U.S. patent application number 16/831887 was filed with the patent office on 2020-07-16 for autonomous system bridge connecting in a telecommunications network.
This patent application is currently assigned to Level 3 Communications, LLC. The applicant listed for this patent is Level 3 Communications, LLC. Invention is credited to Michael E. Feldpusch, Austin D. Ritchie, Jin-Gen Wang.
Application Number | 20200228373 16/831887 |
Document ID | 20200228373 / US20200228373 |
Family ID | 65039046 |
Filed Date | 2020-07-16 |
Patent Application | download [pdf] |
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United States Patent
Application |
20200228373 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Feldpusch; Michael E. ; et
al. |
July 16, 2020 |
AUTONOMOUS SYSTEM BRIDGE CONNECTING IN A TELECOMMUNICATIONS
NETWORK
Abstract
Methods and systems for facilitating communication between two
or more autonomous system instances include the instantiation of a
bridge between the autonomous system (AS) instances. The bridge
includes multiple virtual routers each of which is connected using
a Layer 2 and a Layer 3 connection to a respective one of the AS
instances. For example, each router may be connected to a
respective AS instance by each of a virtual local area network
(VLAN) connection and a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) session. To
facilitate the BGP session, the bridge may be assigned an AS number
(ASN) different than that of each of the AS instances and that is
exchanged between the routers and the AS instances. Routing within
the bridge may be facilitated by the exchange of interior gateway
protocol (IGP) information between the virtual routers.
Inventors: |
Feldpusch; Michael E.;
(Westminster, CO) ; Wang; Jin-Gen; (Lafayette,
CO) ; Ritchie; Austin D.; (Parker, CO) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Level 3 Communications, LLC |
Broomfield |
CO |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Level 3 Communications, LLC
Broomfield
CO
|
Family ID: |
65039046 |
Appl. No.: |
16/831887 |
Filed: |
March 27, 2020 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
16047806 |
Jul 27, 2018 |
10608841 |
|
|
16831887 |
|
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62538148 |
Jul 28, 2017 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 61/103 20130101;
H04L 12/4625 20130101; H04L 45/02 20130101; H04L 45/04 20130101;
H04L 43/50 20130101; H04L 12/4675 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04L 12/46 20060101
H04L012/46; H04L 29/12 20060101 H04L029/12; H04L 12/715 20060101
H04L012/715; H04L 12/751 20060101 H04L012/751 |
Claims
1. A method for operating a telecommunications network, the method
comprising: receiving a request to connect a first autonomous
system (AS) instance with a second AS instance, the first AS
instance having a first AS number (ASN) and the second AS instance
having a second ASN; instantiating a bridge within the
telecommunications network to facilitate communication between the
first AS instance and the second AS instance, the bridge including
a first virtual router communicatively coupled to a second virtual
router; establishing each of a first Layer 2 connection between the
first virtual router and the first AS instance and a second Layer 2
connection between the second virtual router and the second AS
instance; and establishing each of a first Layer 3 connection
between the first virtual router and the first AS instance and a
second Layer 3 connection between the second virtual router and the
second AS instance.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the first Layer 2
connection and the second Layer 2 connection are virtual local area
network (VLAN) connections.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the bridge is associated with a
bridge AS number (ASN), the bridge ASN being different from each of
the first ASN and the second ASN, and establishing each of the
first Layer 3 connection and the second Layer 3 further comprises
providing the bridge ASN to the first AS instance and the second AS
instance during respective Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
sessions.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein instantiating the bridge further
comprises exchanging Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) information
between the first virtual router and the second virtual router for
routing communications between the first virtual router and the
second virtual router.
5. The method of claim 1 further comprising: receiving a second
request to connect each of the first AS instance and the second AS
instance to a third AS instance; adding a third virtual router to
the bridge, the third virtual router communicatively coupled to
each of the first virtual router and the second virtual router;
establishing a third Layer 2 connection between the third virtual
router and the third AS instance; and establishing a third Layer 3
connection between the third virtual router and the third AS
instance.
6. The method of claim 1 further comprising routing traffic between
the first AS instance and the second AS instance through the
bridge.
7. The method of claim 1 further comprising automatically
disconnecting the bridge from at least one of the first AS instance
and the second AS instance in response to a predetermined period of
time expiring.
8. A system for transmitting traffic between autonomous system
instances, the system comprising: a computing device
communicatively couplable to a telecommunications network, the
computing device configured to: receive a request to connect a
first autonomous system (AS) instance with a second AS instance,
the first AS instance having a first AS number (ASN) and the second
AS instance having a second ASN; instantiate a bridge within the
telecommunications network to facilitate communication between the
first AS instance and the second AS instance, the bridge including
a first virtual router communicatively coupled to a second virtual
router; initiate each of a first Layer 2 connection between the
first virtual router and the first AS instance and a second Layer 2
connection between the second virtual router and the second AS
instance; and initiate each of a first Layer 3 connection between
the first virtual router and the first AS instance and a second
Layer 3 connection between the second virtual router and the second
AS instance.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the computing device is further
configured to initiate each of the first Layer 2 connection and the
second Layer 2 connection includes initiating respective virtual
local area network (VLAN) connections.
