Metadata customization for virtual private tag clouds

Abstract

Novel techniques are disclosed for providing a vPLC-specific metadata service, including customized vPLC-specific metadata. In some embodiments, each vPLC may generate customized metadata using its corresponding vPLC-specific customization instructions. In some embodiments, a vPLC-specific metadata service may be performed using pre-generated customized vPLC-specific metadata, instant customized metadata, pre-generated CSP format metadata, or a combination thereof.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application is a non-provisional application and claims the benefit and priority of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 407,571, filed on September 16, 2022, entitled “VIRTUAL PRIVATE LABEL CLOUD,” under 35 U.S.C. 119(e), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

[0003] This application is also related to the following applications. The entire contents of each of the following applications are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

[0004] (1) Nonprovisional application Ser. No. __ / ___, ___, entitled “VIRTUAL PRIVATE LABEL CLOUDS” (Attorney Docket No. 088325-1311130 (344800US)), filed concurrently with this application;

[0005] (2) Nonprovisional application Ser. No. __ / __, __, entitled “CONSOLE CUSTOMIZATION FOR VIRTUAL PRIVATELABEL CLOUDS” (Attorney Docket No. 088325-1311132 (344900US)), filed concurrently with this application;

[0006] (3) Nonprovisional application Ser. No. __ / __, __, entitled “RESOURCE ALLOCATION FOR VIRTUAL PRIVATELABEL CLOUDS” (Attorney Docket No. 088325-1311140 (345000US)), filed concurrently with this application;

[0007] (4) Nonprovisional application Ser. No. __ / __, __, entitled “ENDPOINTS FOR VIRTUAL PRIVATE LABELCLOUDS” (Attorney Docket No. 088325-1311138 (345100US)), filed concurrently with this application;

[0008] (5) Non-provisional application Ser. No. __ / __, __, entitled “IDENTITY MANAGEMENT FOR VIRTUAL PRIVATELABEL CLOUDS” (Attorney Docket No. 088325-1311139 (345200US)), filed concurrently with this application;

[0009] (6) Nonprovisional application Ser. No. __ / __, __, entitled “REMOTE DATA PLANES FOR VIRTUAL PRIVATELABEL CLOUDS” (Attorney Docket No. 088325-1311141 (345400US)), filed concurrently with this application;

[0010] (7) Nonprovisional application Ser. No. __ / __, __, entitled “CONNECTIVITY FOR VIRTUAL PRIVATE LABELCLOUDS” (Attorney Docket No. 088325-1311142 (345500US)), filed concurrently with this application;

[0011] (8) Nonprovisional application Ser. No. __ / __, __, entitled “RESOURCE USAGE MONITORING, BILLING AND ENFORCEMENT FOR VIRTUAL PRIVATE LABEL CLOUDS” (Attorney Docket No. 088325-1315390 (346900US)), filed concurrently with this application; and

[0012] (9) Non-provisional application Ser. No. __ / __, __, entitled “CLOUD INFRASTRUCTURE-BASED ONLINE PUBLISHING PLATFORMS FOR VIRTUAL PRIVATE LABEL CLOUDS” (Attorney Docket No. 088325-1315384 (346800US)), filed concurrently with this application. Technical Field

[0013] The present disclosure generally relates to techniques for providing cloud services. More specifically, novel techniques for providing vPLC-specific metadata services (including customized vPLC-specific metadata) are disclosed. A vPLC can be created for a reseller of a cloud service provider (CSP) in a region using the CSP-provided infrastructure, and the vPLC can be used to provide one or more reseller-provisioned cloud services to the reseller's customers. Background Art

[0014] Cloud computing has gradually become a part of modern life and plays an important role in day-to-day activities due to its ubiquity and easy access to important data. However, just like the early days of telecommunications, there are only a few players in the cloud infrastructure business. Therefore, there is a need to make cloud infrastructure services more widely available. Summary of the invention

[0015] The present disclosure generally relates to technologies for providing cloud services. More specifically, novel technologies for providing vPLC-specific metadata services (including customized vPLC-specific metadata) are disclosed. A vPLC is created for a reseller of a cloud service provider (CSP) using infrastructure provided by a CSP in a region so that the reseller can provide one or more reseller-supplied cloud services to the reseller's customers. Various embodiments are described herein, including methods, systems, non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing programs, codes, or instructions executable by one or more processors, and the like.

[0016] The present disclosure generally relates to technologies for providing cloud services. More specifically, novel technologies are disclosed that enable cloud infrastructure in a region provided by a cloud service provider (CSP) for providing the CSP-provided cloud services to the CSP's customers to be used to create one or more virtual private clouds (referred to herein as virtual private label clouds or "vPLCs"). Various embodiments are described herein, including methods, systems, non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing programs, codes, or instructions executable by one or more processors, and the like.

[0017] A vPLC created according to the various techniques described in this disclosure can be used for different purposes. For example, in one use case, a vPLC can be created for a dealer that is a customer of a CSP, and the dealer can use the vPLC to provide one or more dealer-provisioned cloud services to the dealer's customers. As another use case, the vPLC can be used as a virtual data center and can be associated with a realm that is different from the realm associated with the cloud infrastructure provided by the CSP in the region.

[0018] In certain embodiments, a vPLC represents a virtual cloud that includes a collection of resources that have been allocated to the vPLC from infrastructure provided by a CSP in a region. One or more vPLCs may be created using infrastructure provided by a CSP in a region.

[0019] In some embodiments, the regional infrastructure provided by the CSP in the region can be used to provide cloud services to the CSP's customers, and can also be used to provide dealer-supplied cloud services to customers of dealers who are customers of the CSP. This is achieved by creating one or more vPLCs for one or more dealers from the regional infrastructure provided by the CSP, where the vPLC created for a specific dealer can be used to provide dealer-supplied and dealer-branded cloud services to customers of the specific dealer. This enables dealers to become providers of dealer-branded cloud services for their customers without investing in the infrastructure required to provide these cloud services. Alternatively, dealers use the infrastructure provided by the CSP to provide dealer-branded cloud services to the dealer's customers. In this way, the first part of the infrastructure provided by the CSP in the region can be used to provide CSP-supplied cloud services to the CSP's customers, the second part of the infrastructure provided by the CSP in the region and assigned to the first vPLC created for the first dealer can be used to provide the first dealer's customers with cloud services supplied by the first dealer, and the third part of the infrastructure provided by the CSP in the region and assigned to the second vPLC created for the second dealer can be used to provide the second dealer's customers with cloud services supplied by the second dealer, and so on.

[0020] In certain embodiments, a technology is provided that includes a method that includes: creating a first virtual private label cloud (vPLC) for a first dealer based on infrastructure provided by a cloud service provider (CSP) in a region, wherein creating the first vPLC includes allocating a first portion of the infrastructure provided by the CSP to the first vPLC; creating a second vPLC for a second dealer based on the infrastructure provided by the CSP, wherein creating the second vPLC includes allocating a second portion of the infrastructure provided by the CSP to the second vPLC; using the first vPLC to provide one or more cloud services supplied by the first dealer to one or more customers of the first dealer; using the second vPLC to provide one or more cloud services supplied by the second dealer to one or more customers of the second dealer; creating a first metadata customization instruction set for the first vPLC; creating a second metadata customization instruction set for the second vPLC; generating first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC based at least on the first metadata customization instruction set; and generating second customized metadata associated with the second vPLC based at least on the second metadata customization instruction set.

[0021] In yet another embodiment, a first set of metadata customization instructions for a first vPLC is different from a second set of metadata customization instructions for a second vPLC.

[0022] In yet another embodiment, generating first customized metadata associated with a first vPLC is performed independently of generating second customized metadata associated with a second vPLC.

[0023] In yet another embodiment, generating first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC occurs before receiving a request for first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC.

[0024] In yet another embodiment, the method further includes storing first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC in a repository prior to receiving the request.

[0025] In yet another embodiment, generating first customized metadata associated with a first vPLC includes: obtaining original metadata associated with the first vPLC before receiving the request; and applying a first set of metadata customization instructions to the obtained original metadata associated with the first vPLC before receiving the request.

[0026] In yet another embodiment, generating first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC occurs upon receiving a request for first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC.

[0027] In yet another embodiment, generating first customized metadata associated with a first vPLC includes: upon receiving a request, obtaining original metadata associated with the first vPLC; and applying a first set of metadata customization instructions to the obtained original metadata associated with the first vPLC.

[0028] In yet another embodiment, generating first customized metadata associated with a first vPLC includes obtaining original metadata associated with the first vPLC before receiving a request; and applying a first set of metadata customization instructions to the obtained original metadata associated with the first vPLC upon receiving the request.

[0029] In yet another embodiment, the method further includes storing first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC in a repository prior to receiving the request.

[0030] In various embodiments, a system is provided that includes one or more data processors and a non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions that, when executed on the one or more data processors, cause the one or more data processors to perform part or all of one or more methods disclosed herein.

[0031] In various embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors of a computer system to perform one or more methods disclosed herein.

[0032] In various embodiments, a computer program product comprises a computer program / instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform any of the methods disclosed herein.

[0033] The techniques described above and below can be implemented in a variety of ways and in a variety of contexts. Several example implementations and contexts are provided with reference to the following figures, as described in more detail below. However, the following implementations and contexts are only a small part of the numerous implementations and contexts. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] Figure 1 is a high-level diagram illustrating a distributed environment of a virtual or overlay cloud network hosted by a cloud service provider infrastructure, according to certain embodiments.

[0035] Figure 2 Depicted is a simplified architectural diagram of physical components in a physical network within a CSPI in accordance with certain embodiments.

[0036] Figure 3 An example arrangement within a CSPI is shown in accordance with certain embodiments, where a host machine is connected to multiple network virtualization devices (NVDs).

[0037] Figure 4 Depicted is connectivity between a host machine and an NVD for providing I / O virtualization to support multitenancy, according to some embodiments.

[0038] Figure 5 Depicted is a simplified block diagram of a physical network provided by CSPI in accordance with certain embodiments.

[0039] Figure 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example distributed environment of a virtual private label cloud (vPLC) hosted by an infrastructure provided by a CSP in a region in accordance with certain embodiments.

[0040] Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between a CSP, the CSP's direct and reseller customers and their associated users, and various resellers' customers and their associated users, according to certain embodiments.

[0041] Figure 8 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between leases assigned to a direct customer of a CSP, leases to dealers of the CSP, and leases to customers of the respective dealers, according to certain embodiments.

[0042] Fig. 9A is a diagram illustrating a mechanism for storing information in the leases of customers of various resellers of a CSP, according to certain embodiments.

[0043] Fig. 9B is a diagram illustrating a mechanism for storing information in the leases of customers of various resellers of a CSP, according to certain embodiments.

[0044] Fig.10 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a vPLC setup process for a distributor of a CSP according to certain embodiments.

[0045] Fig.11 is a block diagram illustrating an example distributed environment of a virtual private label cloud (vPLC) hosted by an infrastructure provided by a CSP in a region in accordance with certain embodiments.

[0046] Fig.12 is a block diagram illustrating a vPLC segmentation model for resource partitioning according to certain embodiments.

[0047] Fig.13 is a block diagram illustrating a vPLC nesting model for resource partitioning according to certain embodiments.

[0048] Fig.14 is a flow chart illustrating a sign-up process for a customer of a dealer associated with a vPLC according to certain embodiments.

[0049] Fig.15 is a flow diagram illustrating a login process for a user associated with a customer of a dealer associated with a vPLC, according to certain embodiments.

[0050] Fig.16 is a flow diagram illustrating a resource allocation and provisioning process for a dealer's customers associated with a vPLC in accordance with certain embodiments.

