BRIDGING ENTERPRISE NETWORKS INTO CLOUD

• US 20100318609A1
• Filed: 06/15/2009
• Published: 12/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Greenberg, Albert, Dunagan, John D., Lahiri, Parantap, Patel, Parveen K., Alkhatib, Hasan S., Maltz, David A.
• Application Number:
  US12/484,410
• Publication Number:
  US 20100318609A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing

Abstract

An enterprise namespace may be extended into a cloud of networked resources. A portion of the cloud may be dynamically partitioned, and the extension of the enterprise namespace established within the portion. Cloud resources thus remain as easily accessible to enterprise users as those which are physically located on the enterprise network. Thus, components such as applications, virtual machine instantiations, application states, server states, etc., may be easily migrated between the enterprise network and the cloud.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform acts comprising:

receiving a request to migrate an enterprise component from an enterprise to a cloud of networked resources;

provisioning a portion of the cloud to execute the enterprise component;

and

automatically migrating the enterprise component to the cloud.

2. The computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the component comprises at least one or more of the following:

an application, an instantiation of a virtual machine, application state, or server state.

3. The computer-readable storage media of claim 1, further comprising executing the enterprise component on a virtual machine in the cloud.

4. The computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the cloud accepts migrations from a second enterprise.

5. The computer-readable storage media of claim 1, further comprising extending an enterprise namespace into the provisioned portion.

6. The computer-readable storage media of claim 1, further comprising generating the request to migrate in response to conditions of a service level agreement.

7. The computer-readable storage media of claim 1, further comprising generating the request to migrate in response to regulatory requirements.

8. One or more computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform acts comprising:

receiving a request to extend an enterprise namespace of an enterprise into a cloud of networked resources;

partitioning a portion of the cloud as an extension of the enterprise namespace commensurate to the request; and

establishing an extension of the enterprise namespace within the portion of the cloud.

9. The computer-readable storage media of claim 8, further comprising transferring data between devices in the enterprise and devices within the extension of the enterprise namespace in the cloud by transparently mapping addresses in the extension of the enterprise namespace with corresponding addresses in the enterprise namespace.

10. The computer-readable storage media of claim 8, further comprising receiving the request in response to a comparison of component performance metrics to a set of component service parameters.

11. The computer-readable storage media of claim 8, further comprising presenting to the enterprise the portion of the cloud to the enterprise as a seamless extension of the enterprise namespace.

12. The computer-readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the presenting occurs at a data link layer, a network layer, a transport layer, a session layer, a presentation layer, an application layer, or a combination of these.

13. The computer-readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the portion of the cloud is dynamically adjusted in response to changing namespace requirements.

14. The computer-readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the namespace comprises a network address space.

15. A system comprising:

one or more processors and memory;

a cloud fabric controller stored in the memory and executing on a processor of the one or more processors to coordinate provisioning and operation of a cloud of networked resources;

a cloud gateway controlled by the cloud fabric controller stored in the memory and executing on a processor of the one or more processors and configured to communicate with an enterprise gateway to extend an enterprise namespace into the cloud of networked resources; and

a management service stored in the memory and executing on a processor of the one or more processors and configured to expose at least some of the functions of the cloud fabric controller to an entity managing the enterprise namespace.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the cloud gateway, enterprise gateway, or both, are separate from the cloud fabric controller or management service or both.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the management service further comprises an application programming interface (API).

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the cloud gateway and enterprise gateway are configured to communicate via an encrypted tunnel.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the cloud gateway and enterprise gateway are configured to automatically establish a communication pathway with one another.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the management functions include at least one or more of the following:

network addressing, host allocation, or network testing.