Automated testing of a direct network-to-network connection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9276812-B1
Application number	US-201313836575-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 15, 2013
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Mar 1, 2016
Grant date	Mar 1, 2016

Abstract

A direct network connection is established between a customer network and a service provider network. Computing resources are then provisioned in the service provider network in an automated fashion. The network connection between the service provider network and the customer network is also configured such that data can be transmitted from one of the computing resources to another one of the computing resources by way of at least a portion of the customer network. Test data is then transmitted from one computing resource to another computing resource by way of at least a portion of the customer network. One or more test results are then generated based upon characteristics of the transmission of the test data from one resource to the other resource by way of the customer network. The resources may be de-provisioned in an automated fashion following completion of the testing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereupon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:
provision a first resource within a service provider network;
provision a second resource within the service provider network, the second resource different than the first resource;
configure a network connection between the service provider network and a customer network such that data transmitted from the first resource to the second resource is transmitted through at least a portion of the customer network;
perform a test of the network connection between the service provider network and the customer network by transmitting test data from the first resource within the service provider network to the second resource within the service provider network by way of at least the portion of the customer network;
generate one or more metrics describing a status of the network connection between the service provider network and the customer network based upon the transmission of the test data; and
de-provision the first resource and the second resource following a completion of the test of the network connection.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first and second resources is a publically accessible resource within the service provider network.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the test data comprises a request to write data from the first resource within the service provider network to the second resource within the service provider network.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the test data comprises a request to read data from the second resource within the service provider network.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein configure a network connection between the service provider network and a customer network such that data transmitted from the first resource to the second resource is transmitted through at least a portion of the customer network comprises:
configuring a first virtual local area network (VLAN) on the network connection for use in routing the test data from the first resource within the service provider network to the customer network; and
configuring a second VLAN on the network connection for use in routing the test data from the customer network to the second resource within the service provider network.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the first resource is located within a first virtual private cloud (VPC) in the service provider network.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6 , wherein the second resource is located within a second VPC in the service provider network.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein at least one of the first and second resources comprises a virtual machine instance.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , having further computer-executable instructions stored thereupon to expose an application programming interface (API) for receiving a test request, and wherein the test of the network connection between the service provider network and the customer network is performed responsive to receiving a test request by way of the API.

10. A system for testing a network connection between a customer network and a service provider network, the system comprising:
one or more computing systems configured to execute a network test component, the network test component configured to receive a request to test the network connection and, in response to receiving the request, to
cause a first resource to be provisioned in the service provider network,
cause a second resource to be provisioned in the service provider network, the second resource different than the first resource,
configure a network connection between the service provider network and a customer network such that data transmitted from the first resource to the second resource is transmitted through at least a portion of the customer network,
perform a test of the network connection between the service provider network and the customer network by transmitting test data from the first resource within the service provider network to the second resource in the service provider network by at least the portion of the customer network,
generate one or more metrics describing a status of the network connection between the service provider network and the customer network based upon the transmission of the test data, and
de-provision the first resource and the second resource following a completion of the test of the network connection.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the first resource is provisioned in a first virtual private cloud (VPC) in the service provider network, and wherein the second resource is provisioned in a second VPC in the service provider network.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein at least one of the first and second resources comprises a virtual machine instance.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein at least one of the first and second resources is a resource that is publically accessible by way of the service provider network.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein configure a network connection between the service provider network and the customer network such that data transmitted from the first resource to the second resource is transmitted through at least a portion of the customer network comprises:
configuring a first virtual local area network (VLAN) on the network connection for use in transmitting the data from the first resource within the service provider network to a device on the customer network; and
configuring a second VLAN on the network connection for use in transmitting the data from the device on the customer network to the second resource within the service provider network.

15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the network test component is further configured to expose an application programming interface (API) for receiving the request to test the network connection.

16. A computer-implemented method for testing a network connection, the method comprising performing computer-implemented operations for:
provisioning a first resource in a service provider network;
provisioning a second resource in the service provider network, the second resource different than the first resource;
configuring a network connection between the service provider network and a customer network such that data transmitted from the first resource to the second resource is routed through at least a portion of the customer network;
performing a test of the network connection between the service provider network and the customer network by transmitting test data from the first resource to the second resource through the at least a portion of the customer network;
generating one or more metrics describing a status of the network connection between the service provider network and the customer network based upon the transmission of the test data; and
de-provisioning the first resource and the second resource following a completion of the test of the network connection.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 , wherein at least one of the first and second resources is a resource located in a virtual private cloud (VPC) in the service provider network.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 , wherein at least one of the first and se

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Nagargadde Aparna
• Stalzer Mark Edward

Classifications

• H04L41/0806 Primary

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

• G06F11/3006

  where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems (multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50) · CPC title

• H04L41/5054 Primary

  Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components · CPC title

• H04L43/50

  Testing arrangements · CPC title

• H04L43/0811

  by checking connectivity · CPC title