[0051] Fig.17 is a flow diagram illustrating a resource allocation and provisioning process for a dealer's customers associated with a vPLC in accordance with certain embodiments.

[0052] Fig.18 is a simplified diagram illustrating a use case in which a vPLC is hosted by infrastructure in a first realm but is associated with a second, different realm, in accordance with certain embodiments.

[0053] Fig.19 is a flow chart illustrating an example method for creating a vPLC hosted by infrastructure provided by a CSP in a particular region in a particular domain but virtually associated with a different region in a different domain, in accordance with certain embodiments.

[0054] Fig. 20 is a block diagram illustrating a distributed environment for providing metadata services according to some embodiments.

[0055] Fig.21 is an example flow diagram illustrating a metadata service setup process according to some embodiments.

[0056] Fig. 22 is an example flow chart illustrating a metadata collection process for a metadata service according to some embodiments.

[0057] Fig.23 is an example flow chart illustrating vPLC-specific metadata response processing for a metadata service in accordance with certain embodiments.

[0058] Fig.24 is a block diagram illustrating one mode for implementing a cloud infrastructure as a service system according to at least one embodiment.

[0059] Fig.25 is a block diagram illustrating another mode for implementing a cloud infrastructure as a service system according to at least one embodiment.

[0060] Fig.26 is a block diagram illustrating another mode for implementing a cloud infrastructure as a service system according to at least one embodiment.

[0061] Fig. 27 is a block diagram illustrating another mode for implementing a cloud infrastructure as a service system according to at least one embodiment.

[0062] Fig.28 is a block diagram illustrating an example computer system in accordance with at least one embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0063] In the following description, for the purpose of explanation, specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of certain embodiments. However, it is apparent that various embodiments can be practiced without these specific details. The figures and descriptions are not intended to be limiting. The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any embodiment or design described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or superior to other embodiments or designs.

[0064] The present disclosure generally relates to technologies for providing cloud services. More specifically, novel technologies are disclosed that enable cloud infrastructure provided by a cloud service provider (CSP) in a region to be used to provide the CSP's customers with cloud services provided by the CSP for creating one or more virtual private clouds (referred to herein as virtual private label clouds or "vPLCs"). Various embodiments are described herein, including methods, systems, non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing programs, codes, or instructions executable by one or more processors, and the like.

[0065] A vPLC created according to the various techniques described in this disclosure can be used for different purposes. For example, in one use case, a vPLC can be created for a reseller that is a customer of a CSP, and the reseller can use the vPLC to provide one or more reseller-provisioned cloud services to the reseller's customers. As another use case, the vPLC can be used as a virtual data center and can be associated with a domain that is different from the domain associated with the cloud infrastructure provided by the CSP in the region.

[0066] In some embodiments, a vPLC represents a virtual cloud that includes a collection of resources that have been allocated to the vPLC from infrastructure provided by a CSP in a region. One or more vPLCs can be created using infrastructure provided by a CSP in a region. In some embodiments, a virtual private label cloud (vPLC) refers to a model and architecture that enables and facilitates reseller-provided and reseller-branded cloud services provided by a CSP within infrastructure provided by a CSP in a region.

[0067] Just as the infrastructure provided by the CSP in a region provides cloud resources that the CSP's customers can access, the vPLC created for the reseller provides a collection of resources that the reseller's customers can access. From the perspective of the reseller's customers, the vPLC is like the infrastructure provided by the reseller in a region providing resources that the reseller's customers can access. The vPLC is similar to the data center provided by the reseller in a region providing the reseller's customers with cloud services.

[0068] In certain embodiments, the regional infrastructure provided by the CSP in a region can be used to provide both cloud services to the CSP's customers and dealer-provisioned cloud services to customers of dealers that are customers of the CSP. This is accomplished by creating one or more vPLCs for one or more dealers from the regional infrastructure provided by the CSP, where the vPLC created for a particular dealer can be used to provide dealer-provisioned and dealer-branded cloud services to the particular dealer's customers. This enables the dealer to become a provider of dealer-branded cloud services to its customers without having to invest in the infrastructure required to provide those cloud services. Alternatively, the dealer uses the infrastructure provided by the CSP to provide dealer-branded cloud services to the dealer's customers.

[0069] In the dealer use case, a vPLC is created for the dealer using a cloud infrastructure provided by a cloud service provider (CSP) in a region. The dealer can use the vPLC created for the dealer to provide one or more dealer-supplied cloud services to the dealer's customers. In some embodiments, the regional infrastructure provided by the CSP that the dealer uses to provide one or more dealer-supplied services is partitioned into securely isolated parts, and the isolated parts (or partitions) are assigned to different dealers so that the partitions assigned to the dealers are isolated from other dealers. In this way, the first part of the infrastructure provided by the CSP in the region can be used to provide the CSP-supplied cloud services to the CSP's customers, the second part of the infrastructure provided by the CSP in the region and assigned to the first vPLC created for the first dealer can be used to provide the first dealer's customers with the first dealer's cloud services, the third part of the infrastructure provided by the CSP in the region and assigned to the second vPLC created for the second dealer can be used to provide the second dealer's customers with the second dealer's cloud services, and so on. Each part of the infrastructure allocated to the dealer can also be further partitioned into a second level of securely isolated parts to provide multi-tenant cloud infrastructure services to the dealer's customers.

[0070] A reseller may be an entity such as an enterprise or business or an individual. Using the techniques described herein enables a reseller entity to quickly become a cloud service provider while avoiding all of the barriers to entry discussed in the background section of this disclosure. For example, a reseller does not have to procure infrastructure for providing cloud services because the cloud services being provided are using infrastructure provided by the CSP. To the reseller's customers, it looks like the reseller is providing a reseller-supplied cloud service. From the perspective of the reseller's customers, the reseller is therefore a cloud service provider that provides the services to which the customers have subscribed. The reseller's customers may not even know or be aware of the CSP whose infrastructure is being used by the reseller to provide a reseller-supplied and reseller-branded cloud service.

[0071] The ability to provide vPLC can be provided as a service by the CSP and can be subscribed to by one or more customers. For example, an entity that desires to provide cloud services to its customers but does not want to invest in purchasing the infrastructure required to provide the service can subscribe to such a CSP-provided vPLC service. Once the vPLC service is subscribed, the entity is a customer of the CSP, but as a "special" customer, because the CSP-provided infrastructure allocated to the entity in the form of a vPLC is then used to provide the entity's customers with services provided and branded by the entity. Therefore, the customer is a customer of the CSP and is also a dealer of cloud services using the vPLC created for the entity. Therefore, the entity is called a "dealer" to distinguish it from the actual direct customer of the CSP. A direct customer of a CSP is an entity that subscribes to and consumes services provided and branded by one or more CSPs, and does not use the CSP infrastructure to sell cloud services to its customers. For the purposes of this disclosure, a direct customer of a CSP is also referred to as a "non-dealer customer" to distinguish it from a dealer. For dealers, as part of the vPLC service, the CSP provides infrastructure to the dealer in the form of a vPLC, and the dealer uses the vPLC to supply dealer-branded cloud services to the dealer's customers.

[0072] vPLC can be used for various other applications that do not involve dealers. As an example, a vPLC can be created and associated with a domain different from the domain associated with the regional infrastructure provided by the CSP used to create the vPLC. For example, the regional infrastructure provided by the CSP can be associated with a first domain, and the vPLC can be associated with a second domain different from the first domain. In this scenario, the infrastructure corresponding to the vPLC is hosted by the first domain, but is considered to belong to the second domain. This can be used for a variety of different purposes. For example, since the vPLC is associated with the second domain, it can communicate with other infrastructures (e.g., other data centers) in the second domain. Accordingly, the data center in the second domain can communicate with the vPLC because they are all located in the same domain and share the second domain trust and identity profile.

[0073] The creation and management of vPLCs are performed using infrastructure and services provided by the CSP and technically very complex tasks. When a vPLC is created for a dealer, technical functions are provided to enable the dealer to use the vPLC to provide dealer-supplied cloud services to the dealer's customers using the vPLC. This includes isolating traffic between dealers, isolating traffic from different customers of the dealer, dynamically managing the allocation of resources provided by the CSP to the vPLC, managing the allocation of resources allocated to the vPLC between different customers of the vPLC, measuring the usage of the vPLC allocated to the dealer and performing related billing functions, measuring the usage of the vPLC allocated between different customers of the vPLC and performing related billing functions, enabling market environments for different dealers, performing identity management functions for dealers and their customers, etc. The present disclosure describes various embodiments, depicting various architectures and corresponding methods for performing and enabling vPLC-related functions.

[0074] A dealer can use a vPLC created for the dealer to provide dealer-supplied and dealer-branded cloud services that provide specialized services in areas where the dealer specializes. The dealer-supplied services can be tailored for different customer groups. In some embodiments, the dealer-supplied cloud services may be different from the cloud services provided by the CSP. In some other embodiments, the dealer-supplied cloud services may be based on the cloud services provided by the CSP, for example, the dealer-supplied services may be customized versions of the cloud services provided by the CSP.

[0075] For example, a first vPLC can be created for a first dealer who specializes in providing financial services from the infrastructure provided by the CSP in the first region. The first dealer's customers can be banks and other financial institutions. Accordingly, the first dealer can use the first vPLC to provide customized and first dealer branded financial cloud services to its customers. A second vPLC can be created for a second dealer who specializes in providing telecommunication services from the infrastructure provided by the same CSP in the first region. The second dealer's customers can be users of telecommunication services. The second dealer can use the second vPLC to provide customized and second dealer branded telecommunication cloud services to its customers. In addition to the first vPLC and the second vPLC, the CSP can use the infrastructure provided by the CSP in the first region to provide CSP supplied and branded cloud services to one or more direct (non-dealer) customers of the CSP. In this way, the infrastructure provided by the same CSP in the region is used to provide CSP supplied and branded cloud services to one or more direct (non-dealer) customers of the CSP, provide customized and first dealer branded financial cloud services to the customers of the first dealer, and provide customized and second dealer branded telecommunication cloud services to the customers of the second dealer.

[0076] The metadata service (MDS) provides information about running instances in the cloud infrastructure, such as running compute instances (whether virtual machines or bare metal instances). The metadata information includes various details about the instance, such as its attached virtual network interface cards (VNICs), its attached multipath-enabled volume attachments, and any custom metadata defined by the customer. The MDS can also provide information that customers can use for various system initialization tasks. For example, a user launches a compute instance, and then the user can call a specific API to request specific data related to the launched instance to complete the initialization of the instance to perform specific tasks that the instance should perform.

[0077] As the demand for cloud services increases, more and more businesses and enterprises want to become CSPs and supply cloud services to their customers. However, if CSPs want to provide cloud services to customers across different groups, cloud services may need to become more diversified. Therefore, a one-size-fits-all approach may not meet the needs of today's cloud services.

[0078] The present disclosure generally relates to techniques for providing cloud services. More specifically, novel techniques for providing vPLC-specific metadata services (including customized vPLC-specific metadata) are disclosed. A vPLC is created for a reseller of a cloud service provider (CSP) using infrastructure provided by the CSP in a region so that the reseller can provide one or more reseller-provisioned cloud services to the reseller's customers.

[0079] Using the techniques described in this disclosure, each dealer can provide a customized version of the CSP-supplied metadata service. For example, a first dealer that specializes in providing financial services can provide a customized dealer-supplied metadata service tailored for its customers (such as banks and other financial institutions). A second dealer that specializes in providing telecommunications services can provide a customized dealer-supplied metadata service tailored for its customers (such as telecommunications companies). Such customized metadata services can help customers across different groups to perform system initialization and deployment efficiently.

