Automated configuration of software defined network controller

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016373310-A1
Application number	US-201514744818-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 19, 2015
Priority date	Jun 19, 2015
Publication date	Dec 22, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method and system are provided. The method includes automatically transferring configuration information from at least one network device to at least one software defined networking controller. The automatically transferring step includes retrieving configuration information associated with the at least one network device, converting the configuration information into a format usable by the at least one software defined networking controller, and configuring the at least one software defined networking controller with the converted configuration information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method, comprising:
automatically transferring configuration information from at least one network device to at least one software defined networking controller, wherein said automatically transferring step includes:
retrieving configuration information associated with the at least one network device;
converting the configuration information into a format usable by the at least one software defined networking controller; and
configuring the at least one software defined networking controller with the converted configuration information.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said retrieving step is performed using at least one of a command line interface, Simple Network Management Protocol, and a configuration file.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of Virtual Local Area Network settings, Internet Protocol routing settings, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol settings, Quality of Service settings, Simple Network Management Protocol settings, authentication settings, authorization settings, firewall settings, network address translation settings, and tunnel configurations.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said configuring step is performed using a REpresentational State Transfer Application Programming Interface accessed via Hypertext Transfer Protocol.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising automatically configuring the at least one network device to be controlled by the at least one software defined networking controller.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said automatically transferring step further includes automatically discovering the at least one network device.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one network device is automatically discovered using Simple Network Management Protocol.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said converting step comprises converting the configuration information to equivalent OpenFlow rules.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising automatically configuring the at least one network device to be in an OpenFlow mode and to be controlled by the at least one software defined networking controller.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one network device is at least one a switch, a router, a firewall, and a legacy controller.

11 . A non-transitory article of manufacture tangibly embodying a computer readable program which when executed causes a computer to perform the steps of claim 1 .

12 . A system, comprising:
a software defined networking controller for automatically transferring configuration information from at least one network device to at least one software defined networking controller, wherein said software defined networking controller:
retrieves configuration information associated with the at least one network device;
converts the configuration information into a format usable by the at least one software defined networking controller; and
configures the at least one software defined networking controller with the converted configuration information.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the configuration information is retrieved using at least one of a command line interface, Simple Network Management Protocol, and a configuration file.

14 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of Virtual Local Area Network settings, Internet Protocol routing settings, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol settings, Quality of Service settings, Simple Network Management Protocol settings, authentication settings, authorization settings, firewall settings, network address translation settings, and tunnel configurations.

15 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one software defined networking controller is configured with the converted configuration information using a REpresentational State Transfer Application Programming Interface accessed via Hypertext Transfer Protocol.

16 . The system of claim 12 , wherein said software defined networking controller automatically configures the at least one network device to be controlled by the at least one software defined networking controller.

17 . The system of claim 12 , wherein said software defined networking controller automatically discovers the at least one network device.

18 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the configuration information is converted to equivalent OpenFlow rules.

19 . The system of claim 18 , wherein said software defined networking controller automatically configures the at least one network device to be in an OpenFlow mode and to be controlled by the at least one software defined networking controller.

20 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one network device is at least one of a switch, a router, a firewall, and a legacy controller.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Banikazemi Mohammad
• Olshefski David P
• Tracey John M

Classifications

• H04L41/0846

  based on copy from other elements · CPC title

• H04L41/0213

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

• H04L41/0806

  for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play · CPC title

• H04L41/0886

  Fully automatic configuration · CPC title

• H04L67/34

  involving the movement of software or configuration parameters  (network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416) · CPC title