System and method for managing and provisioning virtual routers

• US 7,272,643 B1
• Filed: 09/13/2000
• Issued: 09/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fortinet Inc.
• Original Assignee: Fortinet Inc.
• Inventors: Sarkar, Manojit, Kumar, Dileep
• Primary Examiner(s): Najjar; Saleh
• Assistant Examiner(s): BATES, KEVIN T
• Application Number:
  US09/663,485
• Time in Patent Office: 2,561 Days
• Field of Search: 709/218, 709/223, 709/224, 709/228, 709/222, 370/392
• US Class Current: 709/222
• 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 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0843 based on generic templates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0897 by horizontal or vertical scaling of resources, or by migrating entities, e.g. virtual resources or entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/122 of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/586 of virtual routers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/76 Routing in software-defined topologies, e.g. routing between virtual machines
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/65 Re-configuration of fast packet switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/70 Virtual switches

Abstract

Site reachability information is determined for a service processing switch that is communicably coupled to one or more sites. In addition, global routing profiles, customer site profiles and OSPF profiles are defined. The profile data, in addition to or instead of the reachability information is used to generate routing configuration data for one or more Virtual Routers and Virtual Private Networks implemented within the service processing switch.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

causing a subset of processing resources of a plurality of processing elements of a service processing switch to be allocated among a plurality of customers of a service provider by establishing a plurality of virtual routers (VRs) and assigning a subset of the VRs to the plurality of customers; and

performing a profile-driven routing configuration of a customer virtual private network (VPN) of a first customer of the plurality of customers by

programmatically determining a set of site reachability data corresponding to a plurality of sites of the first customer that are communicatively coupled to the service processing switch,

logically dividing the customer VPN into a plurality of edge segments, a plurality of intra-VPN segments and a plurality of inter-VPN segments, the plurality of edge segments connecting the customer VPN to the plurality of sites and including virtual interfaces connected to logical interfaces and tunnel interfaces having remote ends outside the customer VPN, the plurality of intra-VPN segments providing connectivity among customer VRs of the plurality of VRs that are associated with the customer VPN, and the plurality of inter-VPN segments providing connectivity between the customer VPN and a service provider VPN,

receiving at a service management system associated with the service provider from a customer network management system associated with the first customer, a custom routing profile associated with the customer VPN, the custom routing profile identifying a first routing protocol to be used for the plurality of intra-VPN segments and a second routing protocol to be used for the plurality of edge segments, and

the service management system automatically configuring the customer VPN by programmatically generating appropriate routing configurations for the customer VRs based on the set of site reachability data and the custom routing profile and provisioning the customer VRs.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the custom routing profile comprises information regarding one or more of the following:

routing administration status;

default site type; and

an Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) profile topology type.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the custom routing profile comprises a site profile.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the site profile includes a site type.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the site profile includes a set of one or more site subnets.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the custom routing profile is based upon a global routing profile.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the global routing profile includes a default routing protocol for the plurality of edge segments.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising disseminating the set of site reachability data to other routers within the customer VPN.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said disseminating the set of site reachability data comprises reading a set of subnets for a customer site of the plurality of sites of the first customer and creating static routes for the set of subnets.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said disseminating the set of site reachability data comprises placing the set of site reachability information in a directory and providing access to the directory via Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).

11. The method of claim 8, wherein said disseminating the set of site reachability data comprises use of a static configuration in which all subnets associated with the plurality of sites are manually configured into the customer VPN.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein said disseminating the set of site reachability data comprises exchanging the set of site reachability data via a routing protocol.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein said disseminating the set of site reachability data comprises conveying the set of site reachability data via Multiprotocol Label Switching Label distribution Protocol (MPLS LDP).

