Management of wireless access points via virtualization
AssigneeFortinet, Inc.
InventorsSekhar Sumanth Gorajala Chandra, Chih-Hao Lee
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Wireless access point (AP) and methods for providing wireless connectivity to wireless client are provided. According to one embodiment, a wireless AP includes a host hardware platform and a hypervisor for providing a first virtual machine where a first guest operating system (OS) is configured to run on the first virtual machine. A wireless module is configured to run on the first guest OS for managing the wireless connection to at least one wireless client. A wireless AP management console is configured to run on the wireless AP but outside the first guest OS and to manage operations of the wireless module and the first guest OS.
Claims24
A wireless access point (AP) comprising:
- a host hardware platform comprising:
- at least one central processing unit (CPU);
- at least one memory including code, which when executed by the at least one CPU provides wireless connectivity to at least one wireless client;
- a radio frequency (RF) transceiver providing a wireless connection to the at least one wireless client;
- a network adaptor connecting the wireless AP to a network;
- a hypervisor providing a first virtual machine for hosting a first guest operating system (OS) configured to run on the first virtual machine;
- a wireless module configured to run on the first guest OS for managing the wireless connection to the at least one wireless client;
- and
- a wireless AP management console configured to run on the wireless AP outside of the first guest OS and configured to manage operations of the wireless module and the first guest OS.
A method comprising:
- setting up a virtualized environment on a wireless access point (AP);
- creating a first virtual machine and a first guest operating system (OS) within the virtualized environment;
- operating a wireless module on the first guest OS for managing the wireless connection to the at least one wireless client;
- and
- managing operations of the wireless module and the first guest OS by a wireless AP management console that is running on the wireless AP outside of the first guest OS.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.