[0080] The technology described in the present disclosure enables providing vPLC-specific metadata services to multiple dealers, allowing each dealer associated with the vPLC to provide customized metadata using vPLC-specific customized instructions. For example, a metadata request from a user associated with a customer of the dealer can be received by one of the endpoints in the set of endpoints associated with the vPLC, processed by the metadata service system by collecting raw metadata from instances in the vPLC, thereby customizing the collected raw data using vPLC-specific customized instructions to generate customized vPLC-specific metadata, and preparing a response using vPLC-specific response instructions. Therefore, a user who issues a request and is associated with a customer of the dealer can receive a response that includes customized vPLC-specific metadata.

[0081] In some embodiments, the vPLC-specific metadata service for each vPLC may be executed independently and concurrently using its corresponding vPLC-specific custom instructions and response instructions.

[0082] In some embodiments, a vPLC-specific metadata service for a vPLC may be performed using pre-generated customized vPLC-specific metadata, where the customized vPLC-specific metadata is generated before the metadata service receives a metadata request from a user associated with a customer of a dealer associated with the vPLC.

[0083] In other embodiments, vPLC-specific metadata services for a vPLC may be performed using on-the-fly customized metadata, wherein upon receiving a request from a user associated with a customer of a dealer, the metadata service system may collect raw metadata from the vPLC, customize the raw data using vPLC-specific customization instructions to generate customized vPLC-specific metadata, and then send it directly to the requesting user.

[0084] In other embodiments, raw metadata from a vPLC may be collected and stored in a repository before a metadata service receives a metadata request from a user associated with a customer of a dealer associated with the vPLC.

[0085] Figure 1-5 and the associated description provided in the “Example Virtual Networking Architecture” section below describe networking concepts including network virtualization, base networks, overlay networks, VNICs, etc., and provide examples of environments in which certain embodiments described in the present disclosure may be implemented. Figure 6-23 Examples and embodiments related to the vPLC architecture and vPLC-specific metadata services described in this disclosure are described. Figure 24-27An example of an architecture for implementing a cloud infrastructure for providing one or more cloud services is depicted, where the infrastructure can incorporate the teachings described herein. Fig.28 A block diagram of an example computer system or device is depicted in accordance with at least one embodiment.

[0086] Example Virtual Networking Architecture

[0087] The term cloud service is generally used to refer to services that are made available on demand (e.g., via a subscription model) to users or customers by a cloud service provider (CSP) using systems and infrastructure (cloud infrastructure) provided by the CSP. Typically, the servers and systems that make up the CSP's infrastructure are separate from the customer's own on-premises servers and systems. Therefore, customers can take advantage of cloud services provided by a CSP without having to purchase separate hardware and software resources for the service. Cloud services are designed to provide subscribing customers with simple, scalable access to applications and computing resources without requiring customers to invest in the infrastructure used to provide the service.

[0088] There are several cloud service providers that offer various types of cloud services. There are various different types or models of cloud services including Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), etc.

[0089] A customer can subscribe to one or more cloud services provided by a CSP. A customer can be any entity, such as an individual, an organization, a business, etc. When a customer subscribes to or registers for a service provided by a CSP, a lease or account is created for the customer. The customer can then access the subscribed one or more cloud resources associated with the account via this account.

[0090] As mentioned above, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a specific type of cloud computing service. In the IaaS model, the CSP provides infrastructure (called Cloud Service Provider Infrastructure or CSPI) that customers can use to build their own customizable networks and deploy customer resources. Therefore, the customer's resources and network are hosted in a distributed environment by the infrastructure provided by the CSP. This is different from traditional computing, in which the customer's resources and network are hosted by the infrastructure provided by the customer.

[0091] CSPI may include interconnected high-performance computing resources, including various host machines, memory resources, and network resources, forming a physical network, which is also referred to as a base network or underlying network. The resources in CSPI may be spread across one or more data centers, which may be geographically spread across one or more geographic regions. Virtualization software may be executed by these physical resources to provide a virtualized distributed environment. Virtualization creates an overlay network (also referred to as a software-based network, a software-defined network, or a virtual network) on a physical network. The CSPI physical network provides an underlying foundation for creating one or more overlay or virtual networks on top of a physical network. A physical network (or base network or underlying network) includes physical network devices, such as physical switches, routers, computers, and host machines. An overlay network is a logical (or virtual) network running on top of a physical base network. A given physical network may support one or more overlay networks. Overlay networks typically use encapsulation technology to distinguish traffic belonging to different overlay networks. A virtual or overlay network is also referred to as a virtual cloud network (VCN). Virtual networks are implemented by using software virtualization technology (e.g., hypervisors, virtualization functions implemented by network virtualization devices (NVDs) (e.g., smartNICs), top-of-rack (TOR) switches, smart TORs that implement one or more functions performed by NVDs, and other mechanisms) to create a layer of network abstraction that can run on top of a physical network. Virtual networks can take many forms, including peer-to-peer networks, IP networks, etc. Virtual networks are typically layer 3 IP networks or layer 2 VLANs. This method of virtual or overlay networking is often referred to as a virtual or overlay layer 3 network. Examples of protocols developed for virtual networks include IP-in-IP (or Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE)), Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN—IETF RFC 7348), Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) (e.g., MPLS Layer 3 Virtual Private Networks (RFC 4364)), VMware's NSX, GENEVE (Generic Network Virtualization Encapsulation), etc.

[0092] For IaaS, the infrastructure (CSPI) provided by the CSP can be configured to provide virtualized computing resources over a public network (e.g., the Internet). In the IaaS model, cloud computing service providers can host infrastructure components (e.g., servers, storage devices, network nodes (e.g., hardware), deployment software, platform virtualization (e.g., hypervisor layer), etc.). In some cases, IaaS providers can also supply various services to accompany those infrastructure components (e.g., billing, monitoring, logging, security, load balancing, and clustering, etc.). Therefore, since these services can be policy-driven, IaaS users can implement policies to drive load balancing to maintain application availability and performance. CSPI provides a collection of infrastructure and complementary cloud services that enable customers to build and run a wide range of applications and services in a highly available, hosted, distributed environment. CSPI provides high-performance computing resources and capabilities and storage capacity in a flexible virtual network that can be securely accessed from various networked locations (such as from the customer's on-premises network). When a customer subscribes to or signs up for an IaaS service provided by a CSP, the tenancy created for that customer is a secure and isolated partition within CSPI where the customer can create, organize, and manage their cloud resources.

[0093] Customers can build their own virtual networks using the computing, storage, and networking resources provided by CSPI. One or more customer resources or workloads, such as computing instances, can be deployed on these virtual networks. For example, customers can use the resources provided by CSPI to build one or more customizable and private virtual networks, called virtual cloud networks (VCNs). Customers can deploy one or more customer resources, such as computing instances, on customer VCNs. Computing instances can take the form of virtual machines, bare metal instances, and the like. Therefore, CSPI provides a collection of infrastructure and complementary cloud services that enable customers to build and run a wide range of applications and services in a highly available virtual hosted environment. Customers do not manage or control the underlying physical resources provided by CSPI, but have control over operating systems, storage, and deployed applications; and may also have limited control over selected networking components (e.g., firewalls).

[0094] The CSP may provide a console that enables customers and network administrators to use CSPI resources to configure, access, and manage resources deployed in the cloud. In some embodiments, the console provides a web-based user interface that can be used to access and manage CSPI. In some implementations, the console is a web-based application provided by the CSP.

[0095] CSPI can support single-tenancy or multi-tenancy architecture. In a single-tenancy architecture, software (e.g., application, database) or hardware component (e.g., host machine or server) serves a single customer or tenant. In a multi-tenancy architecture, software or hardware component serves multiple customers or tenants. Therefore, in a multi-tenancy architecture, CSPI resources are shared among multiple customers or tenants. In the case of multi-tenancy, precautions are taken and protection measures are implemented in CSPI to ensure that each tenant's data is isolated and remains invisible to other tenants.

[0096] In a physical network, a network endpoint ("endpoint") refers to a computing device or system that is connected to a physical network and communicates back and forth with the network to which it is connected. A network endpoint in a physical network can be connected to a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), or other types of physical networks. Examples of traditional endpoints in a physical network include modems, hubs, bridges, switches, routers and other networking devices, physical computers (or host machines), etc. Each physical device in a physical network has a fixed network address that can be used to communicate with the device. This fixed network address can be a layer 2 address (e.g., a MAC address), a fixed layer 3 address (e.g., an IP address), etc. In a virtualized environment or virtual network, endpoints can include various virtual endpoints, such as virtual machines hosted by components of the physical network (e.g., hosted by a physical host machine). These endpoints in a virtual network are addressed by overlay addresses, such as overlay layer 2 addresses (e.g., overlay MAC addresses) and overlay layer 3 addresses (e.g., overlay IP addresses). Network overlays achieve flexibility by allowing network administrators to move around overlay addresses associated with network endpoints using software management (e.g., via software that implements a control plane for a virtual network). Accordingly, unlike a physical network, in a virtual network, an overlay address (e.g., an overlay IP address) can be moved from one endpoint to another using network management software. Since the virtual network is built on top of the physical network, the communication between components in the virtual network involves both the virtual network and the underlying physical network. To facilitate such communication, the components of CSPI are configured to learn and store mappings that map overlay addresses in the virtual network to actual physical addresses in the base network, and vice versa. These mappings are then used to facilitate communication. Customer traffic is encapsulated to facilitate routing in the virtual network.

[0097] Accordingly, physical addresses (e.g., physical IP addresses) are associated with components in a physical network, and overlay addresses (e.g., overlay IP addresses) are associated with entities in a virtual or overlay network. A physical IP address is an IP address associated with a physical device (e.g., a network device) in a base or physical network. For example, each NVD has an associated physical IP address. An overlay IP address is an overlay address associated with an entity in an overlay network, such as an overlay address associated with a computing instance in a customer's virtual cloud network (VCN). Two different customers or tenants (each with its own private VCN) can potentially use the same overlay IP address in their VCNs without knowing each other. Both physical IP addresses and overlay IP addresses are types of real IP addresses. These addresses are separate from virtual IP addresses. A virtual IP address is typically a single IP address that represents or maps to multiple real IP addresses. A virtual IP address provides a one-to-many mapping between a virtual IP address and multiple real IP addresses. For example, a load balancer can use a VIP to map or represent multiple servers, each with its own real IP address.

[0098] The cloud infrastructure or CSPI is physically hosted in one or more data centers in one or more regions of the world. The CSPI may include components in a physical or base network and virtualized components (e.g., virtual networks, computing instances, virtual machines, etc.) located in a virtual network built on top of the physical network components. In some embodiments, the CSPI is organized and hosted in domains, regions, and availability domains. A region is typically a localized geographic area containing one or more data centers. Regions are generally independent of each other and can be far apart, for example, across countries or even continents. For example, a first region may be in Australia, another in Japan, another in India, and so on. CSPI resources are divided between regions so that each region has its own independent subset of CSPI resources. Each region can provide a collection of core infrastructure services and resources, such as computing resources (e.g., bare metal servers, virtual machines, containers and related infrastructure, etc.); storage resources (e.g., block volume storage, file storage, object storage, archive storage); networking resources (e.g., virtual cloud network (VCN), load balancing resources, connections to on-premises networks), database resources; edge networking resources (e.g., DNS); and access management and monitoring resources, etc. Each region generally has multiple paths connecting it to other regions in the domain.

[0099] Generally speaking, an application is deployed in the region where it is most frequently used (i.e., on the infrastructure associated with that region) because it is faster to use nearby resources than to use distant resources. Applications may also be deployed in different regions for various reasons, such as redundancy to mitigate the risk of region-wide events (such as large weather systems or earthquakes), to meet different requirements of legal jurisdictions, tax domains, and other business or social standards, etc.

