Techniques for customer self-provisioning of edge nodes for a virtual private network
First Claim
1. A method for configuring a network interface on an intermediate network node at an edge of a provider network to support a virtual private network, comprising the steps of:
- receiving, without intervention by a service provider, customer input data that indicates, for a particular virtual private network over a provider network of the service provider, a topology for a plurality of customer equipment devices outside the provider network to be joined on the particular virtual private network;
based on the customer input data, determining configuration data without intervention by the service provider for configuring a particular interface of a particular edge node among a plurality of interfaces that connect the plurality of customer equipment devices to a plurality of edge nodes at an edge of the provider network for the particular virtual private network, wherein the particular interface is configured to direct HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) data packets to the subscription server and to not forward other types of data packets; and
causing the particular edge node to configure the particular interface based on the configuration data without intervention by the service provider, wherein packets are switched with attachment circuits at the particular edge node through a default pseudo wire associated with a subscription server until the attachment circuits are configured to join the particular virtual private network.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques for configuring a particular network interface on a particular node at an edge of a provider network to support a particular virtual private network include receiving customer input data. The provider network is a packet-switched network and the particular virtual private network is a link layer virtual private network. The customer input data indicates a topology for customer equipment devices outside the provider network on the particular virtual private network, and may include properties for corresponding interfaces that connect the customer equipment devices to the edge nodes. Based on the customer input data, configuration data is determined for configuring the particular interface at the particular node. The particular node is caused to configure the particular interface based on the configuration data without human intervention. Among other effects, these techniques support zero-touch provisioning of virtual private networks.
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Citations
55 Claims
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1. A method for configuring a network interface on an intermediate network node at an edge of a provider network to support a virtual private network, comprising the steps of:
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receiving, without intervention by a service provider, customer input data that indicates, for a particular virtual private network over a provider network of the service provider, a topology for a plurality of customer equipment devices outside the provider network to be joined on the particular virtual private network; based on the customer input data, determining configuration data without intervention by the service provider for configuring a particular interface of a particular edge node among a plurality of interfaces that connect the plurality of customer equipment devices to a plurality of edge nodes at an edge of the provider network for the particular virtual private network, wherein the particular interface is configured to direct HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) data packets to the subscription server and to not forward other types of data packets; and causing the particular edge node to configure the particular interface based on the configuration data without intervention by the service provider, wherein packets are switched with attachment circuits at the particular edge node through a default pseudo wire associated with a subscription server until the attachment circuits are configured to join the particular virtual private network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method for configuring a network interface on an intermediate network node at an edge of a provider network to support a virtual private network, comprising the steps of:
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receiving data that indicates a subscription server on a provider network of a service provider; configuring a first attachment circuit on a particular edge node of a plurality of attachment circuits for connection to customer equipment outside the provider network on a plurality of edge nodes at an edge of the provider network to exchange data packets for a particular protocol with the subscription server; receiving on the first attachment circuit a data packet that uses the particular protocol and includes at least a portion of customer input data that indicates, for a particular virtual private network over the provider network, a topology for a plurality of customer equipment devices outside the provider network to be joined on a particular virtual private network; forwarding the data packet to the subscription server; receiving configuration data based on the customer input data; and configuring a second attachment circuit on the particular edge node to join the particular virtual private network without intervention based on the configuration data; wherein packets are switched with attachment circuits at the particular edge node through a default pseudo wire associated with a subscription server until the attachment circuits are configured to join the particular virtual private network, wherein a particular interface of the particular edge node is configured to direct HTTP data packets to the subscription server and to not forward other types of data packets. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. An apparatus for configuring a network interface on an intermediate network node at an edge of a provider network to support a virtual private network, comprising:
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means for receiving, without intervention by a service provider, customer input data that indicates, for a particular virtual private network over a provider network of the service provider, a topology for a plurality of customer equipment devices outside the provider network to be joined on the particular virtual private network; means for determining without intervention by the service provider, based on the customer input data, configuration data for configuring a particular interface of a particular edge node among a plurality of interfaces that connect the plurality of customer equipment devices to a plurality of edge nodes at an edge of the provider network for the particular virtual private network, wherein the particular interface is configured to direct HTTP data packets to the subscription server and to not forward other types of data packets; and means for causing the particular edge node to configure the particular interface based on the configuration data without intervention by the service provider, wherein packets are switched with attachment circuits at the particular edge node through a default pseudo wire associated with a subscription server until the attachment circuits are configured to join the particular virtual private network.
