On-demand bandwidth provisioning in a network environment

• US 9,300,538 B2
• Filed: 07/10/2014
• Issued: 03/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Reddy, K. Tirumaleswar, Patil, Prashanth, Wing, Daniel G., VerSteeg, William C., Wild, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): CHEN, SHIN HON
• Application Number:
  US14/328,421
• Publication Number:
  US 20160013985A1
• Time in Patent Office: 628 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/18 Delegation of network management function, e.g. customer network management [CNM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/25 with rate being modified by the source upon detecting a change of network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0807 using tickets, e.g. Kerberos cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using tickets or tokens H04L9/3213
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0892 by using authentication-authorization-accounting [AAA] servers or protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols

Abstract

An example method for facilitating on-demand bandwidth provisioning in a network environment is provided and includes receiving a request from a client at a first network for accommodating flow characteristics at a second network that is associated with executing an application at the first network, determining that the request cannot be fulfilled with available network resources allocated to the client by the second network, advising the client of additional cost for accommodating the flow characteristics, and authorizing additional network resources in the second network to accommodate the flow characteristics after receiving notification from the client of payment of the additional cost.

Claims

1. A method executed at a server in a network, comprising:

receiving a request from a client at a first network for accommodating flow characteristics at a second network to which the first network subscribes according to a subscriber level agreement (SLA), the flow characteristics being associated with executing an application in the first network, wherein the SLA prescribes allocation of certain network resources of the second network to flows associated with the first network;

determining that the request cannot be fulfilled with available network resources allocated to the client by the second network according to the SLA;

advising the client of additional cost for accommodating the flow characteristics;

receiving an access token from the client, wherein the access token is issued by an authorization server;

verifying the access token with the authorization server, wherein the authorization server verifies the access token with payment covering the additional cost for the requested flow characteristics and validates the access token against flow characteristics for which payment has been made;

accepting the access token as notification of payment if the authorization server validates the access token; and

authorizing additional network resources in the second network to accommodate the flow characteristics after receiving notification of payment of the additional cost.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the access token points to information about the flow characteristics and the additional cost at the authorization server.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a proxy acts as an intermediary for communication between the client and the server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first network comprises a customer premises network, and the second network comprises an access network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the authorization server is located in the access network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the flow characteristics, additional cost, and the notification are provided in packet metadata communicated between the client and the server.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein communication between the server and the client is according to port control protocol (PCP), wherein the packet metadata comprises options in a PCP message.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the PCP message comprises a PCP response message from the server to the client, wherein the options in the PCP response message comprises the additional cost information.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the PCP message comprises a PCP request message from the client to the server, wherein the options in the PCP request message comprises an access token indicating notification of payment of the additional cost.

10. Non-transitory computer readable storage media that includes instructions for execution, which when executed by a processor, is operable to perform operations comprising:

receiving a request from a client at a first network for accommodating flow characteristics at a second network to which the first network subscribes according to an SLA, the flow characteristics being associated with executing an application in the first network, wherein the SLA prescribes allocation of certain network resources of the second network to flows associated with the first network;

determining that the request cannot be fulfilled with available network resources allocated to the client by the second network according to the SLA;

advising the client of additional cost for accommodating the flow characteristics;

receiving an access token from the client, wherein the access token is issued by an authorization server;

verifying the access token with the authorization server, wherein the authorization server verifies the access token with payment covering the additional cost for the requested flow characteristics and validates the access token against flow characteristics for which payment has been made;

accepting the access token as notification of payment if the authorization server validates the access token; and

authorizing additional network resources in the second network to accommodate the flow characteristics after receiving notification of payment of the additional cost.

11. The media of claim 10, wherein the first network comprises a customer premises network, and the second network comprises an access network.

12. The media of claim 10, wherein the flow characteristics, additional cost, and the notification are provided in packet metadata communicated between the client and the server.

13. The media of claim 12, wherein communication between the server and the client is according to PCP, wherein the packet metadata comprises options in a PCP message.

14. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory element for storing data; and

a processor, wherein the processor executes instructions associated with the data, wherein the processor and the memory element cooperate, such that the apparatus is configured for;

receiving a request from a client at a first network for accommodating flow characteristics at a second network to which the first network subscribes according to an SLA, the flow characteristics being associated with executing an application in the first network, wherein the SLA prescribes allocation of certain network resources of the second network to flows associated with the first network;

determining that the request cannot be fulfilled with available network resources allocated to the client by the second network according to the SLA;

advising the client of additional cost for accommodating the flow characteristics;

receiving an access token from the client, wherein the access token is issued by an authorization server;

verifying the access token with the authorization server, wherein the authorization server verifies the access token with payment covering the additional cost for the requested flow characteristics and validates the access token against flow characteristics for which payment has been made;

accepting the access token as notification of payment if the authorization server validates the access token; and

authorizing additional network resources in the second network to accommodate the flow characteristics after receiving notification of payment of the additional cost.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the first network comprises a customer premises network, and the second network comprises an access network.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, the flow characteristics, additional cost, and notification are provided in packet metadata communicated between the client and the server.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein communication between the server and the client is according to PCP, wherein the packet metadata comprises options in a PCP message.