[0100] Data centers within a region can be further organized and subdivided into availability domains (ADs). An availability domain can correspond to one or more data centers located within a region. A region can consist of one or more availability domains. In this distributed environment, CSPI resources are either region-specific, such as a virtual cloud network (VCN), or availability domain-specific, such as a compute instance.

[0101] ADs within a region are isolated from each other, fault-tolerant, and configured so that it is extremely unlikely that they will fail simultaneously. This is achieved by ADs not sharing critical infrastructure resources (such as networking, physical cables, cable paths, cable entry points, etc.), making it unlikely that a failure at one AD within a region will affect the availability of other ADs within the same region. ADs within the same region can be connected to each other via a low-latency, high-bandwidth network, which makes it possible to provide high-availability connections to other networks (e.g., the Internet, a customer's on-premises network, etc.) and build replication systems in multiple ADs to achieve both high availability and disaster recovery. Cloud services use multiple ADs to ensure high availability and prevent resource failures. As the infrastructure provided by the IaaS provider grows, more regions and ADs can be added, as well as additional capacity. Traffic between availability domains is typically encrypted.

[0102] In some embodiments, regions are grouped into domains. A domain is a logical collection of regions. Domains are isolated from each other and do not share any data. Regions in the same domain can communicate with each other, but regions in different domains cannot. A customer's lease or account with a CSP exists in a single domain and can be spread across one or more regions belonging to that domain. Typically, when a customer subscribes to an IaaS service, a lease or account is created for the customer in a customer-specified region within a domain (called the "home" region). The customer can extend the customer's lease to one or more other regions within a domain. A customer cannot access regions that are not in the domain where the customer's lease is located.

[0103] An IaaS provider can offer multiple domains, each domain meeting the needs of a specific set of customers or users. For example, a business domain can be provided for business customers. As another example, for customers within a specific country, a domain can be provided for that country. As yet another example, a government domain can be provided for a government, and so on. For example, a government domain can meet the needs of a specific government and can have a higher level of security than the business domain. For example, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) currently offers a domain for the business region and two domains (e.g., FedRAMP-authorized and IL5-authorized) for the government cloud region.

[0104] In some embodiments, AD can be subdivided into one or more fault domains. Fault domains are groupings of infrastructure resources within an AD to provide anti-affinity. Fault domains allow the distribution of computing instances so that they are not located on the same physical hardware within a single AD. This is called anti-affinity. A fault domain refers to a collection of hardware components (computers, switches, etc.) that share a single point of failure. The computing pool is logically divided into fault domains. Therefore, a hardware failure or computing hardware maintenance event that affects one fault domain does not affect instances in other fault domains. Depending on the embodiment, the number of fault domains per AD may vary. For example, in some embodiments, each AD contains three fault domains. Fault domains act as logical data centers within an AD.

[0105] When a customer subscribes to an IaaS service, resources from CSPI are supplied to the customer and associated with the customer's lease. Customers can use these supplied resources to build private networks and deploy resources on these networks. Customer networks hosted by CSPI in the cloud are called virtual cloud networks (VCNs). Customers can use CSPI resources allocated to customers to set up one or more virtual cloud networks (VCNs). VCNs are virtual or software-defined private networks. Customer resources deployed in a customer's VCN may include computing instances (e.g., virtual machines, bare metal instances) and other resources. These computing instances may represent various customer workloads, such as applications, load balancers, databases, and the like. Computing instances deployed on VCNs can communicate with publicly accessible endpoints ("public endpoints"), with other instances in the same VCN or other VCNs (e.g., other VCNs of customers or VCNs that do not belong to the customer), with customer's on-premises data centers or networks, and with service endpoints and other types of endpoints through public networks (such as the Internet).

[0106] CSPs can use CSPI to provide various services. In some cases, customers of CSPI can themselves behave like service providers and use CSPI resources to provide services. Service providers can expose service endpoints characterized by identification information (e.g., IP addresses, DNS names, and ports). Customers' resources (e.g., computing instances) can use a particular service by accessing the service endpoints exposed by the service for that particular service. These service endpoints are generally endpoints that are publicly accessible to users via a public communication network (such as the Internet) using a public IP address associated with the endpoint. Publicly accessible network endpoints are sometimes also referred to as public endpoints.

[0107] In some embodiments, a service provider may expose a service via an endpoint for the service (sometimes referred to as a service endpoint). Customers of the service may then use this service endpoint to access the service. In some embodiments, the service endpoint provided for a service may be accessed by multiple customers who intend to consume the service. In other embodiments, a dedicated service endpoint may be provided to a customer so that only the customer can access the service using the dedicated service endpoint.

[0108] In certain embodiments, when a VCN is created, it is associated with a private overlay Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) address space, which is a range of private overlay IP addresses (e.g., 10.0 / 16) assigned to the VCN. The VCN includes associated subnets, routing tables, and gateways. The VCN resides within a single region, but can span one or more or all of the availability domains in that region. A gateway is a virtual interface configured for the VCN and enables the transmission of traffic to and from the VCN to one or more endpoints outside the VCN. One or more different types of gateways can be configured for the VCN to enable communications to and from different types of endpoints.

[0109] A VCN may be subdivided into one or more subnetworks, such as one or more subnets. Thus, a subnet is a unit or subdivision of a configuration that can be created within a VCN. A VCN may have one or more subnets. Each subnet within a VCN is associated with a contiguous range of overlay IP addresses (e.g., 10.0.0.0 / 24 and 10.0.1.0 / 24) that do not overlap with other subnets in the VCN and represent a subset of the address space within the address space of the VCN.

[0110] Each computing instance is associated with a virtual network interface card (VNIC), which enables the computing instance to participate in the subnet of the VCN. VNIC is a logical representation of a physical network interface card (NIC). In general, a VNIC is an interface between an entity (e.g., a computing instance, a service) and a virtual network. VNICs exist in subnets, have one or more associated IP addresses, and associated security rules or policies. VNICs are equivalent to layer 2 ports on switches. VNICs are attached to subnets within computing instances and VCNs. VNICs associated with computing instances enable computing instances to become part of the subnet of the VCN, and enable computing instances to communicate (e.g., send and receive data packets) with endpoints located on the same subnet as the computing instance, with endpoints in different subnets in the VCN, or with endpoints outside the VCN. Therefore, the VNICs associated with computing instances determine how computing instances are connected to endpoints inside and outside the VCN. When a computing instance is created and added to a subnet within the VCN, a VNIC for the computing instance is created and associated with the computing instance. For a subnet that includes a set of compute instances, the subnet contains VNICs corresponding to the set of compute instances, each VNIC being attached to a compute instance within the set of compute instances.

[0111] A private overlay IP address is assigned to each computing instance via the VNIC associated with the computing instance. This private overlay network IP address is assigned to the VNIC associated with the computing instance when the computing instance is created and is used to route traffic to and from the computing instance. All VNICs in a given subnet use the same routing table, security list, and DHCP options. As described above, each subnet within the VCN is associated with a continuous range of overlay IP addresses (e.g., 10.0.0.0 / 24 and 10.0.1.0 / 24), which do not overlap with other subnets in the VCN and represent a subset of the address space within the address space of the VCN. For a VNIC on a specific subnet of the VCN, the private overlay IP address assigned to the VNIC is an address from the continuous range of overlay IP addresses allocated for the subnet.

[0112] In some embodiments, in addition to the private overlay IP address, the computing instance may optionally be assigned additional overlay IP addresses, such as, for example, one or more public IP addresses if in a public subnet. These multiple addresses are either assigned on the same VNIC or on multiple VNICs associated with the computing instance. However, each instance has a primary VNIC, which is created during instance startup and is associated with the overlay private IP address assigned to the instance-this primary VNIC cannot be deleted. Additional VNICs, called auxiliary VNICs, can be added to existing instances in the same availability domain as the primary VNIC. All VNICs are in the same availability domain as the instance. The auxiliary VNIC can be located in a subnet in the same VCN as the primary VNIC, or in a different subnet in the same VCN or in a different VCN.

[0113] If the compute instances are in a public subnet, they can optionally be assigned public IP addresses. When creating a subnet, you can specify the subnet as either a public subnet or a private subnet. A private subnet means that the resources (e.g., compute instances) and associated VNICs in the subnet cannot have public overlay IP addresses. A public subnet means that the resources in the subnet and associated VNICs can have public IP addresses. Customers can specify that a subnet exists in a single availability domain or across multiple availability domains in a region or domain.

[0114] As described above, a VCN can be subdivided into one or more subnets. In some embodiments, a virtual router (VR) configured for the VCN (referred to as a VCN VR or simply a VR) enables communication between subnets of the VCN. For a subnet within a VCN, the VR represents a logical gateway for the subnet, which enables the subnet (i.e., the computing instances on the subnet) to communicate with endpoints on other subnets within the VCN and with other endpoints outside the VCN. A VCN VR is a logical entity that is configured to route traffic between VNICs in the VCN and a virtual gateway ("gateway") associated with the VCN. Figure 1The gateway is further described. The VCN VR is a layer 3 / IP layer concept. In one embodiment, there is one VCN VR for the VCN, where the VCN VR potentially has an unlimited number of ports addressed by IP addresses, one port for each subnet of the VCN. In this way, the VCN VR has a different IP address for each subnet in the VCN to which the VCN VR is attached. The VR is also connected to various gateways configured for the VCN. In some embodiments, a specific coverage IP address in the coverage IP address range for a subnet is reserved for the port of the VCN VR for that subnet. For example, consider that the VCN has two subnets, and the associated address ranges are 10.0 / 16 and 10.1 / 16, respectively. For the first subnet in the VCN with an address range of 10.0 / 16, the addresses in this range are reserved for the ports of the VCN VR for that subnet. In some cases, the first IP address in the range can be reserved for the VCN VR. For example, for a subnet with a coverage IP address range of 10.0 / 16, the IP address 10.0.0.1 can be reserved for the port of the VCN VR for that subnet. For a second subnet in the same VCN with an address range of 10.1 / 16, the VCN VR can have a port with an IP address of 10.1.0.1 for the second subnet. The VCN VR has a different IP address for each subnet in the VCN.

[0115] In some other embodiments, each subnet within a VCN may have its own associated VR that may be addressed by the subnet using a reserved or default IP address associated with the VR. For example, the reserved or default IP address may be the first IP address in a range of IP addresses associated with the subnet. The VNICs in the subnet may communicate (e.g., send and receive packets) with the VRs associated with the subnet using this default or reserved IP address. In such embodiments, the VR is the entry / exit point for the subnet. A VR associated with a subnet within the VCN may communicate with other VRs associated with other subnets within the VCN. The VR may also communicate with a gateway associated with the VCN. The VR functions of the subnet run on or are performed by one or more NVDs that perform the VNIC functions of the VNICs in the subnet.

[0116] Routing tables, security rules, and DHCP options can be configured for a VCN. A routing table is a virtual routing table for a VCN and includes rules for routing traffic from subnets within the VCN to destinations outside the VCN through gateways or specially configured instances. A VCN's routing table can be customized to control how packets are forwarded / routed to and from the VCN. DHCP options refer to configuration information that is automatically provided to an instance when it boots.

[0117] The security rules configured for a VCN represent the overlay firewall rules for the VCN. Security rules can include ingress and egress rules and specify the type of traffic allowed in and out of instances within the VCN (e.g., based on protocol and port). Customers can choose whether a given rule is stateful or stateless. For example, a customer can allow incoming SSH traffic from anywhere to a collection of instances by setting up a stateful ingress rule with source CIDR 0.0.0.0 / 0 and destination TCP port 22. Security rules can be implemented using network security groups or security lists. A network security group consists of a collection of security rules that apply only to resources in that group. On the other hand, a security list includes rules that apply to all resources in any subnet that uses the security list. A default security list with default security rules can be provided for the VCN. The DHCP options configured for the VCN provide configuration information that is automatically provided to instances in the VCN when the instances are launched.