10. The system of claim 8, wherein the computing device is further
configured to: receive a second request to connect each of the
first AS instance and the second AS instance to a third AS
instance; add a third virtual router to the bridge, the third
virtual router communicatively coupled to each of the first virtual
router and the second virtual router; initiate a third Layer 2
connection between the third virtual router and the third AS
instance; and initiate a third Layer 3 connection between the third
virtual router and the third AS instance.
11. The system of claim 8, wherein the computing device is
configured to instantiating the bridge by initiating an exchange of
Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) information between the first
virtual router and the second virtual router.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to
systems and methods for implementing a telecommunications network
and more specifically for utilizing two or more virtual routers in
a telecommunications network to provide a communication path
between autonomous systems connected to the telecommunications
network.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Telecommunication networks provide for the transmission of
information across some distance through terrestrial, wireless or
satellite communication networks. Such communications may involve
voice, data or multimedia information, among others. In addition,
telecommunication networks often offer features and/or services to
the customers of the network that provide flexible and varied ways
in which the communications are transmitted over the network. For
example, some telecommunication networks provide Internet access to
its customers, long distance communication capabilities, high
definition audio and/or video communication capabilities, and the
like. In other examples, the telecommunication network may be
utilized to provide connectivity to one or more cloud-based
resources offered by a third party. In other words, customers may
purchase resources from a public cloud service to virtualize one or
more of their processes and connect to such resources through a
telecommunications network.
[0003] In some instances, the request services from a cloud
environment in multiple locations or regions. For example, a
customer to the telecommunications network may request a connection
to the cloud environment in a first location (such as Dallas, Tex.)
and a connection to the cloud environment in a different location
(such as Denver, Colo.) in circumstances where the customer has
sites or data centers in Dallas and Denver. In turn, the
telecommunications network may attempt to connect the cloud regions
such that the regions can exchange communications related to the
cloud services provided to the customer. For example, the cloud
environment may provide an automatic redundancy service to
customers that stores data or other information in each region the
customer is connected to the cloud environment. To facilitate the
exchange of information between the cloud regions for the
redundancy service, the network may connect the two cloud regions
together through the network to exchange the redundant data.
However, some cloud environments (or other networks) may not allow
connections to other cloud environments (or other networks) for
various business or other network operation considerations. In such
instances, the cloud service may not be provided to the customer as
desired. For example, backup or syncing between two regions of the
network may require transmission of data over a network that may be
public, unencrypted, or otherwise fail to meet the requirements of
the customer.
SUMMARY
[0004] In one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for
operating a telecommunications network is provided. The method
includes receiving a request to connect a first autonomous system
(AS) instance with a second AS instance, the first AS instance
having a first AS number (ASN) and the second AS instance having a
second ASN. A bridge including virtual routers is instantiated
within the telecommunications network to facilitate communication
between the first AS instance and the second AS instance. In one
implementation, the bridge includes each of a first virtual router
and a second virtual router that are communicatively coupled. The
method further includes establishing a first Layer 2 connection and
a first Layer 3 connection between the first virtual router and the
first AS instance and establishing each of a second Layer 2
connection and a second Layer 3 connection between the second
virtual router and the second AS instance.
[0005] In another aspect of the present disclosure, a method for
transmitting traffic between AS instances is provided. The method
includes receiving traffic from a first AS instance connected to a
first virtual router of a bridge by each of a first Layer 2
connection and a first Layer 3 connection. The traffic is routed
within the bridge from the first virtual router to a second virtual
router of the bridge, the second virtual router being connected to
a second AS instance by each of a second Layer 2 connection and a
second Layer 3 connection. The traffic is then directed from the
second virtual router to the second AS instance.
[0006] In yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a system
for transmitting traffic between AS instances is provided. The
system includes a computing device communicatively couplable to a
telecommunications network. The computing device is configured to
receive a request to connect a first AS instance with a second AS
instance, the first AS instance having a first AS number (ASN) and
the second AS instance having a second ASN. The computing device is
further configured to instantiate a bridge within the
telecommunications network to facilitate communication between the
first AS instance and the second AS instance, the bridge including
a first virtual router communicatively coupled to a second virtual
router. The computing device is also configured to initiate each of
a first Layer 2 connection and a first Layer 3 connection between
the first virtual router and the first AS instance and each of a
second Layer 2 connection and a second Layer 3 connection between
the second virtual router and the second AS instance.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a first network
environment for creating a communication route between two
autonomous system (AS) instances connected to the network.
