Methods and apparatus for distributed dynamic network provisioning

• US 8,331,362 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2008
• Issued: 12/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Shukla, Amit, Xu, Xiangwen
• Primary Examiner(s): PARK, JUNG H
• Application Number:
  US12/346,632
• Publication Number:
  US 20100165877A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,442 Days
• Field of Search: 370/389, 709/201, 709220-222
• US Class Current: 370/389
• 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 41/0843 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 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/70 Virtual switches

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a device identifier associated with a virtual resource, determining a configuration template identifier based on the device identifier, and selecting a configuration template from a library of configuration templates based on the configuration template identifier. The receiving, determining, and selecting are at a network device. The virtual resource is hosted by a host device. The device identifier is received from the host device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, during a time period and at an access switch that operatively couples a host device to a switch fabric, a migration notification including a device identifier associated with a virtual resource scheduled to migrate, after the time period, to the host device coupled to the access switch;

determining, during the time period and at the access switch, a configuration template identifier based on the device identifier;

selecting, during the time period and at the access switch, a configuration template from a library of configuration templates based on the configuration template identifier, the configuration template storing provisioning instructions associated with a plurality of virtual resources including the virtual resource, the virtual resource being of a first type, the plurality of virtual resources including a virtual resource of a second type different from the first type; and

automatically provisioning, during the time period, a virtual switch module at the host device based on the provisioning instructions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining includes extracting the configuration template identifier from the device identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the device identifier includes a first portion and a second portion, the first portion being the configuration template identifier; and

the determining includes selecting the first portion of the device identifier as the configuration template identifier.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining includes providing the device identifier to a mask module configured to produce the configuration template identifier based on a logical combination of the device identifier and a mask value.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining includes accessing the configuration template identifier from a database based on the device identifier, the database including a plurality of configuration template identifiers.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining includes accessing the configuration template identifier from a database based on a hash value, the hash value produced based on the device identifier and a hash function, the database including a plurality of configuration template identifiers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting includes searching a database based on the configuration template identifier, the database storing the library of configuration templates such that each configuration template from the library of configuration templates can be accessed based on a configuration template identifier associated with that configuration template.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the device identifier is a media access control address of the virtual resource including the configuration template identifier.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the migration notification is a first migration notification, the device identifier is a first device identifier, and the virtual resource is a first virtual resource, the method further comprising:

receiving at the access switch a second migration notification including a second device identifier associated with a second virtual resource scheduled to migrate to the host device;

determining the configuration template identifier from the second device identifier; and

selecting the configuration template from the library of configuration templates based on the configuration template identifier.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the provisioning instructions include instructions to cause the access switch to perform at least one of altering routing tables, updating security policies, selecting a network protocol to implement, or applying an access control list (ACL).

11. A method, comprising:

receiving a configuration template identifier, the configuration template identifier being associated with a configuration template having a network parameter;

producing a device identifier based on the configuration template identifier and a nonce; and

uniquely associating the device identifier with a virtual resource such that the virtual resource is identifiable based on the device identifier, the configuration template configured to provide provisioning instructions associated with the virtual resource to an access switch coupled between a first host device and a switch fabric, in relation to the virtual resource migrating from a second host device to the first host device, the configuration template storing provisioning instructions associated with a plurality of virtual resources including the virtual resource, the virtual resource being of a first type, the plurality of virtual resources including a virtual resource of a second type different from the first type.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the device identifier is a first device identifier, the virtual resource is a first virtual resource, and the nonce is a first nonce, the method further comprising:

producing a second device identifier based on the configuration template identifier and a second nonce such that the configuration template identifier is encoded in the second device identifier; and

uniquely associating the second device identifier with a second virtual resource.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the virtual resource is associated with a virtual local area network; and

the network parameter is a virtual local area network identifier of the virtual local area network.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the virtual resource includes a media access control address; and

the uniquely associating includes designating the device identifier as the media access control address of the virtual resource.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the producing is at least partially reversible such that the configuration template identifier can be extracted from the device identifier.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the configuration template includes an access control list associated with access to the virtual resource over a communication network.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the network parameter includes instructions to cause the access switch to perform at least one of altering routing tables, updating security policies, selecting a network protocol to implement, or applying an access control list (ACL).

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the configuration template is configured to provide provisioning instructions associated with the virtual resource to the access switch such that the access switch is configured to provision a port associated with the virtual resource based on the provisioning instructions to allow the virtual resource to send data to the switch fabric.

19. A method, comprising:

receiving a configuration template identifier associated with a configuration template;

generating a nonce;

producing a device identifier that includes a combination of the configuration template identifier and the nonce; and

storing the device identifier as a media access control address of a virtual resource, the configuration template configured to provide provisioning instructions associated with the virtual resource to an access switch coupled between a first host device and a switch fabric, in relation to the virtual resource migrating from a second host device to the first host device.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the device identifier is configured to uniquely identify the virtual resource in a network, the network including a plurality of virtual resources in communication with a switch fabric via a first access switch and a second access switch.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein:

the configuration template identifier is represented by a first bit vector;

the nonce is represented by a second bit vector; and

the producing includes logically combining the first bit vector and the second bit vector.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising storing the configuration template in a memory accessible to the access switch.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the provisioning instructions are stored within the configuration template, the provisioning instructions including instructions to cause the access switch to perform at least one of altering routing tables, updating security policies, selecting a network protocol to implement, or applying an access control list (ACL).

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the configuration template is configured to provide provisioning instructions associated with the virtual resource to the access switch such that the access switch is configured to provision a port associated with the virtual resource based on the provisioning instructions to allow the virtual resource to send data to the switch fabric.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein the configuration template stores provisioning instructions associated with a plurality of virtual resources including the virtual resource, the virtual resource being of a first type, the plurality of virtual resources including a virtual resource of a second type different from the first type.