Resource management tools to create network containers and virtual machine associations

• US 9,276,816 B1
• Filed: 01/17/2011
• Issued: 03/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Conte, Charles R., Josyula, Venkata R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fan, Hua
• Application Number:
  US13/007,897
• Time in Patent Office: 1,870 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/122 of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities

Abstract

Provisioning of network containers provided as part of a cloud computing service. A network container defines a logical network topology to be hosted on a physical network infrastructure. One or more templates are populated using parameters and a network container profile associated with a requested network container. The requested network container is provisioned by translating the populated templates into a sequence of commands executed to configure the physical network infrastructure to host the requested network container.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving a request to provision a network container selected from a plurality of predefined network container definitions, wherein each network container definition defines a distinct logical network topology to be hosted on a physical network infrastructure, wherein the logical network topology specifies a configuration for one or more of virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) tables, virtual private networks (VPN), and virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) to provision for the network container, wherein a first one of the plurality of network container definitions specifies a base configuration including at least an access point, an internet protocol (IP) address range, and routing information, and wherein a second network container definition extends the base configuration, wherein the physical network infrastructure hosts a plurality of network containers, and wherein each network container provides complete logical segmentation from other network containers, of the plurality, on the physical network infrastructure;

receiving a set of one or more parameters specifying a configuration state for the requested network container;

populating one or more templates using the parameters and a network container profile associated with the requested network container; and

provisioning the requested network container by translating the populated templates into a sequence of commands executed to configure the physical network infrastructure to host the requested network container.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request to provision one or more virtual machine instances within the network container; and

launching the requested virtual machine instances on one or more computing systems, wherein each of the launched virtual machine instances are networked within the logical network topology provided by the provisioned network container.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the request to provision at least a first one of the virtual machines includes a request to install an application stack on the first virtual machine instance.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the application stack includes at least one of an application server, a web server, and a database application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical topology of the requested network container includes a virtualized firewall and wherein at least one of the templates is used to provision the virtualized firewall.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical topology of the requested network container includes a virtualized load balancer and wherein at least one of the templates is used to provision the virtualized load balancer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the network container profile specifies one or more virtualized networking infrastructure devices included in the logical network topology.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing code for execution by a central processing unit (CPU), wherein the code, when executed by the CPU, performs an operation, the operation comprising:

receiving a request to provision a network container selected from a plurality of predefined network container definitions, wherein the logical network topology specifies a configuration for one or more of virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) tables, virtual private networks (VPN), and virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) to provision for the network container, wherein each network container definition defines a distinct logical network topology to be hosted on a physical network infrastructure, wherein a first one of the plurality of network container definitions comprises a base configuration including at least an access point, an internet protocol (IP) address range, and routing information, and wherein a second network container definition extends the base configuration, wherein the physical network infrastructure hosts a plurality of network containers, and wherein each network container provides complete logical segmentation from other network containers, of the plurality, on the physical network infrastructure;

receiving a set of one or more parameters specifying a configuration state for the requested network container;

populating one or more templates using the parameters and a network container profile associated with the requested network container; and

provisioning the requested network container by translating the populated templates into a sequence of commands executed to configure the physical network infrastructure to host the requested network container.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the operation further comprises:

receiving a request to provision one or more virtual machine instances within the network container; and

launching the requested virtual machine instances on one or more computing systems, wherein each of the launched virtual machine instances are networked within the logical network topology provided by the provisioned network container.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the request to provision at least a first one of the virtual machines includes a request to install an application stack on the first virtual machine instance.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the application stack includes at least one of an application server, a web server, and a database application.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the logical topology of the requested network container includes a virtualized firewall and wherein at least one of the templates is used to provision the virtualized firewall.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the logical topology of the requested network container includes a virtualized load balancer and wherein at least one of the templates is used to provision the virtualized load balancer.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the network container profile specifies one or more virtualized networking infrastructure devices included in the logical network topology.

15. A system, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor storing one or more application programs, which, when executed on the processor, are configured to perform an operation, comprising;

receiving a request to provision a network container selected from a plurality of predefined network container definitions, wherein each network container definition defines a distinct logical network topology to be hosted on a physical network infrastructure, wherein the logical network topology specifies a configuration for one or more of virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) tables, virtual private networks (VPN), and virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) to provision for the network container, wherein a first one of the plurality of network container definitions comprises a base configuration including at least an access point, an internet protocol (IP) address range, and routing information, and wherein a second network container definition extends the base configuration, wherein the physical network infrastructure hosts a plurality of network containers, and wherein each network container provides complete logical segmentation from other network containers, of the plurality, on the physical network infrastructure,

receiving a set of one or more parameters specifying a configuration state for the requested network container,

populating one or more templates using the parameters and a network container profile associated with the requested network container, and

provisioning the requested network container by translating the populated templates into a sequence of commands executed to configure the physical network infrastructure to host the requested network container.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the operation further comprises:

receiving a request to provision one or more virtual machine instances within the network container; and

launching the requested virtual machine instances on one or more computing systems, wherein each of the launched virtual machine instances are networked within the logical network topology provided by the provisioned network container.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the request to provision at least a first one of the virtual machines includes a request to install an application stack on the first virtual machine instance.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the application stack includes at least one of an application server, a web server, and a database application.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the logical topology of the requested network container includes a virtualized firewall and wherein at least one of the templates is used to provision the virtualized firewall.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the logical topology of the requested network container includes a virtualized load balancer and wherein at least one of the templates is used to provision the virtualized load balancer.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the network container profile specifies one or more virtualized networking infrastructure devices included in the logical network topology.