Elastic cloud networking

• US 9,311,160 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2011
• Issued: 04/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Parker, Benjamin J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Srivastava, Vivek
• Assistant Examiner(s): Abedin, Normin
• Application Number:
  US13/293,411
• Publication Number:
  US 20130124712A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,615 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224, 709/225, 709/203, 709/206, 709/226
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/122 of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5051 Service on demand, e.g. definition and deployment of services in real time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5077 wherein the managed service relates to simple transport services, i.e. providing only network infrastructure
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/55 Testing of service level quality, e.g. simulating service usage

Abstract

A device receives network infrastructure requirements, and determines availabilities of network resources based on the network infrastructure requirements. The device recommends one or more of the network resources based on the availabilities of the network resources, and receives selection of particular network resources from the recommended one or more network resources. The device also connects the particular network resources to create a virtual network template, and verifies requirements for the particular network resources. The device further tests the virtual network template, and deploys the virtual network template via the particular network resources when the testing of the virtual network template is successful.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a device, network infrastructure requirements from a user, wherein the network infrastructure requirements include information of network resources required for a virtual network to be implemented and the network resources include one or more devices;

determining, by the device, availabilities of the network resources based on the network infrastructure requirements;

providing, by the device and to the user, recommendations of one or more of the network resources to be used in the virtual network based on the availabilities of the network resources;

receiving, by the device, user-selected network resources based on the recommendations;

creating, by the device, a virtual network template for testing, wherein the user-selected network resources are logically connected in the virtual network template;

testing, by the device, the virtual network template; and

deploying, by the device, the virtual network template via the user-selected network resources when the testing of the virtual network template is successful, wherein deploying the virtual network template comprises;

performing a current state analysis of attributes to operate the user-selected network resources, wherein the attributes include at least one of a bandwidth, processor utilization, memory utilization, or concurrent flows;

performing a future state analysis of the attributes;

modifying security policies associated with the user-selected network resources so that the user-selected network resources can be instantiated;

instantiating the user-selected network resources, performing load balancing for the user-selected network resources;

performing performance management collection, modeling, and tracking for the user-selected network resources;

providing a health check for the user-selected network resources; and

providing rate shaping requirements for the user-selected network resources, wherein the rate shaping requirements ensure at least one of delivery of a priority application without delay, quality of service, defense against bandwidth-abusing denial of service attacks, protection against traffic spikes, abusive users, or network attacks.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

verifying requirements for the user-selected network resources prior to testing the virtual network template, wherein the requirements for the user-selected network resources include networking attributes required for the user-selected network resources, and the networking attributes include at least one of a bandwidth, processor utilization, memory utilization, or concurrent flows.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising verifying requirements for the user-selected network resources prior to testing the virtual network template, wherein verifying the requirements for the user-selected network resources includes one or more of:

specifying at least one of performance management parameters, failover requirements, scaling requirements, and upgrade parameters associated with the user-selected network resources;

selecting network primitives for the user-selected network resources;

preparing a resource plan for the user-selected network resources;

planning maintenance events for the user-selected network resources; and

preparing a scale and performance model for the user-selected network resources.

4. The method of claim 1, where receiving network infrastructure requirements comprises:

providing for display, to the user, a catalog of representations of the network resources;

receiving, from the user, selection of particular representations of the network resources; and

determining the network infrastructure requirements based on the particular representations of the network resources.

5. The method of claim 1, where the user-selected network resources provide a virtual network to subscribers of the virtual network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the load balancing for the user-selected network resources is performed between two geographical locations.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a cost of deploying the virtual network presented in the virtual network template.

8. A device, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor to;

receive network infrastructure requirements, wherein the network infrastructure requirements include information of network resources required for a virtual network to be implemented and the network resources include one or more devices, determine availabilities of the network resources based on the network infrastructure requirements, recommend one or more of the network resources to be used in the virtual network, based on the availabilities of the network resources, receive selection of particular network resources from the recommended one or more network resources, create a virtual network template for testing, wherein representations of the particular network resources are logically connected in the virtual network template, test the virtual network template, and deploy the virtual network template via the particular network resources when the testing of the virtual network template is successful, wherein when deploying the virtual network template, the processor is further to;

perform a current state analysis of attributes to operate the particular network resources, wherein the attributes include at least one of a bandwidth, processor utilization, memory utilization, or concurrent flows, perform a future state analysis of the attributes, modify security policies associated with the particular network resources so that the particular network resources can be instantiated, instantiate the particular network resources, perform load balancing for the particular network resources, perform performance management collection, modeling, and tracking for the particular network resources, provide a health check for the particular network resources, and provide rate shaping requirements for the particular network resources, wherein the rate shaping requirements ensure at least one of delivery of a priority application without delay, quality of service, defense against bandwidth-abusing denial of service attacks, protection against traffic spikes, abusive users, or network attacks.

