Cisco Technology, Inc.

Richard Mandfred Pruss

John Edward McDowall

Jan Medved

Eric Albin Voit

William Mark Townsley

Wojciech Dec

Kenneth Durazzo

Paul M Quinn

Ralph Droms

Robert E Gleichauf

Joel Abraham Obstfeld

Vincent Mammoliti

Jason Pfeifer

Marc Joseph Faggion

David John Beazley

Mark Grayson

Ali Sajassi

Chris O'Rourke

Mark Albert

Robert Michael Batz

Mohamed Khalid

Tzu-Ming Tsang

Barron Cornelius Housel, Iii

Andrew George Harvey

Luca Martini

Pranav Tiwari

Frederick Juergens Baker

Amit S Phadnis

Saravanakumar Rajendran

Satish K Gannu

Vinodh Kumar Ravindranath

Marco Cesare Centemeri

Navneet Agarwal

Dean Cheng

Matthew Lawrence King

Wayne Roiger

Larry Abrahams

Murtaza Chiba

Kotha Subba Rama Chandra Murty

Barry Raveendran Greene

Tanja Hess

David Hovey

Tirumali Seetharam Ajai

John Fitzgerald

Morry Katz

Somyajit Jena

Alex Wight

Ben Strickland

Techniques are disclosed for using arbitrary criteria to define events occurring within a network infrastructure, as well and techniques for detecting and responding to the occurrence of such custom events. Doing so allows a collection of networking elements (switches, routers, etc.) to perform a variety of distributed functions from within the network itself to respond to custom events. Further, because custom events are published across the network, multiple network elements can communicate and respond to the same event. Thus, unlike currently available event management systems, custom events (and responding applications) can be used to create and coordinate software defined networking within a common network infrastructure.

Supporting programmability for arbitrary events in a software defined networking environment

Techniques are provided for enabling tag networking. In one example, a network device (e.g., switch, router, etc.) is configured to receive a packet of a traffic flow and to analyze the traffic flow to determine the packet belongs to a particular type of traffic. The network device can then add and/or change a tag in a data field of the packet. The tag, among other things, serves as an identifier for the particular type of traffic flow. The tag is identifiable by a downstream node that is preconfigured to recognize the tag and to carry out logic in response to recognizing the tag. Advantageously, the tag functionality of the present approach provides a generalized way of adding information to packets; the information and the associated functionalities are customizable during a runtime of the network.

Extended tag networking

Presented herein are techniques to receive configuration instructions for elements of a network topology to be simulated and tested. In response to receiving and in accordance with the configuration instructions, a plurality of software images (for a plurality of virtual network elements of the network topology) are configured via an Application Programming Interface (API). The plurality of software images run in a cloud host. In response to receiving and in accordance with the configuration instructions, data is configured via the API, which represents one or more connections between the virtual network elements. A plurality of software images for the plurality of virtual network elements is then executed in accordance with the data representing the connections, for development and testing of the network topology.

Network development and testing as a cloud service

Techniques are disclosed to extend routing rules from external services. A request is received to modify a specified rule in a network element of a network. The specified rule governs disposition of a network flow specific to an application. The request is received via a communications channel configured to expose an application programming interface (API) to the application. The request is interpreted at a network abstraction layer of the network element. The request is converted into a command at a service implementation layer of the network element. The command is executed to modify the specified rule in the network element, responsive to the request.

Extending routing rules from external services

System, computer program product, and method to configure an external network based on internal network conditions, by monitoring a load attribute of one or more network flows traversing an ingress port of at least one network element in a software-defined networking (SDN) enabled network, upon determining that the load attribute of a first network element in the SDN enabled network exceeds a predefined threshold, provisioning, by the application, an additional service on the external network, by the application, an additional service on the external network, and extending, by the application, the SDN enabled network to include the additional service on the external network.

Automatic configuration of external services based upon network activity

Embodiments described herein use APIs on network devices in a SDN enabled network to monitor the network traffic flowing through the network devices and determine an identity of the client initiating the network traffic. Specifically, the APIs provide a user application with user credentials, IP addresses, MAC addresses, and other identifying information mined from the network flows. Once the identity is found, the application may identify the client's current geographic location. The network devices may continue to monitor the network devices to identify any movement events associated with the client. In response to a movement event, the application may reallocate resources proximate to the new geographic location of the client.

Allocating computing resources based upon geographic movement

In one embodiment, an apparatus can include a service broker configured to: (i) register a service classifier, and to provide context information to the service classifier; and (ii) register a plurality of service nodes. The service broker can also receive capability and service requests from the service classifier. Further, the context information can include a service header, a reachability indication, and an encapsulation, where the service header and the encapsulation may be attached or related to a packet in the service classifier. In addition, the service classifier can use this information to redirect the packet to a first service node.

Service insertion architecture

A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes determining a location of a location detection device using a wireless link; determining an identity of a fixed port to which the location detection device is connected, where the location of the location detection device is proximate to the fixed port; and communicating a location of the fixed port to a location anchor. In more specific examples, the location of the fixed port is linked to a point of attachment in order to configure the fixed port. Additionally, the location of the fixed port can be presented to a server for application to a point of attachment via an application program interface (API).

System and method for configuration of fixed port location in a network environment

Techniques are provided for automating a common framework for network devices. In one example, a network device (e.g., switch, router, etc.) is configured to resolve the handling unknown packets automatically. The network device can detect whether or not a protocol is unknown to the network device, perform a lookup, determine if a matching protocol is available for the network device, and dynamically load an appropriate protocol handler into a memory of the network device. Advantageously, the present technology provides a mechanism for flexible on-demand push of protocol information. If a new protocol is noted on the network, the network device can look up the type of packet and can use a single platform kit to dynamically load drivers and control logic for that protocol onto the network device. Likewise, other network devices in the packet's path or in the network generally can load the drivers and control logic, as needed.

Commmon agent framework for network devices

Techniques are provided for delegating authority over licenses to use computer products in a disconnected network. In one example, a collector device receives a delegation of authority from a license manager device to manage entitlements for a plurality of computer products installed in a network infrastructure. The collector device receives an identifier from each computer product. The collector device receives a configuration state of each computer product, wherein each configuration state includes a set of features that are enabled on the first computer product. The collector device sends to the license manager device a report that includes each identifier and each configuration state.

Delegating authority of licenses to use computer products in a disconnected network

System, method, and computer program product to orchestrate software defined networking (SDN) applications, by providing a plurality of network elements in a network, each network element comprising a plurality of ingress interfaces, a plurality of egress interfaces, and a routing information base (RIB), providing, to an SDN application, an application program interface (API) to abstract properties and events of: (i) the ingress interfaces, (ii) the egress interfaces, and (iii) the RIB of a specified network element, receiving a request from the SDN application apply a function to the specified network element, the function specifying to modify: (i) a preprocessing operation on a data packet, (ii) the RIB, (iii) a post processing operation on the data packet, and (iv) the properties of the ingress interfaces, egress interfaces, and RIBs of the specified network element, and applying the function to the specified network element through the API.

Automation and programmability for software defined networking systems

Growing community of inventors

Tewantin, Australia

Richard Mandfred Pruss