Abstract: One aspect of the present technology can provide a system for facilitating in-service software upgrade (ISSU) for a switch in a virtual switching stack. During operation, the system can initiate ISSU that facilitate uninterrupted traffic flow. The system can upgrade a first set of daemons of the switch that manage operations of the switch. The system can also upgrade a database stored on the switch. The database can store operational information of the switch. The system can further upgrade a second set of daemons of the switch that configure forwarding information on the forwarding hardware of the switch and facilitate data-plane operations for the switch. The forwarding information configured on the forwarding hardware can remain unchanged during the upgrade. The system can configure the upgraded second set of daemons to obtain control-plane information from a standby switch of a conductor switch of the virtual switching stack.

Abstract: One aspect of the present technology can provide a system for facilitating in-service software upgrade (ISSU) for a switch in a virtual switching stack. During operation, the system can initiate ISSU that facilitate uninterrupted traffic flow. The system can upgrade a first set of daemons of the switch that manage operations of the switch. The system can also upgrade a database stored on the switch. The database can store operational information of the switch. The system can further upgrade a second set of daemons of the switch that configure forwarding information on the forwarding hardware of the switch and facilitate data-plane operations for the switch. The forwarding information configured on the forwarding hardware can remain unchanged during the upgrade. The system can configure the upgraded second set of daemons to obtain control-plane information from a standby switch of a conductor switch of the virtual switching stack.

Abstract: A member switch of multiple connected switches receives a stack-discovery packet from a first coupled switch and, in response, generates and transmits a stack-discovery-response packet to the first coupled switch to allow the member switch to be discovered. The member switch receives stack-configuration information from a stack-control node and forwards the stack-discovery packet to a second coupled switch to facilitate discovery of the second coupled switch. The first coupled switch, the member switch, and the second coupled switch are coupled to each other according to a predetermined order, thereby facilitating an ordered discovery of the multiple connected switches. In response to receiving, from the stack-control node, a control packet, the member switch reboots based on the received stack-configuration information.

Abstract: A member switch of multiple connected switches receives a stack-discovery packet from a first coupled switch and, in response, generates and transmits a stack-discovery-response packet to the first coupled switch to allow the member switch to be discovered. The member switch receives stack-configuration information from a stack-control node and forwards the stack-discovery packet to a second coupled switch to facilitate discovery of the second coupled switch. The first coupled switch, the member switch, and the second coupled switch are coupled to each other according to a predetermined order, thereby facilitating an ordered discovery of the multiple connected switches. In response to receiving, from the stack-control node, a control packet, the member switch reboots based on the received stack-configuration information.

Abstract: Examples disclosed herein relate to a method comprising detecting, by a first network device, an interruption in a network stack of network devices connected to each other through a plurality of dedicated links. The method may also include identifying, by the first network device, a network device in the network stack with a highest split priority, determining, by the first network device, that the network device with the highest split priority belongs to a first fragment of the network stack and marking, by the first network device, the first fragment as an active fragment of the network stack.

Abstract: Examples disclosed herein relate to a method comprising detecting, by a first network device, an interruption in a network stack of network devices connected to each other through a plurality of dedicated links. The method may also include identifying, by the first network device, a network device in the network stack with a highest split priority, determining, by the first network device, that the network device with the highest split priority belongs to a first fragment of the network stack and marking, by the first network device, the first fragment as an active fragment of the network stack.

Abstract: Examples relate to establishing a network fault detection session. In one example, a routing device may receive a request to initiate a bidirectional forwarding detection (BFD) session with a second routing device; transmit a first echo frame to the second routing device; receive a first response frame; determine that a response time does not meet a response time threshold; in response to the determination, determine that a BFD failure threshold has not been met; after the determination that the BFD failure threshold has not been met, transmit a second echo frame to the second routing device; receive a second response frame; determine whether a second response time meets the BFD response time threshold; and in response to determining that the second response time meets the BFD response time threshold, provide a notification that a BFD session has been established between the routing device and the second routing device.

Abstract: A non-transitory machine readable medium may store instructions executable by a processing resource to cause a device to detect a failure of a switch among a plurality of switches associated with a virtual switching framework (VSF), disable multicast traffic through the VSF responsive to detection of the failure of the switch, and alter a topology associated with the VSF. The instructions may be further executable by the processing resource to receive a notification indicating that the topology associated with the VSF has been altered and re-enable multicast traffic through the VSF responsive to the notification that the topology associated with the VSF has been altered.

Abstract: Examples relate to establishing a network fault detection session. In one example, a routing device may receive a request to initiate a bidirectional forwarding detection (BFD) session with a second routing device; transmit a first echo frame to the second routing device; receive a first response frame; determine that a response time does not meet a response time threshold; in response to the determination, determine that a BFD failure threshold has not been met; after the determination that the BFD failure threshold has not been met, transmit a second echo frame to the second routing device; receive a second response frame; determine whether a second response time meets the BFD response time threshold; and in response to determining that the second response time meets the BFD response time threshold, provide a notification that a BFD session has been established between the routing device and the second routing device.

Abstract: In some examples, method includes receiving, with a software-defined network (SDN) controller in an SDN containing a plurality of controlled network nodes, a dynamic network parameter for the SDN from a controlled network node in the SDN, selecting, with the SDN controller, an adjusted spanning tree protocol (STP) path cost value for a path cost along a datapath between a source network node and a destination network node in the SDN based on the received dynamic network parameter, and installing, with the SDN controller, the adjusted STP path cost value on controlled network nodes along the datapath.

Abstract: Autonomous diagnosis and mitigation of network anomalies may include creating a plurality of sketch matrices wherein each sketch matrix corresponds to an individual hashing function and each row in each sketch matrix corresponds to an array of hashed parameters of interest from multiple network devices for a given period of time, the parameters of interest being configurable by an administrator. A principal components analysis (PCA) input matrix is created for each of the sketch matrices by computing an entropy value for each element in the sketch matrices, and principal components analysis (PCA) is performed on each of the PCA input matrices to heuristically detect a network anomaly in real time.