14. The method of claim 8, wherein said disseminating the set of site reachability data comprises piggybacking the set of site reachability data on an Internet Protocol (IP) backbone routing protocol.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the custom routing profile comprises an Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) profile and wherein the OSPF profile includes a route aggregation policy.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the custom routing profile includes an area defining a set of VRs of the customer VRs, and wherein said programmatically generating appropriate routing configurations for the customer VRs includes generating a routing configuration for each VR in the set of VRs.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a selection of one or more of the customer VRs to receive the programmatically generated routing configurations.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein said programmatically generating appropriate routing configurations for the customer VRs further comprises auto-generation of static routes for the customer VPN.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the custom routing profile includes parameters relating to one or more of Internet Protocol Security (IPSec), LT2P, Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), Generic Route Encapsulation (GRE) protocol and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS).

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a plurality of fixed routing profiles that are offered to the plurality of customers by the service provider as part of various differentiated service packages.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the various differentiated service packages include one or more of the following:

a first service package that permits a customer to configure OSPF for the plurality of intra-VPN segments and the plurality of edge segments;

a second service package that permits the customer to configure OSPF for the plurality of intra-VPN segments and Routing Information Protocol (RIP) for the plurality of edge segments; and

a third service packet that permits the customer to configure static routing for the plurality of intra-VPN segments and the plurality of edge segments.

22. A method comprising:

causing a subset of processing resources of a plurality of processing elements of a service processing switch to be allocated among a plurality of customers of a service provider by establishing a plurality of virtual routers (VRs) and assigning a subset of the VRs to the plurality of customers; and

performing a profile-driven routing configuration of each of a plurality of customer virtual private networks (VPNs) for the plurality of customers by for each of the plurality of customers and each of the plurality of customer VPNs;

programmatically determining a set of site reachability data for a plurality of sites of the customer that are communicatively coupled to the service processing switch,

receiving at a service management system associated with the service provider from a customer network management system associated with the customer, a custom routing profile associated with the customer VPN, the custom routing profile identifying one or more routing protocols to be used for segments of the customer VPN, and

the service management system automatically configuring the customer VPN by (i) programmatically generating appropriate routing configurations for associated customer VRs of the plurality of VRs based on the set of site reachability data and the custom routing profile and (ii) provisioning the customer VRs.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the custom routing profile is based upon a global routing profile.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the global routing profile includes a default routing protocol for a plurality of edge segments of the segments of the customer VPN.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising disseminating the set of site reachability data to other routers within the customer VPN.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein said disseminating the set of site reachability data comprises reading a set of subnets for a customer site of the plurality of sites of the customer and creating static routes for the set of subnets.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein said disseminating the set of site reachability data comprises reading a set of subnets for a customer site of the plurality of sites of the first customer and creating static routes for the set of subnets.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein said disseminating the set of site reachability data comprises placing the set of site reachability information in a directory and providing access to the directory via Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).

29. The method of claim 25, wherein said disseminating the set of site reachability data comprises use of a static configuration in which all subnets associated with the plurality of sites are manually configured into the customer VPN.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein said disseminating the set of site reachability data comprises exchanging the set of site reachability data via a routing protocol.

31. The method of claim 25, wherein said disseminating the set of site reachability data comprises conveying the set of site reachability data via Multiprotocol Label Switching Label distribution Protocol (MPLS LDP).

32. The method of claim 25, wherein said disseminating the set of site reachability data comprises piggybacking the set of site reachability data on an Internet Protocol (IP) backbone routing protocol.

33. The method of claim 22, further comprising receiving an indication of one or more of the associated customer VRs to receive the programmatically generated routing configurations for each of the plurality of customers.

34. The method of claim 22, wherein the custom routing profile comprises information regarding one or more of the following:

routing administration status;

default site type; and

an Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) profile topology type.

35. The method of claim 22, wherein the custom routing profile includes parameters relating to one or more of Internet Protocol Security (IPSec), LT2P, Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), Generic Route Encapsulation (GRE) protocol and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS).

36. The method of claim 22, further comprising providing a plurality of fixed routing profiles that are offered to the plurality of customers by the service provider as part of various differentiated service packages.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the various differentiated service packages include one or more of the following:

a first service package that permits a customer to configure OSPF for intra-VPN segments and edge segments;

a second service package that permits the customer to configure OSPF for the intra-VPN segments and Routing Information Protocol (RIP) for the edge segments; and

a third service packet that permits the customer to configure static routing for the intra-VPN segments and the edge segments.