1. A method performed in a network element, the network element comprising a plurality of software components that control operations and features of the network element, wherein operations and features of the network element are defined in part by a configuration, the method comprising:
creating and storing one or more configuration partition namespaces each comprising a version identifier and one or more configuration tuples;
associating one or more of the configuration partition namespaces in a configuration partition;
associating one of the software components and the one or more configuration partition namespaces; and
creating and storing information identifying one of the software components, its associated configuration partition namespaces, and the version identifier of each of the configuration partition namespaces.
2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein associating one of the software components and the one or more configuration partition namespaces comprises creating a namespace component data structure that contains an association of one of the software components and the one or more configuration partition namespaces.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the network element is a router comprising a distributed plurality of nodes, wherein nodes comprise route processors or line cards.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein a different configuration partition is associated with each of the nodes.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein a further configuration partition is associated with an administration plane of the network element.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein a different configuration partition is associated with each of a plurality of technology features of the network element that are implemented in the software components.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein a different configuration partition is associated with each of a plurality of logical interfaces of the network element.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the version identifier comprises a major version number and a minor version number, the method further comprising:
receiving information defining a configuration commit representing a change in one or more of the configuration tuples;
determining whether the change comprises only adding one or more configuration tuples;
incrementing only the minor version number when the change comprises only adding one or more configuration tuples, and otherwise incrementing the major version number.
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
loading an active set of configuration partition namespaces as part of a boot up process;
installing a software component that is not associated with the active set of configuration partition namespaces;
creating and storing a new configuration partition namespace corresponding to the installed software component.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:
processing a command to uninstall a software component from the network element while the network element is running;
identifying one or more of the configuration partition namespaces that are associated with the software component to be uninstalled;
removing, from a system database that holds an active configuration, all configuration tuples associated with the identified configuration partition namespaces;
removing the identified configuration partition namespaces;
deactivating the software component.
11. The method of claim 9 or claim 10, further comprising:
storing information describing the installed software component and the uninstalled software component in a namespace change set;
storing the namespace change set in persistent storage.
12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:
receiving information defining a configuration commit;
storing, in persistent storage, metadata describing the configuration commit as part of a rollback point among a plurality of rollback points, wherein the rollback point includes a version number, wherein the version number is associated with an active partition and a software component;
receiving a request to roll back to an earlier version number;
selecting one of the rollback points that corresponds to the earlier version number;
determining whether software components associated with the selected one of the rollback points are compatible with other software components associated with an active namespace set.
13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:
periodically deleting old rollback points from the persistent storage;
determining whether a particular namespace change set is referenced by no rollback points, and if so, deleting the particular namespace change set.
14. A machine-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of any of claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, or 13.
15. An apparatus comprising means for performing the functions provided in steps of any of claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, or 13.
16. An apparatus comprising a memory storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of any of claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, or 13.
17. A packet router, comprising:
a plurality of distributed processing nodes, wherein each of the nodes is controlled by a network device operating system comprising a plurality of software components that control operations and features of the router, wherein operations and features of the router are defined in part by a configuration;
one or more sequences of instructions, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by any of the processing nodes causes any of the processing nodes to perform the steps of:
creating and storing one or more configuration partition namespaces each comprising a version identifier and one or more configuration tuples;
associating one or more of the configuration partition namespaces in a configuration partition;
associating one of the software components and the one or more configuration partition namespaces; and
creating and storing information identifying one of the software components, its associated configuration partition namespaces, and the version identifier of each of the configuration partition namespaces.
18. A packet router as recited in claim 17, wherein the sequences of instructions further comprise instructions which, when executed by any of the processing nodes, cause any of the processing nodes to perform the steps of any of claims 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, or 13.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method of manufacturing a sealed battery, comprising:
an external casing preparing step for preparing an external casing that is made of an aluminum alloy, the external casing with an opening and a rim around the opening, a thickness of the external casing at the rim being no greater than a thickness of the external casing at other parts of the external casing;
a closure cap preparing step for preparing a closure cap that is made of the aluminum alloy, the closure cap fitting into the opening, the closure cap being a plate with a rib along an outer edge of the plate;
a setting step for setting the closure cap to the external casing, after a generator element has been inserted into the external casing, so that the rib comes into contact with the rim;
a welding step for welding the rim and the rib together by radiating an energy beam along a boundary between the rim and the rib, wherein
the closure cap is prepared at the closure cap preparing step so as to satisfy equations T2\u2267(T110+40) \u03bcm and 50(\u03bcm)\u2267T3\u2267T1, a thickness of the plate being set as T1(\u03bcm), a height of the rib being set as T2 (\u03bcm), and a thickness of the rib being set as T3(\u03bcm) and
as a result, heat stress at a time of welding the aluminum alloy is reduced at the welding step.
2. The sealed battery manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the external casing is prepared at the external casing preparing step so as to satisfy an equation 50(\u03bcm)\u2267L1\u2267L2, the thickness of the external casing at the rim being set as L1 and the thickness of the external casing at the other parts being set as L2.
3. The sealed battery manufacturing method according to one of claims 1 and 2, wherein the rib is formed by bending outer regions of the plate at the closure cap preparing step.
4. The sealed battery manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the external casing is prepared at the external casing preparing step so that the thickness of the external casing at the rim is smaller than the thickness of the external casing at the other parts by applying pressure to a wall of the external casing at the rim from inside of the external casing.
5. The sealed battery manufacturing method according to claim 2, wherein the external casing is prepared at the external casing preparing step so that the thickness of the external casing at the rim is smaller than the thickness of the external casing at the other parts by applying pressure to a wall of the external casing at the rim from inside of the external casing.
6. The sealed battery manufacturing method according to claim 3, wherein the external casing is prepared at the external casing preparing step so that the thickness of the external casing at the rim is smaller than the thickness of the external casing at the other parts by applying pressure to a wall of the external casing at the rim from inside of the external casing.