Dynamic binding of network services
First Claim
1. An apparatus comprising:
- a single network device, to be coupled between a plurality of subscriber end stations and a plurality of network domains to communicate packets there between, including, a set of one or more processors;
a first plurality of transceivers to communicate said packets with the plurality of subscriber end stations;
a second plurality of transceivers to communicate said packets with the plurality of network domains; and
a non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored therein a set of one or more instructions to cause the set of one or more processors to,instantiate a plurality of virtual network machines, wherein the plurality of virtual network machines are virtually independent but share a set of one or more physical resources within the single network device, wherein each of the plurality of virtual network machines is one of a virtual router and a virtual bridge, and wherein each of the plurality of virtual network machines belong to a different respective one of the plurality of network domains,dynamically bind different sub-interfaces with network interfaces of different ones of the virtual network machines based on network domains identified by subscriber records to communicatively couple different ones of the plurality of subscriber end stations with different ones of the plurality of network domains, wherein the bindings are represented with a plurality of data structures, wherein each of a plurality of subscribers is associated with at least one of the plurality of subscriber end stations, wherein each of the subscriber end stations is associated with at least one of the sub-interfaces, and wherein the subscriberrecords identify, for different ones of the plurality of subscribers, different ones of the plurality of network domains to which the different ones of the virtual network machines belong, andcommunicate said packets between the plurality of subscriber end stations and the plurality of network domains.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus that dynamically binds one or more network interfaces of a plurality of virtual network machines is described. The apparatus instantiates the plurality of virtual network machines, where the plurality of virtual network machines are virtually independent but share a set of physical resources within the single network device and each of the plurality of virtual network machines belong to a different network domain. The apparatus receives subscriber records that are associated with virtual circuits on a plurality of ports on the apparatus. The apparatus dynamically binds the one or more network interfaces of each of the virtual machines to a set of sub-interfaces, such that each of the virtual circuits is communicatively coupled with one of the virtual network machines and the bindings are represented with data structures.
83 Citations
24 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising:
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a single network device, to be coupled between a plurality of subscriber end stations and a plurality of network domains to communicate packets there between, including, a set of one or more processors; a first plurality of transceivers to communicate said packets with the plurality of subscriber end stations; a second plurality of transceivers to communicate said packets with the plurality of network domains; and a non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored therein a set of one or more instructions to cause the set of one or more processors to, instantiate a plurality of virtual network machines, wherein the plurality of virtual network machines are virtually independent but share a set of one or more physical resources within the single network device, wherein each of the plurality of virtual network machines is one of a virtual router and a virtual bridge, and wherein each of the plurality of virtual network machines belong to a different respective one of the plurality of network domains, dynamically bind different sub-interfaces with network interfaces of different ones of the virtual network machines based on network domains identified by subscriber records to communicatively couple different ones of the plurality of subscriber end stations with different ones of the plurality of network domains, wherein the bindings are represented with a plurality of data structures, wherein each of a plurality of subscribers is associated with at least one of the plurality of subscriber end stations, wherein each of the subscriber end stations is associated with at least one of the sub-interfaces, and wherein the subscriber records identify, for different ones of the plurality of subscribers, different ones of the plurality of network domains to which the different ones of the virtual network machines belong, and communicate said packets between the plurality of subscriber end stations and the plurality of network domains. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An apparatus comprising:
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a single network device including, a set of one or more processors; a plurality of transceivers to communicate a plurality of independent information flows of packets through the single network device between a plurality of end stations; and a non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored therein a set of one or more instructions to cause the set of one or more processors to, instantiate a plurality of virtual network machines to forward the plurality of independent information flows through the single network device, wherein the plurality of virtual network machines are virtually independent but share a set of one or more physical resources within the single network device, wherein each of the plurality of virtual network machines is one of a virtual router and a virtual bridge, wherein the plurality of virtual network machines belong to different network domains with accounting and authorizations for different administrative authorities, wherein each of the virtual network machines includes one or more network interfaces, wherein each of the plurality of transceivers is associated with at least one of a set of one or more sub-interfaces, and wherein each of the plurality of independent information flows is associated with a different one of the set of one or more sub-interfaces, and dynamically bind, with a plurality of binding data structures, different ones of the sub- interfaces with the network interfaces of different ones of the virtual network machines to couple each of the plurality of independent information flows with a currently appropriate one of the plurality of virtual network machines based on current authorizations, and wherein the bindings are changed responsive to changes in the current authorizations. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A network comprising:
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a plurality of different network domains, wherein each of the different network domains comprises a plurality of nodes and links and each of the different network domains is virtually isolated from the other network domains; a plurality of subscriber end stations; and a single network device coupled between nodes of the different network domains and the plurality of subscriber end stations to communicate packets there between, the single network device having, a first plurality of transceivers to communicate said packets with the plurality of subscriber end stations; a second plurality of transceivers to communicate said packets with the plurality of different network domains; and a plurality of virtual network machines, wherein the plurality of virtual network machines are virtually independent but share a set of one or more physical resources within the single network device, wherein each of the plurality of virtual network machines is one of a virtual router and a virtual bridge, wherein each of the plurality of virtual network machines belong to one of the plurality of different network domains, and bindings that dynamically bind different sub-interfaces with network interfaces of different ones of the virtual network machines based on network domains identified by subscriber records to communicatively couple different ones of the plurality of subscriber end stations with different ones of the plurality of different network domains, wherein the bindings are represented with a plurality of data structures, wherein each of a plurality of subscribers is associated with at least one of the plurality of subscriber end stations, wherein each of the subscriber end stations is associated with at least one of the sub-interfaces, wherein the subscriber records identify, for different ones of the plurality of subscribers, different ones of the plurality of different network domains to which the different ones of the virtual network machines belong, and wherein each of the sub-interfaces comprise information that identifies an encapsulation protocol, packet compression technique, and a protocol to be used to communicate said packets. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. A computerized method comprising:
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instantiating a plurality of virtual network machines, wherein the plurality of virtual network machines are virtually independent but share a set of one or more physical resources within a single network device, wherein each of the plurality of virtual network machines is one of a virtual router and a virtual bridge, and wherein each of the plurality of virtual network machines belong to a different one of a plurality of network domains; dynamically binding different sub-interfaces with network interfaces of different ones of the virtual network machines based on network domains identified by subscriber records to communicatively couple different ones of a plurality of subscriber end stations with different ones of the plurality of network domains, wherein the bindings are represented with a plurality of data structures, wherein each of a plurality of subscribers is associated with at least one of the plurality of subscriber end stations, wherein each of the subscriber end stations is associated with at least one of the sub-interfaces, wherein the subscriber records identify, for different ones of the plurality of subscribers, different ones of the plurality of network domains to which the different ones of the virtual network machines belong, and wherein each of the sub-interfaces comprise information that identifies an encapsulation protocol, packet compression technique, and a protocol to be used to communicate said packets; and communicating said packets between the plurality of subscriber end stations and the plurality of network domains. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification