Network devices, such as switches, routers, bridges, etc., include a console port that provides a connection to a terminal for communicating with the network device. Most network devices also provide network access methods such Telnet, HTTP, and SNMP. However, the console port is required for cases when the access to the network device via a network is not possible.
The console port is a serial port that allows the terminal to be connected to and to communicate with the network device over a serial cable. A stand alone CRT, PC, or workstation can be used as a console and the console must run a character-based user interface. If a PC (Personal Computer) is used as a console it must run terminal emulator software that is included with most operating systems. Some network devices enable configuration through a browser application running on a connected PC.
Use of these console interfaces requires the user to perform steps as documented for the interface, such as launching a browser and entering a specific IP, pushing buttons, etc. Also, many PCs, especially laptops, no longer include a connector for a serial interface but only include a USB interface.
New techniques have been developed using the USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface to communicate with a network device. In one technique a network device has a master USB port for reading an image or configuration file from a mass storage device coupled to the master USB port. In another technique, the network device includes a slave USB port and the terminal has special applications developed to perform management functions normally performed over a serial port.
Thus, existing techniques do not allow a user to utilize the plug and play features to the USB port for setting up and configuring a network device without having special software installed on the user's computer.
Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the invention. Examples of these embodiments are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the invention will be described in conjunction with these embodiments, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to any embodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various embodiments. However, the present invention may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other instances, well known process operations have not been described in detail in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention.
In the following, various embodiments of a technique to utilize the plug and play USB features included in commercially available PC operating systems to communicate with and manage a network device utilizing the USB interface will be described.
A first embodiment of the invention is depicted in
In this embodiment, when the PC is connected to the network device through the USB interface, the network device presents itself as a generic mass storage device (such as compact flash) and the generic mass storage device appears as a drive on the PC that stores a management file in the form of a text configuration file. The user updates the text file using standard text editors and saves the file. When the file is saved, the network device executes program code which translates the settings of the file into the desired configuration.
It is also possible to represent the management file as a configuration file in Word or Excel file formats instead of text. Similarly, the user can upgrade the switch image by copying the image from a PC folder into the network device folder (presented by the network device as a storage device).
Another embodiment is depicted in
In this embodiment, the conversion module 50 includes an external USB slave port and internally the USB stack presents itself as a serial interface defined by the USB standard. The operating system must include a driver file for the module. The USB/serial port conversion module 50 sends all the characters received from program code executing on the network device to the PC over USB messages and similarly receives all USB messages from the PC and strips out the characters from the message that are to be relayed to the network device using the serial port protocol.
In this embodiment, users can manage the network device through the USB port using the same console management software previously utilized to manage the device through a serial port. Thus, a plug and play solution to maintaining backward compatibility with existing console management software is provided.
Still another embodiment is depicted in
In this embodiment, the PC sees the network device as an entity connected over an Ethernet interface. When the network device is connected to the PC over USB, the following events take place:
While older versions of common PC operating systems did not have support for this emulation feature, the feature is now more widely available with the newer operating systems. This embodiment provides complete management of the network device over the USB without requiring anything from the user and makes setting up of the device and the subsequent management very easy.
Accordingly, various embodiments of a cost effective, plug and play method for setting up and managing a network device have been described. These embodiments allow a user to connect to the slave USB port of a network device where the network device identifies its USB interface to the PC as one of the interfaces defined by the USB standard, i.e., either a mass storage device, an Ethernet device, or a serial port device. The PC treats this network device as one of the standard interfaces, and associated applications on the PC can now work over this interface. The user can then manage the device through the PC itself using day-to-day applications.
The invention may be implemented as program code, stored on a computer readable medium, that is executed by a digital computer. The computer readable medium may include, among other things, magnetic media, optical media, electromagnetic fields encoding digital information, and so on.
The invention has now been described with reference to the preferred embodiments. Alternatives and substitutions will now be apparent to persons of skill in the art. Accordingly, it is not intended to limit the invention except as provided by the appended claims.