US-12627557-B2 - Physical network orchestration for data centers

US12627557B2US 12627557 B2US12627557 B2US 12627557B2US-12627557-B2

Abstract

A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes creating a segment organization, which includes a configuration profile. The method also includes attaching the configuration profile to a server in the segment organization. The method further includes sending the attached configuration profile to a database in a physical network.

Inventors

Vipin Jain
Suran Saminda De Silva
Shyam Kapadia
Nilesh Shah

Assignees

CISCO TECHNOLOGY, INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20220803

Claims (20)

1 . A method for configuring a network device, the method comprising: at an orchestrator associated with an organization virtual network, associating a network device identifier with a network device configuration profile and storing the network device configuration profile in a storage module associated with the orchestrator, wherein the network device configuration profile comprises underlay network parameters and overlay network parameters, wherein the network device configuration profile further comprises network segment information comprising a segment identifier and one or more configuration parameters defining a virtual network segment for one or more hosts associated with the organization virtual network, the hosts of the virtual network segment isolated from hosts of the organization virtual network not associated with the virtual network segment; at a first network device, connecting to an underlay network, wherein the first network device is not configured to connect to the organization virtual network; communicating, over the underlay network, the network device identifier from the first network device to the orchestrator; retrieving the network device configuration profile corresponding to the network device identifier from the storage module; communicating the network device configuration profile from the orchestrator to the first network device; configuring the first network device with the network segment information and the underlay network parameters and to transmit data over the organization virtual network to one or more endpoints using the overlay network parameters of the network device configuration profile; and in response to the first network device being configured with the network device configuration profile, transmitting data over the organization virtual network via the first network device, the organization virtual network configured as an overlay network over the underlay network and including the virtual network segment.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: as part of communicating the network device identifier to the orchestrator, sending a first message to an intermediate network device; extracting, by the intermediate network device, the network device identifier from the first message; and at the orchestrator, using the extracted network device identifier to retrieve the network device configuration profile.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein communicating the network device configuration profile from the orchestrator to the first network device comprises sending a push communication from the orchestrator to the first network device.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein configuring the first network device using the network device configuration profile further comprises configuring a VLAN.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein configuring the first network device using the network device configuration profile further comprises configuring a virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) table.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein configuring the first network device using the network device configuration profile further comprises configuring a switch virtual interface (SVI).
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein configuring the first network device using the network device configuration profile further comprises associating a VLAN with a network segment.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein configuring the first network device using the network device configuration profile further comprises configuring a DHCP relay.
9 . A system for configuration of a network device, the system comprising: one or more nodes acting as an orchestrator associated with an organization virtual network, the one or more nodes including a processor, a memory, and a network interface; a storage module associated with the orchestrator; an underlay network with an existing configuration defined by the orchestrator, the existing configuration defining the organization virtual network as an overlay network over the underlay network, the underlay network communicably attached to the orchestrator; and a first network device, the first network device including a processor, a memory, a network interface, and the first network device is not configured to connect to the organization virtual network, wherein the orchestrator is configured to associate a network device identifier with a network device configuration profile and store the network device configuration profile in the storage module, wherein the network device configuration profile comprises underlay network parameters and overlay network parameters, wherein the network device configuration profile further comprises network segment information comprising a segment identifier and one or more configuration parameters defining a virtual network segment for one or more hosts associated with the organization virtual network, the hosts of the virtual network segment isolated from hosts of the organization virtual network not associated with the virtual network segment, wherein the first network device, upon connecting to a network, is configured to: communicate, over the underlay network, the network device identifier from the first network device to the orchestrator, and wherein the orchestrator is further configured to, upon receiving the network device identifier: retrieve the network device configuration profile corresponding to the network device identifier from the storage module, communicate the network device configuration profile to the first network device, and wherein the first network device modifies its network configuration with the network segment information and the underlay network parameters and to transmit data over the organization virtual network to one or more endpoints using the overlay network parameters; and in response to the first network device being modified with the network device configuration profile, transmitting data over the organization virtual network via the first network device, the organization virtual network configured as an overlay network over the underlay network and including the virtual network segment.
10 . The system of claim 9 , the system further comprising an intermediate network device, wherein the intermediate network device receives a message sent by the first network device as part of its communication to the orchestrator, and wherein the intermediate network device is configured to extract the network device identifier from the message, and wherein the orchestrator uses the extracted network device identifier to retrieve the network device configuration profile.
11 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the communication of the network device configuration profile from the orchestrator to the first network device comprises a push communication from the orchestrator to the first network device.
12 . The system of claim 9 , wherein modifying the first network device's network configuration using the network device configuration profile comprises configuring a VLAN.
13 . The system of claim 9 , wherein modifying the first network device's network configuration using the network device configuration profile comprises configuring a virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) table.
14 . The system of claim 9 , wherein modifying the first network device's network configuration using the network device configuration profile comprises configuring a switch virtual interface (SVI).
15 . The system of claim 9 , wherein modifying the first network device's network configuration using the network device configuration profile comprises associating a VLAN with a network segment.
16 . The system of claim 9 , wherein modifying the first network device's network configuration using the network device configuration profile comprises configuring a DHCP relay.
