Performance-based public cloud selection for a hybrid cloud environment

• US 10,067,780 B2
• Filed: 10/06/2015
• Issued: 09/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chang, David W., Pathak, Rakesh M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sun, Charlie
• Application Number:
  US14/876,092
• Publication Number:
  US 20170097841A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,064 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45562 Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/145 involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/20 the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/55 Testing of service level quality, e.g. simulating service usage
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

A hybrid cloud solution for securely extending a private cloud or network to a public cloud can be enhanced with tools for evaluating the resources offered by multiple public cloud providers. In an example embodiment, a public cloud evaluation system can be used to create a virtual machine (VM) in a public cloud to serve the function of a public cloud evaluation agent. The public cloud evaluation agent can instantiate one or more VMs and other resources in the public cloud, and configure the VMs and resources to execute performance evaluation software. The results of the performance evaluation software can be transmitted to a private enterprise network, and analyzed to determine whether the public cloud is an optimal public cloud for hosting an enterprise application.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

creating a first virtual machine in a first public cloud and one or more second virtual machines in a second public cloud;

causing the first virtual machine to create a first plurality of virtual machines in the first public cloud and one or more second virtual machines to create a second plurality of virtual machines in the second public cloud;

causing the first plurality of virtual machines to execute first performance evaluation software and the second plurality of virtual machines to execute second performance evaluation software;

receiving first performance data generated from execution of the first performance evaluation software and second performance data generated from execution of the second performance evaluation software; and

selecting the first public cloud to host an application based at least in part on a comparison between the first performance data and the second performance data,

wherein,

the first performance data relates to at least one of a compute resource, a storage resource, a network resource, or a service of the first public cloud.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing a first secure tunnel between the first public cloud and a private cloud and a second secure tunnel between the second cloud and the private cloud, the first public cloud using an endpoint in the private cloud and the first virtual machine;

causing the first virtual machine to send first network traffic to the private cloud and the second virtual machine to send second network traffic to the private cloud;

receiving third network traffic from the first virtual machine and fourth network traffic from the second virtual machine; and

determining a first measure of network performance between the first public cloud and the private cloud based at least in part on the first network traffic and the third network traffic, and a second measure of network performance between the second public cloud and the private cloud based at least in part on the second network traffic and the fourth network traffic,

wherein the first public cloud is selected to host the application further based at least in part on a second comparison between the first measure of network performance and the second measure of network performance.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first virtual machine is created in one of a first specified region or a first specified zone of the first public cloud and the endpoint is located in a second specified region or a second specified zone of the private cloud.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein at least one of the first measure of network performance or the second measure of network performance includes at least one of bandwidth, throughput, latency, jitter, or error rate.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a third virtual machine in a third public cloud;

causing the third virtual machine to create one or more third virtual machines in the second public cloud that each includes third performance evaluation software;

causing the one or more fourth virtual machines to execute the third performance evaluation software to generate third performance data; and

receiving the third performance data,

wherein selecting the first public cloud to host the application is further based at least in part on comparing the first performance data and the third performance data.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

establishing a secure tunnel between the first public cloud and the second public cloud using the first virtual machine and the third virtual machine;

causing the first virtual machine to send first network traffic to the third virtual machine via the secure tunnel;

causing the first virtual machine to receive second network traffic from the third virtual machine via the secure tunnel; and

determining a measure of network performance between the first public cloud and the second public cloud based at least in part on the first network traffic and the second network traffic,

wherein selecting the first public cloud to host the application is further based at least in part on the measure of network performance.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the first virtual machine is created in one of a first specified region or a first specified zone of the first public cloud, and the third virtual machine is created in one of a second specified region or a second specified zone of the second public cloud.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

applying one or more weights to normalize the first performance data relative to the second performance data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein creating the first virtual machine includes:

requesting for the first virtual machine from a provider of the first public cloud via a public cloud provider application programming interface (API); and

