Managing use of alternative intermediate destination computing nodes for provided computer networks
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
- receiving, by one or more computing systems of an online network service, configuration information from a first customer of the online network service for a virtual computer network that indicates multiple computing nodes available for use as alternative intermediate destinations for at least some communications for the virtual computer network;
receiving, by the one or more computing systems, second configuration information that is different from the configuration information and that is from a second customer of the online network service for a second virtual computer network;
providing, by the one or more computing systems, the second virtual computer network for the second customer in accordance with the second configuration information; and
providing, by the one or more computing systems, the virtual computer network for the first customer in accordance with the received configuration information, including;
selecting, based at least in part on the configuration information and before forwarding a first communication for the virtual computer network from a sending node to a destination node, a computing node from the multiple computing nodes for use with the first communication, wherein the multiple computing nodes and at least one of the sending node or the destination node are hosted by the online network service in the virtual computer network; and
forwarding the first communication from the sending node to the selected computing node, to enable the selected computing node to manage further forwarding of the first communication to the destination node.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques are described for managing communications for a managed computer network by using a defined pool of alternative computing nodes of the managed computer network that are configured to operate as intermediate destinations to handle at least some communications that are sent by and/or directed to one or more other computing nodes of the managed computer network. For example, a manager module associated with a source computing node may select a particular alternative intermediate destination computing node from a defined pool to use for one or more particular communications from the source computing node to an indicated final destination, such as based on a configured logical network topology for the managed computer network and/or on one or more other selection criteria (e.g., to enable load balancing between the alternative computing nodes). The manager module then forwards those communications to the selected intermediate destination computing node for further handling.
140 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
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receiving, by one or more computing systems of an online network service, configuration information from a first customer of the online network service for a virtual computer network that indicates multiple computing nodes available for use as alternative intermediate destinations for at least some communications for the virtual computer network; receiving, by the one or more computing systems, second configuration information that is different from the configuration information and that is from a second customer of the online network service for a second virtual computer network; providing, by the one or more computing systems, the second virtual computer network for the second customer in accordance with the second configuration information; and providing, by the one or more computing systems, the virtual computer network for the first customer in accordance with the received configuration information, including; selecting, based at least in part on the configuration information and before forwarding a first communication for the virtual computer network from a sending node to a destination node, a computing node from the multiple computing nodes for use with the first communication, wherein the multiple computing nodes and at least one of the sending node or the destination node are hosted by the online network service in the virtual computer network; and forwarding the first communication from the sending node to the selected computing node, to enable the selected computing node to manage further forwarding of the first communication to the destination node. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored contents that cause a server computing system of an online network service to at least:
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receive, by the server computing system, configuration information supplied by a first customer of the online network service for a virtual computer network having a plurality of computing nodes, wherein the plurality of computing nodes include a hosted node provided by the server computing system and the configuration information specifies multiple computing nodes of the plurality of computing nodes available for use as alternative intermediate destinations for at least some communications; provide, by the server computing system and based at least in part on second configuration information that is supplied by a second customer of the online network service and is different from the configuration information, functionality of a second virtual computer network for the second customer that includes a second hosted node provided by the server computing system; provide, by the server computing system and based at least in part on the configuration information, functionality of the virtual computer network for the first customer, including to select a computing node from the multiple computing nodes for use with a first communication being sent from the hosted node to a destination node, wherein the multiple computing nodes and at least one of the hosted node or the destination node are hosted by the online network service in the virtual computer network; forward, by the server computing system and over an underlying computer network on which the virtual computer network is overlaid, the first communication from the server computing system to the selected computing node, to enable the selected computing node to manage further forwarding of the first communication to the destination node for the first communication. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A system, comprising:
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one or more processors; and one or more memories with stored instructions that, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, cause the system to implement functionality of an online network service that provides customer-configurable virtual computer networks, including to at least; receive, from a first customer of the online network service, first configuration information to configure a first virtual computer network for the first customer, the first configuration information specifying multiple computing nodes to use as alternative intermediate destinations for at least some communications for the first virtual network, and receive, from a second customer of the online network service, second configuration information that is different from the first configuration information to configure a second virtual computer network for the second customer; provide, by the online network service, the second virtual computer network for the second customer in accordance with the second configuration information, and the first virtual computer network for the first customer in accordance with the first configuration information, including to select, from a plurality of computing nodes provided by the online network service, the multiple computing nodes to use as alternative intermediate destinations; select, based at least in part on the first configuration information, and for use with a first communication from a sending node to be sent over an underlying computer network on which the first virtual computer network is overlaid, a computing node from the multiple computing nodes to use as an intermediate destination to manage further forwarding of the first communication to a destination node for the first communication, wherein the multiple computing nodes and at least one of the sending node or the destination node are hosted by the online network service in the first virtual computer network; and forward the first communication over the underlying computer network to the selected computing node, to cause the selected computing node to manage the further forwarding of the first communication to the destination node for the first communication. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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Specification