Cisco Technology, Inc.

Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.P.

Opsware, Inc

Jacob Mark McGuire

Chris O'Rourke

Louis F Menditto

Mark Albert

Tzu-Ming Tsang

Richard A Howes

James A Jordan

William Monte LeBlanc

Pranav Kumar Tiwari

Edward A Kersey

Robert Michael Batz

Pranav Tiwari

Bruce F Wong

Richard Gray

An automated provisioning and management system for network devices includes a library of commands that are generic to all devices of interest, and device-specific plug-ins for implementing those commands in each of the different devices. A user can select any one of the standard commands and have it applied to a particular device of interest in a manner which is capable of being handled by that device. An interface between the library and a source of configuration information, such as a database, enables the various tasks associated with the provisioning and management of network devices to be automatically carried out on multiple devices, thereby minimizing, or even eliminating, the need to manually configure each such device. Various tools are provided to facilitate the ability of support personnel to identify and monitor functions performed by various devices, as well as detect and correct errors in the operation of those devices.

Interface for automated deployment and management of network devices

Automated deployment and management of network devices

A load balancing device according to an embodiment of the invention uses a predictor that comprises a plurality of Least Connections Control Blocks (LCCBs) that keeps track of the real servers with active connections. To speed up the search for the real server with the least number of active connections, an LCCB is kept for each metric. A metric is defined as the number of connections on a server divided by its weight (or capacity) of the server. This metric is kept as a quotient/remainder pair. The predictor sends out the real server address with the lowest metric whenever a new connection is required by the load balancing device.

Highly scalable least connections load balancing

A system and method are disclosed for specifying network address translation for a set of packets. A first set of instructions is sent to a forwarding agent specifying criteria for designated packets that are designated to undergo network address translation. A matching packet is received from the forwarding agent that matches the specified criteria. A network address translation scheme is determined for the matching packet. A second set of instructions are sent specifying the network address translation scheme for packets associated with the matching packet.

Network address translation using a forwarding agent

A network is disclosed that includes a first tier of forwarding agents connected to a first tier of network devices. A second tier of forwarding agents is connected to a second tier of network devices. A service manager is configured to receive a packet from one of the forwarding agents; determine the tier of the forwarding agent; and send an instruction to the forwarding agent directing the forwarding agent to forward the packet to a network device connected to the tier of forwarding agents that includes the forwarding agent.

Distributing packets among multiple tiers of network appliances

Console mapping tool for automated deployment and management of network devices

A system and method are disclosed for controlling access to a server. Instructions are sent to a forwarding agent that instruct the forwarding agent to forward packets to a service manager from clients attempting to establish a client connection to the server. A client connection is established with the client. A server connection is established from the service manager to the server and data is transferred from the server connection to the client connection.

Proxying and unproxying a connection using a forwarding agent

A system and method are disclosed for providing a plurality of network services. The method includes receiving at a forwarding agent a plurality of matching instructions corresponding to a specified flow from one or more service managers and storing the plurality of matching instructions on the forwarding agent having a forwarding agent network interface. A packet for the specified flow at the forwarding agent is received on the forwarding agent network interface. A highest service priority matching instruction stored on the forwarding agent is determined. The packet is processed according to the highest priority matching instruction. A next highest service priority matching instruction stored on the forwarding agent is determined and the packet is processed according to the next highest service priority matching instruction.

Cascading multiple services on a forwarding agent

A system and method are described for gathering statistics about packets. The method includes determining at a service manager statistics that are to be gathered for a flow and sending instructions to a forwarding agent from the service manager detailing how to gather statistics for the flow. The forwarding agent is implemented on a network device and the forwarding agent is operative to receive statistics gathering instructions for a flow from the service manager. A report is received at the service manager of statistics gathered at the forwarding agent according to the instructions sent by the service manager.

Growing community of inventors

Chapel Hill, NC, United States of America

Jacob Mark McGuire