ORCHESTRATION ENGINE FOR REAL-TIME CONFIGURATION AND MANAGEMENT OF INTERCONNECTIONS WITHIN A CLOUD-BASED SERVICES EXCHANGE

• US 20160127254A1
• Filed: 10/29/2015
• Published: 05/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Equinix Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Equinix Incorporated
• Inventors: Kumar, Parveen, Rangasamy, Venkatachalam, Jeyapaul, Jaganathan, Lillie, Brian J.
• Granted Patent: US 10,129,078 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/30 Creation or generation of source code
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/70 Software maintenance or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/00 Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/20 Network management software packages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• 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 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/567 Integrating service provisioning from a plurality of service providers

Abstract

In some examples, a cloud-based services exchange comprises a plurality of interconnection assets configured to connect at least one customer of the cloud-based services exchange to a plurality of cloud service providers; and an orchestration engine configured to modify the plurality of interconnection assets by receiving an indication of a client request for cloud exchange services offered by the cloud-based services exchange; selecting a workflow for providing the cloud exchange services, wherein the workflow specifies a set of tasks to be performed to fulfill the client request for the cloud exchange services; call one or more microservices to perform the tasks of the set of tasks as specified by the selected workflow; consolidate responses received from the microservices after performing the tasks; and send a response to the client request for the cloud exchange services based on the consolidated responses.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

by an orchestration engine of a cloud-based services exchange, receiving an indication of a client request for cloud exchange services offered by the cloud-based services exchange;

by the orchestration engine, selecting a workflow for providing the cloud exchange services, wherein the workflow specifies a set of tasks to be performed to fulfill the client request for the cloud exchange services;

by the orchestration engine, call one or more microservices to perform the tasks of the set of tasks as specified by the selected workflow;

by the orchestration engine, consolidate responses received from the microservices after performing the tasks; and

by the orchestration engine, send a response to the client request for the cloud exchange services based on the consolidated responses.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein receiving the indication of the client request comprises receiving an indication of a client request to provision a virtual circuit for exchanging cloud service data between a customer network located in the cloud-based services exchange and a cloud service provider network located in the cloud-based services exchange,

wherein selecting the workflow comprises selecting a workflow for provisioning a virtual circuit,

wherein the workflow for provisioning the virtual circuit specifies a set of tasks comprising:

(i) obtaining port details, (ii) obtaining metro details, and (iii) creating the virtual circuit based on the port details and the metro details.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the orchestration engine distributes tasks of the set of tasks across a plurality of workflow runner threads to access the one or more microservices to perform the tasks.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the orchestration engine executes on one or more management devices within a network data center of the cloud-based services exchange, wherein the network data center includes respective ports by which a plurality of networks connect to the network data center, each of the networks having a different network address space and associated with a different one of a plurality of customers or cloud service providers.

5. The method of claim 1,

wherein each microservice of the one or more microservices comprises a corresponding application programming interface reachable via an endpoint, and

wherein calling the one or more microservices comprises sending, by the orchestration engine, application data to the endpoints for the microservices.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the application data comprises application data encoded using one of eXtensible Markup Language and JavaScript Object Notation.

7. The method of claim 1,

wherein receiving the indication of the client request comprises receiving an indication of a client request to provision a virtual circuit in the cloud-based services exchange for exchanging cloud service data between a customer network located in the cloud-based services exchange and a cloud service provider network located in the cloud-based services exchange,

wherein provisioning the virtual circuit comprises, by the orchestrator engine:

invoking a first microservice of the microservices to validate a cloud service provider for the cloud service provider network identified in the indication;

invoking a second microservice of the microservices to validate a first port of the cloud exchange for the customer network and a second port of the cloud exchange for the cloud service provider network; and

invoking a third microservice of the microservices to configure the cloud-based services exchange to create the virtual circuit between the first port of the cloud exchange and the second port of the cloud exchange.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the virtual circuit comprises one of an end-to-end layer 3 path and an Ethernet Virtual Circuit.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

by the orchestration engine, in response to determining a first microservice of the one or more microservices has failed to fulfill a request sent by the orchestration engine, determining whether to retry the request with the first microservice;

by the orchestration engine, in response to determining to retry the request with the first microservice, sending the request to the first microservice; and

by the orchestration engine, in response to determining not to retry the request with the first microservice, identifying a second microservice of the one or more microservices to execute the request and sending the request to the second microservice.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the orchestration engine receives the indication of the client request via a software interface reachable by a plurality of networks located in the cloud-based services exchange and associated with respective customers.

