METHODS AND APPARATUS TO COMMUNICATIVELY COUPLE VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORKS TO VIRTUAL MACHINES WITHIN DISTRIBUTIVE COMPUTING NETWORKS

• US 20110142053A1
• Filed: 12/15/2009
• Published: 06/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gerber, Alexandre, Van Der Merwe, Jacobus, Ramakrishnan, Kadangode
• Granted Patent: US 8,705,513 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/395.1
• 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: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• 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 12/4675 Dynamic sharing of VLAN information amongst network nodes configuration of the network or of network elements H04L41/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/72 using reservation actions during connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/781 Centralised allocation of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/70 Virtual switches

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to communicatively couple virtual private networks to virtual machines within distributive computing networks are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes receiving a request to provision a virtual machine from a virtual private network, determining a host for the virtual machine within a distributive computing network, creating the virtual machine within the host, communicatively coupling the virtual machine to a virtual local area network switch within the distributive computing network, configuring a portion of a router to be communicatively coupled to the virtual machine via the virtual local area network switch by specifying an address space within the router associated with at least one of the virtual machine or the virtual private network communicatively coupled to the router, and communicatively coupling the portion of the router to the virtual private network.

Claims

1. A method to communicatively couple a virtual private network to virtual machines within a distributive computing network, the method comprising:

receiving a request to provision a virtual machine from a virtual private network;

determining a host for the virtual machine within a distributive computing network;

creating the virtual machine within the host;

communicatively coupling the virtual machine to a virtual local area network switch within the distributive computing network;

configuring a portion of a router to be communicatively coupled to the virtual machine via the virtual local area network switch by specifying an address space within the router associated with at least one of the virtual machine or the virtual private network communicatively coupled to the router; and

communicatively coupling the portion of the router to the virtual private network.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein communicatively coupling the virtual machine to a virtual local area network switch includes:

assigning an identification value associated with a path within the virtual local area network switch to the virtual machine by assigning the identification value to a network interface of the virtual machine; and

updating a routing table within the router to reference the identification value associated with the path within the virtual local area network switch to the address space.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein communicatively coupling the portion of the router to the virtual private network includes:

pre-configuring at least one edge router with a set of virtual private network routing and forwarding tables;

upon configuring the portion of the router to be communicatively coupled to the virtual machine, selecting at least one virtual private network routing and forwarding table within the set of the at least one edge router; and

rewriting route targets associated with the virtual private network to communicatively couple the virtual private network to the at least one virtual private network routing and forwarding table.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising initiating an external border gateway protocol session between the router and the virtual private network to advertise the address space associated with the virtual machine to the virtual private network.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving communication packets in the router originating from a computing source within the virtual private network and including a first destination address;

determining that the first destination address is included within the address space associated with the virtual machine; and

forwarding the communication packets to the virtual machine via the virtual local area network switch.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving communication packets in the router originating from the virtual machine resource via the virtual local area network switch and including a second destination address;

determining that the second destination address is at least one of included within the address space or associated with the virtual private network; and

forwarding the communication packets to a computing source within the virtual private network.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the router is communicatively coupled via the Internet to a provider edge router included within the virtual private network.

8. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein the provider edge router includes a virtual private network interface for the virtual private network that corresponds to the virtual machine, wherein the provider edge router transmits border gateway protocol messages including an interface address associated with the virtual private network interface to routers within the virtual private network.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein only computing resources associated with the virtual private network are communicatively coupled to the virtual machine via the portion of the router and the virtual local area network switch.

10. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

determining a second host for the virtual machine within a second distributive computing network;

creating the virtual machine within the second host and communicatively coupling the virtual machine to a second virtual local area network switch within the second distributive computing network;

communicatively coupling the virtual local area network switch and the second local area network by a virtual private local area network service; and

configuring a portion of a router to be communicatively coupled to the virtual machine via the virtual private local area network service.

11. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

determining the virtual machine is to be migrated to a different host;

determining a second host for the virtual machine within a distributive computing network;

migrating the virtual machine to the second host;

communicatively coupling the migrated virtual machine to a second virtual local area network switch within the distributive computing network;

configuring a portion of a second router to be communicatively coupled to the migrated virtual machine via the second virtual local area network switch by specifying a second address space within the second router associated with at least one of the migrated virtual machine or the virtual private network communicatively coupled to the second router; and

communicatively coupling the portion of the second router to the virtual private network.

12. A method as defined in claim 11, further comprising:

prior to migrating the virtual machine, creating a virtual private local area network service virtual private network from the virtual local area network switch to the second virtual area network; and

upon migrating the virtual machine, sending at least one of a border gateway protocol or a address resolution protocol message to update an address space associated with the virtual machine with the second address space.

13. An apparatus to communicatively couple a virtual private network to virtual machines within a distributive computing network, the apparatus comprising:

a distributive computing network manager to receive a request to provision a virtual machine resource from a virtual private network;

a resource manager to determine a host for the virtual machine within a distributive computing network associated with the distributive computing network manager;

a virtual machine generator to create the virtual machine within the host;

a virtual machine coupler to communicatively couple the virtual machine to a virtual local area network switch within the distributive computing network;

a router manager to configure a portion of a router to be communicatively coupled to the virtual machine via the virtual local area network switch by specifying an address space within the router associated with at least one of the virtual machine or the virtual private network communicatively coupled to the router; and

a distributive computing network interface to communicatively couple the portion of the router to the virtual private network.

16. An apparatus as defined in claim 13, wherein the virtual machine coupler is to communicatively couple the virtual machine to a virtual local area network switch by:

assigning an identification value associated with the virtual local area network switch to the virtual machine by assigning the identification value to a network interface of the virtual machine; and

updating a routing table within the router to reference the identification value associated with the virtual local area network switch to the address space.

17. An apparatus as defined in claim 13, further comprising an interface to initiate an external border gateway protocol session between the router and the virtual private network to advertise the address space associated with the virtual machine to the virtual private network.

18. An apparatus as defined in claim 13, wherein the router is to:

receive communication packets originating from a computing source within the virtual private network, the communication packets including a first destination address;

determine that the first destination address is included within the address space associated with the virtual machine; and

forward the communication packets to the virtual machine via the virtual local area network switch.

19. An apparatus as defined in claim 13, further comprising a network manager to:

pre-configure at least one edge router with a set of virtual private network routing and forwarding tables;

select at least one virtual private network routing and forwarding table within the set of the at least one edge router; and

rewrite route targets associated with the virtual private network to communicatively couple the virtual private network to the at least one virtual private network routing and forwarding table.

25. An apparatus as defined in claim 13, wherein:

the resource manager is to;

determine the virtual machine is to be migrated to a different host; and

determine a second host for the virtual machine within a distributive computing network;

a virtual machine manager is to migrate the virtual machine to the second host;

the virtual machine coupler is to communicatively couple the migrated virtual machine to a second virtual local area network switch within the distributive computing network; and

the router manager is to configure a portion of a second router to be communicatively coupled to the migrated virtual machine via the second virtual local area network switch by specifying a second address space within the second router associated with at least one of the migrated virtual machine or the virtual private network communicatively coupled to the second router.

26. An apparatus as defined in claim 25, wherein the distributive computing network interface is to:

create a virtual private local area network service virtual private network from the virtual local area network switch to the second virtual area network; and

upon migrating the virtual machine, send at least one of a border gateway protocol or a address resolution protocol message to update an address space associated with the virtual machine with the second address space.

14. (canceled)

15. (canceled)

20. (canceled)

21. (canceled)

22. (canceled)

23. (canceled)

24. (canceled)

27. A tangible machine-accessible medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to:

receive a request to provision a virtual machine from a virtual private network;

determine a host for the virtual machine within a distributive computing network;

create the virtual machine within the host;

communicatively coupling the virtual machine to a virtual local area network switch within the distributive computing network;

configure a portion of a router to be communicatively coupled to the virtual machine via the virtual local area network switch by specifying an address space within the router associated with at least one of the virtual machine or the virtual private network communicatively coupled to the router; and

communicatively couple the portion of the router to the virtual private network.

28-33. -33. (canceled)