[0118] In some embodiments, configuration information for a VCN is determined and stored by a VCN control plane. For example, configuration information for a VCN may include information about address ranges associated with the VCN, subnets within the VCN and associated information, one or more VRs associated with the VCN, compute instances in the VCN and associated VNICs, NVDs that perform various virtualized network functions associated with the VCN (e.g., VNICs, VRs, gateways), state information for the VCN, and other VCN-related information. In some embodiments, a VCN distribution service publishes configuration information, or portions thereof, stored by the VCN control plane to the NVD. The distributed information may be used to update information (e.g., forwarding tables, routing tables, etc.) stored by the NVD and used to forward packets to and from compute instances in the VCN.

[0119] In some embodiments, the creation of VCNs and subnets is handled by the VCN control plane (CP) and the launch of compute instances is handled by the compute control plane. The compute control plane is responsible for allocating physical resources to the compute instances and then calling the VCN control plane to create and attach VNICs to the compute instances. The VCN CP also sends VCN data maps to the VCN data plane, which is configured to perform packet forwarding and routing functions. In some embodiments, the VCN CP provides a distribution service that is responsible for providing updates to the VCN data plane. An example of a VCN control plane is also provided at Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 3 and Figure 4 Depicted in (see reference numerals 116, 216, 316 and 416) and described below.

[0120] Customers can create one or more VCNs using resources hosted by CSPI. Compute instances deployed on customer VCNs can communicate with different endpoints. These endpoints can include endpoints hosted by CSPI and endpoints external to CSPI.

[0121] The different architectures used to implement cloud-based services using CSPI are described in Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 3 , Figure 4 , Figure 5 and described below. Figure 1 is a high-level diagram of a distributed environment 100 showing an overlay or customer VCN hosted by CSPI according to certain embodiments. Figure 1 The distributed environment depicted in includes multiple components in an overlay network. Figure 1 The distributed environment 100 depicted in the example is merely an example and is not intended to unduly limit the scope of the claimed embodiments. Many variations, substitutions, and modifications are possible. For example, in some embodiments, Figure 1 The distributed environment depicted in Figure 1 More or fewer systems or components than those shown in FIG. 5 , two or more systems may be combined, or there may be different system configurations or arrangements.

[0122] like Figure 1 As shown in the example depicted in , the distributed environment 100 includes a CSPI 101 that provides services and resources that customers can subscribe to and use to build their virtual cloud network (VCN). In some embodiments, CSPI 101 provides IaaS services to subscribing customers. Data centers within CSPI 101 can be organized into one or more regions. Figure 1 An example region "Region US" 102 is shown in FIG. A customer has configured a customer VCN 104 for region 102. The customer can deploy various computing instances on VCN 104, where the computing instances can include virtual machines or bare metal instances. Examples of instances include applications, databases, load balancers, etc.

[0123] exist Figure 1 In the embodiment depicted in , customer VCN 104 includes two subnets, namely, "Subnet-1" and "Subnet-2", each with its own CIDR IP address range. Figure 1, the covered IP address range of Subnet-1 is 10.0 / 16, and the address range of Subnet-2 is 10.1 / 16. VCN virtual router 105 represents a logical gateway for the VCN that enables communication between subnets of VCN 104 and with other endpoints outside the VCN. VCN VR 105 is configured to route traffic between VNICs in VCN 104 and gateways associated with VCN 104. VCN VR 105 provides ports for each subnet of VCN 104. For example, VR 105 may provide a port with IP address 10.0.0.1 for Subnet-1 and a port with IP address 10.1.0.1 for Subnet-2.

[0124] Multiple computing instances can be deployed on each subnet, where the computing instances can be virtual machine instances and / or bare metal instances. The computing instances in a subnet can be hosted by one or more host machines within CSPI 101. The computing instances participate in the subnet via the VNICs associated with the computing instances. For example, Figure 1 As shown in , compute instance C1 becomes part of subnet-1 via a VNIC associated with the compute instance. Similarly, compute instance C2 becomes part of subnet-1 via a VNIC associated with C2. In a similar manner, multiple compute instances (which can be virtual machine instances or bare metal instances) can be part of subnet-1. Each compute instance is assigned a private overlay IP address and MAC address via its associated VNIC. For example, in Figure 1 In the example, the overlay IP address of compute instance C1 is 10.0.0.2 and the MAC address is M1, while the private overlay IP address of compute instance C2 is 10.0.0.3 and the MAC address is M2. Each compute instance in subnet-1 (including compute instances C1 and C2) has a default route to VCN VR 105 using IP address 10.0.0.1, which is the IP address of the port of VCN VR 105 for subnet-1.

[0125] Multiple computing instances can be deployed on subnet-2, including virtual machine instances and / or bare metal instances. Figure 1 As shown in , compute instances D1 and D2 become part of subnet-2 via the VNICs associated with the respective compute instances. Figure 1 In the embodiment shown in , the overlay IP address of computing instance D1 is 10.1.0.2 and the MAC address is MM1, while the private overlay IP address of computing instance D2 is 10.1.0.3 and the MAC address is MM2. Each computing instance in subnet-2 (including computing instances D1 and D2) has a default route to VCN VR 105 using IP address 10.1.0.1, which is the IP address of the port of VCN VR 105 for subnet-2.

[0126] VCN A 104 may also include one or more load balancers. For example, a load balancer may be provided for a subnet, and the load balancer may be configured to load balance traffic across multiple computing instances on the subnet. A load balancer may also be provided to load balance traffic across subnets in the VCN.

[0127] A particular computing instance deployed on VCN 104 can communicate with a variety of different endpoints. These endpoints can include endpoints hosted by CSPI 200 and endpoints external to CSPI 200. Endpoints hosted by CSPI 101 can include: endpoints on the same subnet as a particular computing instance (e.g., communication between two computing instances in subnet-1); endpoints on different subnets but within the same VCN (e.g., communication between a computing instance in subnet-1 and a computing instance in subnet-2); endpoints in different VCNs in the same region (e.g., communication between a computing instance in subnet-1 and an endpoint in a VCN in the same region 106 or 110, communication between a computing instance in subnet-1 and an endpoint in a service point 110 in the same region); or endpoints in VCNs in different regions (e.g., communication between a computing instance in subnet-1 and an endpoint in a VCN in a different region 108). Compute instances in a subnet hosted by CSPI 101 can also communicate with endpoints that are not hosted by CSPI 101 (i.e., external to CSPI 101). These external endpoints include endpoints in a customer's on-premises network 116, endpoints in other remote cloud-hosted networks 118, public endpoints 114 accessible via a public network (such as the Internet), and other endpoints.

[0128] Use VNICs associated with source and destination computing instances to facilitate communication between computing instances on the same subnet. For example, computing instance C1 in subnet-1 may want to send a data packet to computing instance C2 in subnet-1. For a data packet originating from a source computing instance and whose destination is another computing instance in the same subnet, the data packet is first processed by the VNIC associated with the source computing instance. The processing performed by the VNIC associated with the source computing instance may include determining the destination information of the data packet from the data packet header, identifying any policies (e.g., security lists) configured for the VNIC associated with the source computing instance, determining the next hop of the data packet, performing any data packet encapsulation / decapsulation functions as needed, and then forwarding / routing the data packet to the next hop, with the purpose of facilitating communication of the data packet to its intended destination. When the destination computing instance is in the same subnet as the source computing instance, the VNIC associated with the source computing instance is configured to identify the VNIC associated with the destination computing instance and forward the data packet to the VNIC for processing. The VNIC associated with the destination computing instance is then executed and the data packet is forwarded to the destination computing instance.

[0129] For packets to be delivered from a compute instance in a subnet to an endpoint in a different subnet in the same VCN, communication is facilitated through the VNICs associated with the source and destination compute instances and the VCN VRs. Figure 1 Compute instance C1 in subnet-1 wants to send a packet to compute instance D1 in subnet-2, then the packet is first processed by the VNIC associated with compute instance C1. The VNIC associated with compute instance C1 is configured to route the packet to VCN VR 105 using the default route or port 10.0.0.1 of the VCN VR. VCN VR 105 is configured to route the packet to subnet-2 using port 10.1.0.1. The VNIC associated with D1 then receives and processes the packet and the VNIC forwards the packet to compute instance D1.

[0130] For packets to be transmitted from a compute instance in VCN 104 to an endpoint outside of VCN 104, communication is facilitated by a VNIC associated with the source compute instance, a VCN VR 105, and a gateway associated with VCN 104. One or more types of gateways may be associated with VCN 104. A gateway is an interface between a VCN and another endpoint, where the other endpoint is outside of the VCN. A gateway is a layer 3 / IP layer concept and enables a VCN to communicate with an endpoint outside of the VCN. Thus, a gateway facilitates the flow of traffic between a VCN and other VCNs or networks. A variety of different types of gateways may be configured for a VCN to facilitate different types of communications with different types of endpoints. Depending on the gateway, communications may be over a public network (e.g., the Internet) or over a private network. Various communication protocols may be used for these communications.

[0131] For example, compute instance C1 may want to communicate with an endpoint outside of VCN 104. The packet may first be processed by a VNIC associated with source compute instance C1. VNIC processing determines that the destination of the packet is outside of C1's subnet-1. The VNIC associated with C1 may forward the packet to VCN VR 105 for VCN 104. VCN VR 105 then processes the packet and, as part of the processing, determines a specific gateway associated with VCN 104 as a next hop for the packet based on the packet's destination. VCN VR 105 may then forward the packet to the identified specific gateway. For example, if the destination is an endpoint within a customer's on-premises network, the packet may be forwarded by VCN VR 105 to a dynamic routing gateway (DRG) gateway 122 configured for VCN 104. The packet may then be forwarded from the gateway to the next hop to facilitate delivery of the packet to its final intended destination.

[0132] A variety of different types of gateways can be configured for a VCN. Examples of gateways that can be configured for a VCN are in Figure 1 An example of a gateway associated with a VCN is also shown in FIG. Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 3 and Figure 4 134, 136, 138, 234, 236, 238, 334, 336, 338, 434, 436, and 438) and are described below. Figure 1As shown in the embodiment depicted in , a dynamic routing gateway (DRG) 122 can be added to or associated with a customer VCN 104 and provide a path for private network traffic communication between the customer VCN 104 and another endpoint, where the other endpoint can be a customer's on-premises network 116, a VCN 108 in a different region of CSPI 101, or another remote cloud network 118 not hosted by CSPI 101. The customer's on-premises network 116 can be a customer network or a customer data center built using the customer's resources. Access to the customer's on-premises network 116 is generally very restricted. For customers who have both a customer's on-premises network 116 and one or more VCNs 104 deployed or hosted in the cloud by CSPI 101, the customer may want their on-premises network 116 and their cloud-based VCN 104 to be able to communicate with each other. This enables customers to build an extended hybrid environment that covers the customer's VCN 104 hosted by CSPI 101 and their on-premises network 116. DRG 122 enables this communication. To enable such communications, a communication channel 124 is established, where one endpoint of the channel is located in the customer's on-premises network 116 and the other endpoint is located in the CSPI 101 and connected to the customer VCN 104. The communication channel 124 can pass through a public communication network (such as the Internet) or a private communication network. A variety of different communication protocols can be used, such as IPsec VPN technology over a public communication network (such as the Internet), Oracle's FastConnect technology that uses a private network instead of a public network, etc. The equipment or equipment that forms one endpoint of the communication channel 124 in the customer's on-premises network 116 is called customer premises equipment (CPE), such as Figure 1 On the CSPI 101 side, the endpoint may be a host machine executing DRG 122.