[0008] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a second network
environment for creating a communication route between two AS
instances connected to the network.
[0009] FIG. 3 is flowchart illustrating a method for utilizing two
or more virtual routers in a telecommunications network to provide
a communication path between AS instances connected to the
network.
[0010] FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for a virtual
router of a virtual bridge to establish a communication route for
transmission of communication packets.
[0011] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a network
environment for utilizing a virtual bridge to provide one or more
telecommunication services to a customer of the network.
[0012] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a computing
system which may be used in implementing embodiments of the present
disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0013] Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods,
computer program products, and the like, for utilizing a virtual
bridge in a telecommunications network to provide a communication
path between two or more autonomous system (AS) instances connected
to the network. The virtual bridge is assigned an AS number (ASN)
unique from those of the AS instances and generally includes a
virtual router for each AS instance to be connected through the
bridge. Each virtual router may be connected to a respective AS
instance by both a Layer 2 connection (e.g., a virtual local area
network (VLAN) connection) and a Layer 3 connection (e.g., a Border
Gateway Protocol (BGP) connection). The virtual routers of the
bridge are also connected to each other, such as by exchanging
Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) information, to facilitate routing
of traffic through the bridge.
[0014] For purposes of this disclosure, the term "autonomous system
instance" or "AS instance" refers to a collection of connected
Internet Protocol (IP) or similar routing prefixes under the
control of one or more network operators. In certain cases, an AS
instance may be both physically and logically unique such that the
terms AS instance and AS are substantially interchangeable. For
example, each AS instance may correspond to a different vendor
network. In other cases, two or more AS instances may share a
common routing framework or otherwise be representative of a common
AS. For example, one AS instance may be located in and correspond
to a first geographic region while the second AS instance may
correspond to and be located in a second geographic region,
however, each of the first AS instance and the second AS instance
may correspond to a common AS. In such implementations, each AS
instance may share identifying information, such as an AS number
(ASN). Such multiple AS instances may be used, for example, to
provide regional duplicates of a cloud environment.
[0015] In embodiments of the present disclosure, virtual routers
provide a communication bridge between AS instances such as, for
example and without limitation, regional AS instances implementing
a cloud computing environment. A first AS instance, for example,
may connect to a first virtual router of the telecommunications
network while a second AS instance may connect to a second virtual
router of the network. The virtual routers may then exchange
communications to complete the bridge between the AS instances. In
this manner, the telecommunications network may create a
communication bridge through the virtual routers for the AS
instances in circumstances where the AS instances will not
otherwise facilitate or permit such a connection. The bridge may
further implement or facilitate one or more network services for
customers to the telecommunications network, such as creating a
scrubbing network for customer traffic between the virtual routers
and/or providing a translation adapter between autonomous systems
that are otherwise incompatible. In general, the use of virtual
routers may be used in the telecommunications network to create a
communication bridge for any reason.
[0016] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a first network
environment 100 for creating a communication route between two or
more AS instances 110, 112 connected to the telecommunications
network 102. In particular, the network environment 100 of FIG. 1
shows the connections formed through the network 102 to facilitate
communication between a first regional AS instance ("region A") 110
and a second regional AS instance ("region B") 112 in response to
connecting a customer 106 with a virtual cloud environment or other
type of telecommunications network. Region A 110 can be accessed
through a first provider edge device 130 of the network 102 in
communication with a cloud provider router A 140. Similarly, region
B 112 can be accessed through a second provider edge device 150 of
the network 102 in communication with a cloud provider router B 142
of region B 112.
[0017] For purposes of the following discussion, region A 110 and
region B 112 correspond to regional instances of a common AS
implementing a cloud computing environment. However, as previously
noted, implementations of the present disclosure are more generally
directed to facilitating communication between AS instances,
regardless of whether such instances correspond to a common AS
framework. While region A 110 and region B 112 are used in the
following example implementations, implementations of the present
disclosure are not limited to such applications.
[0018] Referring back to FIG. 1, devices and/or network(s) of the
customer 106 connect to the network 102 through a customer provider
edge device 132. Through this connection, the customer 106 may
communicate with one or more other networks or cloud environments,
including but not limited to separate regions within the same cloud
environment and different vendor networks. Although discussed
herein as connecting to geographically separated regions within a
cloud environment, it should be appreciated that the systems and
methods described may apply to any networks that connect to the
network 102 in multiple locations (either physically or logically).