9. The device of claim 8, where the processor is further to:

verify requirements for the particular network resources prior to testing the virtual network template wherein the requirements for the particular network resources include networking attributes required for the particular network resources, and the networking attributes include at least one of a bandwidth, processor utilization, memory utilization, or concurrent flows.

10. The device of claim 8, where, the processor is further to verify requirements for the particular network resources prior to testing the virtual network template by one or more of:

specifying at least one of performance management parameters, failover requirements, scaling requirements, and upgrade parameters associated with the particular network resources, selecting network primitives for the particular network resources, preparing a resource plan for the particular network resources, planning maintenance events for the particular network resources, and preparing a scale and performance model for the particular network resources.

11. The device of claim 8, where, when receiving network infrastructure requirements, the processor is further to:

provide for display a catalog of representations of the network resources, receive selection of particular representations of the network resources, and determine the network infrastructure requirements based on the particular representations of the network resources.

12. The device of claim 8, where the processor is further to:

determine that the testing of the virtual network template is unsuccessful, recommend alternative network resources based on the unsuccessful test, receive selection of one or more of the alternative network resources from the recommended alternative network resources, connect the selected alternative network resources to create an alternative virtual network template, and test the alternative virtual network template.

13. The device of claim 8, wherein the processor performs the load balancing for the user-selected network resources between two geographical locations.

14. The device of claim 8, wherein the processor is further to provide a cost of deploying the virtual network presented in the virtual network template.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by a processor of a device, cause the processor to;

receive network infrastructure requirements, wherein the network infrastructure requirements include information of network resources required for a virtual network to be implemented and the network resources include one or more devices, determine availabilities of the network resources based on the network infrastructure requirements, recommend one or more of the network resources to be used in the virtual network, based on the availabilities of the network resources, receive selection of particular network resources from the recommended one or more network resources, create a virtual network template for testing, wherein representations of the particular network resources are connected in the virtual network template, verify requirements for the particular network resources, test the virtual network template, and deploy the virtual network template via the particular network resources when the testing of the virtual network template is successful, wherein when verifying requirements for the particular network resources, the computer-readable medium further comprises;

one or more instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to specify networking attributes associated with the particular network resources, wherein when deploying the virtual network template, the computer-readable medium further comprises;

one or more instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to one or more of;

perform a current state analysis of attributes to operate the particular network resources, wherein the attributes include at least one of a bandwidth, processor utilization, memory utilization, or concurrent flows, perform a future state analysis of the attributes, modify security policies associated with the particular network resources so that the particular network resources can be instantiated, instantiate the particular network resources, perform load balancing for the particular network resources, perform performance management collection, modeling, and tracking for the particular network resources, provide a health check for the particular network resources, and provide rate shaping requirements for the particular network resources, wherein the rate shaping requirements ensure at least one of delivery of a priority application without delay, quality of service, defense against bandwidth-abusing denial of service attacks, protection against traffic spikes, abusive users, or network attacks.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, where, when verifying requirements for the particular network resources, the computer-readable medium further comprises:

one or more instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to one or more of;

specify at least one of performance management parameters, failover requirements, scaling requirements, and upgrade parameters associated with the particular network resources, select network primitives for the particular network resources, prepare a resource plan for the particular network resources, plan maintenance events for the particular network resources, and prepare a scale and performance model for the particular network resources.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, where, when receiving network infrastructure requirements, the computer-readable medium further comprises:

one or more instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to one or more of;

provide for display a catalog of representations of the network resources, receive selection of particular representations of the network resources, and determine the network infrastructure requirements based on the particular representations of the network resources.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to one or more of;

determine that the testing of the virtual network template is unsuccessful, recommend alternative network resources based on the unsuccessful test, receive selection of one or more of the alternative network resources from the recommended alternative network resources, connect the selected alternative network resources to create an alternative virtual network template, and test the alternative virtual network template.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the processor performs the load balancing for the user-selected network resources between two geographical locations.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to provide a cost of deploying the virtual network presented in the virtual network template.