[0133] In some embodiments, a remote peer connection (RPC) can be added to the DRG, which allows a customer to peer one VCN with another VCN in a different region. Using this RPC, a customer VCN 104 can connect to a VCN 108 in another region using a DRG 122. DRG 122 can also be used to communicate with other remote cloud networks 118 that are not hosted by CSPI 101 (such as Microsoft Azure Cloud, Amazon AWS Cloud, etc.).

[0134] like Figure 1As shown in , an Internet Gateway (IGW) 120 can be configured for a customer VCN 104, which enables computing instances on the VCN 104 to communicate with public endpoints 114 accessible via a public network, such as the Internet. The IGW 120 is a gateway that connects the VCN to a public network, such as the Internet. The IGW 120 enables public subnets within a VCN, such as VCN 104, where resources in the public subnet have public overlay IP addresses, to directly access public endpoints 112 on a public network 114, such as the Internet. Using the IGW 120, a connection can be initiated from a subnet within the VCN 104 or from the Internet.

[0135] A network address translation (NAT) gateway 128 may be configured for a customer's VCN 104 and enables cloud resources in the customer's VCN that do not have dedicated public overlay IP addresses to access the Internet, and it does so without exposing those resources to direct incoming Internet connections (e.g., L4-L7 connections). This enables private subnets within a VCN (such as private subnet-1 in VCN 104) to privately access public endpoints on the Internet. In a NAT gateway, connections can only be initiated from a private subnet to the public Internet, and connections cannot be initiated from the Internet to a private subnet.

[0136] In some embodiments, a service gateway (SGW) 126 may be configured for a customer's VCN 104 and provide a path for private network traffic between the VCN 104 and service endpoints supported in the service network 110. In some embodiments, the service network 110 may be provided by a CSP and may provide a variety of services. An example of such a service network is Oracle's service network, which provides a variety of services available to customers. For example, a computing instance (e.g., a database system) in a private subnet of a customer's VCN 104 may back up data to a service endpoint (e.g., an object storage) without requiring a public IP address or access to the Internet. In some embodiments, a VCN may have only one SGW, and connections may only be initiated from a subnet within the VCN, not from the service network 110. If a VCN is peered with another, resources in the other VCN generally cannot access the SGW. Resources in an on-premises network connected to a VCN with FastConnect or VPN Connect may also use the service gateway configured for that VCN.

[0137] In some embodiments, the SGW 126 uses the concept of a service classless inter-domain routing (CIDR) label, which is a string representing all regional public IP address ranges for a service or group of services of interest. Customers use the service CIDR label when they configure the SGW and associated routing rules to control traffic to the service. Customers can optionally use it when configuring security rules, without having to adjust security rules if the public IP addresses of the services change in the future.

[0138] A Local Peer Gateway (LPG) 132 is a gateway that can be added to a customer VCN 104 and enables the VCN 104 to peer with another VCN in the same region. Peering refers to the VCNs communicating using private IP addresses without the traffic traversing a public network such as the Internet or without routing the traffic through the customer's on-premises network 116. In a preferred embodiment, a VCN has a separate LPG for each peering it establishes. Local peering or VCN peering is a common practice for establishing network connectivity between different applications or infrastructure management functions.

[0139] Service providers (such as providers of services in service network 110) can provide access to services using different access models. According to the public access model, the service can be exposed as a public endpoint that is publicly accessible to a computing instance in a customer VCN via a public network (such as the Internet), and / or can be privately accessed via SGW 126. According to a specific private access model, the service can be accessed as a private IP endpoint in a private subnet in the customer's VCN. This is called private endpoint (PE) access and enables a service provider to expose its services as instances in a customer's private network. Private endpoint resources represent services within a customer's VCN. Each PE appears as a VNIC (called a PE-VNIC, with one or more private IPs) in a subnet selected by the customer in the customer's VCN. Therefore, PE provides a way to present services in a private customer VCN subnet using VNICs. Since the endpoint is exposed as a VNIC, all features associated with the VNIC (such as routing rules, security lists, etc.) can now be used for the PE VNIC.

[0140] Service providers can register their services to enable access through PE. Providers can associate policies with services, which limits the visibility of the service to customer tenancies. Providers can register multiple services under a single virtual IP address (VIP), especially for multi-tenant services. There can be multiple such private endpoints (in multiple VCNs) representing the same service.

[0141] The compute instances in the private subnet can then access the service using the private IP address of the PE VNIC or the service DNS name. The compute instances in the customer VCN can access the service by sending traffic to the private IP address of the PE in the customer VCN. The private access gateway (PAGW) 130 is a gateway resource that can be attached to a service provider VCN (e.g., a VCN in the service network 110) that acts as an entry / exit point for all traffic from / to the private endpoints of the customer subnet. PAGW 130 enables providers to scale the number of PE connections without utilizing their internal IP address resources. Providers only need to configure one PAGW for any number of services registered in a single VCN. Providers can represent services as private endpoints in multiple VCNs for one or more customers. From the customer's perspective, the PE VNIC is not attached to the customer's instance, but appears to be attached to the service that the customer wants to interact with. Traffic to the private endpoint is routed to the service via PAGW 130. These are referred to as customer-to-service private connections (C2S connections).

[0142] The PE concept can also be used to extend private access to services to the customer's on-premises networks and data centers by allowing traffic to flow through FastConnect / IPsec links and private endpoints in the customer's VCN. Private access to services can also be extended to the customer's peer VCNs by allowing traffic to flow between the LPG 132 and the PEs in the customer's VCN.

[0143] The customer can control routing in the VCN at the subnet level, so the customer can specify which subnets in the customer's VCN (such as VCN 104) use each gateway. The routing table of the VCN is used to decide whether to allow traffic to leave the VCN through a particular gateway. For example, in a specific instance, the routing table for a public subnet within a customer VCN 104 can send non-local traffic through IGW 120. The routing table for a private subnet within the same customer VCN 104 can send traffic destined for CSP services through SGW 126. All remaining traffic can be sent via NAT gateway 128. The routing table only controls traffic leaving the VCN.

[0144] The security list associated with the VCN is used to control the traffic that enters the VCN via the gateway via an inbound connection. All resources in the subnet use the same routing table and security list. The security list can be used to control specific types of traffic that are allowed to enter and exit the instances in the subnet of the VCN. Security list rules can include ingress (inbound) and egress (outbound) rules. For example, an ingress rule can specify a range of allowed source addresses, and an egress rule can specify a range of allowed destination addresses. Security rules can specify specific protocols (e.g., TCP, ICMP), specific ports (e.g., 22 for SSH, 3389 for Windows RDP), etc. In some embodiments, the operating system of the instance can enforce its own firewall rules that comply with the security list rules. Rules can be stateful (e.g., tracking connections and automatically allowing responses without explicit security list rules for response traffic) or stateless.

[0145] Access from a customer VCN (i.e., through resources or compute instances deployed on VCN 104) can be categorized as public access, private access, or dedicated access. Public access refers to an access model that uses a public IP address or NAT to access a public endpoint. Private access enables customer workloads (e.g., resources in a private subnet) in VCN 104 with private IP addresses to access services without traversing a public network such as the Internet. In certain embodiments, CSPI 101 enables customer VCN workloads with private IP addresses to access (public service endpoints of) services using a service gateway. Thus, the service gateway provides a private access model by establishing a virtual link between a customer's VCN and a public endpoint of a service that resides outside of the customer's private network.

[0146] Additionally, CSPI can provide dedicated public access using technologies such as FastConnect public peering, where a customer on-premises instance can use a FastConnect connection to access one or more services in a customer's VCN without traversing a public network such as the Internet. CSPI can also provide dedicated private access using FastConnect private peering, where a customer on-premises instance with a private IP address can use a FastConnect connection to access the customer's VCN workloads. FastConnect is a network connectivity alternative to using the public Internet to connect a customer's on-premises network to CSPI and its services. FastConnect provides a simple, flexible, and cost-effective way to create dedicated and private connections with higher bandwidth options and a more reliable and consistent network experience compared to Internet-based connections.

[0147] Figure 1and the accompanying description above describe various virtualized components in an example virtual network.As described above, a virtual network is built on an underlying physical or substrate network. Figure 2 A simplified architecture diagram of physical components in a physical network within a CSPI 200 that provides an underlying virtual network according to certain embodiments is depicted. As shown, the CSPI 200 provides a distributed environment that includes components and resources (e.g., computing, storage, and network resources) provided by a cloud service provider (CSP). These components and resources are used to provide cloud services (e.g., IaaS services) to subscribing customers (i.e., customers who have subscribed to one or more services provided by the CSP). Based on the services subscribed by the customer, a subset of the resources of the CSPI 200 (e.g., computing, storage, and network resources) is provisioned to the customer. The customer can then build his or her own cloud-based (i.e., CSPI-hosted) customizable and private virtual network using the physical computing, storage, and networking resources provided by the CSPI 200. As indicated above, these customer networks are referred to as virtual cloud networks (VCNs). Customers can deploy one or more customer resources, such as computing instances, on these customer VCNs. The computing instances can be in the form of virtual machines, bare metal instances, etc. The CSPI 200 provides a collection of infrastructure and complementary cloud services that enable customers to build and run a wide range of applications and services in a highly available hosting environment.

[0148] exist Figure 2 In the example embodiment depicted in , the physical components of CSPI 200 include one or more physical host machines or physical servers (e.g., 202, 206, 208), network virtualization devices (NVDs) (e.g., 210, 212), top-of-rack (TOR) switches (e.g., 214, 216), and physical networks (e.g., 218), and switches in physical network 218. The physical host machines or servers can host and execute various computing instances that participate in one or more subnets of the VCN. The computing instances can include virtual machine instances and bare metal instances. For example, Figure 1 The various computational examples depicted in Figure 2 The physical host machines depicted in the figure host the virtual machine compute instances in the VCN. The virtual machine compute instances in the VCN can be executed by one host machine or multiple different host machines. The physical host machines can also host virtual host machines, container-based hosts or functions, etc. Figure 1 The VNIC and VCN VR depicted in the figure can be represented by Figure 2 The NVD implementation depicted in FIG. Figure 1 The gateway depicted in the figure may be provided by a host machine and / or Figure 2 The NVD implementation described in .

[0149] A host machine or server may execute a hypervisor (also referred to as a virtual machine monitor or VMM) that creates and enables a virtualized environment on the host machine. A virtualized or virtualized environment facilitates cloud-based computing. One or more computing instances may be created, executed, and managed on the host machine by a hypervisor on the host machine. The hypervisor on the host machine enables the physical computing resources (e.g., computing, memory, and network resources) of the host machine to be shared between the various computing instances executed by the host machine.

[0150] For example, Figure 2 As depicted in , host machines 202 and 208 execute hypervisors 260 and 266, respectively. These hypervisors may be implemented using software, firmware, or hardware, or a combination thereof. Typically, a hypervisor is a process or software layer that sits on top of an operating system (OS) of a host machine, which in turn executes on a hardware processor of the host machine. A hypervisor provides a virtualized environment by enabling the physical computing resources of the host machine (e.g., processing resources such as processors / cores, memory resources, network resources) to be shared among various virtual machine computing instances executed by the host machine. For example, in Figure 2 In the present invention, the hypervisor 260 can be located on top of the OS of the host machine 202 and enable the computing resources (e.g., processing, memory, and network resources) of the host machine 202 to be shared between computing instances (e.g., virtual machines) executed by the host machine 202. The virtual machine can have its own operating system (called a guest operating system), which can be the same as or different from the OS of the host machine. The operating system of a virtual machine executed by the host machine can be the same as or different from the operating system of another virtual machine executed by the same host machine. Therefore, the hypervisor enables multiple operating systems to be executed simultaneously while sharing the same computing resources of the host machine. Figure 2 The host machines depicted in FIG. 1 may have the same or different types of hypervisors.

