Methods and apparatus to provision cloud computing network elements

• US 8,699,499 B2
• Filed: 12/08/2010
• Issued: 04/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mulligan, John T., Knight, David John, Kulper, Ronnie R., Moloney, Don J., Nguyen, Mai-Uyen Thi, Toll-Verry, Diana Lynn, Zelingher, Simon S., Nguyen, Han. Q.
• Primary Examiner(s): Moore, Ian N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Huynh, Dung B
• Application Number:
  US12/963,363
• Publication Number:
  US 20120147894A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,224 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/395.53
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5048 Automatic or semi-automatic definitions, e.g. definition templates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/033 by updating distance vector protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/70 Virtual switches

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to provision cloud computing network elements are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes receiving a selection of a cloud networking template from a client, wherein the cloud networking template includes a data center connector type and a wide area network connector type, configuring a virtual machine on a host server based on the cloud networking template, configuring a data center connector based on the data center connector type, configuring a wide area network connector based on the wide area network connector type, and coupling the wide area network connector to the data center connector and coupling the data center connector to the virtual machine within the host server to enable the client to access the virtual machine.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a selection of a cloud networking template from a client, wherein the cloud networking template includes a data center connector type and a wide area network connector type;

receiving client data to provision a virtual machine for the client;

configuring the virtual machine on a host server based on the client data;

configuring a data center connector based on the data center connector type included in the cloud networking template;

configuring a wide area network connector based on the wide area network connector type included in the cloud networking template;

coupling the wide area network connector to the data center connector;

coupling the data center connector to the virtual machine within the host server to enable the client to access the virtual machine;

configuring a further virtual machine on a further host server operating at a different location than the host server;

configuring a further wide area network connector coupled to a further data center connector;

coupling the further data center connector to the further virtual machine; and

coupling the virtual machine to the further virtual machine via a bridge domain network object that couples the wide area network connector to the further wide area network connector.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising configuring an intelligent routing service control point to distribute to routers within a wide area network a route from the client to the virtual machine via the data center connector.

3. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein configuring the data center connector includes configuring a layer-2 switch that is coupled to the virtual machine via a virtual local area network, the method further comprising assigning the virtual machine an endpoint within the virtual local area network.

4. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein configuring the data center connector includes configuring a layer-3 gateway that is coupled to the virtual machine via a routed subnet, the method further comprising assigning the virtual machine a virtual local area network identifier within the routed subnet.

5. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the wide area network connector is a layer-3 router that is coupled to the virtual machine via a static virtual area network route.

6. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the data center connector is coupled to the wide area network connector implemented by a layer-2 multiprotocol label switching virtual private network that is coupled to a virtual private local area network of the client.

7. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the data center connector is coupled to the wide area network connector implemented by a layer-3 multiprotocol label switching virtual private network that is coupled to a virtual private network of the client.

8. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the data center connector is coupled to a cloud network implemented by a layer-3 wide area network that is coupled to an intranet of the client.

9. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the cloud networking template further includes a further wide area network connector type and a further data center connector type.

10. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein:

coupling the data center connector to the virtual machine comprises coupling the data center connector to the virtual machine via a firewall to enable customers of the client to access services implemented by the virtual machine.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a first server that receives a selection from a client of a cloud networking template, wherein the cloud networking template includes a data center connector type and a wide area network connector type;

a second server that

configures a virtual machine on a host server based upon information received from the client, and

configures a further virtual machine on a further host server operating at a different location than the host server; and

a third server that

configures a data center connector based on the data center connector type included in the cloud networking template,

configures a wide area network connector based on the wide area network connector type included in the cloud networking template,

couples the wide area network connector to the data center connector,

couples the data center connector to the virtual machine within the host server to enable the client to access the virtual machine,

configures a further wide area network connector coupled to a further data center connector,

couples the further data center to the further virtual machine, and

couples the virtual machine to the further virtual machine by implementing a bridge domain network object that couples the wide area network connector to the further wide area network connector.

12. The apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the third server couples the data center connector to the virtual machine by specifying a logical interface on a physical interface of the data center connector that is to be logically linked to the virtual machine.

13. The apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the third server couples the wide area network connector to a cloud network by instructing an intelligent routing service control point to specify an import policy and an export policy associated with routes of the client.

14. The apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the data center connector and the wide area network connector are coupled together within a provider edge router.

15. The apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the cloud networking template further includes a further data center connector type and a further wide area network connector type to enable customers of the client to access the virtual machine.

16. The apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the third server:

couples the data center connector to the virtual machine via a firewall to couple customers of the client to the virtual machine.

17. The apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the first server is a service orchestrator server, the second server is a compute orchestrator server, and the third server is a network orchestrator server.

18. The apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein:

the wide area network connector is coupled to the second wide area network connector via ports of respective provider edge routers.

19. A tangible machine-accessible medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving a selection of a cloud networking template from a client, wherein the cloud networking template includes a data center connector type, a wide area network connector type, a further data center connector type, and a further wide area network connector type;

receiving client data to provision a virtual machine for the client;

configuring the virtual machine on a host server based on the client data;

configuring a data center connector based on the data center connector type included in the cloud networking template;

configuring a further virtual machine on a further host server operating at a different location than the host server;

configuring a further data center connector based on the further data center connector type included in the cloud networking template;

configuring a wide area network connector based on the wide area network connector type included in the cloud networking template;

configuring a further wide area network connector based on the further wide area network connector type included in the cloud networking template;

provisioning the virtual machine for the client by coupling the wide area network connector to a network of the client and to the data center connector, and by coupling the data center connector to the virtual machine within the host server; and

provisioning the further virtual machine for the client by coupling the further wide area network connector to a further network of the client and to the further data center connector, and by coupling the further data center connector to the further virtual machine within the further host server.