SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CLOUD BRIDGING BETWEEN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE CLOUDS

• US 20120281708A1
• Filed: 05/04/2012
• Published: 11/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Chauhan, Abhishek, Downing, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 9,253,159 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70

Abstract

The cloud bridge may comprise a tunnel between a datacenter network via a WAN to a cloud network. The cloud bridge makes cloud-hosted applications appear as though they are running on one contiguous enterprise network. With a cloud bridge in place, administrators, tools and the applications believe that the application resides on the enterprise network.

Claims

1. A method for transparently bridging network traffic between a private network and a cloud network, the method comprising:

establishing between a first intermediary device deployed for a private network and a second intermediary device deployed for a cloud network a secure internet protocol (IP) layer tunnel, the cloud network is independent and disparate from the private network;

establishing, via the first intermediary device and the second intermediary device, a network bridge over the secure IP layer tunnel, the network bridge extending IP addressing of the private network to the cloud network; and

communicating, via the network bridge, a request from a first device on the private network to access a resource identified via an IP address of the private network, the resource hosted on a second device on the cloud network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating the request further comprises receiving the request by the first intermediary device and communicating the request to the second intermediary device via the network bridge.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising communicating by the second intermediary device the request to the second device corresponding to the IP address of the private network.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating, via the network bridge, to the first device a response to the request from the second device.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising receiving, by the second intermediary device, the response to the request from the second device on the cloud network and forwarding the response to the first intermediary device, the response identifying the IP address of the first device on the private network.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising communicating, by the first intermediary device, to the first device on the private network the response from the second device on the cloud network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the secure IP layer tunnel comprises establishing IPSec communications over a layer 2 tunnel.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing the network bridge to extend a virtual local area network (VLAN) of the private network to the cloud network.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the cloud network comprises a public cloud network.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the cloud network comprises a private cloud network.

11. A system for transparently bridging network traffic between a private network and a cloud network, the system comprising:

a first intermediary device deployed for a private network;

a second intermediary device deployed for a cloud network that is independent and disparate from the private network;

a secure internet protocol (IP) layer tunnel established between the first intermediary device and the second intermediary device;

a network bridge established via the first intermediary device and the second intermediary device, over the secure IP layer tunnel, the network bridge extending IP addressing of the private network to the cloud network; and

wherein the first intermediary devices communicates via the network bridge, a request from a first device on the private network to access a resource identified via an IP address of the private network, the resource hosted on a second device on the cloud network.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the first intermediary device receives the request from the first device and communicates the request to the second intermediary device via the network bridge.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the second intermediary device communicates the request to the second device corresponding to the IP address of the private network.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the second device communicates, via the network bridge, to the first device a response to the request.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the second intermediary device receives the response to the request from the second device on the cloud network and forwards the response to the first intermediary device, the response identifying the IP address of the first device on the private network.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the first intermediary device communicates to the first device on the private network the response from the second device on the cloud network.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the secure IP layer tunnel comprises IPSec communications over a layer 2 tunnel.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the network bridge extends a virtual local area network (VLAN) of the private network to the cloud network.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the cloud network comprises a public cloud network.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the cloud network comprises a private cloud network.