(12) United States Patent ao) Patent No.: us 6,499,115 Bi
Wiedeman et al. (45) Date of Patent: Dec. 24,2002
(54) BURN RACK DYNAMIC VIRTUAL LOCAL AREA NETWORK
(75) Inventors: Dennis M. Wiedeman, Cedar Park;
Eugene Baker, Austin; Dwayne R.
Potter, Round Rock; Richard Amberg,
Austin, all of TX (US)
(73) Assignee: Dell USA, L.P., Round Rock, TX (US)
( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.
(21) Appl. No.: 09/426,095
(22) Filed: Oct. 22, 1999
(51) Int. CI.7 G06F 11/00; H04L 1/22
(52) U.S. CI 714/30; 370/252
(58) Field of Search 714/30, 32, 37,
714/39, 43, 44, 48, 56; 370/252, 254, 241, 242; 709/229, 249
(56) References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
5,613,061 A * 3/1997 Taylor 395/183.06
5,684,807 A * 11/1997 Bianchini, Ir. et al 371/20.1
5,812,756 A * 9/1998 Taylor 395/183.06
5,982,753 A * 11/1999 Pendleton et al 370/252
6,125,119 A * 9/2000 Cherakuri et al 370/410
Method and apparatus for dynamically connecting a system under test ("SUT") to and disconnecting an SUT from a private VLAN in a computer manufacturing environment is described. In a preferred embodiment, each time an SUT disposed in a burn rack boots up, a VLAN-capable switch (hereinafter "CAT") connected thereto checks the media access control ("MAC") address of the SUT against a MAC address-to-VLAN correlation table ("MAC-VLAN table"). If the SUT's MAC address is not listed in the MAC-VLAN table, the CAT connects the SUT to a predefined default VLAN; i.e., the manufacturer's main manufacturing network. If the SUT's MAC address is included in the MACVLAN table, there is a private VLAN associated with the SUT and the CAT connects the SUT to the associated VLAN in a conventional fashion, at which point custom configuration can be performed as needed on the private VLAN.
45 Claims, 11 Drawing Sheets