11. The method of claim 1,

wherein receiving the indication of the client request comprises receiving an indication of a client request to view a virtual circuit in the cloud-based services exchange for exchanging cloud service data between a customer network located in the cloud-based services exchange and a cloud service provider network located in the cloud-based services exchange,

wherein satisfying the client request to view the virtual circuit comprises, by the orchestrator engine:

invoking a first microservice of the microservices to validate a virtual circuit request parameter identified in the indication;

invoking a second microservice of the microservices to query the virtual circuit to obtain data describing the virtual circuit;

receiving the data describing the virtual circuit from the second microservice; and

outputting a response to the client request that includes the data describing the virtual circuit.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the workflow comprises, by the orchestration engine, determining a client that issued the client request and selecting the workflow based on a profile associated with the client.

13. A cloud-based services exchange comprising:

a plurality of interconnection assets configured to connect at least one customer of the cloud-based services exchange to a plurality of cloud service providers; and

an orchestration engine configured to modify the plurality of interconnection assets by;

receiving an indication of a client request for cloud exchange services offered by the cloud-based services exchange;

selecting a workflow for providing the cloud exchange services, wherein the workflow specifies a set of tasks to be performed to fulfill the client request for the cloud exchange services;

call one or more microservices to perform the tasks of the set of tasks as specified by the selected workflow;

consolidate responses received from the microservices after performing the tasks; and

send a response to the client request for the cloud exchange services based on the consolidated responses.

14. The cloud-based service exchange of claim 13,

wherein the indication of the client request comprises an indication of a client request to provision a virtual circuit for exchanging cloud service data between a customer network located in the cloud-based services exchange and a cloud service provider network located in the cloud-based services exchange,

wherein to select the workflow the orchestration engine is configured to select a workflow for provisioning a virtual circuit,

wherein the workflow for provisioning the virtual circuit specifies a set of tasks comprising:

(i) obtaining port details, (ii) obtaining metro details, and (iii) configuring the interconnection assets to create the virtual circuit based on the port details and the metro details.

15. The cloud-based service exchange of claim 13, wherein the orchestration engine is configured to distribute tasks of the set of tasks across a plurality of workflow runner threads to access the one or more microservices to perform the tasks.

16. The cloud-based service exchange of claim 13,

wherein the orchestration engine is configured to execute on one or more management devices within a network data center of the cloud-based services exchange, and

wherein the network data center includes respective ports by which a plurality of networks connect to the network data center, each of the networks having a different network address space and associated with a different one of a plurality of customers or cloud service providers.

17. The cloud-based service exchange of claim 13,

wherein each microservice of the one or more microservices comprises a corresponding application programming interface reachable via an endpoint, and

wherein to call the one or more microservices the orchestration engine is configured to send application data to the endpoints for the microservices.

18. The cloud-based service exchange of claim 13,

wherein to receive the indication of the client request comprises an indication of a client request to provision a virtual circuit in the cloud-based services exchange for exchanging cloud service data between a customer network located in the cloud-based services exchange and a cloud service provider network located in the cloud-based services exchange,

wherein to provision the virtual circuit the orchestrator engine is configured to:

invoke a first microservice of the microservices to validate a cloud service provider for the cloud service provider network identified in the indication;

invoke a second microservice of the microservices to validate a first port of the cloud exchange for the customer network and a second port of the cloud exchange for the cloud service provider network; and

invoke a third microservice of the microservices to configure the cloud-based services exchange to create the virtual circuit between the first port of the cloud exchange and the second port of the cloud exchange.

19. The cloud-based services exchange of claim 18, wherein the virtual circuit comprises one of an end-to-end layer 3 path and an Ethernet Virtual Circuit.

20. A cloud-based services exchange comprising:

a network data center that includes respective ports by which a plurality of networks connect to the network data center, each of the networks having a different network address space and associated with a different one of a plurality of customers or cloud service providers;

a plurality of interconnection assets within the network data center and configured to connect, through a switching fabric of the network data center, each of the networks associated with the plurality of customers of the cloud-based services exchange to one or more of the networks associated with the cloud service providers, the plurality of interconnection assets including a respective set of one or more virtual circuits for each of the networks associated with the plurality of customers and providing network connectivity within the network data center between the networks associated with the plurality of customers and cloud services executing from within the networks associated with the plurality of cloud service providers; and

an interconnection platform configured for execution by one or more management devices within the network data center, the interconnection platform comprising;

an orchestration engine configured to execute at least one workflow that causes the orchestration engine to invoke a plurality of microservices to manage the virtual circuits; and

a software interface reachable by the networks associated with the plurality of customers and configured to, in response to receiving a client request, direct the orchestration engine to execute the at least one workflow.