17 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable media, including instructions which when executed at one or more network devices by one or more processors, cause the devices to: at one or more nodes acting as a network orchestrator a storage module associated with an orchestrator, the orchestrator associated with an organization virtual network; an underlay network with an existing configuration defined by the orchestrator, the existing configuration defining the organization virtual network as an overlay network over the underlay network, the underlay network, communicably attached to the orchestrator; and a first network device, the first network device including a processor, a memory, and a network interface; at one or more nodes acting as an orchestrator, associate a network device identifier with a network device configuration profile and store the network device configuration profile in a storage module, wherein the network device configuration profile comprises underlay network parameters and overlay network parameters, wherein the network device configuration profile further comprises network segment information comprising a segment identifier and one or more configuration parameters defining a virtual network segment for one or more hosts associated with the organization virtual network, the hosts of the virtual network segment isolated from hosts of the organization virtual network not associated with the virtual network segment; at a first network device associated with the network device identifier, upon connecting to a network, communicate, over the underlay network, the network device identifier from the first network device to the orchestrator, wherein the first network device is not configured to connect to the organization virtual network; and at the orchestrator, upon receiving the network device identifier, retrieve the network device configuration profile corresponding to the network device identifier from the storage module; and communicate the network device configuration profile to the first network device; at the first network device, modify the device configuration with the network segment information and the underlay network parameters and to transmit data over the organization virtual network to one or more endpoints using the overlay network parameters; and in response to the first network device being modified with the network device configuration profile, transmitting data over the organization virtual network via the first network device, the organization virtual network configured as an overlay network over the underlay network and including the virtual network segment.
18 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17 , further comprising instructions, which cause the one or more devices to, as part of communicating the network device identifier from the first network device to the orchestrator, send a first message to an intermediate network device; at the intermediate network device, extract the network device identifier from the first message; and at the orchestrator, use the extracted network device identifier to retrieve the network configuration profile.
19 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17 , wherein the instructions causing the orchestrator to communicate the network device configuration to the first network device include instructions to send a push communication to the first network device.
20 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17 , wherein modifying the device configuration using the network device configuration profile comprises configuring a VLAN.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/349,016, filed on Jun. 16, 2021, which in turn, is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/696,729, filed Nov. 26, 2019, now granted U.S. Pat. No. 11,057,270, which in turn, is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/842,411, filed Dec. 14, 2017, now granted U.S. Pat. No. 10,523,504, which in turn, is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/921,083, filed Jun. 18, 2013, now granted U.S. Pat. No. 9,860,116, the contents of each of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD This disclosure relates in general to the field of communications, and more particularly, to physical network orchestration for large scale date centers. BACKGROUND End users have more media and communications choices than ever before. A number of prominent technological trends are currently afoot (e.g., more computing devices, more online video services, more Internet traffic), and these trends are changing the media delivery landscape. Data centers serve a large fraction of the Internet content today, including web objects (text, graphics, Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) and scripts), downloadable objects (media files, software, documents), applications (e-commerce, portals), live streaming media, on demand streaming media, and social networks. In a datacenter, there are typically non-virtualized servers (e.g., bare-metal servers) as well as virtualized servers. A non-virtualized server is a server running an operating system (OS) directly on hardware as opposed to a virtualized server that runs the OS on software. In the datacenter, computing, storage, and networking capacity may be pooled into virtual datacenters. However, once a virtual network for the virtual datacenter has been provisioned, the physical network still needs to be independently provisioned so the whole network (including non-virtualized servers) is ready for the virtual servers to communicate with each other as well communicate with the non-virtualized servers. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS To provide a more complete understanding of the present disclosure and features and advantages thereof, reference is made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures, wherein like reference numerals represent like parts, in which: FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of a communication system in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram illustrating an example embodiment of a communication system in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 3 is a simplified flowchart illustrating associated with the communication system; FIG. 4 is a simplified flowchart illustrating associated with the communication system; and FIG. 5 is a simplified flowchart illustrating associated with the communication system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS Overview A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes creating a segment organization, which includes a configuration profile. The segment organization can comprise any suitable arrangement, hierarchy, mapping, array, collection, assembly, layout, or intelligent grouping. Additionally, the configuration profile can include any suitable information that may be relevant to the activities discussed below. Additionally, the method includes attaching the configuration profile to a server in the segment organization. The method also includes sending the attached configuration profile to a database in a physical network. In more particular embodiments, the configuration profile can include a segment identification for the server. The method can also include sending the attached configuration profile to the physical network when the server is attached to a physical switch in the physical network. In other examples, the server is a virtual machine and attaches to the physical switch through a virtual switch. In addition, when server is a virtual machine, then a virtual station interface discovery protocol may be used to send the configuration profile to the physical switch. The physical switch can use the segment identification to access the configuration profile for the server in the network database. In one example, the physical switch is a leaf in a CLOS network. Further, the server may be a virtual machine in a data center or a non-virtualized machine. Example Embodiments Turning to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a communication system 10 configured for physical network orchestration for data centers. Communication system 10 may include physical network 28, virtual manager 36, a plurality of non-virtualized servers 42a-c, a plurality of physical servers 46a-e, and a plurality of switches 50. One or more of the plurality of switches 50 may be a physical switch. Virtual manag