Federation among services for supporting virtual-network overlays

A system for performing a method of coordinating between a first authority domain and a second authority domain, the system comprising:

• a subject member under the purview of the second authority domain, wherein the subject member is joined to a second overlay governed by the second authority domain;
• a first overlay governed by the first authority domain, wherein the first overlay includes members assigned virtual IP addresses from a first address range;
• a second federation mechanism that requests the subject member join the first overlay, wherein the second federation mechanism is associated with the second authority domain;
• and
• a first federation mechanism that is associated with the first authority domain, wherein the first federation mechanism, upon detecting the request, allocates a guest IP address from the first address range and confirms joinder of the subject member by sending the guest IP address to the second federation mechanism.

A computer-implemented method suitable for use on one or more computing devices having a processor and a memory to perform a method for joining a subject endpoint under the purview of a second domain authority to a first overlay governed by a first domain authority, the method comprising:

• negotiating with a first federation mechanism on behalf of the subject endpoint, wherein the negotiation results in a predetermination that the subject endpoint is authorized to join the first overlay;
• requesting that the subject endpoint be admitted to the first overlay, wherein the first overlay includes members assigned virtual IP addresses from an address range;
• receiving a guest IP address allocated from the address range;
• receiving a security token, wherein the guest IP address in conjunction with the security token allow the subject endpoint to interoperate with the members of the first overlay using peer-to-peer semantics;
• and
• writing to a storage location a key that validates the security token.