Auto discovery and auto scaling of services in software-defined network environment
US10992577B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 19, 2019 |
| Grant date | Apr 27, 2021 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 27, 2039 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L45/50
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Techniques are described for automatic discovery of two or more virtual service instances configured to apply a given service to a packet in a software-defined networking (SDN)/network functions virtualization (NFV) environment. Virtual service instances may be deployed as virtual entities hosted on one or more physical devices to offer individual services or chains of services from a service provider. The use of virtual service instances enables automatic scaling of the services on-demand. The techniques of this disclosure enable automatic discovery by a gateway network device of virtual service instances for a given service as load balancing entities. According to the techniques, the gateway network device automatically updates a load balancing group for the given service to include the discovered virtual service instances on which to load balance traffic for the service. In this way, the disclosed techniques provide auto-scaling and auto-discovery of services in an SDN/NFV environment.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.