[0151] Compute instances can be virtual machine instances or bare metal instances. Figure 2 , compute instance 268 on host machine 202 and compute instance 274 on host machine 208 are examples of virtual machine instances. Host machine 206 is an example of a bare metal instance provided to a customer.

[0152] In some cases, the entire host machine can be supplied to a single customer, and one or more computing instances (or virtual machines or bare metal instances) hosted by the host machine all belong to the same customer. In other cases, the host machine can be shared between multiple customers (i.e., multiple tenants). In this multi-tenant scenario, the host machine can host virtual machine computing instances belonging to different customers. These computing instances can be members of different VCNs of different customers. In certain embodiments, the bare metal computing instance is hosted by a bare metal server without a hypervisor. When supplying a bare metal computing instance, a single customer or tenant maintains control of the physical CPU, memory, and network interface of the host machine hosting the bare metal instance, and the host machine is not shared with other customers or tenants.

[0153] As previously described, each compute instance that is part of a VCN is associated with a VNIC that enables the compute instance to be a member of a subnet of the VCN. The VNIC associated with a compute instance facilitates the communication of packets or frames to and from the compute instance. The VNIC is associated with the compute instance when the compute instance is created. In some embodiments, for a compute instance executed by a host machine, the VNIC associated with the compute instance is executed by an NVD connected to the host machine. For example, in Figure 2 , host machine 202 executes virtual machine compute instance 268 associated with VNIC 276, and VNIC 276 is executed by NVD 210 connected to host machine 202. As another example, bare metal instance 272 hosted by host machine 206 is associated with VNIC 280 executed by NVD 212 connected to host machine 206. As yet another example, VNIC 284 is associated with compute instance 274 executed by host machine 208, and VNIC 284 is executed by NVD 212 connected to host machine 208.

[0154] For compute instances hosted by a host machine, the NVD connected to the host machine also executes the VCN VR corresponding to the VCN of which the compute instance is a member. Figure 2 In the embodiment depicted in , NVD 210 executes VCN VR 277 corresponding to the VCN of which compute instance 268 is a member. NVD 212 may also execute one or more VCN VRs 283 corresponding to VCNs corresponding to compute instances hosted by host machines 206 and 208.

[0155] The host machine may include one or more network interface cards (NICs) that enable the host machine to connect to other devices. The NIC on the host machine may provide one or more ports (or interfaces) that enable the host machine to communicatively connect to another device. For example, the host machine may connect to the NVD using one or more ports (or interfaces) provided on the host machine and on the NVD. The host machine may also connect to other devices (such as another host machine).

[0156] For example, in Figure 2 2, host machine 202 is connected to NVD 210 using link 220, which extends between port 234 provided by NIC 232 of host machine 202 and port 236 of NVD 210. Host machine 206 is connected to NVD 212 using link 224, which extends between port 246 provided by NIC 244 of host machine 206 and port 248 of NVD 212. Host machine 208 is connected to NVD 212 using link 226, which extends between port 252 provided by NIC 250 of host machine 208 and port 254 of NVD 212.

[0157] The NVD is in turn connected to top-of-rack (TOR) switches via communication links, which are connected to the physical network 218 (also referred to as a switch fabric). In some embodiments, the links between the host machine and the NVD and between the NVD and the TOR switches are Ethernet links. For example, in Figure 2 , NVDs 210 and 212 are connected to TOR switches 214 and 216 using links 228 and 230, respectively. In some embodiments, links 220, 224, 226, 228, and 230 are Ethernet links. A collection of host machines and NVDs connected to a TOR is sometimes referred to as a rack.

[0158] Physical network 218 provides a communication architecture that enables TOR switches to communicate with each other. Physical network 218 can be a multi-layer network. In some embodiments, physical network 218 is a multi-layer Clos network of switches, where TOR switches 214 and 216 represent leaf nodes of the multi-layer and multi-node physical switching network 218. Different Clos network configurations are possible, including but not limited to 2-layer networks, 3-layer networks, 4-layer networks, 5-layer networks, and general "n"-layer networks. Examples of Clos networks are described in Figure 5 and described below.

[0159] There may be various connection configurations between the host machine and the NVD, such as one-to-one configuration, many-to-one configuration, one-to-many configuration, etc. In a one-to-one configuration implementation, each host machine is connected to its own separate NVD. Figure 2 In , host machine 202 is connected to NVD 210 via NIC 232 of host machine 202. In a many-to-one configuration, multiple host machines are connected to one NVD. Figure 2 , host machines 206 and 208 are connected to the same NVD 212 via NICs 244 and 250, respectively.

[0160] In a one-to-many configuration, one host machine connects to multiple NVDs. Figure 3 An example within CSPI 300 is shown, where a host machine is connected to multiple NVDs. Figure 3 , a host machine 302 includes a network interface card (NIC) 304 that includes a plurality of ports 306 and 308. The host machine 300 is connected to a first NVD 310 via port 306 and link 320, and to a second NVD 312 via port 308 and link 322. Ports 306 and 308 may be Ethernet ports, and links 320 and 322 between the host machine 302 and the NVDs 310 and 312 may be Ethernet links. The NVD 310 is in turn connected to a first TOR switch 314 and the NVD 312 is connected to a second TOR switch 316. The links between the NVDs 310, 312 and the TOR switches 314, 316 may be Ethernet links. The TOR switches 314 and 316 represent layer 0 switching devices in a multi-layer physical network 318.

[0161] Figure 3 The arrangement depicted in FIG. 3 provides two separate physical network paths to and from the physical switch network 318 to the host machine 302: the first path traverses the TOR switch 314 to the NVD 310 and then to the host machine 302, and the second path traverses the TOR switch 316 to the NVD 312 and then to the host machine 302. The separate paths provide enhanced availability (referred to as high availability) of the host machine 302. If a problem occurs in one of the paths (e.g., a link in one of the paths is broken) or a device (e.g., a particular NVD is not running), then the other path can be used for communications to / from the host machine 302.

[0162] exist Figure 3 In the configuration depicted in , the host machine is connected to two different NVDs using two different ports provided by the host machine's NIC. In other embodiments, the host machine may include multiple NICs that enable the host machine to connect to multiple NVDs.

[0163] Return to reference Figure 2NVD is a physical device or component that performs one or more network and / or storage virtualization functions. NVD can be any device with one or more processing units (e.g., CPU, network processing unit (NPU), FPGA, packet processing pipeline, etc.), memory including cache, and ports. Various virtualization functions can be performed by software / firmware executed by one or more processing units of NVD.

[0164] NVD can be implemented in a variety of different forms. For example, in some embodiments, NVD is implemented as an interface card called a smartNIC or an intelligent NIC with an onboard embedded processor. A smartNIC is a separate device from the NIC on the host machine. Figure 2 , NVDs 210 and 212 may be implemented as smartNICs connected to host machine 202 and host machines 206 and 208, respectively.

[0165] However, smartNIC is only one example of an NVD implementation. Various other implementations are possible. For example, in some other implementations, NVD or one or more functions performed by NVD can be incorporated into or performed by one or more host machines, one or more TOR switches, and other components of CSPI 200. For example, NVD can be implemented in a host machine, where the functions performed by NVD are performed by the host machine. As another example, NVD can be part of a TOR switch, or a TOR switch can be configured to perform the functions performed by NVD, which enables the TOR switch to perform various complex packet conversions for public clouds. TORs that perform the functions of NVD are sometimes referred to as smart TORs. In other implementations that provide virtual machine (VM) instances to customers instead of bare metal (BM) instances, the functions performed by NVD can be implemented inside the hypervisor of the host machine. In some other implementations, some of the functions of NVD can be offloaded to centralized services running on a group of host machines.

[0166] In some embodiments, such as when implemented as Figure 2 When using the smartNIC shown in FIG. 1 , the NVD may include multiple physical ports that enable it to connect to one or more host machines and one or more TOR switches. Ports on the NVD may be classified as host-facing ports (also referred to as "south ports") or network-facing or TOR-facing ports (also referred to as "north ports"). The host-facing ports of the NVD are the ports used to connect the NVD to the host machines. Figure 2 Examples of host-facing ports include port 236 on NVD 210 and ports 248 and 254 on NVD 212. The network-facing ports of the NVD are the ports used to connect the NVD to the TOR switch. Figure 2 Examples of network-facing ports include port 256 on NVD 210 and port 258 on NVD 212. Figure 2 As shown in FIG. 1 , NVD 210 is connected to TOR switch 214 using link 228 extending from port 256 of NVD 210 to TOR switch 214. Similarly, NVD 212 is connected to TOR switch 216 using link 230 extending from port 258 of NVD 212 to TOR switch 216.

[0167] NVD receives packets and frames (e.g., packets and frames generated by a compute instance hosted by the host machine) from a host machine via a host-facing port, and after performing necessary packet processing, may forward the packets and frames to a TOR switch via a network-facing port of NVD. NVD may receive packets and frames from a TOR switch via a network-facing port of NVD, and after performing necessary packet processing, may forward the packets and frames to a host machine via a host-facing port of NVD.

[0168] In some embodiments, there may be multiple ports and associated links between the NVD and the TOR switch. These ports and links may be aggregated to form a link aggregate group (referred to as a LAG) of multiple ports or links. Link aggregation allows multiple physical links between two endpoints (e.g., between the NVD and the TOR switch) to be treated as a single logical link. All physical links in a given LAG may operate in full-duplex mode at the same speed. LAG helps increase the bandwidth and reliability of the connection between the two endpoints. If one of the physical links in the LAG fails, the traffic will be dynamically and transparently reassigned to one of the other physical links in the LAG. The aggregated physical links deliver higher bandwidth than each individual link. Multiple ports associated with the LAG are treated as a single logical port. Traffic may be load balanced across multiple physical links of the LAG. One or more LAGs may be configured between two endpoints. The two endpoints may be located between the NVD and the TOR switch, between the host machine and the NVD, and so on.

[0169] NVD implements or performs network virtualization functions. These functions are performed by software / firmware executed by NVD. Examples of network virtualization functions include, but are not limited to: packet encapsulation and decapsulation functions; functions for creating VCN networks; functions for implementing network policies, such as VCN security lists (firewall) functionality; functions for facilitating routing and forwarding of packets to and from computing instances in the VCN; and the like. In some embodiments, upon receiving a packet, NVD is configured to execute a packet processing pipeline for processing the packet and determining how to forward or route the packet. As part of this packet processing pipeline, NVD may execute one or more virtual functions associated with an overlay network, such as executing a VNIC associated with a computer instance in the VCN, executing a virtual router (VR) associated with the VCN, encapsulation and decapsulation of packets to facilitate forwarding or routing in a virtual network, execution of certain gateways (e.g., local peer gateways), implementation of security lists, network security groups, network address translation (NAT) functionality (e.g., translating public IPs to private IPs on a host-by-host basis), throttling functions, and other functions.

[0170] In some embodiments, the packet processing data path in NVD may include multiple packet pipelines, each packet pipeline consisting of a series of packet transformation stages. In some embodiments, after receiving a packet, the packet is parsed and classified into a single pipeline. The packet is then processed in a linear manner, one stage after another, until the packet is discarded or sent out through the interface of NVD. These stages provide basic functional packet processing building blocks (e.g., verifying headers, enforcing throttling, inserting new layer 2 headers, enforcing L4 firewalls, VCN encapsulation / decapsulation, etc.) so that new pipelines can be built by combining existing stages, and new functionality can be added by creating new stages and plugging them into existing pipelines.

