Connecting to multiple cloud instances in a telecommunications network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12009947-B2
Application number	US-202217730812-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 27, 2022
Priority date	Jul 10, 2017
Publication date	Jun 11, 2024
Grant date	Jun 11, 2024

Abstract

Aspects of the disclosure involve systems and methods for utilizing Virtual Local Area Network separation in a connection, which may be a single connection, between a customer to a telecommunications network and a cloud environment to allow the customer to access multiple instances within the cloud through the connection. A customer may purchase multiple cloud resource instances from a public cloud environment and, utilizing the telecommunications network, connect to the multiple instances through a communication port or connection to the cloud environment. To utilize the single connection or port, communication packets intended for the cloud environment may be tagged with a VLAN tag that indicates to which cloud instance the packet is intended. The telecommunications network may route the packet to the intended cloud environment and configure one or more aspects of the cloud environment to analyze the attached VLAN tag to transmit the packet to the intended instance.

First claim

I claim:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a first edge device, a first plurality of communication packets from a first device associated with a single port, the first plurality of communication packets associated with a first Virtual Local Area Network identifier, and receiving, from the single port, a second plurality of communication packets from the first device, the second plurality of communication packets associated with a second Virtual Local Area Network identifier, the first Virtual Local Area Network identifier associated with a first cloud computing instance in a cloud computing environment and the second Virtual Local Area Network identifier associated with a second cloud computing instance in the cloud computing environment;
establishing a connection between the first device and a second edge device of the cloud computing environment by receiving, from the single port at the first device, a UNI port identifier that is for the single port, the first Virtual Local Area Network identifier and the second Virtual Local Area Network identifier, and Layer 2 and Layer 3 transport information; and
routing, to the second edge device of the cloud computing environment, the first plurality of communication packets associated with the first Virtual Local Area Network identifier for connection to the first cloud computing instance and the second plurality of communication packets associated with the second Virtual Local Area Network identifier for connection to the second cloud computing instance.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first cloud computing instance and the second cloud computing instance comprise a first virtual private cloud and a second virtual private cloud, respectively, and wherein the first virtual private cloud and the second virtual private cloud are segmented environments within the cloud computing environment establishing a first virtual gateway and a second virtual gateway between the first device and the cloud computing environment based on the first Virtual Local Area Network identifier and the second Virtual Local Area Network identifier, respectively.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single port causes a transmission of all communication packets to all cloud computing instances on the cloud computing environment associated with the first device.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first Virtual Local Area Network identifier and the second Virtual Local Area Network identifier are provided in headers of the respective first plurality of communication packets and the second plurality of communication packets from the single port to establish a multiplexed connection between a network of the first device to a second network of the first edge device comprising at least the first cloud computing instance and the second cloud computing instance of the cloud computing environment.

5. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:
establishing a communication path between multiple networks and the cloud computing environment by:
connecting one or more networks to the single port of the first device by a Link Aggregation Group connection to an egress port connected to the second edge device of the cloud computing environment in accordance with the communication path; and
wherein the single port receives or transmits packets from multiple networks that include the first Virtual Local Area Network identifier and the second Virtual Local Area Network identifier of packet streams from the first device.

6. An apparatus comprising:
an edge device including one or more processors and a communication interface coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the edge device provides communication between a cloud computing environment and a single port of a first device, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to perform operations comprising:
receiving, from the single port, a first plurality of communication packets from the first device, the first plurality of communication packets associated with a first Virtual Local Area Network identifier, and receiving, from the single port, a second plurality of communication packets from the first device, the second plurality of communication packets associated with a second Virtual Local Area Network identifier, the first Virtual Local Area Network identifier associated with a first cloud computing instance in a cloud computing environment and the second Virtual Local Area Network identifier associated with a second cloud computing instance in the cloud computing environment;
establishing a connection between the first device and a second edge device of the cloud computing environment by receiving, from the single port at the first device, a UNI port identifier that is for the single port, the first Virtual Local Area Network identifier and the second Virtual Local Area Network identifier, and Layer 2 and Layer 3 transport information; and
routing, to the second edge device of the cloud computing environment, the first plurality of communication packets associated with the first Virtual Local Area Network identifier for connection to the first cloud computing instance and the second plurality of communication packets associated with the second Virtual Local Area Network identifier for connection to the second cloud computing instance.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the first cloud computing instance and the second cloud computing instance comprise a first virtual private cloud and a second virtual private cloud, respectively, and wherein the first virtual private cloud and the second virtual private cloud are segmented environments within the cloud computing environment establishing a first virtual gateway and a second virtual gateway between the first device and the cloud computing environment based on the first Virtual Local Area Network identifier and the second Virtual Local Area Network identifier, respectively.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the single port causes a transmission of all communication packets to all cloud computing instances on the cloud computing environment associated with the first device.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the first Virtual Local Area Network identifier and the second Virtual Local Area Network identifier are provided in headers of the respective first plurality of communication packets and the second plurality of communication packets from the single port to establish a multiplexed connection between a network of the first device to a second network of the first edge device comprising at least the first cloud computing instance and the second cloud computing instance of the cloud computing environment.

10. The apparatus of claim 6 , the one or more processors further configured to perform operations comprising:
establishing a communication path between multiple networks and the cloud computing environment by:
connecting one or more networks to the single port of the first device by a Link Aggregation Group connection to an egress port connected to a provider edge of the cloud computing environment in accordance with the communication path; and
wherein the single port receives or transmits packets from multiple networks that include the first Virtual Local Area Network identifier and the second Virtual Local Area Network identifier of packet streams from the first device.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, the instructions executable by one or more processors of a computing system to perform a method for dynamically requesting a network resource, the instructions causing the computing system to:
receive, from a single port, a first plurality of communication packets from a first device, the first plur

Assignees

• Level 3 Communications Llc
• Level 3 Communication Llc

Inventors

• Ritchie Austin D

Classifications

• H04L41/0895

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

• H04L12/4675 Primary

  Dynamic sharing of VLAN information amongst network nodes (configuration of the network or of network elements H04L41/08) · CPC title

• H04L49/354 Primary

  for supporting virtual local area networks [VLAN] · CPC title

• H04L41/0893

  Assignment of logical groups to network elements · CPC title

• H04L12/4666

  Operational details on the addition or the stripping of a tag in a frame, e.g. at a provider edge node · CPC title