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving an electronic request to determine the topological redundancy.
8. A system, comprising:
a hardware processor; and
a memory device accessible to the hardware processor, the memory device storing instructions that when executed cause the hardware processor to perform operations including:
receiving electronic network topology data describing physical connections between a plurality of networked devices, the plurality of networked devices comprising at least one virtual hosting device, the at least one virtual hosting device executing a plurality of virtual computing resources, the plurality of virtual computing resources comprising (i) two or more virtual machines and (ii) two or more virtual switches;
determining, based on the electronic network topology data describing the physical connections, whether a given one of the plurality of virtual computing resources executing on the at least one virtual hosting device is allocated physical uplinks corresponding to at least two of the physical connections to at least two different ones of the plurality of networked devices;
determining that the given virtual computing resource executing on the at least one virtual hosting device has a topological redundancy in response to determining that the electronic network topology data describes that the given virtual computing resource executing on the at least one virtual hosting device is allocated physical uplinks corresponding to the at least two of the physical connections to the at least two different ones of the plurality of networked devices; and
allocating at least one additional physical uplink to the given virtual computing resource executing on the at least one virtual hosting device to create a topological redundancy in response to determining that the electronic network topology data does not describe that the given virtual computing resource executing on the at least one virtual hosting device is allocated physical uplinks corresponding to the at least two of the physical connections to the at least two different ones of the plurality of networked devices.
9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise querying an electronic database to retrieve the electronic network topology data.
10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise determining whether the electronic network topology data describes a first physical connection of the physical connections between the given virtual computing resource executing on the at least one virtual hosting device and a first network switch of the plurality of networked devices.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise determining whether the electronic network topology data describes a second physical connection of the physical connections between the given virtual computing resource executing on the at least one virtual hosting device and a second network switch of the plurality of networked devices, the second network switch different from the first network switch.
12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise comparing the electronic network topology data describing an originating device and a terminating device.
13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise comparing the electronic network topology data describing an originating communications port and a terminating communications port.
14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise comparing the electronic network topology data describing terminating devices to determine the at least two of the physical connections.
15. A memory device storing instructions that when executed cause a network interface card to perform operations comprising:
receiving electronic network topology data describing physical connections between a plurality of networked devices, the plurality of networked devices comprising at least one virtual hosting device, the at least one virtual hosting device executing a plurality of virtual computing resources, the plurality of virtual computing resources comprising (i) two or more virtual machines and (ii) two or more virtual switches;
determining, based on the electronic network topology data describing the physical connections, whether a given one of the plurality of virtual computing resources executing on the at least one virtual hosting device is allocated physical uplinks corresponding to at least two of the physical connections to at least two different ones of the plurality of networked devices;
determining that the given virtual computing resource executing on the at least one virtual hosting device has a topological redundancy in response to determining that the electronic network topology data describes that the given virtual computing resource executing on the at least one virtual hosting device is allocated physical uplinks corresponding to the at least two of the physical connections; and
allocating at least one additional physical uplink to the given virtual computing resource executing on the at least one virtual hosting device to create a topological redundancy in response to determining that the electronic network topology data does not describe that the given virtual computing resource executing on the at least one virtual hosting device is allocated physical uplinks corresponding to the at least two of the physical connections to the at least two different ones of the plurality of networked devices.
16. The memory device of claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise identifying terminating devices described by the electronic network topology data having the physical connections to the given virtual computing resource executing on the at least one virtual hosting device.
17. The memory device of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise generating a count of the terminating devices described by the electronic network topology data having the physical connections to the given virtual computing resource executing on the at least one virtual hosting device.
18. The memory device of claim 17 , wherein the operations further comprise inferring that the given virtual computing resource executing on the at least one virtual hosting device has the topological redundancy in response to the count of the terminating devices being equal to or greater than two.
19. The memory device of claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise querying an electronic database to retrieve the electronic network topology data.
20. The memory device of claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise comparing the electronic network topology data describing an originating communications port and a terminating communications port.