INTELLIGENT WIDE AREA NETWORK (IWAN)

• US 20170012870A1
• Filed: 07/07/2015
• Published: 01/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wood, Steven W., Blair, Dana L., Sullenberger, Michael L., Lucas, Solomon T., Oswal, Anand
• Granted Patent: US 10,797,992 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5025 by proactively reacting to service quality change, e.g. by reconfiguration after service quality degradation or upgrade
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/508 based on type of value added network service under agreement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/0377 for service chaining
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/04 Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/64 using an overlay routing layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing

Abstract

In one embodiment, an electronic device maintains one or more tunnel-based overlays for a communication network. The communication network includes two or more physical provider networks. The device maintains a mapping between a particular application and the one or more overlays for the communication network. The device adjusts the mapping between the particular application and the one or more overlays for the communication network. The device causes one or more routers in the communication network to route traffic for the particular application according to the adjusted mapping between the application and the one or more overlays for the communication network.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

maintaining, by an electronic device, one or more tunnel-based overlays for a communication network, wherein the communication network comprises two or more physical provider networks;

maintaining, by the device, a mapping between a particular application and the one or more overlays for the communication network;

adjusting, by the device, the mapping between the particular application and the one or more overlays for the communication network; and

causing, by the device, one or more routers in the communication network to route traffic for the particular application according to the adjusted mapping between the application and the one or more overlays for the communication network.

2. The method as in claim 1, wherein the mapping between the particular application and the overlay for the communication network comprises:

an enterprise network address associated with the particular application that is within an enterprise address space; and

routing information for the enterprise network address that comprises one or more addresses that are within address spaces of the physical provider networks.

3. The method as in claim 2, wherein adjusting the mapping between the particular application and the overlay for the communication network comprises:

receiving, at the device, an indication that an endpoint for the particular application is migrating from a first network domain to a second network domain; and

adjusting, in response to receiving the indication, the routing information for the enterprise network address associated with the particular application to cause the traffic for the particular application to be routed to the second network domain.

4. The method as in claim 3, wherein the first and second network domains correspond to separate data centers, virtual private data centers, or Internet as a service (IaaS) providers.

5. The method as in claim 2, further comprising:

causing, by the device, at least one of the routers to maintain a virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) instance that separates the enterprise address space from the address spaces of the physical provider networks.

6. The method as in claim 2, wherein adjusting the mapping between the particular application and the one or more overlays for the communication network comprises:

determining, by the device, that the traffic for the particular application should be routed via a different one of the two or more physical provider networks; and

causing, by the device, the routing information for the enterprise network address to be adjusted to route the traffic for the particular application via the different physical provider network.

7. The method as in claim 6, wherein determining that the traffic for the particular application should be routed via a different one of the two or more physical provider networks comprises:

receiving, at the device, one or more performance metrics associated with the traffic for the particular application.

8. The method as in claim 1, wherein causing the one or more routers in the communication network to route traffic for the particular application according to the adjusted mapping between the application and the one or more overlays for the communication network comprises:

providing, by the device, one or more policies to the one or more routers, wherein the one or more routers make routing decisions for the traffic for the particular application according to the one or more policies.

9. The method as in claim 1, wherein a first of the two or more physical provider networks comprises a multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) network, an Internet service provider (ISP) network, a cellular network, or a metropolitan-area Ethernet (Metro-E) network, and wherein a second of the two or more physical provider networks comprises an MPLS network, an ISP network, a cellular network, or a Metro-E network.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more network interfaces to communicate with a communication network;

a processor coupled to the one or more network interfaces and configured to execute a process; and

a memory configured to store the process executable by the processor, the process when executed operable to;

maintain one or more tunnel-based overlays for the communication network, wherein the communication network comprises two or more physical provider networks;

maintain a mapping between a particular application and the one or more overlays for the communication network;

adjust the mapping between the particular application and the one or more overlays for the communication network; and

cause one or more routers in the communication network to route traffic for the particular application according to the adjusted mapping between the application and the one or more overlays for the communication network.

11. The apparatus as in claim 10, wherein the mapping between the particular application and the overlay for the communication network comprises:

an enterprise network address associated with the particular application that is within an enterprise address space; and

routing information for the enterprise network address that comprises one or more addresses that are within address spaces of the physical provider networks.

12. The apparatus as in claim 10, wherein the apparatus adjusts the mapping between the particular application and the overlay for the communication network by:

receiving an indication that an endpoint for the particular application is migrating from a first network domain to a second network domain; and

adjusting, in response to receiving the indication, the routing information for the enterprise network address associated with the particular application to cause the traffic for the particular application to be routed to the second network domain.

13. The apparatus as in claim 12, wherein the first and second network domains correspond to separate data centers, virtual private data centers, or Internet as a service (IaaS) providers.

14. The apparatus as in claim 11, wherein the process when executed is further operable to:

cause at least one of the routers to maintain a virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) instance that separates the enterprise address space from the address spaces of the physical provider networks.

15. The apparatus as in claim 11, wherein the apparatus adjusts the mapping between the particular application and the one or more overlays for the communication network by:

determining that the traffic for the particular application should be routed via a different one of the two or more physical provider networks; and

causing the routing information for the enterprise network address to be adjusted to route the traffic for the particular application via the different physical provider network.

16. The apparatus as in claim 15, wherein determining that the traffic for the particular application should be routed via a different one of the two or more physical provider networks comprises:

receiving one or more performance metrics associated with the traffic for the particular application.

17. The apparatus as in claim 10, wherein the apparatus causes the one or more routers in the communication network to route traffic for the particular application according to the adjusted mapping between the application and the one or more overlays for the communication network by:

providing one or more policies to the one or more routers, wherein the one or more routers make routing decisions for the traffic for the particular application according to the one or more policies.

18. The apparatus as in claim 10, wherein a first of the two or more physical provider networks comprises a multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) network, an Internet service provider (ISP) network, a cellular network, or a metropolitan-area Ethernet (Metro-E) network, and wherein a second of the two or more physical provider networks comprises an MPLS network, an ISP network, a cellular network, or a Metro-E network.

19. A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media having software encoded thereon, the software when executed by a processor on a device in a communication network operable to:

maintain one or more tunnel-based overlays for the communication network, wherein the communication network comprises two or more physical provider networks;

maintain a mapping between a particular application and the one or more overlays for the communication network;

adjust the mapping between the particular application and the one or more overlays for the communication network; and

cause one or more routers in the communication network to route traffic for the particular application according to the adjusted mapping between the application and the one or more overlays for the communication network.

20. The computer-readable media as in claim 19, wherein the mapping between the particular application and the overlay for the communication network comprises:

an enterprise network address associated with the particular application that is within an enterprise address space; and

routing information for the enterprise network address that comprises one or more addresses that are within address spaces of the physical provider networks.