Further, the cloud environment may also connect to the network 102
in more than one location or connection point. For example, a cloud
environment or network may connect in a first location or region
(e.g., region A 110) through one provider edge (e.g., the first
provider edge 130) and in a second location or region (e.g., region
B 112) through another provider edge (e.g., the second provider
edge 150). In one implementation, the cloud environment may connect
a first cloud provider router, such as cloud provider router A 140
of region A 110, to the first provider edge 130 and a second cloud
provider router, such as cloud provider router B 142 of region B
112, to the second provider edge 150. Although not illustrated in
FIG. 1 for simplicity, the network 102 may also connect the
customer 106 to each region 110, 112 of the cloud environment to
facilitate exchange of traffic between the customer 106 and the
cloud environment.
[0019] In some implementations and as part of providing connections
to the cloud environment, the network 102 may also provide a
communication tunnel or other communication route between two or
more regions of the cloud environment connected to the network 102.
For example, the network 102 may establish a communication tunnel
114, such as a private Ethernet connection, between cloud provider
router A 140 and cloud provider router B 142 such that the routers
in the different regions may exchange information at a Layer 2
level. In certain implementations, the Layer 2 connection between
the regions may be implemented using a Virtual Local Area Network
(VLAN) connection.
[0020] Establishment of a Layer 3 Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
connection may also be attempted through the network 102 for Layer
3 communication between the regions 110, 112. In general, BGP
information (also referred to as a BGP session, BGP feed, or BGP
data) is a table of Internet Protocol (IP) prefixes which designate
network connectivity between autonomous systems or other separate
networks. BGP information for a network route may include path
(including next-hop information), network policies, and/or
rule-sets for transmission along the path, among other information.
A BGP feed may also include Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP)
information for network routes within a given AS or network and/or
other network information that pertains to the transmission of
content from the network. BGP information mainly describes routes
used by the network 102 to connect to external networks or
customers (such as customer 106 and regions 110, 112) while IGP
information describes routes through the network to connect one
provider edge (such as provider edge 130) to another provider edge
(such as provider edge 150) through the network 102.
[0021] The communication tunnel 114 may be used by the cloud
environment to provide certain services to the customer 106, such
as redundant back-up of data storage, failover protection, secured
transfer of data through the communication route 114, etc. However,
in some instances, establishing a direct Layer 3 BGP connection
between the regions 110, 112 may not be allowed by the cloud
environment. For example, due to various business or other
operation considerations, a host of the cloud environment may
prohibit or otherwise not support directly connecting different
regions of the cloud environment. For example, during a BGP session
between autonomous systems, the networks exchange AS numbers (ASNs)
assigned to the respective autonomous systems for use in routing
communications between the autonomous systems. Some autonomous
systems, however, will not allow an exchange of the same ASN when
two networks are connecting to each other through a BGP session.
So, for example, if region A 110 and region B 112 are instances of
a common AS and share an ASN, connection between region A 110 and
region B 112 may be prohibited or otherwise not possible. Thus, the
network 102 may receive an error message from the cloud environment
when trying to establish a Layer 3 BGP connection between region A
110 and region B 112 of the cloud environment and the Layer 3
connection will not be established. Because a Layer 3 BGP
connection cannot be established between region A 110 and region B
112, the customer 106 must generally rely on other connections
through the network 102 to facilitate data transfer between the
regions 110, 112 and such connections may not meet the security,
privacy, encryption, or other needs of the customer 106.
[0022] To address this issue, a virtual bridge may be created
within the network 102 to facilitate communication between the
regions 110, 112. In particular, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram
illustrating a second network environment 200 for creating a
communication route between two AS instances. As in FIG. 1, the AS
instances are discussed in the following example as being regional
instances of a common AS framework/cloud computing environment,
namely, region A 210 and region B 212. However, as previously noted
implementations of the present disclosure are not limited to such
implementations but may be more broadly implemented to connect and
facilitate communication between any AS instances.
[0023] Many of the components of the network environment 200 are
the same or similar to components in the network 100 configuration
of FIG. 1. For example, customer 206 may be similar to customer 106
described above, network 202 may be similar to network 102, and
each of cloud provider router A 240, cloud provider router B 242,
and provider edges 230, 232, 250 may be similar to cloud provider
router A 140, cloud provider router B 142, and provider edges 130,
132, and 150, respectively. However, included in network 202 is a
virtual bridge 220 for providing a communication route between
region A 210 (e.g., through cloud provider router A 240) and region
B 212 (e.g., through cloud provider router B 242) of the cloud
environment.
