Automatically generated virtual network elements for virtualized local area networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9876689-B1
Application number	US-201414170889-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Feb 3, 2014
Priority date	Feb 3, 2014
Publication date	Jan 23, 2018
Grant date	Jan 23, 2018

Abstract

Systems, methods, and software for providing a virtualized communication networking environment are provided herein. In one example, a method includes identifying a media access control address for a network interface of a virtual machine, the media access control address comprising at least one communication network indicator associated with a virtualized local area network. If a virtual network element has not been generated for handling traffic associated with the network interface of the virtual machine, then generating the virtual network element and associating the virtual network element with the virtualized local area network based on the communication network indicator. When the virtual network element has been generated, then assigning the network interface of the virtual machine to the virtual network element associated with the virtualized local area network based on the communication network indicator of the media access control address.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of operating a computer system to provide a virtualized communication networking environment, the method comprising:
identifying a media access control address for a network interface of a virtual machine, the media access control address comprising at least one communication network indicator associated with a virtualized local area network, wherein at least one bit of the communication network indicator of the media access control address instructs to instantiate a virtual network element for handling traffic associated with the network interface of the virtual machine;
responsive to identifying the media access control address, determining if the virtual network element has been generated for handling the traffic associated with the network interface of the virtual machine;
if the virtual network element has not been generated, then generating the virtual network element based on the at least one bit of the communication network indicator of the media access control address that instructs to instantiate the virtual network element, and associating the virtual network element with the virtualized local area network based on the at least one communication network indicator of the media access control address; and
when the virtual network element has been generated, then assigning the network interface of the virtual machine to the virtual network element associated with the virtualized local area network based on the at least one communication network indicator of the media access control address.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual machine comprises a first virtual machine; and further comprising:
identifying a media access control address for a network interface of a second virtual machine, the media access control address of the network interface of the second virtual machine comprising the at least one communication network indicator associated with the virtualized local area network;
assigning the network interface of the second virtual machine to the virtual network element associated with the virtualized local area network based on the at least one communication network indicator of the media access control address of the network interface of the second virtual machine.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the virtual network element comprises a virtual network switch configured to switch traffic between the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine on the virtualized local area network.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
monitoring traffic of the first virtual machine and traffic of the second virtual machine on the virtualized local area network;
when the traffic of the first virtual machine and the traffic of the second virtual machine fall below a threshold traffic level, then de-instantiating the virtual network element and the virtualized local area network.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual machine comprises a first virtual machine and the virtualized local area network comprises a first virtualized local area network; and
further comprising:
identifying a media access control address for a network interface of a second virtual machine, the media access control address of the network interface of the second virtual machine comprising at least one communication network indicator associated with a second virtualized local area network;
responsive to identifying the media access control address for the network interface of the second virtual machine, associating the virtual network element with the second virtualized local area network, and assigning the network interface of the second virtual machine to the virtual network element based on the at least one communication network indicator of the media access control address of the network interface of the second virtual machine.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the virtual network element comprises a virtual network bridge configured to bridge traffic between the first virtualized local area network for the first virtual machine and the second virtualized local area network for the second virtual machine.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
monitoring traffic of the virtual machine;
when the traffic of the virtual machine falls below a threshold traffic level, then de-instantiating the virtual network element and the virtualized local area network.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one communication network indicator associated with the virtualized local area network comprises at least one bit of the media access control address associated with the virtualized local area network.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual network element comprises at least one of a virtual network switch and virtual network bridge.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual machine comprises at least one of a database server and an application server.

11. A computer apparatus to provide a virtualized communication networking environment, the apparatus comprising:
software instructions configured, when executed by one or more computing systems, to direct the one or more computing systems to:
identify a media access control address for a network interface of a virtual machine, the media access control address comprising at least one communication network indicator associated with a virtualized local area network, wherein at least one bit of the communication network indicator of the media access control address instructs to instantiate a virtual network element for handling traffic associated with the network interface of the virtual machine;
responsive to identifying the media access control address, determine if the virtual network element has been generated for handling the traffic associated with the network interface of the virtual machine;
if the virtual network element has not been generated, then generate the virtual network element based on the at least one bit of the communication network indicator of the media access control address that instructs to instantiate the virtual network element, and associate the virtual network element with the virtualized local area network based on the at least one communication network indicator of the media access control address; and
when the virtual network element has been generated, then assign the network interface of the virtual machine to the virtual network element associated with the virtualized local area network based on the at least one communication network indicator of the media access control address; and

at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing the software instructions.

12. The computer apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the virtual machine comprises a first virtual machine; and
wherein the software instructions are further configured to direct the one or more computing systems to:
identify a media access control address for a network interface of a second virtual machine, the media access control address of the network interface of the second virtual machine comprising the at least one communication network indicator associated with the virtualized local area network; and
assign the network interface of the second virtual machine to the virtual network element associated with the virtualized local area network based on the at least one communication network indicator of the media access control address of the network interface of the second virtual machine.

13. The computer apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the virtual network element comprises a virtual network switch configured to switch traffic between the first virtual machine and the second virtual machine on the virtualized local area network

Assignees

• Sprint Communications Co Lp

Inventors

• Gan Seng Chai
• Hinkle Aaron Paul
• Fiumano Michael Francis

Classifications

• H04L41/26 Primary

  using dedicated tools for LAN [Local Area Network] management · CPC title

• H04L41/0895 Primary

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

• H04L41/0897

  by horizontal or vertical scaling of resources, or by migrating entities, e.g. virtual resources or entities · CPC title

• H04L41/0803

  Configuration setting · CPC title