SOFTWARE-CONTROLLED CLOUD EXCHANGE

• US 20160337180A1
• Filed: 01/20/2016
• Published: 11/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Equinix Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Equinix Incorporated
• Inventors: Rao, Ravindra JN
• Granted Patent: US 10,237,355 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0813 characterised by the conditions triggering a change of settings
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/20 Network management software packages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5025 by proactively reacting to service quality change, e.g. by reconfiguration after service quality degradation or upgrade
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5051 Service on demand, e.g. definition and deployment of services in real time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/586 of virtual routers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/64 using an overlay routing layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/10 characterised by the switching fabric construction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/25 Routing or path finding in a switch fabric
• 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 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/566 : Grouping or aggregating service requests, e.g. for unified processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 : Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 : Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols

Abstract

In some examples, a method includes: providing, by a programmable network platform (PNP), a software interface to receive service requests for configuration of services; receiving a service request to configure a service within the edge network of the one or more network data centers; generating, by the PNP and based on the service request, a service definition that specifies one or more service requirements to implement the service; determining at least one network field unit that is capable of servicing the service request, wherein the network field unit controls a portion of the edge network; determining one or more particular, physical devices of the edge network that are usable to provide the service; and configuring physical devices of the edge network to provide the service.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing, by a programmable network platform (PNP), a software interface to receive service requests for configuration of services within an edge network of one or more network data centers that are controlled by the PNP;

receiving, by the PNP and via the software interface, a service request to configure a network service within the edge network of the one or more network data centers, wherein the edge network within the one or more network data centers connect through one or more switching fabrics of the one or more network data centers;

generating, by the PNP and based on the service request, a network service definition that specifies one or more service requirements to implement the network service;

determining, by the PNP and based on the network service definition, at least one network field unit that is capable of servicing the service request, wherein the network field unit controls a portion of the edge network, wherein the network service definition is usable by the at least one network field unit to configure the portion of edge network to provide the service;

determining, by the at least one network field unit and based on the network service definition, one or more particular, physical devices of the edge network that are usable to provide the service; and

configuring, by the at least one network field unit, the one or more particular, physical devices of the edge network to provide the service.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring, by the PNP, performance data for the service that is received from the at least one network field unit;

comparing, by the PNP, the performance data with at least one of the service requirements of the service and service telemetry and analytics data stored by the PNP to determine whether the service requirements for the service are satisfied by performance of the portion of the edge network;

responsive to determining that the service requirements for the service are not satisfied, determining, by the PNP, at least one remedial action to satisfy the service requirements for the service; and

executing, by the PNP, the at least one remedial action.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein executing the at least one remedial action comprises sending one or more instructions to the at least one network field unit to reconfigure at least the portion of the edge network or a different portion of other interconnection assets of the edge network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more service requirements specify at least one of a type of service, a geographic location for the service, a bandwidth for the service, whether the bandwidth is burstable, an Excess Information Rate (EIR), a maximum latency for the bandwidth, an minimum availability level of the service, a cloud service provider for the service, or one or more security properties for the service.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the service comprises at least one of a layer 3 interconnection service, a firewall service, a data storage service, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) service, an analytics service, network address translation service, or a deep-packet inspection service.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to the at least one network field unit configuring the service at the portion of the edge network, storing, by the PNP, billing information that indicates a fee for provisioning the service to a requestor of the service; and

sending, by the PNP, an indication of the billing information to the requestor of the service.

7. The method of claim 1,

wherein the one or more network data centers are geographically dispersed, and

wherein a plurality of network field units are geographically dispersed, respectively, with the one or more geographically dispersed network data centers, each of the plurality of network field units controlling respective interconnection assets of one of the plurality of network data centers.

8. The method of claim 7,

wherein the service request does not specify particular, physical devices of the interconnection assets, and

wherein the network service definition is usable by the at least one network field unit to configure the particular, physical devices of the interconnection assets.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprises:

configuring the portion of the edge network to aggregate first cloud service traffic originating from a first cloud service provider and second cloud service traffic originating from a second cloud service provider; and

configuring the portion of the edge network to deliver the aggregated cloud service traffic.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the one or more particular, physical devices of the edge network further comprises:

sending, by the network field unit, and to at least one of a Software-Defined Network (SDN) controller or a hardware configurator, one or more instructions that are usable by the least one of the SDN controller or the hardware configurator to configure the one or more particular, physical devices of the edge network to provide the service.

11. The method of claim 1,

wherein the one or more network data centers are geographically dispersed, and

wherein a plurality of network field units that includes the network field unit are geographically dispersed, respectively, with the one or more geographically dispersed network data centers, each of the plurality of network field units controlling respective interconnection assets of one of the plurality of network data centers.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring one or more particular, physical devices of the edge network to provide the service further comprises:

configuring a plurality of provider edge routers included in the portion of the edge network to define one or more virtual private network routing and forwarding instances (VRFs) for the service.

13. A programmable network platform (PNP) comprising:

one or more computer processors; and

a memory comprising instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to;

provide a software interface to receive service requests for configuration of services within an edge network of one or more network data centers that are controlled by the PNP;

receive a service request to configure a network service within the edge network of the one or more network data centers, wherein the edge network within the one or more network data centers connect through one or more switching fabrics of the one or more network data centers;

generate a network service definition that specifies one or more service requirements to implement the network service;

determine, by the PNP and based on the network service definition, at least one network field unit that is capable of servicing the service request, wherein the network field unit controls a portion of the edge network, wherein the network service definition is usable by the at least one network field unit to configure the portion of edge network to provide the service;

determine, based on the network service definition, one or more particular, physical devices of the edge network that are usable to provide the service; and

configure the one or more particular, physical devices of the edge network to provide the service.

14. The PNP of claim 13, wherein the memory comprises instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to:

monitor performance data for the service that is received from the at least one network field unit;

compare the performance data with at least one of the service requirements of the service and service telemetry and analytics data stored by the PNP to determine whether the service requirements for the service are satisfied by performance of the portion of the edge network;

responsive to determining that the service requirements for the service are not satisfied, determine at least one remedial action to satisfy the service requirements for the service; and

execute the at least one remedial action.

15. The PNP of claim 14, wherein executing the at least one remedial action comprises sending one or more instructions to the at least one network field unit to reconfigure at least the portion of the edge network or a different portion of other interconnection assets of the edge network.

16. The PNP of claim 13, wherein the one or more service requirements specify at least one of a type of service, a geographic location for the service, a bandwidth for the service, whether the bandwidth is burstable, an Excess Information Rate (EIR), a maximum latency for the bandwidth, an minimum availability level of the service, a cloud service provider for the service, or one or more security properties for the service.

17. The PNP of claim 13, wherein the service comprises at least one of a layer 3 interconnection service, a firewall service, a data storage service, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) service, an analytics service, network address translation service, or a deep-packet inspection service.

18. The PNP of claim 13, wherein the memory comprises instructions that when executed by the one or more computer processors cause the one or more computer processors to:

responsive to the at least one network field unit configuring the service at the portion of the edge network, store billing information that indicates a fee for provisioning the service to a requestor of the service; and

send an indication of the billing information to the requestor of the service.

19. The PNP of claim 13,

wherein the one or more network data centers are geographically dispersed, and

wherein a plurality of network field units are geographically dispersed, respectively, with the one or more geographically dispersed network data centers, each of the plurality of network field units controlling respective interconnection assets of one of the plurality of network data centers.

20. The PNP of claim 13,

wherein the service request does not specify particular, physical devices of the interconnection assets, and

wherein the network service definition is usable by the at least one network field unit to configure the particular, physical devices of the interconnection assets.