[0024] In one implementation, the virtual bridge 220 includes a
first virtual router ("VR-A") 222 in communication with a second
virtual router ("VR-B") 224. Each virtual router can be
multi-tenant and may handle services for one or more customers
connected to it. Although discussed herein as virtual routers, it
should be appreciated that VR-A 222 and VR-B 224 may be physical
routers, virtual routers, or a combination of virtual and physical
routers. The virtual routers 222, 224 may operate as a router,
switch, or other networking device of the network 202 by receiving
communications or packets and routing the received packets based on
an available routing table. To establish communication between the
virtual routers 222, 224, interior gateway protocol (IGP) or
similar information describing communication routes between the
routers 222, 224 may be exchanged by the routers 222, 224. Although
other topologies are possible, in certain implementations, a
communication route may be defined between each pair of virtual
routers such that transmission of traffic through the bridge is as
direct and simple as possible. As discussed below in more detail,
the IGP information defining routes between the virtual routers of
the bridge may be updated in response to the addition or removal of
virtual routers from the bridge 220.
[0025] Based on the IGP information, packets received at VR-A 222
may be transmitted to VR-B 224 through the network 202, and vice
versa. In addition, a Layer 2 connection may be established between
the virtual routers 222, 224 and a respective region 210, 212 of
the cloud environment. For example, a first VLAN connection 228 may
be established between cloud provider router A 240 of region A 210
and VR-A 222. Similarly, a second VLAN connection 234 may be
established between cloud provider router B 242 of region B 212 and
VR-B 224. Through this connection, a Layer 2 communication tunnel
may be created between the regions 210, 212 of the cloud
environment, namely cloud provider router A 240 to VR-A 222 through
VLAN A 228, VR-A 222 to VR-B 224 through network 202, and VR-B 224
to cloud provider router B 242 through VLAN B 234.
[0026] Further, the virtual bridge 220 facilitates Layer 3
connection between the regions 210, 212 of the cloud environment
through the network 202. For example, the bridge 220 can be treated
as an AS distinct from the regions 210, 212 and may be assigned or
otherwise associated with a unique ASN. The ASN associated with the
bridge 220 may then be provided to region A 210 and region B 212 of
the cloud environment through a BGP session. By doing so, the
bridge 220 functions as an intermediary between the regions 210,
212 such that a direct (and possibly prohibited) connection between
the regions 210, 212 no longer occurs. As a result, a Layer 3
connection between the regions 210, 212 is possible even if the
regions 210, 212 share the same ASN or are otherwise
incompatible.
[0027] It should be appreciated that the virtual bridge 220 may be
used for connecting more than two regions 210, 212 of the cloud
environment. For example, a third region of the cloud environment
may be connected to the network 202. The third region may also
share information from cloud region A 210 and/or cloud region B
212. In such an implementation, a third virtual router may be
included in the virtual bridge 220 for establishing a Layer 2 and
Layer 3 connection with the third region. The third virtual router
may also share IGP routing information with the other virtual
routers 222, 224 of the bridge 220 such that traffic from all
routers is properly directed through the bridge 220. In this
manner, any number of regions of the cloud environment may be
connected to the virtual bridge 220 through a virtual router to
interconnect the regions for information sharing. In certain
implementations, virtual routers and the creation and removal of
connections between any two or more virtual routers in the virtual
bridge 220 may be created, removed, or modified dynamically. For
example, as regions of the cloud environment are added or removed,
the number of virtual routers of the virtual bridge 220 can be
correspondingly increased or decreased, respectively, to account
for the changes to the cloud environment. Moreover, as virtual
routers of the virtual bridge 220 are added, removed, or modified,
the connections between the virtual routers can similarly be added,
removed, or modified to account for such changes.
[0028] In some embodiments, the connections between regions 210,
212 and the virtual bridge 220 may be established on a dynamic, on
demand basis. For example, customer 206 may request a connection to
regions 210, 212 for a certain period of time (e.g., during a
specific time of day that facilitates syncing/backup cheaply or
quickly, such as off peak hours). In that instance, VR-A 222 can
route traffic to VR-B 224 in the telecommunications network for
that period of time. When the period of time has expired, the
connection between VR-A 222 and region 210, and VR-B 224 and the
region 212 can be automatically disconnected by the controller.
[0029] In one implementation, the process of instantiating the
bridge 220 and the virtual routers 222, 224 may be facilitated, at
least in part, by a controller 280. For example, the controller 280
may receive a request from the customer 206 or other computing
device in communication with the controller 280 to connect two or
more AS instances, such as region A 210 and region B 212. In
response, the controller 280 may execute one or more routines that
spin up the bridge 220 (if the bridge 220 does not currently
exist), populate the bridge 220 with the appropriate virtual
routers, and initialize connection of the virtual routers with
themselves and the cloud provider routers 240, 242. Such functions
may be facilitated by one or more application programming
interfaces (APIs) associated with each cloud network region (e.g.,
region A 210, region B 212). In certain implementations, the
request received by the controller 280 includes configuration
information such as, but not limited to, identification information
for each region or AS instance to be connected. In response to
receiving the configuration information, the controller 280 can
automatically instantiate the bridge and/or initialize connection
between virtual routers of the bridge and corresponding edge
devices.
