MANAGING AND PROVISIONING VIRTUAL ROUTERS
First Claim
1. A method of simplifying the provisioning and management of network-based virtual private networks (VPNs), the method comprising:
- a service management system (SMS) of a service provider provisioning a plurality of virtual routers (VRs) distributed among a plurality of service processing switches of the service provider to support a plurality of network-based customer virtual private networks (VPNs) for a plurality of customers of the service provider by generating a routing configuration for each of the plurality of network-based customer VPNs based on (i) site reachability information for the plurality of service processing switches, each of which are coupled in communication with one or more sites of the plurality of customers and (ii) a global customer routing profile for at least one customer of the plurality of customers;
receiving, at the SMS from a customer network management system (CNMS) associated with a customer of the plurality of customers, a custom routing profile for a network-based customer VPN of the plurality of network-based customer VPNs, the custom routing profile identifying one or more routing protocols to be used for one or more segments of the network-based customer VPN; and
the SMS automatically reconfiguring the network-based customer VPN by programmatically generating appropriate routing configurations for VRs of the plurality of VRs partitioned to the at least one customer based on a subset of the site reachability information associated with sites of the at least one customer and the custom routing profile.
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Abstract
Methods and systems are provided for provisioning and managing network-based virtual private networks (VPNs). According to one embodiment, virtual routers (VRs) distributed among service processing switches are provisioned by a service management system (SMS) to support network-based customer virtual private networks (VPNs) by generating a routing configuration based on (i) site reachability information for the service processing switches and (ii) a global customer routing profile for at least one customer. A custom routing profile is received by the SMS from a customer network management system (CNMS), the custom routing profile identifies one or more routing protocols to be used for one or more segments of a network-based customer VPN. The network-based customer VPN is reconfigured by the SMS generating appropriate routing configurations for VRs partitioned to the customer based on a subset of the site reachability information associated with sites of the customer and the custom routing profile.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of simplifying the provisioning and management of network-based virtual private networks (VPNs), the method comprising:
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a service management system (SMS) of a service provider provisioning a plurality of virtual routers (VRs) distributed among a plurality of service processing switches of the service provider to support a plurality of network-based customer virtual private networks (VPNs) for a plurality of customers of the service provider by generating a routing configuration for each of the plurality of network-based customer VPNs based on (i) site reachability information for the plurality of service processing switches, each of which are coupled in communication with one or more sites of the plurality of customers and (ii) a global customer routing profile for at least one customer of the plurality of customers; receiving, at the SMS from a customer network management system (CNMS) associated with a customer of the plurality of customers, a custom routing profile for a network-based customer VPN of the plurality of network-based customer VPNs, the custom routing profile identifying one or more routing protocols to be used for one or more segments of the network-based customer VPN; and the SMS automatically reconfiguring the network-based customer VPN by programmatically generating appropriate routing configurations for VRs of the plurality of VRs partitioned to the at least one customer based on a subset of the site reachability information associated with sites of the at least one customer and the custom routing profile. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 19)
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11. A program storage device readable by a service management system (SMS) of a service provider, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by one or more computer processors of the SMS to perform method steps for simplifying the provisioning and management of network-based virtual private networks (VPNs), said method steps comprising:
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provisioning a plurality of virtual routers (VRs) distributed among a plurality of service processing switches of the service provider to support a plurality of network-based customer virtual private networks (VPNs) for a plurality of customers of the service provider by generating a routing configuration for each of the plurality of network-based customer VPNs based on (i) site reachability information for the plurality of service processing switches, each of which are coupled in communication with one or more sites of the plurality of customers and (ii) a global customer routing profile for at least one customer of the plurality of customers; receiving from a customer network management system (CNMS) associated with a customer of the plurality of customers, a custom routing profile for a network-based customer VPN of the plurality of network-based customer VPNs, the custom routing profile identifying one or more routing protocols to be used for one or more segments of the network-based customer VPN; and reconfiguring the network-based customer VPN by generating appropriate routing configurations for VRs of the plurality of VRs partitioned to the at least one customer based on a subset of the site reachability information associated with sites of the at least one customer and the custom routing profile. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20)
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Specification