Fine-grained sd-wan optimization services for cloud-native applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023261999-A1
Application number	US-202318139449-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 26, 2023
Priority date	Feb 21, 2020
Publication date	Aug 17, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

In one embodiment, a device of a software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) receives, from a cloud-native application, contextual data for the cloud-native application that identifies microservices of the cloud-native application. The device translates the contextual data for the cloud-native application into a network policy for traffic in the SD-WAN associated with the cloud-native application. The device applies the network policy to a traffic flow in the SD-WAN between an endpoint and a particular microservice of the cloud-native application.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
receiving, at a device of a software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) and from a cloud-native application, contextual data for the cloud-native application that identifies microservices of the cloud-native application; identifying, by the device, network requirements for each of the microservices specified in the contextual data for the cloud-native application; translating, by the device and based on the network requirements identified for each of the microservices, the contextual data for the cloud-native application into a network policy for traffic in the SD-WAN associated with the microservices; and applying, by the device, the network policy to a traffic flow in the SD-WAN between an endpoint and a particular microservice of the microservices.

2 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein the network policy comprises an access policy for the particular microservice, and wherein applying the network policy to the traffic flow comprises:
preventing the endpoint from accessing the particular microservice of the cloud-native application.

3 . The method as in claim 2 , wherein the access policy for the particular microservice specifies a user group to which the endpoint belongs.

4 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein the contextual data specifies one or more SD-WAN services to be applied to traffic in the SD-WAN associated with the particular microservice.

5 . The method as in claim 4 , wherein the one or more SD-WAN services comprise at least one of: a path visibility service, a Transport Control Protocol (TCP) optimization service, a Forward Error Control (FEC) service, a packet duplication service, or a firewall service.

6 . The method as in claim 4 , wherein application of the network policy causes the one or more SD-WAN services specified in the contextual data to be applied to the traffic flow between the endpoint and the particular microservice.

7 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein receiving the contextual data for the cloud-native application that identifies microservices of the cloud-native application comprises:
extracting the contextual data from a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) header of traffic sent by the cloud-native application.

8 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein receiving the contextual data for the cloud-native application that identifies microservices of the cloud-native application comprises:
receiving the contextual data via an application programming interface (API).

9 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein the device is an edge router in the SD-WAN.

10 . The method as in claim 9 , wherein the edge router extracts the contextual data from data traffic for the cloud-native application.

11 . An apparatus, comprising:
one or more network interfaces to communicate with a software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN); a processor coupled to the one or more network interfaces and configured to execute one or more processes; and a memory configured to store a process that is executable by the processor, the process when executed configured to:
receive, from a cloud-native application, contextual data for the cloud-native application that identifies microservices of the cloud-native application;
identify network requirements for each of the microservices specified in the contextual data for the cloud-native application;
translate, based on the network requirements identified for each of the microservices, the contextual data for the cloud-native application into a network policy for traffic in the SD-WAN associated with the microservices; and
apply the network policy to a traffic flow in the SD-WAN between an endpoint and a particular microservice of the microservices.

12 . The apparatus as in claim 11 , wherein the network policy comprises an access policy for the particular microservice, and wherein the apparatus applies the network policy to the traffic flow by:
preventing the endpoint from accessing the particular microservice of the cloud-native application.

13 . The apparatus as in claim 12 , wherein the access policy for the particular microservice specifies a user group to which the endpoint belongs.

14 . The apparatus as in claim 11 , wherein the contextual data specifies one or more SD-WAN services to be applied to traffic in the SD-WAN associated with the particular microservice.

15 . The apparatus as in claim 14 , wherein the one or more SD-WAN services comprise at least one of: a path visibility service, a Transport Control Protocol (TCP) optimization service, a Forward Error Control (FEC) service, a packet duplication service, or a firewall service.

16 . The apparatus as in claim 14 , wherein application of the network policy causes the one or more SD-WAN services specified in the contextual data to be applied to the traffic flow between the endpoint and the particular microservice.

17 . The apparatus as in claim 11 , wherein the apparatus receives the contextual data for the cloud-native application that identifies microservices of the cloud-native application by:
extracting the contextual data from a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) header of traffic sent by the cloud-native application.

18 . The apparatus as in claim 11 , wherein the apparatus receives the contextual data for the cloud-native application that identifies microservices of the cloud-native application by:
receiving the contextual data via an application programming interface (API).

19 . The apparatus as in claim 11 , wherein the apparatus is an edge router in the SD-WAN.

20 . A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing program instructions that cause a device of a software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) to execute a process comprising:
receiving, at the device and from a cloud-native application, contextual data for the cloud-native application that identifies microservices of the cloud-native application; identifying, by the device, network requirements for each of the microservices specified in the contextual data for the cloud-native application; translating, by the device and based on the network requirements identified for each of the microservices, the contextual data for the cloud-native application into a network policy for traffic in the SD-WAN associated with the microservices; and applying, by the device, the network policy to a traffic flow in the SD-WAN between an endpoint and a particular microservice of the microservices.

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Subramanian Sridhar
• Maino Fabio Rodolfo
• Rodriguez Natal Alberto
• Pandey Vijoy Anand
• Warnicke Edward A
• Joyce John Andrew
• Swanson Timothy James
• Jakab Loránd

Classifications

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title

• 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

• H04L41/40

  using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities · CPC title

• H04L47/20 Primary

  Traffic policing · CPC title