[0030] Utilizing the network configuration 200 of FIG. 2 as an
example, FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of a method 300 for
utilizing the virtual bridge 220 in the network 202 to provide a
communication path between two or more routers, such as router A
240 and router B 242 of AS instances connected to the network 202.
The operations of the method 300 may, in one embodiment, be
performed by a controller 280 within the network 202 (or, in
alternative embodiments, in communication with the network 202),
such as in response to a request received from the customer 206 to
connect AS instances corresponding to a cloud environment. In
general, any component of the network 202 or associated with the
network 202 may perform the operations of the method 300, either
through one or more hardware components or software procedures.
[0031] Beginning at operation 302, the network 202 receives a
request from the customer 206 to connect AS instances corresponding
to the cloud environment. For example, the cloud environment may
include multiple regional AS instances through which the
environment connects to the network 202. For example, a cloud
environment may include a first regional AS instance (e.g., region
A 210) and a second regional AS instance (e.g., region B 212)
connected to the network 202, with the instances being separated
spatially or logically. Further, the connection request may include
identifying information for particular network services to be
applied to some or all traffic between the regions 210, 212.
[0032] In response to the request and in operation 304, the
controller 280 (or similar computing device) creates or provisions
a first virtual router (VR-A) 222 and a second virtual router
(VR-B) 224 in the network 202. Provisioning of the virtual routers
222, 224 generally includes adding the virtual routers 222, 224 to
a virtual bridge 220. If no such bridge has been created, the
provisioning process may further include provisioning the virtual
bridge 220 as well. In other implementations, the routers 222, 224
may be provisioned physical routers within the network 202. In
addition to provisioning the routers 222, 224 and/or bridge 220,
the controller 280 may assign a unique ASN to the bridge 220 to
facilitate routing in BGP sessions with other devices. Also, in
operation 306, the virtual routers 222, 224 may exchange IGP
information to establish communication routes or paths between the
provisioned virtual routers 222, 224 and any other virtual routers
of the bridge 220.
[0033] In operation 308, each virtual router 222, 224 of the bridge
220 establishes a Layer 2 communication path with a respective
region 210, 212 of the cloud environment. For example, VR-A 222 may
set up a VLAN connection 228 with a router 240 of region A 210 for
Layer 2 communication between the devices. Similarly, VR-B 224 may
set up a VLAN connection 234 with a router 242 in region B 212 for
Layer 2 communication. In one implementation, the Layer 2
communication path between each region 210, 212 and its respective
virtual router 222, 224 may be established using Ethernet. The
Layer 2 connections provide for a Layer 2 communication bridge
between the regions 210, 212 of the cloud environment.
[0034] Similarly, each virtual router 222, 224 may establish a
Layer 3 communication with a respective region 210, 212 of the
cloud environment in operation 310. To establish the Layer 3
connection, the virtual routers 222, 224 may utilize the ASN
assigned to the bridge 220 by the network 202. More particularly,
the virtual router 222 of the bridge 220 may initiate a BGP session
with the router 240 in region 210 of the cloud environment. In the
BGP session, the virtual router 222 provides the ASN assigned to
the bridge 220 by the network 202 for routing between the region
210 and the virtual router 222. Virtual router B 224 may perform a
similar procedure with the router 242 of region B 212 of the cloud
environment. Through the BGP sessions (utilizing the ASN for the
virtual bridge 220), a Layer 3 connection is established between
the virtual routers 222, 224 and the cloud environment regions 210,
212. Once the connections have been established, the cloud
environment regions 210, 212 may exchange data and/or information
over Layer 3 by utilizing the virtual routers 222, 224 as an
intermediary between the regions.
[0035] FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for a virtual
router of a virtual bridge to establish a communication route for
transmission of communication packets. The operations of the method
400 may, in one embodiment, be performed by a virtual router of a
virtual bridge (such as VR-A 222). In general, however, any
component of the network 202 or associated with the network may
perform the operations of the method 400, either through one or
more hardware components or software procedures.
[0036] Beginning in operation 402, the virtual router 222 may
exchange IGP information with other virtual router 224 of the
virtual bridge 220. This information provides routing information
for transmitting communication packets between virtual routers 222,
224 in the bridge 220. In operation 404, the virtual router 222
establishes a Layer 2 connection to a corresponding region 210 of a
network connected to the telecommunications network 202. In one
embodiment, the Layer 2 connection is a VLAN connection. In a
similar manner, the virtual router 222 establishes a Layer 3
connection with the corresponding region 210 through a BGP session
with a router of the region in operation 406. The BGP information
may include an ASN assigned to the bridge 220 for use in
establishing connections with the regions of the cloud environment.
