Systems and methods for configuring a device via a software-defined networking controller

• US 10,148,496 B2
• Filed: 05/05/2015
• Issued: 12/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Tiwari, Satyendra, Garipally, Swetha
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Wing F
• Assistant Examiner(s): Woo, Andrew
• Application Number:
  US14/704,400
• Publication Number:
  US 20160330076A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,309 Days
• Field of Search: 709220, 709222
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0843 based on generic templates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements

Abstract

The disclosure is directed towards systems and methods for configuring a device via an SDN controller. A connection can be established between an SDN controller and a device intermediary to a plurality of clients and a plurality of servers, in order to provision resources of the device for use by one or more applications of the SDN controller. A request can be received by the device from the SDN controller to define one or more configuration policies for an application communicating with the SDN controller. The configuration policies can configure the device to provide one or more functions of the device to the application communicating with the SDN controller. The request can be generated by the SDN controller and can include function definitions based on a device model installed on the SDN controller. The device model can corresponding to the device and can include device properties of the device and configuration parameters for each of the functions provided by the device. In response to receiving the request to define the one or more configuration policies, the device can perform function-level configuration of the device, including configuring one or more functions of the device to process packets corresponding to the application communicating with the SDN controller that are received by the device using the one or more functions of the device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

establishing, between a software-defined networking (SDN) controller and a device intermediary to a plurality of clients and a plurality of servers, a connection to provision resources of the device for use by an application communicating with the SDN controller, the SDN controller intermediary to the application and the device, the application communicating with the SDN controller is associated with an application profile maintained by the SDN controller, the application profile including one or more application policies for handling traffic between the plurality of clients and the plurality of servers;

receiving, from the SDN controller by the device, a request to define one or more configuration policies for the application communicating with the SDN controller, the one or more configuration policies to configure the device to provide one or more functions of the device to the application communicating with the SDN controller, the request generated by the SDN controller and including function definitions based on a device model installed on the SDN controller, the device model corresponding to the device and including device properties of the device and configuration parameters for each of the one or more functions provided by the device, the request to define the one or more configuration policies is based on the one or more application policies of the application profile; and

performing, responsive to receiving the request to define the one or more configuration policies, by the device, function level configuration of the device, the function level configuration of the device including configuring the one or more functions of the device to process, using the one or more functions of the device, packets corresponding to the application communicating with the SDN controller that are received by the device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request generated by the SDN controller modified to be interpreted by the device based on the device model.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a service graph is assigned to the application profile to define network traffic flow for the application, the service graph including a set of function nodes between the SDN controller and the device, the set of function nodes identifying a set of network service functions used by the application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the application profile defines layer 4 to layer 7 services used by the application.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the request to define the one or more configuration policies for the application communicating with the SDN controller in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) or Python dictionary format.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the request to define the one or more configuration policies associated with a plurality of devices, wherein each device of the plurality of devices is intermediary to the plurality of clients and the plurality of servers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more functions provided by the device include at least one of the following functions associated with communications between the plurality of clients and the plurality of servers:

(a) authentication, authorization, and auditing (AAA);

(b) an application firewall;

(c) cache redirection;

(d) compression;

(e) content acceleration;

(f) content switching;

(g) DataStream;

(h) domain name service;

(i) dynamic routing;

(j) global server load balancing;

(k) integrated caching;

(l) load balancing;

(m) secure sockets layer (SSL) offload;

(n) SSL virtual private networking (VPN); and

(o) network address translation (NAT).

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the device comprises an application delivery controller (ADC).

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the device and the SDN controller are deployed in a datacenter network.

10. A system comprising:

a device intermediary to a plurality of clients, a plurality of servers, and a software-defined networking (SDN) controller, the device including one or more processors and a memory, the device configured to;

establish a connection between the SDN controller and the device to provision resources of the device for use by an application communicating with the SDN controller, the SDN controller intermediary to the application and the device, wherein the application communicating with the SDN controller is associated with an application profile maintained by the SDN controller, wherein the application profile includes one or more application policies for handling traffic between the plurality of clients and the plurality of servers, the request to define the one or more configuration policies is based on the one or more application policies of the application profile;

receive, from the SDN controller, a request to define one or more configuration policies for the application communicating with the SDN controller, the one or more configuration policies to configure the device to provide one or more functions of the device to the application communicating with the SDN controller, the request generated by the SDN controller and including function definitions based on a device model installed on the SDN controller, the device model corresponding to the device and including device properties of the device and configuration parameters for each of the one or more functions provided by the device, the request to define the one or more configuration policies is based on the one or more application policies of the application profile; and

perform, responsive to receiving the request to define the one or more configuration policies, function level configuration of the device, the function level configuration of the device including configuring the one or more functions of the device to process, using the one or more functions of the device, packets corresponding to the application communicating with the SDN controller that are received by the device.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the request generated by the SDN controller modified to be interpreted by the device based on the device model.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein a service graph is assigned to the application profile to define network traffic flow for the application, the service graph including a set of function nodes between the SDN controller and the device, the set of function nodes identifying a set of network service functions used by the application.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the application profile defines layer 4 to layer 7 services used by the application.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the device is further configured to receive the request to define the one or more configuration policies for the application communicating with the SDN controller in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) or Python dictionary format.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the device is further configured to receive the request to define the one or more configuration policies associated with a plurality of devices, wherein each device of the plurality of devices is intermediary to the plurality of clients and the plurality of servers.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more functions provided by the device include at least one of the following functions associated with communications between the plurality of clients and the plurality of servers:

(a) authentication, authorization, and auditing (AAA);

(b) an application firewall;

(c) cache redirection;

(d) compression;

(e) content acceleration;

(f) content switching;

(g) DataStream;

(h) domain name service;

(i) dynamic routing;

(j) global server load balancing;

(k) integrated caching;

(l) load balancing;

(m) secure sockets layer (SSL) offload;

(n) SSL virtual private networking (VPN); and

(o) network address translation (NAT).

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the device comprises an application delivery controller (ADC).

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the device and the SDN controller are deployed in a datacenter network.