Application-aware firewall policy enforcement by data center controller

A Software Defined Networking (SDN) controller of a data center configured to:

• receive a request to initialize an instance of an application;
• and
• in response to receiving the request, transmit, to a firewall component positioned between an SDN gateway device of the data center and a network external to the data center, a message comprising:
• an application signature corresponding to the instance of the application;
• and
• an application firewall policy corresponding to the application signature,
• wherein the message instructs the firewall component to install the application firewall policy for application to network traffic for the instance of the application.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium that comprises instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors of a data center executing a Software Defined Networking (SDN) controller to:

• receive a request to initialize an instance of an application;
• and
• in response to receiving the request, transmit, to a firewall component positioned between an SDN gateway device of the data center and a network external to the data center, a message comprising:
• an application signature corresponding to the instance of the application;
• and
• an application firewall policy corresponding to the application signature,
• wherein the message instructs the firewall component to install the application firewall policy for application to network traffic for the instance of the application.