With the IGP information, Layer 2 connection, and Layer 3
connection, the virtual router 222 may now provide a communication
bridge for the region 210 to other regions 212 of the cloud
environment.
[0037] In operation 408, the virtual router 222 receives a
communication or data from region A 210 of the cloud environment
intended for a device in region B 212 of the cloud environment. The
communication is provided based on the Layer 2 and Layer 3
connections between region A 210 and the virtual router 222.
Further, with the IGP routing information, the virtual router 222
may transmit the communication to virtual router B 224 in operation
410. In this manner, the virtual router 222 may receive and
transmit communications between region A 210 and region B 212 of
the cloud environment through virtual bridge 220 established by the
network 202.
[0038] In addition to facilitating communications between AS
instances, the virtual bridge 220 may also be utilized to provide
one or more services to a customer. For example, in addition to
backup/syncing between different cloud network regions, the virtual
bridge 220 may be used to facilitate, among other things, one or
more of traffic logging, network monitoring, testing, security,
update or software deployment, packet scrubbing, and encryption.
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a network environment
500 for utilizing a virtual bridge 520 to provide one or more
telecommunication services, such as service 552 and/or service 550,
to a customer 506 of the network 502. Many of the components of the
network environment 500 are the same or similar to components in
the network 200 configuration of FIG. 2, such as customer 506,
network 502, virtual bridge 520, cloud environment region A 510,
and cloud environment region B 512. However, in addition, or
alternatively, to providing a bridge 520 to facilitate
communication between regions 510, 512 of the cloud computing
environment, the network 500 of FIG. 5 may be utilized to provide
services 550, 552 to customer 506, as explained below. The services
550, 552 are illustrated in FIG. 5 as modules disposed between the
virtual routers 522, 524 with each service 550, 552 being
implemented as one of a hardware device, software module, or
combination of hardware and software.
[0039] In general, the network 502 may create the virtual bridge
520 to provide services to customers of the network 502, such as
customer 506, which is connected to the network 502 through
provider edge 532. The services 550, 552 can relate to traffic
between, from, or to different regions of a cloud network, such as
region A 510 (which is connected to the network 502 through cloud
provider router A 514 and provider edge 530) and region B 512
(which is connected to the network 502 through cloud provider
router B 516 and provider edge 540). Thus, at least one of the
virtual routers of the bridge 520 (i.e., one of virtual router
("VR") 522 and virtual router 524) connects to customer 506 through
the network 502. In certain implementations, the services provided
to the customer 506 may be in association with the customer's
communications with the separate cloud regions 510, 512 of a cloud
environment. For example, the customer may desire to incorporate
services that scrub, encrypt, log, monitor, or otherwise interact
with communications between the cloud regions 510, 512. To do so,
cloud region A 510 may connect to the virtual router 524 of the
virtual bridge 520 and cloud region B may connect to the virtual
router 522. Virtual router 524 can then direct traffic to service
552 and then service 550 before the traffic is routed to virtual
router 522 and on to region B 512. The connection of the virtual
routers 522, 524 to the customer 506 and cloud environment regions
510, 512 may occur in a similar manner as described above in FIGS.
1 and 2. Thus, virtual router 522 may receive and transmit
communication packets to/from the customer 506 and virtual router
524 may receive and transmit communication packets to/from the
cloud network regions 510, 512.
[0040] As mentioned above, the virtual bridge 520 may provide one
or more services to the customer 506. For example, the virtual
bridge 520 may provide scrubbing services to packets received from
cloud network regions 510, 512 to prevent or mitigate a distributed
denial of service (DDoS) attack on the customer's devices. The
services may provide credit card transactions, geographically
diverse websites (to provide faster service to accessing users), or
other services using secure, reliable geo-redundancy. Thus, between
virtual router 524 and virtual router 522, one or more services
550, 552 may be provided within the virtual bridge 520 to provide a
service for traffic exchanged between the regions 510, 512.
Although two services 550, 552 are illustrated, it should be
appreciated that any number of devices may be included in the
bridge 520. Further, although only the customer 506 and the cloud
network regions 510, 512 are illustrated as connected to the
virtual bridge 520, other customers or networks may also be
connected to the virtual bridge to receive the services provided by
the bridge. For example, a second customer may connect to the
bridge through another virtual router that also connects to one or
more of the services 550, 552. In this manner, the network 520 may
create one or more service-providing bridges 520 with virtual
routers 522, 524 to provide particular services to customers or
networks of the telecommunications network. The addition of more
customers to receive the service may occur in a similar manner as
describe above to create a virtual router in the bridge 520 and
connect the customer to the created virtual router.
[0041] FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a
computing device or computer system 600 which may be used in
implementing the embodiments of the components of the network
disclosed above. For example, the computing system 600 of FIG. 6
may be the virtual router of the bridge discussed above. The
computer system (system) includes one or more processors 602-606.
