System and method for extending cloud services into the customer premise

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9794117-B2
Application number	US-201514858760-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 18, 2015
Priority date	Jan 10, 2011
Publication date	Oct 17, 2017
Grant date	Oct 17, 2017

Abstract

A cloud extension agent can be provided on a customer premise for interfacing, via an outbound secure connection, cloud based services. The cloud extension agent can reach the cloud based services through existing firewall infrastructure, thereby providing simple, secure deployment. Furthermore, the secure connection can enable substantially real-time communication with a cloud service to provide web-based, substantially real time control or management of resources on the customer premises via the cloud extension agent.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for providing cloud-based network management services comprising:
providing at least one cloud extension agent that facilitates cloud-based management of corporate computing resources by execution on one or more computers that are part of a corporate network, the corporate network being separated from the Internet by at least one firewall, the firewall operating independently of the cloud extension agent, wherein each cloud extension agent is configured to:
initiate a secure network connection to a cloud-based management platform, which comprises at least one remote data center, outbound through the firewall over the Internet using a standard internet protocol,
gather predetermined status information, from one or more local servers on the corporate network,
report the predetermined status information to the cloud-based management platform via the secure network connection,
receive, from the cloud-based management platform via the secure network connection, a set of instructions created by the cloud-based management platform for management of the one or more local servers, and
make changes to the configuration of the one or more local servers in response to the set of instructions;

providing to an administrator, as part of the cloud-based management platform, a web-based portal that allows the administrator to request configuration changes to the one or more local servers and to select the type of status information that defines the predetermined status information; and
creating, at the cloud-based management platform, in response to configuration changes initiated via the web-based portal, the set of instructions to be sent to the at least one cloud extension agent via the secure network connection.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing, as part of the cloud-based management platform, a device management database that comprises a repository of the predetermined status information received from the at least one cloud extension agent.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending the set of instructions to the at least one cloud extension agent in substantially real time in response to the configuration changes initiated via the web-based portal.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of sending the set of instructions further comprises sending the set of instructions using an XMPP protocol over the secure network connection.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the web-based portal comprises a dashboard that allows the administrator to view status information pertaining to the cloud extension agent and the one or more local servers in substantially real-time.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the web-based portal allows the administrator to define alerts pertaining to status information relating to the cloud extension agent and the one or more local servers.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the web-based portal allows an administrator to remotely diagnose problems with one of the at least one cloud extension agent and the one or more local servers, via the Internet.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the web-based portal allows an administrator to remotely upgrade the at least one cloud extension agent via the Internet.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cloud extension agent checks in with a heartbeat server periodically to determine if any updates from the cloud-based management platform are waiting.

10. A method for extending cloud services into a customer premise comprising:
providing a cloud extension agent for execution on a computer that is part of a corporate network, the corporate network being separated from the Internet by at least one firewall that operates independently of the cloud extension agent, wherein the cloud extension agent is configured to:
initiate a secure connection to a remote data-center over the Internet, outbound through the at least one firewall, using a standard internet protocol,
gather predetermined status information from one or more local computing resources on the corporate network,
report, via the secure connection, the predetermined status information,
receive, via the secure connection, a set of instructions created at the remote data center for configuration of the one or more local computing resources on the corporate network, and
change the configuration of the one or more local computing resources in response to the first set of instructions via an API exposed by the one or more local resources; and

providing to an administrator, as part of the remote data-center, a web-based portal that allows the administrator to request configuration changes to the one or more local computing resources and to select the type of status information that defines the predetermined status information; and
creating, at the remote data center, in response to requested configuration changes initiated via the web-based portal, the set of instructions to be sent to the cloud extension agent via the secure connection.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
providing, as part of the remote data-center, a device management database that comprises a repository of the predetermined status information received from the cloud extension agent.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising sending the set of instructions to the cloud extension agent in substantially real time in response to the configuration changes initiated via the web-based portal.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the step of sending the set of instructions comprises sending the instructions using an XMPP protocol over the secure connection.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the web-based portal comprises a dashboard that allows the administrator to view status pertaining to the cloud extension agent and the one or more local computing resources in substantially real-time.

15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising providing, via the remote data center, a web-based portal that allows an administrator to define alerts pertaining to status information relating to the cloud extension agent and the one or more local computing resources.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising providing, via the remote data center, a web-based portal that allows a user to remotely diagnose problems with one of the cloud extension agent and the one or more local resources, via the Internet.

17. The method of claim 10 , wherein the cloud extension agent checks in with a heartbeat server periodically to determine if any updates from the cloud-based management platform are waiting.

18. A method for providing cloud-based management of corporate computing resources comprising:
providing, at one or more remote data centers, a web-based interface for management of a plurality of computing devices on a corporate network, the corporate network being isolated from the Internet via a firewall;
maintaining, in a database associated with the one or more remote data centers that contains substantially real time status information pertaining to the plurality of computing devices;
receiving, over the Internet, status information pertaining to configuration and compliance status of each of the plurality of computing devices via a first secure connection initiated by a cloud extension agent operating on at least one of the plurality of computing devices, through the firewall using a standard internet protocol; and
in response to policy changes initiated through the web-based interface, creating and sending control instructions over the first secure connection from the one or more remote data centers

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Narasimhan Vineeth
• Lambert Joshua
• Herchek Thomas
• Hope Ryan Elliot
• Jha Nitish
• Jain Rahul
• Singh Sumeet

Classifications

• H04L47/825

  Involving tunnels, e.g. MPLS · CPC title

• H04L41/0806 Primary

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

• H04L41/046 Primary

  comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor · CPC title

• G06F9/06

  using stored programs, i.e. using an internal store of processing equipment to receive or retain programs · CPC title

• H04L67/02

  based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP] · CPC title