Cloud computing nodes for aggregating cloud computing resources from multiple sources

• US 9,467,395 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2013
• Issued: 10/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vmware LLC (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Schmidt, Rene W., Moeller, Jan, Sweet, Marc Ryan
• Primary Examiner(s): WASEL, MOHAMED A
• Application Number:
  US13/800,543
• Publication Number:
  US 20140280948A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,308 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/226
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/00 Security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6281 at program execution time, where the protection is within the operating system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/827 Aggregation of resource allocation or reservation requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/00 Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00; network architectures or network communication protocols for wireless network security H04W12/00; security arrangements for protecting computers or computer systems against unauthorised activity G06F21/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks

Abstract

A disclosed example method to aggregate resources in a cloud involves receiving a request for a resource at a first tenant application programming interface provider of an internal cloud service. The example method involves using a virtualization platform application programming interface client of the internal cloud service to access the resource when the resource is an internal resource. When the resource is an external resource, a tenant application programming interface client of the internal cloud service is used to send a second request for the resource to a second tenant application programming interface provider of an external cloud service.

Claims

1. A method to aggregate resources in a cloud, the method comprising:

receiving, by executing a first instruction with a processor, a first request for a resource at an application programming interface in an internal cloud service, the application programming interface including a first tenant application programming interface provider and a tenant application programming interface client, the first request received via the first tenant application programming interface provider;

when the resource is an internal resource provided by the internal cloud service, using, by executing a second instruction with the processor, a virtualization platform application programming interface client of the internal cloud service to access the resource; and

when the resource is an external resource provided by an external cloud service different from the internal cloud service, using, by executing a third instruction with the processor, the tenant application programming interface client in the internal cloud service, different from the virtualization platform application programming interface client, to send a second request for the resource to a second tenant application programming interface provider in the external cloud service.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, further including deploying a virtual machine via a virtual data center to provide a tenant with access to the resource.

3. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the internal cloud service is an infrastructure as a service.

4. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first tenant application programming interface provider and the tenant application programming interface client of the same application programming interface are in a first cloud computing node of the internal cloud service, and the second tenant application programming interface provider is in a second cloud computing node of the external cloud service.

5. The method as defined in claim 4, further including performing first authentication procedures on a tenant using a first service in the first cloud computing node, the second cloud computing node performs second authentication procedures on the first cloud computing node using a second service in the second cloud computing node.

6. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first tenant application interface provider and the tenant application programming interface client do not expose whether the resource is provisioned from the internal cloud service or the external cloud service to the tenant.

7. An apparatus to aggregate resources in a cloud, the apparatus comprising:

a memory including machine readable instructions; and

a processor to execute the instructions to implement;

a first tenant application programming interface provider of an application programming interface in an internal cloud service, the first tenant application programming interface provider to communicate with a first virtual data center of the internal cloud service;

a cloud resource pool of aggregated resources, at least some of the aggregated resources to be accessed via the first virtual data center by a tenant via the first tenant application programming interface provider;

a virtualization platform application programming interface client to aggregate at least some resources of the internal cloud service into the cloud resource pool; and

a tenant application programming interface client of the application programming interface in the internal cloud service, the tenant application programming interface client being different from the virtualization platform application programming interface client, the tenant application programming interface client to communicate with the cloud resource pool, the tenant application programming interface client to communicate with a second tenant application programming interface provider in an external cloud service different from the internal cloud service, and to aggregate at least some resources from the external cloud service.

8. The apparatus as defined in claim 7, wherein the first virtual data center is to run a virtual machine to provide the tenant with access to the resources.

9. The apparatus as defined in claim 7, wherein the internal cloud service is an infrastructure as a service.

10. The apparatus as defined in claim 7, wherein the first tenant application programming interface provider and the tenant application programming interface client of the same application programming interface are in a first cloud computing node of the internal cloud service, and the second tenant application programming interface provider is in a second cloud computing node of the external cloud service.

11. The apparatus as defined in claim 10, further including a first service in the first cloud computing node to perform first authentication procedures on the tenant, the second cloud computing node having a second service to perform second authentication procedures on the first cloud computing node.

12. The apparatus as defined in claim 7, wherein the internal cloud service is provided by an organization of the tenant, the external cloud service is provided by a third-party cloud provider, and the first tenant application programming interface provider and the tenant application programming interface client do not expose whether the resources are provisioned from the internal cloud service or the external cloud service to the tenant.

13. A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to at least:

when a resource requested from a first tenant application programming interface provider in an internal cloud service is an internal resource provided by the internal cloud service, use a virtualization platform application programming interface client of the internal cloud service to access the resource; and

when the resource is an external resource provided by an external cloud service different from the internal cloud service, use a tenant application programming interface client in the internal cloud service, different from the virtualization platform application programming interface client, to send a request for the resource to a second tenant application programming interface provider in the external cloud service.

14. The tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to deploy a virtual machine in a virtual data center to provide a tenant with access to the resource.

15. The tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 13, wherein the internal cloud service is an infrastructure as a service.

16. The tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 13, wherein the first application programming interface provider and the tenant application programming interface client are in a first cloud computing node of the internal cloud service, and the second tenant application programming interface provider is in a second cloud computing node of the external cloud service.

17. The tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to perform first authentication procedures on a tenant using a first service in the first cloud computing node, and the instructions cause the second cloud computing node to perform second authentication procedures on the first cloud computing node using a second service in the second cloud computing node.

18. The tangible computer readable storage medium as defined in claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to not expose to the tenant whether the resource is provisioned from the internal cloud service or the external cloud service.

19. A cloud computing infrastructure comprising:

a first cloud computing node in a first cloud internal to an enterprise;

a virtualization platform application programming interface client associated with the first cloud computing node, the virtualization platform application programming interface client to provide a user with access to first resources internal to the enterprise; and

a tenant application programming interface client, different from the virtualization platform application programming interface client, to provide the user with access to second resources of an external cloud architecture, the first cloud computing node to communicate with a second cloud computing node in a second cloud external to the enterprise via the tenant application programming interface client to provide the access to the second resources.

20. The cloud computing node as defined in claim 19, wherein the first cloud computing node provides access to the first and second resources without informing the user that the second resources are external to the enterprise.