Techniques for network replication

• US 9,240,929 B2
• Filed: 09/06/2013
• Issued: 01/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Brandwine, Eric Jason, Sivasubramanian, Swaminathan, Marshall, Bradley Eugene, Certain, Tate Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): MCCARTHY, CHRISTOPHER S
• Application Number:
  US14/020,691
• Publication Number:
  US 20140012969A1
• Time in Patent Office: 865 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0846 based on copy from other elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/145 involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/20 the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

In response to a request to duplicate a network, the network is duplicated. The duplicate network includes one or more virtual devices that correspond to one or more devices in the network being duplicated. The devices of the duplicate network are communicatively arranged in a manner consistent with a topology of the network being duplicated. Once the duplicate network is created, access to the duplicate network is provided.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for network duplication, comprising:

under the control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,

receiving a request to duplicate a first network that includes one or more virtual devices and that overlays one or more physical networks, the request having one or more parameters that each specifies a condition for how closely a duplicate network should match the first network, the first network including one or more devices selected from a group consisting of servers, storage volumes, switches, hubs, firewalls, bridges, and gateways;

processing the request to create the duplicate network by creating, in accordance with the one or more parameters, a plurality of virtual duplicate devices each corresponding to a device in the first network and arranging the created virtual duplicate devices in the duplicate network to overlay the one or more physical networks in accordance with a manner in which the first network overlays the one or more physical networks; and

providing access to the duplicate network.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least one the one or more virtual devices is a copy-on-write overlay of a device in the first network.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

the one or more parameters include a parameter specifying a portion of the first network to be included in the duplicate network; and

the created duplicate network lacks a copy of at least one virtual device as a result of the specified portion lacking the at least one virtual device.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more parameters specifies a fidelity for a copy of at least one virtual device of the first network to be included in the duplicate network, the fidelity corresponding to one or more hardware specifications for hardware to implement the copy in the duplicate network.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more parameters specifies a depth for a copy of at least one virtual device of the first network to be included in the duplicate network, the depth corresponding to an amount of state information of the at least one virtual device to be copied prior to providing access to the duplicate network.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more parameters is applicable to the duplicate network as a whole.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more parameters is inapplicable to a set of the one or more virtual devices to be copied for the duplicate network.

8. A system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory including instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to;

provide an interface configured to receive a request to duplicate a first network that includes a plurality of devices, the request having one or more parameters each specifying a manner in which a duplicate network is to match the first network, the first network including one or more devices selected from a group consisting of servers, storage volumes, switches, hubs, firewalls, bridges, and gateways; and

process the request to create the duplicate network by causing to be configured, according to the one or more parameters, a plurality of duplicate devices each corresponding to a device in the first network.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein:

the first network is a virtual overlay network implemented by hardware devices used to implement multiple virtual overlay networks for a plurality of entities; and

the interface is a web service interface configured to accept requests for configuring the virtual overlay networks.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein:

the one of the one or more parameters specify one or more filtering criteria; and

configuring the plurality of duplicate devices includes applying the filtering criteria to selectively determine which of the plurality of devices of the first network are to be included in the duplicate network.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein at least one of the one or more parameters specifies one or more hardware specifications for hardware to implement at least a portion of the duplicate network.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein at least one of the one or more parameters specifies one or more copy depths for at least one device in the first network to be copied for the duplicate network.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein at least one or more parameters is applicable to the duplicate network as a whole.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein:

at least one of the one or more parameters specifies a value for a tag; and

configuring the plurality of duplicate devices includes selecting for copying into the duplicate network at least one device from the plurality of devices of the first network as a result of the at least one device having an associated tag with the specified value.

15. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a system, cause the system to:

process a request to duplicate a first network that includes a plurality of devices, by at least;

selecting a set of the plurality of devices based at least in part on one or more parameters of the request each specifying a manner in which a duplicate network is to match the first network, the first network including one or more devices selected from a group consisting of servers, storage volumes, switches, hubs, firewalls, bridges, and gateways; and

causing the duplicate network to be configured according to the one or more parameters such that the duplicate network includes a plurality of duplicate devices each corresponding to a device in the selected set.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the one or more parameters specify different copy depths for different devices of the duplicate network.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein selecting the set of the one or more devices is based at least in part on a value for a tag associated with at least one of the one or more devices of the first network.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the selected set is a proper subset of the plurality of devices.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the one or more parameters specify that at least one copy of a member of the selected set is a copy-on-write copy.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the one or more parameters include one or more hardware specifications for implementing the duplicate network.