US 2016/0105392 A1 · CENTRAL NAMESPACE CONTROLLER FOR MULTI-TENANT CLOUD ENVIRONMENTS

Abstract

A centralized namespace controller allocates addresses in a distributed cloud infrastructure on-demand. Upon receiving a request to allocate addresses for a network to be provisioned by a cloud computing system included in the distributed cloud infrastructure, the centralized namespace controller allocates a network address that is unique within the distributed cloud infrastructure. Further, the centralized namespace controller allocates a range of virtual network interface cards (NIC) addresses that are unique within the network. The centralized namespace controller then allocates addresses from the range of virtual NIC addresses on an as-requested basis—when a virtual NIC is being created by the first cloud computing system on the network. Advantageously, by centralizing the allocation of addresses and dedicating independent NIC address ranges to different cloud computing systems, the centralized namespace controller enables stretched L2 networks between cloud computing systems while preventing duplicated addresses on the stretched networks.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method of allocating addresses on-demand in a distributed cloud infrastructure, comprising:

receiving a request to allocate addresses for a first network to be provisioned by a first cloud computing system and, in response, allocating a first network address and a first virtual network interface card (NIC) address range, wherein the first network address is unique within a distributed cloud namespace and the addresses in the first virtual NIC address range are unique within the first network;
and
receiving a request to allocate an address for a virtual NIC to be created by the first cloud computing system on the first network and, in response, allocating a first virtual NIC address, wherein the first virtual NIC address is within the first virtual NIC address range and is unique within the first network.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computing system in a distributed cloud infrastructure, causes the computing system to carry out the steps of:

receiving a request to allocate addresses for a first network to be provisioned by a first cloud computing system and, in response, allocating a first network address and a first virtual network interface card (NIC) address range, wherein the first network address is unique within a distributed cloud namespace and the addresses in the first virtual NIC address range are unique within the first network;
and
receiving a request to allocate an address for a virtual NIC to be created by the first cloud computing system on the first network and, in response, allocating a first virtual NIC address, wherein the first virtual NIC address is within the first virtual NIC address range and is unique within the first network.

A distributed cloud infrastructure that includes:

a first cloud computing system that includes a plurality of physical host computers in which one or more virtual machines are running;
a second cloud computing system that includes a plurality of physical host computers in which one or more virtual machines are running;
and
a central namespace controller that allocates addresses between the first cloud computing system and the second cloud computing system, wherein the central namespace controller is configured to:
receive a request to allocate addresses for a first network to be provisioned by the first cloud computing system and, in response, allocate a first network address and a first virtual network interface card (NIC) address range, wherein the first network address is unique within a distributed cloud namespace and the addresses in the first virtual NIC address range are unique within the first network;
and
receive a request to allocate an address for a virtual NIC to be created by the first cloud computing system on the first network and, in response, allocate a first virtual NIC address, wherein the first virtual NIC address is within the first virtual NIC address range and is unique within the first network.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Central namespace controller for multi-tenant cloud environments

Life of this patent

Central namespace controller for multi-tenant cloud environments

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20