F5 Networks, Inc.

Tempered Networks, Inc.

Tyco Fire & Security Gmbh

Tempered Networks, Inc. Reel/frame: 043222/0041

F5 Networkds, Inc.

Bryan David Skene

Ludwin Fuchs

Nicholas Anthony Marrone

Paul Imre Szabo

Gary N Mager

Patrick Duncan Jenny

Scott P Tennican

Jeffrey Scott Hussey

Joseph A Pruitt

Saxon Carl Amdahl

Peter Michael Thornewell

Jeffrey Michael Ahrenholz

Jeff James Costlow

Paul David Lambros Bartell

Konstantin Tsoy

Thomas E Kee

Embodiments are directed to managing communication. Credentials of a user may be provided to an authorization service such that the authorization service authenticates the user as a member of authorization groups and such that the user may be associated with a gateway on an overlay network. The authorization groups may be compared with user groups to associate the user with one or more user group. The gateway may be associated with one or more resource group based on the user groups. Policy information may be generated for the gateway based on each resource group. The policy information may be provided to the gateway to define policies associated with resources in the overlay network. The policy information may be enforced against source nodes providing overlay traffic directed to target nodes in the overlay network.

Applying overlay network policy based on users

Embodiments are directed to managing communication over one or more networks. A monitoring engine may be instantiated to perform actions including receiving network traffic from a physical network that may be associated with network addresses of the physical network. The monitoring engine may analyze the network traffic to associate activity with gateway identifiers (GIDs) associated with gateway computers in an overlay network such that the GIDs are separate from the network addresses. The monitoring engine may be arranged to monitor the network traffic based on monitoring rules. The monitoring engine may provide metrics associated with the gateway computers based on the monitoring of the network traffic. The monitoring engine may compare the metrics to event rules. The monitoring engine may generate events based on affirmative results of the comparison. The events may be mapped to actions based on characteristics of the events and executed.

Monitoring overlay networks

Embodiments are directed to managing communication networks. One or more links associated with a gateway computer may be monitored. Each link may be associated with a network addresses, and the gateway computer is associated with a gateway identifier (GID). Metrics associated with the monitored links may be provided. Scores may be associated with the links based on the metrics. The scores may be modified based on policy information. The links may be compared based on the scores and the policy information. A comparison may be employed to activate a portion of the links such that the activated links may be employed to communicate over the networks with other gateway computers. The links may be compared based on updated metrics. The comparison of the updated metrics may be used to activate another portion of the links that are associated with the GID.

Multi-link network gateway with monitoring and dynamic failover

Embodiments are directed to secure communication over a network. If a source node sends a communication to a target node, a source gateway may forward the communication to the target node. The source gateway may provide a gateway identifier (GID) that may be associated with one or more target gateways associated with the target node. Further, the source gateway may embed marker information that includes at least a portion of the GID in the communication. If the GID is associated with more than one target gateway, a TMD selects one target gateway from the more than one target gateways. Also, the TMD provides a gateway key associated with the selected target gateway that is associated with the communication. And, the TMD may provide the communication to the selected target gateway that provides the communication to the target node.

Horizontal switch scalability via load balancing

Embodiments are directed towards upgrading hypervisors operating in hardware clusters that may be hosting one or more virtual clusters of virtual traffic managers. Virtual clusters may be arranged to span multiple computing devices in the hardware cluster. Spanning the virtual clusters across multiple hardware nodes the virtual cluster may enable the virtual clusters to remain operative while one or more hardware nodes may be upgraded. Hypervisor may include a management control plane for virtual clusters of virtual traffic managers. Hypervisors running on hardware nodes may manage the lower level networking traffic topology while the virtual traffic managers may manage the higher level network processing. Further, hypervisor based management control planes may interface with the virtual clusters and virtual traffic manager's using pluggable translation modules may enable different versions of hypervisor based management control planes and virtual traffic managers to communicate and cooperatively manage network traffic.

In service upgrades for a hypervisor or hardware manager hosting virtual traffic managers

A system, apparatus, and method are directed to managing network communications between a client and a server by enabling the client to make decisions involving the selection of alternate network paths. The client and/or the server may be multi-homed to a network. In one embodiment, a link load balancer provides the client with a message and/or path data that enables the client to improve its connections with the server by redirecting network packets using an alternate network path. The message may be based on a static policy at the server, changes in availability of the network connections between the client and server, changes in a quality of the network connections, paths, or the like. Redirecting the network packet by the client may include closing one network connection and establishing another network connection, and/or employing an available alternate network path to re-route network packets towards the server.

Link load balancer that controls a path for a client to connect to a resource

A method, system, machine-readable storage medium, and apparatus are directed towards upgrading a cluster by bifurcating the cluster into two virtual clusters, an 'old' virtual cluster (old active cluster) and a 'new' virtual cluster (new standby cluster), and iteratively upgrading members of the old cluster while moving them into the new cluster. While members are added to the new cluster, existing connections and new connections are seamlessly processed by the old cluster. Optionally, state mirroring occurs between the old cluster and the new cluster once the number of members of the old and new clusters are approximately equal. Once a threshold number of members have been transferred to the new cluster, control and processing may be taken over by the new cluster. Transfer of control from the old cluster to the new cluster may be performed by failing over connectivity from the old cluster to the new cluster.

Upgrading network traffic management devices while maintaining availability

A system for accessing network services includes a plurality of resolvers including a root resolver and a secondary resolver, each resolver arranged to perform actions comprising determining a set of service locations based at least in part on the service and an address associated with a client. the system includes an intermediate device that manipulates scores returned by a set of resolvers of the plurality of resolvers, wherein the root resolver is further arranged to combine sets of the determined service locations and return a combined set of service locations to the client, and wherein at least one resolver of the plurality of resolvers employs an algorithm that is different from an algorithm employed by another resolver of the plurality of resolvers, wherein each algorithm is employed to determine scores of service locations, wherein the combined set of services locations comprises the scores of service locations.

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Seattle, WA, United States of America

Bryan David Skene