installing a cloud evaluation agent on the first virtual machine that includes configuration information for creating the one or more second virtual machines and the second performance evaluation software to be executed by the one or more second virtual machines.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the configuration information includes at least one of a number of virtual Central Processing Units (vCPUs) or Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), a processing speed of the vCPUs or GPUs, a size of a memory resource or a storage resource, a type of the memory resource or the storage resource, an operating system, a hypervisor, application software, a storage classification, an application architecture, a network policy, or a security policy.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing a control tunnel between an orchestration engine in a private cloud and the first virtual machine to enable the orchestration engine to directly control the first virtual machine.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions that, upon being executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to:

create a first virtual machine in a first public cloud and a second virtual machine in a second public cloud;

cause the first virtual machine to create a first plurality of virtual machines in the first public cloud and the second virtual machine to create a second plurality of virtual machines in the second public cloud;

cause the first plurality of virtual machines to execute first performance evaluation software and the second plurality of virtual machines to execute second performance evaluation software;

receive first performance data generated from execution of the first performance evaluation software and second performance data generated from execution of the second performance evaluation software; and

select the first public cloud to host an application based at least in part on a comparison between the first performance data and the second performance data.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions upon being executed further cause the one or more processors to:

establish a first secure tunnel between the first public cloud and a private cloud and a second secure tunnel between the second public cloud and the private cloud;

cause the first virtual machine to send first network traffic to the private cloud and the second virtual machine to send second network traffic to the private cloud;

receive third network traffic from the first virtual machine and fourth network traffic from the second virtual machine; and

determine a first measure of network performance between the first public cloud and the private cloud based at least in part on the first network traffic and the third network traffic and a second measure of network performance between the second public cloud and the private cloud based at least in part on the second network traffic and the fourth network traffic,

wherein the first public cloud is selected to host the application further based at least in part on a second comparison between the first measure of network performance and the second measure of network performance.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions upon being executed further cause the one or more processors to:

establish a secure tunnel between the first public cloud and the second public cloud;

send first network traffic from the first virtual machine to the second virtual machine via the secure tunnel;

receive second network traffic by the first virtual machine from the second virtual machine via the secure tunnel; and

determine a measure of network performance between the first public cloud and the second public cloud based at least in part on the first network traffic and the second network traffic,

wherein the first public cloud is selected to host the application further based at least in part on the measure of network performance.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions upon being executed further cause the one or more processors to:

apply one or more weights to normalize the first performance data relative to the second performance data.

16. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory including instructions that, upon being executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to;

create, from a private cloud, a first virtual machine in a public cloud;

create, by the first virtual machine, a plurality of virtual machines in the public cloud that each includes performance evaluation software;

execute, by the plurality of virtual machines, the performance evaluation software to generate performance data;

send the performance data from the first virtual machine to the private cloud; and

select, from the private cloud, the public cloud to host an application based at least in part on the performance data.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the instructions upon being executed further cause the system to:

establish, from the private cloud, a secure tunnel between the private cloud and the public cloud using an endpoint in the private cloud and the first virtual machine;

send first network traffic from the first virtual machine to the endpoint via the secure tunnel;

receive the first network traffic by the endpoint;

send second network traffic from the endpoint to the first virtual machine;

receive the second network traffic by the first virtual machine; and

determine a measure of network performance between the private cloud and the public cloud based at least in part on the first network traffic and the second network traffic,

wherein the public cloud is selected to host the application further based at least in part on the measure of network performance.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the instructions upon being executed further cause the system to:

create, from the private cloud, a second virtual machine in a second public cloud;

create, by the second virtual machine, a second plurality of virtual machines in the second public cloud that each includes second performance evaluation software;

execute, by the second plurality of virtual machines, the second performance evaluation software to generate second performance data; and

receive the second performance data by the private cloud,

wherein the public cloud is selected to host the application further based at least in part on the second performance data.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the instructions upon being executed further cause the system to:

establish, from the private cloud, a secure tunnel between the public cloud and the second public cloud using the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine;

send first network traffic from the first virtual machine to the second virtual machine via the secure tunnel;

receive the first network traffic by the second virtual machine;

send second network traffic from the second virtual machine to the first virtual machine;

receive the second network traffic by the first virtual machine; and

determine a measure of network performance between the public cloud and the second public cloud based at least in part on the first network traffic and the second network traffic,

wherein the public cloud is selected to host the application further based at least in part on the measure of network performance.

20. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

a public cloud performance database.