Provisioning dedicated network resources with API services

• US 9,992,079 B2
• Filed: 11/04/2016
• Issued: 06/05/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Caputo, II, Pete Joseph, Ritchie, Austin David, Prehmus, Alan Wade, Ewert, Travis Duane, Teets, Harold Wayne
• Primary Examiner(s): SALAD, ABDULLAHI ELMI
• Application Number:
  US15/344,115
• Publication Number:
  US 20170054608A1
• Time in Patent Office: 578 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1421 Indication of expected costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• 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 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5054 Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/72 using reservation actions during connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

Embodiments are disclosed that provision a cloud-based service together with a dedicated network connection to provision a cloud-based service element. In response to the request both the cloud-based service element and a dedicated network connection are provisioned. Provisioning the cloud-based service element together with the dedicated network connection enables the cloud-based service element to utilize the dedicated network connection.

Claims

1. A method for provisioning a cloud-based service, comprising:

receiving a user requirement to provision a cloud-based service element, wherein the user requirement comprises an endpoint that serves a user associated with the user requirement and a data center that serves the cloud-based service element, and wherein the data center is accessible to the endpoint via a network;

determining a network topology of the network based on the user requirement, wherein the network topology includes at least a first switching device and a second switching device, wherein both of the first and second switching devices are part of the network that connects the data center to the endpoint;

calculating a price of the user requirement, wherein the price is based on the network topology; and

in response to receiving a network configuration request, provisioning a network connection based on the network topology, wherein the provisioning includes configuring the first switching device and the second switching device to connect the endpoint with the data center, wherein the first switching device and the second switching device are of different types, and wherein configuring the first switching device and the second switching device comprises sending type-specific commands to the first switching device and the second switching device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the price is further based on an endpoint location associated with the endpoint, and wherein the price is further based on a data center location associated with the data center.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the endpoint location is a location of an enterprise network associated with the user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user requirement further comprises with a required bandwidth.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the provisioning further includes configuring the one or more switching devices to provide the required bandwidth.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the price is further based on the required bandwidth associated with the user requirement.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the price is further based on the cloud-based service element.

8. A system for provisioning a cloud-based service, comprising:

a computing device;

a network configuration module, implemented on the computing device, configured to;

receive a user requirement to provision a cloud-based service element, wherein the user requirement includes an endpoint that serves a user associated with the user requirement and a data center that serves the cloud-based service element, and wherein the data center is accessible to the endpoint via a network;

determine a network topology of the network based on the user requirement, wherein the network topology comprises at least a first switching device and a second switching device, wherein both of the first and second switching devices are part of the network that connects the data center to the endpoint;

provision a network connection based on the network topology, wherein the provisioning comprises configuring the first switching device and the second switching device to connect the endpoint with the data center, wherein the first switching device and the second switching device are of different types, and wherein configuring the first switching device and the second switching device comprises sending type-specific commands to the first switching device and the second switching device; and

a network application programming interface (API) handler module, implemented on the computing device, configured to determine a price of serving the user requirement based on the network topology.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the provisioning is performed in response to receiving a network configuration request.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the price is based on an endpoint location associated with the endpoint, and wherein the price is based on a data center location associated with the data center.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the user requirement is further associated with a required bandwidth.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the price is based on the required bandwidth.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the provisioning further includes configuring the one or more switching devices to provide the required bandwidth.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the network connection is an Ethernet E-Line.

15. A program storage device tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by at least one machine to perform a method for provisioning a cloud-based service, the method comprising:

receiving a user requirement to provision a cloud-based service element, wherein the user requirement comprises an endpoint that serves a user associated with the user requirement and a data center that serves the cloud-based service element, and wherein the data center is accessible to the endpoint via a network;

determining a network topology of the network based on the user requirement, wherein the network topology comprises at least a first switching device and a second switching device, wherein both of the first and second switching devices are part of the network that connects the data center to the endpoint;

calculating a price of the user requirement, wherein the price is based on the network topology; and

in response to receiving a network configuration request, provisioning a network connection based on the network topology, wherein the first switching device and the second switching device are configured to connect the endpoint with the data center, wherein the first switching device and the second switching device are of different types, and wherein configuring the first switching device and the second switching device comprises sending type-specific commands to the first switching device and the second switching device.

16. The program storage device of claim 15, wherein the price is based on an endpoint location associated with the endpoint, and wherein the price is based on a data center location associated with the data center.

17. The program storage device of claim 15, wherein the user requirement IS further associated with a required bandwidth.

18. The program storage device of claim 17, wherein the price is based on the required bandwidth associated with the user requirement.

19. The program storage device of claim 17, wherein the provisioning further includes configuring the one or more switching devices to provide the required bandwidth.

20. The program storage device of claim 15, wherein the price is based on the cloud-based service element.