BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates generally to information handling systems, and more particularly to determining the configuration of switches in domains such as virtual link trunking.

As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.

Additionally, some embodiments of information handling systems include non-transitory, tangible machine-readable media that include executable code that when run by one or more processors, may cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of methods described herein. Some common forms of machine readable media include, for example, floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, RAM, PROM, EPROM, FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, and/or any other medium from which a processor or computer is adapted to read.

Computer networks form the interconnection fabric that enables reliable and rapid communications between computer systems and data processors that are in both close proximity to each other and at distant locations. These networks create a vast spider web of intranets and internets for handling all types of communication and information. Making all of this possible is a vast array of network switching products that make routing decisions in order to deliver packets of information from a source system or first network node to a destination system or second network node. Due to the size, complexity, and dynamic nature of these networks, sophisticated network switching products are often required to implement the interconnection fabric. This can be further complicated through other networking trends such as network virtualization.

Many networks utilize parallelization and other techniques to improve the routing function between two network nodes. By employing parallelization, redundancy is built into a network so that it is possible that more than one path exists between any two nodes. This provides suitably aware network switching products with the ability to select between the redundant paths to avoid network congestion, balance network loads, or to avoid failures in the network. Parallelization also provides the ability to handle more network traffic between two nodes than is possible when parallelization is not utilized. In some implementations the parallelization is treated in a more formalized fashion in the form of a virtual link trunk (VLT). In a VLT, multiple network links and/or nodes are often bundled into a domain or cluster to support the parallelization function. For suitably aware network switching products, the VLT can offer a flexible option to select any of the network links in the VLT. And while VLTs offer additional flexibility in network topologies they also add complexity to the network configuration function.

Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide improved network switching products that can automatically determine the configuration of VLTs. It would also be desirable to provide network switching products that can automatically detect changes or errors in the VLT configuration.

SUMMARY

According to some embodiments, the switching units of a single domain (“first domain”) discover that they are connected to switching units of another, “second domain”, and the switching units of each domain configure a single LAG of inter-domain links each of which interconnects switching units of different domains. The LAG connects multiple switching units of the first domain to multiple switching units of the second domain.

According to some embodiments, a network switching unit includes one or more hardware processors. The one or more hardware processors are configured to execute code to cause the network switching unit to perform operations. The operations include detecting an inter-domain link aggregation group (LAG) associated with a first domain ID and receiving an inter-domain LAG detection message from a peer network switching unit. The inter-domain LAG detection message includes a second domain ID. In response to determining that the first domain ID and the second domain ID match, the network switching unit performs further operations including assigning a virtual link trunking (VLT) identifier to the inter-domain LAG, transmitting a VLT configuration message to the peer network switching unit, and forwarding network traffic to a first domain associated with the first domain ID using a VLT associated with the VLT identifier.

According to some embodiments, a method performed by a first network switching unit includes detecting an inter-domain link aggregation group (LAG) associated with a first domain ID and receiving an inter-domain LAG detection message from a second network switching unit. The inter-domain LAG detection message includes a second domain ID. In response to determining that the first domain ID and the second domain ID match, the first network switching unit further performs the method, which further includes assigning a virtual link trunking (VLT) identifier to the inter-domain LAG, transmitting a VLT configuration message to the second network switching unit, and forwarding network traffic to a first domain associated with the first domain ID using a VLT associated with the VLT identifier.

According to some embodiments, an information handling system includes a first domain associated with a first domain ID. The first domain includes a first switch and a second switch. The first switch is configured to detect a first inter-domain link aggregation group (LAG) associated with a second domain ID and receive an inter-domain LAG detection message from the second switch, the inter-domain LAG detection message including a third domain ID. In response to determining that the second domain ID and the third domain ID match, the first switch is further configured to assign a virtual link trunking (VLT) identifier to the first inter-domain LAG, transmit a VLT configuration message to the second switch, and forward network traffic to a second domain associated with the second domain ID using a VLT associated with the VLT identifier. The second switch it configured to detect a second inter-domain LAG associated with the second domain ID, transmit the inter-domain LAG detection message to the first switch, receive the VLT configuration message from the first switch, and forward network traffic to the second domain using the VLT associated with the VLT identifier included in the VLT configuration message.

