Enabling integration of solutions with software-defined networking platform

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11722356-B2
Application number	US-202016738341-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 9, 2020
Priority date	Jan 9, 2020
Publication date	Aug 8, 2023
Grant date	Aug 8, 2023

Abstract

Certain embodiments described herein are directed to a method of receiving information associated with a service provided by a management plane for managing a remote network. The method, in one example, includes registering, at an adapter container, with a data store or an entity within a service instance of a service deployment associated with a service within a software-defined networking environment associated with the remote network, wherein the service is provided for managing a remote network, and wherein registering with the data store or the entity causes the data store or the entity to send information associated with the service instance to the adapter when information is available. The method also includes receiving, at the adapter container, information from the data store or the entity. The method also includes transforming the information from a first format to a second format. The method also includes transmitting the information to an endpoint.

First claim

Therefore, the following is claimed:

1. A system for management of a network, comprising:
a computing device comprising a processor and a memory; and
machine readable instructions stored in the memory that, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to perform a method comprising:
instantiating an adapter container and a main container within a service instance of a service deployment associated with a service that performs operations related to management of the network, wherein:
the adapter container and the main container share a network stack and a storage stack of a host computer;
the adapter container was generated based on information provided by a third party solution;
the adapter container is configured to communicate with an endpoint associated with the third party solution that is external to the host computer; and
the main container was not generated based on any information provided by the third party solution;

registering, at the adapter container, with one of:
the main container; or
a data store associated with the main container;

based on the registering, receiving, at the adapter container, information associated with the service instance from the data store or the main container, wherein the registering causes the data store or the main container to send, within the host computer, the information associated with the service instance to the adapter container when the information associated with the service instance is available;
transforming, at the adapter container, the information associated with the service instance from a first format to a second format; and
transmitting, at the adapter container, the information associated with the service instance via one or more network packets from the host computer to the endpoint.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the service instance comprises a pod comprising a plurality of containers including at least the main container and one or more sidecar containers,
the one or more sidecar containers include the adapter container.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the adapter container communicates with the data store or the main container through an abstraction layer.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein receiving the information comprises receiving the information in one or more push notifications.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein receiving the information comprises receiving the information in response to the adapter container polling the data store or the main container.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the polling is performed through one or more application programming interfaces of the data store or the main container.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein receiving the information comprises receiving the information in one or more protocol buffer messages, and wherein the first format corresponds to the protocol buffer messages.

8. A method for managing a network, comprising:
instantiating an adapter container and a main container within a service instance of a service deployment associated with a service that performs operations related to management of the network, wherein:
the adapter container and the main container share a network stack and a storage stack of a host computer;
the adapter container was generated based on information provided by a third party solution;
the adapter container is configured to communicate with an endpoint associated with the third party solution that is external to the host computer; and
the main container was not generated based on any information provided by the third party solution;

registering, at the adapter container, with one of:
the main container; or
a data store associated with the main container;

based on the registering, receiving, at the adapter container, information associated with the service instance from the data store or the main container, wherein the registering causes the data store or the main container to send, within the host computer, the information associated with the service instance to the adapter container when the information associated with the service instance is available;
transforming, at the adapter container, the information associated with the service instance from a first format to a second format; and
transmitting, at the adapter container, the information associated with the service instance via one or more network packets from the host computer to the endpoint.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein:
the service instance comprises a pod comprising a plurality of containers including at least the main container and one or more sidecar containers,
the one or more sidecar containers include the adapter container.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the adapter container communicates with the data store or the main container through an abstraction layer.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein receiving the information comprises receiving the information in one or more push notifications.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein receiving the information comprises receiving the information in response to the adapter container polling the data store or the main container.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the polling is performed through one or more application programming interfaces of the data store or the main container.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein receiving the information comprises receiving the information in one or more protocol buffer messages, and wherein the first format corresponds to the protocol buffer messages.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method for managing a network, the method comprising:
instantiating an adapter container and a main container within a service instance of a service deployment associated with a service that performs operations related to management of the network, wherein:
the adapter container and the main container share a network stack and a storage stack of a host computer;
the adapter container was generated based on information provided by a third party solution;
the adapter container is configured to communicate with an endpoint associated with the third party solution that is external to the host computer; and
the main container was not generated based on any information provided by the third party solution;

registering, at the adapter container, with one of:
the main container; or
a data store associated with the main container;

based on the registering, receiving, at the adapter container, information associated with the service instance from the data store or the main container, wherein the registering causes the data store or the main container to send, within the host computer, the information associated with the service instance to the adapter container when the information associated with the service instance is available;
transforming, at the adapter container, the information associated with the service instance from a first format to a second format; and
transmitting, at the adapter container, the information associated with the service instance via one or more network packets from the host computer to the endpoint.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein:
the service instance comprises a pod comprising a plurality of containers including at least the main container and one or more sidecar containers,
the one or more sidecar containers include the adapter container.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the adapter containe

Assignees

• Vmware Inc

Inventors

• Palavalli Amarnath
• Mordani Rajiv
• Dorr Josh

Classifications

• H04L41/0894

  Policy-based network configuration management · CPC title

• H04L41/0895

  Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements · CPC title

• H04L41/0213 Primary

  Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP] · CPC title

• H04L43/10 Primary

  Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route · CPC title

• H04L41/046

  comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor · CPC title