US 11,962,506 B2Granted

Dynamic traffic class upgrading

AssigneeCisco Technology, Inc.

InventorsLeonardo Rangel Augusto, Grzegorz Boguslaw Duraj, Kyle Andrew Donald Mestery

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Abstract

Techniques for dynamically load balancing traffic based on predicted and actual load capacities of data nodes are described herein. The techniques may include determining a predicted capacity of a data node of a network during a period of time. The data node may be associated with a first traffic class. The techniques may also include determining an actual capacity of the data node during the period of time, as well as determining that a difference between the actual capacity and the predicted capacity is greater than a threshold difference. Based at least in part on the difference, a number of data flows sent to the data node may be either increased or decreased. Additionally, or alternatively, a data flow associated with a second traffic class may be redirected to the data node during the period of time to be handled according to the first traffic class.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

receiving, at a controller of a cloud-delivered virtual private network (VPN) system, historical usage data associated with a flow through the cloud-delivered VPN system;
determining, by the controller based at least in part on the historical usage data, that a predicted usage associated with the flow during a period of time exceeds a threshold usage;
determining, by the controller and based at least in part on the predicted usage exceeding the threshold usage, to upgrade the flow during the period of time from a first traffic class to a second traffic class, the second traffic class having greater network performance than the first traffic class;
identifying, by the controller, a data-plane node of the cloud-delivered VPN system that is associated with the second traffic class, the data-plane node having available resources during the period of time to process data-plane traffic of the flow, the data-plane node distinguishable from a control-plane node of the cloud-delivered VPN system for processing control-plane traffic of the flow;
and
causing, by the controller, a load balancer associated with the cloud-delivered VPN system to send, during the period of time, the data-plane traffic of the flow to the data-plane node for processing.

3 more elements

A system associated with a controller of a cloud-delivered virtual private network (VPN) system, the system comprising:

one or more processors;
and
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving historical usage data associated with a flow through the cloud-delivered VPN system, the flow associated with a first traffic class;
determining, based at least in part on the historical usage data, that a predicted usage associated with the flow during a period of time meets or exceeds a threshold usage;
determining, based at least in part on the predicted usage meeting or exceeding the threshold usage, to upgrade the flow from a first traffic class to a second traffic class during the period of time, the second traffic class having greater network performance than the first traffic class;
identifying a data-plane node of the cloud-delivered VPN system that is associated with the second traffic class, the data-plane node having available resources during the period of time to process data-plane traffic of the flow, the data-plane node distinguishable from a control-plane node of the cloud-delivered VPN system for processing control-plane traffic of the flow;
and
causing a load balancer associated with the cloud-delivered VPN system to send the data-plane traffic of the flow, during the period of time, to the first data-plane node instead of a second data-plane node of the cloud-delivered VPN system, the second data-plane node associated with the first traffic class.

6 more elements

One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors associated with a controller of a cloud-delivered virtual private network (VPN) system to perform operations comprising:

receiving historical usage data associated with a flow through the cloud-delivered VPN system, the flow associated with a first traffic class;
determining, based at least in part on the historical usage data, that a predicted usage associated with the flow during a period of time meets or exceeds a threshold usage;
determining, based at least in part on the predicted usage meeting or exceeding the threshold usage, to upgrade the flow from a first traffic class to a second traffic class during the period of time, the second traffic class having greater network performance than the first traffic class;
identifying a data-plane node of the cloud-delivered VPN system that is associated with the second traffic class, the data-plane node having available resources during the period of time to process data-plane traffic of the flow, the data-plane node distinguishable from a control-plane node of the cloud-delivered VPN system for processing control-plane traffic of the flow;
and
causing a load balancer associated with the cloud-delivered VPN system to send the data-plane traffic of the flow, during the period of time, to the first data-plane node instead of a second data-plane node of the cloud-delivered VPN system, the second data-plane node associated with the first traffic class.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.