Processors 602-606 may include one or more internal levels of cache
(not shown) and a bus controller or bus interface unit to direct
interaction with the processor bus 612. Processor bus 612, also
known as the host bus or the front side bus, may be used to couple
the processors 602-606 with the system interface 614. System
interface 614 may be connected to the processor bus 612 to
interface other components of the system 600 with the processor bus
612. For example, system interface 614 may include a memory
controller 618 for interfacing a main memory 616 with the processor
bus 612. The main memory 616 typically includes one or more memory
cards and a control circuit (not shown). System interface 614 may
also include an input/output (I/O) interface 620 to interface one
or more I/O bridges or I/O devices with the processor bus 612. One
or more I/O controllers and/or I/O devices may be connected with
the I/O bus 626, such as I/O controller 628 and I/O device 630, as
illustrated. The system interface 614 may further include a bus
controller 622 to interact with processor bus 612 and/or I/O bus
626.
[0042] I/O device 630 may also include an input device (not shown),
such as an alphanumeric input device, including alphanumeric and
other keys for communicating information and/or command selections
to the processors 602-606. Another type of user input device
includes cursor control, such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor
direction keys for communicating direction information and command
selections to the processors 602-606 and for controlling cursor
movement on the display device.
[0043] System 600 may include a dynamic storage device, referred to
as main memory 616, or a random access memory (RAM) or other
computer-readable devices coupled to the processor bus 612 for
storing information and instructions to be executed by the
processors 602-606. Main memory 616 also may be used for storing
temporary variables or other intermediate information during
execution of instructions by the processors 602-606. System 600 may
include a read only memory (ROM) and/or other static storage device
coupled to the processor bus 612 for storing static information and
instructions for the processors 602-606. The system set forth in
FIG. 6 is but one possible example of a computer system that may
employ or be configured in accordance with aspects of the present
disclosure.
[0044] According to one embodiment, the above techniques may be
performed by computer system 600 in response to processor 604
executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions
contained in main memory 616. These instructions may be read into
main memory 616 from another machine-readable medium, such as a
storage device. Execution of the sequences of instructions
contained in main memory 616 may cause processors 602-606 to
perform the process steps described herein. In alternative
embodiments, circuitry may be used in place of or in combination
with the software instructions. Thus, embodiments of the present
disclosure may include both hardware and software components.
[0045] A machine readable medium includes any mechanism for storing
or transmitting information in a form (e.g., software, processing
application) readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). Such media
may take the form of, but is not limited to, non-volatile media and
volatile media. Non-volatile media includes optical or magnetic
disks. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as main memory
616. Common forms of machine-readable medium may include, but is
not limited to, magnetic storage medium; optical storage medium
(e.g., CD-ROM); magneto-optical storage medium; read only memory
(ROM); random access memory (RAM); erasable programmable memory
(e.g., EPROM and EEPROM); flash memory; or other types of medium
suitable for storing electronic instructions.
[0046] Embodiments of the present disclosure include various steps,
which are described in this specification. The steps may be
performed by hardware components or may be embodied in
machine-executable instructions, which may be used to cause a
general-purpose or special-purpose processor programmed with the
instructions to perform the steps. Alternatively, the steps may be
performed by a combination of hardware, software and/or
firmware.
[0047] The description above includes example systems, methods,
techniques, instruction sequences, and/or computer program products
that embody techniques of the present disclosure. However, it is
understood that the described disclosure may be practiced without
these specific details. In the present disclosure, the methods
disclosed may be implemented as sets of instructions or software
readable by a device. Further, it is understood that the specific
order or hierarchy of steps in the methods disclosed are instances
of example approaches. Based upon design preferences, it is
understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the
method can be rearranged while remaining within the disclosed
subject matter. The accompanying method claims present elements of
the various steps in a sample order, and are not necessarily meant
to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.
[0048] It is believed that the present disclosure and many of its
attendant advantages should be understood by the foregoing
description, and it should be apparent that various changes may be
made in the form, construction and arrangement of the components
without departing from the disclosed subject matter or without
sacrificing all of its material advantages. The form described is
merely explanatory, and it is the intention of the following claims
to encompass and include such changes.
[0049] While the present disclosure has been described with
reference to various embodiments, it should be understood that
these embodiments are illustrative and that the scope of the
disclosure is not limited to them. Many variations, modifications,
additions, and improvements are possible. More generally,
embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure have been
described in the context of particular implementations.
Functionality may be separated or combined in blocks differently in
various embodiments of the disclosure or described with different
terminology. These and other variations, modifications, additions,
and improvements may fall within the scope of the disclosure as
defined in the claims that follow.
* * * * *