Resource negotiation for cloud services using a messaging and presence protocol

#The present disclosure relates to network resource allocation and more particularly to automatically configuring services for a network device using a messaging and presence protocol.

#Instant messaging (IM) has grown from simple messaging in the 1960's, bulletin board systems of the 1980's, and messaging applications of the 1990's, into the field of unified communications, which provides real-time communications services such as unified messaging (integrated email, voicemail, fax, instant messaging, and presence information), telephony, and video conferencing. Enabling many of these IM features are a number of messaging and presence protocols, such as Instant Messaging and Presence Service (IMPS), Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP), and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) with its extension SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE), to name a few.

#XMPP, also known as “Jabber”, is the current Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard for instant messaging and presence. In addition to server-mediated instant messaging, XMPP has been augmented with a signaling mechanism (called “Jingle”) to establish unmediated peer-to-peer sessions, such as voice or video sessions. Such peer-to-peer sessions are used to supplement the normal course of instant messaging, e.g., by carrying on a voice conversation in parallel with a text session. The connection that is already established by virtue of XMPP presence can be exploited for peer-to-peer session establishment.

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a Wide Area Network (WAN) in which a Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) network device communicates resource request parameters using an Enhanced XMPP Jingle resource allocation process in order to establish a service flow.

#FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a network device configured to execute the Enhanced XMPP Jingle resource allocation process.

#FIG. 3 is a ladder diagram showing an example of two network devices establishing a service flow using the Enhanced XMPP Jingle resource allocation process.

#Overview

#Techniques are provided for sending from a client in a first network device a first session-initiate message to a second network device that is configured to provide network layer, data link layer, or associated convergence layer based service connection information in order for the second network device to accept or reject a network layer, data link layer, or associated convergence layer based service connection with the first network device. The first session-initiate message is based on a messaging and presence protocol. A session-accept message is received at the client in the first network device that is configured to accept the service connection and provide a network layer, data link layer, or associated convergence layer based service connection information in order for the first network device to establish the service connection with the second network device. The session-accept message is based on the messaging and presence protocol. In response to receiving the session-accept message, the service connection is established.

#For cloud-based Virtual Data Center (VDC) service provisioning, a number of parameters are selected based on the capabilities of the various devices that are involved in VDC instantiation. For example, parameters or attributes such as VLAN numbers, Virtual Private Network (VPN) Routing Forwarding (VRF) names, VPN type, encryption method, tunneling and encapsulation method, Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD)/Unidirectional Link Detection (UDLD) intervals, subnet addresses, Firewall (FW) context, etc., are typically manually selected and configured at the appropriate devices in the network. According to the techniques described herein Jingle can be used to enable automated and independent negotiation of these parameters amongst the respective network devices.