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28. An apparatus for configuring a network interface on an intermediate network node at an edge of a provider network to support a virtual private network, comprising:
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means for receiving data that indicates a subscription server on a provider network of a service provider, means for configuring a first attachment circuit on a particular edge node of a plurality of attachment circuits for connection to customer equipment outside the provider network on a plurality of edge nodes at an edge of the provider network to exchange data packets for a particular protocol with the subscription server, means for receiving on the first attachment circuit a data packet that uses the particular protocol and includes at least a portion of customer input data that indicates, for a particular virtual private network over the provider network, a topology for a plurality of customer equipment devices outside the provider network to be joined on a particular virtual private network; means for forwarding the data packet to the subscription server; means for receiving configuration data based on the customer input data; and means for configuring a second attachment circuit on the particular edge node to join the particular virtual private network without intervention based on the configuration data, wherein a particular interface of the particular edge node is configured to direct HTTP data packets to the subscription server and to not forward other types of data packets, wherein packets are switched with attachment circuits at the particular edge node through a default pseudo wire associated with a subscription server until the attachment circuits are configured to join the particular virtual private network.
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29. An apparatus for configuring a network interface on an intermediate network node at an edge of a provider network of a service provider to support a virtual private network, comprising:
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a network interface that is coupled to a provider network for communicating therewith a data packet; one or more processors; a computer-readable medium; and one or more sequences of instructions stored in the computer readable medium, which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to carry out the step of; receiving, without intervention by a service provider, customer input data that indicates, for a particular virtual private network over a provider network of the service provider, a topology for a plurality of customer equipment devices outside the provider network to be joined on the particular virtual private network; based on the customer input data, determining, without intervention by the service provider, configuration data for configuring a particular interface of a particular edge node among a plurality of interfaces that connect the plurality of customer equipment devices to a plurality of edge nodes at an edge of the provider network for the particular virtual private network, wherein the particular interface is configured to direct HTTP data packets to the subscription server and to not forward other types of data packets; and causing the particular edge node to configure the particular interface based on the configuration data without intervention by the service provider, wherein packets are switched with attachment circuits at the particular edge node through a default pseudo wire associated with a subscription server until the attachment circuits are configured to join the particular virtual private network. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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50. An apparatus for configuring a network interface on an intermediate network node at an edge of a provider network to support a virtual private network, comprising:
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a provider network interface that is coupled to a provider network for communicating therewith a data packet; a customer network interface for coupling to customer premises equipment outside the provider network for communicating therewith a data packet; one or more processors; a computer-readable medium; and one or more sequences of instructions stored in the computer-readable medium, which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to carry out the step of; receiving data that indicates a subscription server on a provider network of a service provider, configuring a first attachment circuit on the customer network interface to exchange data packets for a particular protocol with the subscription server; receiving on the first attachment circuit a data packet that uses the particular protocol and includes at least a portion of customer input data that indicates, for a particular virtual private network over the provider network, a topology for a plurality of customer equipment devices outside the provider network to be joined on a particular virtual private network; forwarding the data packet to the subscription server; receiving configuration data based on the customer input data; and configuring a second attachment circuit for coupling to customer premises equipment to join the particular virtual private network without intervention based on the configuration data, wherein packets are switched with attachment circuits at a particular edge node through a default pseudo wire associated with a subscription server until the attachment circuits are configured to join the particular virtual private network wherein a particular interface of the particular edge node is configured to direct HTTP data packets to the subscription server and to not forward other types of data packets. - View Dependent Claims (51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
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Specification