[0171] NVD can perform both control plane and data plane functions corresponding to the control plane and data plane of the VCN. An example of a VCN control plane is also provided in Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 3 and Figure 4 An example of a VCN data plane is depicted in FIG. 1 (see reference numerals 116, 216, 316, and 416) and described below. Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 3 and Figure 4118, 218, 318, and 418) and described below. The control plane functions include functions for configuring the network that controls how data is forwarded (e.g., setting routes and routing tables, configuring VNICs, etc.). In some embodiments, a VCN control plane is provided that centrally calculates all overlay-to-base mappings and publishes them to NVD and virtual network edge devices (such as various gateways, such as DRG, SGW, IGW, etc.). Firewall rules can also be published using the same mechanism. In some embodiments, the NVD only obtains mappings associated with the NVD. The data plane functions include functions for actually routing / forwarding packets based on the configuration established using the control plane. The VCN data plane is implemented by encapsulating the customer's network packets before they traverse the base network. The encapsulation / decapsulation functionality is implemented on the NVD. In some embodiments, the NVD is configured to intercept all network packets entering and leaving the host machine and perform network virtualization functions.

[0172] As indicated above, NVD performs various virtualization functions, including VNIC and VCN VR. NVD can execute VNICs associated with computing instances hosted by one or more host machines connected to the VNIC. For example, Figure 2 , NVD 210 executes functionality of VNIC 276 associated with compute instance 268 hosted by host machine 202 connected to NVD 210. As another example, NVD 212 executes VNIC 280 associated with bare metal compute instance 272 hosted by host machine 206, and executes VNIC 284 associated with compute instance 274 hosted by host machine 208. The host machines may host compute instances belonging to different VCNs (which belong to different customers), and the NVD connected to the host machines may execute VNICs corresponding to the compute instances (i.e., perform VNIC-related functionality).

[0173] NVD also implements a VCN virtual router corresponding to the VCN of the compute instance. Figure 2 , NVD 210 executes VCN VR 277 corresponding to the VCN to which compute instance 268 belongs. NVD 212 executes one or more VCN VRs 283 corresponding to one or more VCNs to which compute instances hosted by host machines 206 and 208 belong. In some embodiments, the VCN VR corresponding to the VCN is executed by all NVDs connected to the host machine hosting at least one compute instance belonging to the VCN. If the host machine hosts compute instances belonging to different VCNs, then the NVDs connected to the host machine can execute VCN VRs corresponding to those different VCNs.

[0174] In addition to the VNICs and VCN VRs, NVD may also execute various software (e.g., daemons) and include components, which are one or more hardware components that facilitate the various network virtualization functions performed by NVD. For simplicity, these various components are grouped together as Figure 2 ” packet processing component” shown in . For example, NVD 210 includes packet processing component 286 and NVD 212 includes packet processing component 288. For example, a packet processing component for NVD may include a packet processor configured to interact with the port and hardware interface of NVD to monitor all packets received by NVD and transmitted using NVD and store network information. Network information may, for example, include network flow information and per-flow information (e.g., per-flow statistics) that identify different network flows handled by NVD. In some embodiments, network flow information may be stored on a per-VNIC basis. The packet processor may perform packet-by-packet manipulation and implement stateful NAT and L4 firewall (FW). As another example, the packet processing component may include a replication agent configured to copy information stored by NVD to one or more different replication target repositories. As yet another example, the packet processing component may include a logging agent configured to perform the logging function of NVD. The packet processing component may also include software for monitoring the performance and health of NVD and possibly also monitoring the status and health of other components connected to NVD.

[0175] Figure 1 Components of an example virtual or overlay network are shown, including a VCN, subnets within the VCN, compute instances deployed on the subnets, VNICs associated with the compute instances, VRs for the VCN, and a set of gateways configured for the VCN. Figure 1 The overlay component depicted in can be represented by Figure 2 For example, a compute instance in a VCN can be executed or hosted by one or more of the physical components depicted in FIG. Figure 2 . For a compute instance hosted by a host machine, a VNIC associated with the compute instance is typically executed by an NVD connected to the host machine (i.e., VNIC functionality is provided by the NVD connected to the host machine). VCN VR functionality for a VCN is executed by all NVDs connected to the host machines that host or execute compute instances as part of the VCN. Gateways associated with a VCN may be executed by one or more different types of NVDs. For example, some gateways may be executed by smartNICs, while other gateways may be executed by one or more host machines or other implementations of NVDs.

[0176] As described above, a compute instance in a customer VCN can communicate with a variety of different endpoints, where the endpoint can be in the same subnet as the source compute instance, in a different subnet but in the same VCN as the source compute instance, or the endpoint is external to the source compute instance's VCN. These communications are facilitated using VNICs associated with the compute instances, VCN VRs, and gateways associated with the VCN.

[0177] For communication between two computing instances on the same subnet in a VCN, VNICs associated with the source and destination computing instances are used to facilitate communication. The source and destination computing instances can be hosted by the same host machine or different host machines. Data packets originating from the source computing instance can be forwarded from the host machine hosting the source computing instance to the NVD connected to the host machine. On the NVD, the data packet is processed using a packet processing pipeline, which can include the execution of the VNIC associated with the source computing instance. Since the destination endpoint of the data packet is located in the same subnet, the execution of the VNIC associated with the source computing instance causes the data packet to be forwarded to the NVD that executes the VNIC associated with the destination computing instance, which then processes the data packet and forwards it to the destination computing instance. The VNICs associated with the source and destination computing instances can be executed on the same NVD (for example, when the source and destination computing instances are hosted by the same host machine) or on different NVDs (for example, when the source and destination computing instances are hosted by different host machines connected to different NVDs). The VNIC can use the routing / forwarding table stored by the NVD to determine the next hop of the data packet.

[0178] For packets to be transmitted from a computing instance in a subnet to an endpoint in a different subnet in the same VCN, packets originating from the source computing instance are transmitted from the host machine hosting the source computing instance to the NVD connected to the host machine. On the NVD, the packets are processed using a packet processing pipeline, which may include the execution of one or more VNICs and VRs associated with the VCN. For example, as part of the packet processing pipeline, the NVD executes or calls functionality associated with the VNIC associated with the source computing instance (also referred to as executing the VNIC). The functionality executed by the VNIC may include checking the VLAN tag on the packet. Since the destination of the packet is outside the subnet, the VCN VR functionality is next called and executed by the NVD. The VCN VR then routes the packet to the NVD that executes the VNIC associated with the destination computing instance. The VNIC associated with the destination computing instance then processes the packet and forwards the packet to the destination computing instance. The VNICs associated with the source and destination computing instances may be executed on the same NVD (e.g., when the source and destination computing instances are hosted by the same host machine) or on different NVDs (e.g., when the source and destination computing instances are hosted by different host machines connected to different NVDs).

[0179] If the destination of the packet is outside the VCN of the source compute instance, then the packet originating from the source compute instance is transmitted from the host machine hosting the source compute instance to the NVD connected to the host machine. The NVD executes the VNIC associated with the source compute instance. Since the destination endpoint of the packet is outside the VCN, the packet is then processed by the VCN VR for the VCN. The NVD invokes VCN VR functionality, which may cause the packet to be forwarded to the NVD executing the appropriate gateway associated with the VCN. For example, if the destination is an endpoint within the customer's on-premises network, then the packet may be forwarded by the VCN VR to the NVD executing the DRG gateway configured for the VCN. The VCN VR may be executed on the same NVD as the NVD executing the VNIC associated with the source compute instance, or by a different NVD. The gateway may be executed by an NVD, which may be a smartNIC, a host machine, or other NVD implementation. The packet is then processed by the gateway and forwarded to the next hop, which facilitates delivery of the packet to its intended destination endpoint. For example, in Figure 2, a packet originating from compute instance 268 may be transmitted from host machine 202 to NVD 210 via link 220 (using NIC 232). On NVD 210, VNIC 276 is invoked because it is the VNIC associated with source compute instance 268. VNIC 276 is configured to inspect information encapsulated in the packet and determine a next hop for forwarding the packet with the intent of facilitating delivery of the packet to its intended destination endpoint, and then forward the packet to the determined next hop.

[0180] Compute instances deployed on a VCN can communicate with a variety of different endpoints. These endpoints may include endpoints hosted by CSPI 200 and endpoints external to CSPI 200. Endpoints hosted by CSPI 200 may include instances in the same VCN or other VCNs, which may be the customer's VCN or a VCN that does not belong to the customer. Communications between endpoints hosted by CSPI 200 may be performed over physical network 218. Compute instances may also communicate with endpoints that are not hosted by CSPI 200 or that are external to CSPI 200. Examples of these endpoints include endpoints within a customer's on-premises network or data center, or public endpoints accessible over a public network such as the Internet. Communications with endpoints external to CSPI 200 may be performed over a public network (e.g., the Internet) using various communication protocols. Figure 2 not shown) or a dedicated network ( Figure 2 (not shown) to execute.

[0181] Figure 2 The architecture of CSPI 200 depicted in the drawings is merely exemplary and is not intended to be limiting. In alternative embodiments, variations, alternatives, and modifications are possible. For example, in some embodiments, CSPI 200 may have a Figure 2 The systems or components shown in FIG. 5 may include more or fewer systems or components, may combine two or more systems, or may have different system configurations or arrangements. Figure 2 The systems, subsystems, and other components depicted in the can be implemented in software (e.g., code, instructions, programs) executed by one or more processing units (e.g., processors, cores) of the corresponding system, using hardware, or a combination thereof. The software can be stored on a non-transitory storage medium (e.g., on a memory device).

[0182] Figure 4 Depicted is connectivity between a host machine and an NVD for providing I / O virtualization to support multi-tenancy in accordance with certain embodiments. Figure 4As depicted in , a host machine 402 executes a hypervisor 404 that provides a virtualized environment. The host machine 402 executes two virtual machine instances, VM1 406 belonging to customer / tenant #1 and VM2 408 belonging to customer / tenant #2. The host machine 402 includes a physical NIC 410 connected to an NVD 412 via a link 414. Each compute instance is attached to a VNIC executed by the NVD 412. Figure 4 In the embodiment of FIG. 4 , VM1 406 is attached to VNIC-VM1 420 and VM2 408 is attached to VNIC-VM2 422 .

[0183] like Figure 4 As shown in FIG, NIC 410 includes two logical NICs, logical NIC A 416 and logical NIC B 418. Each virtual machine is attached to and configured to work with its own logical NIC. For example, VM1 406 is attached to logical NIC A 416 and VM2 408 is attached to logical NIC B 418. Although host machine 402 includes only one physical NIC 410 shared by multiple tenants, each tenant's virtual machines believe they have their own host machine and network card due to the logical NICs.

[0184] In some embodiments, each logical NIC is assigned its own VLAN ID. Thus, a particular VLAN ID is assigned to logical NIC A 416 for tenant #1, and a different VLAN ID is assigned to logical NIC B 418 for tenant #2. When a packet is transmitted from VM1 406, a tag assigned to tenant #1 is appended to the packet by the hypervisor, and the packet is then transmitted from the host machine 402 to the NVD 412 via link 414. In a similar manner, when a packet is transmitted from VM2 408, a tag assigned to tenant #2 is appended to the packet by the hypervisor, and the packet is then transmitted from the host machine 402 to the NVD 412 via link 414. Accordingly, a packet 424 transmitted from the host machine 402 to the NVD 412 has an associated tag 426 that identifies the particular tenant and the associated VM. On the NVD, for a packet 424 received from the host machine 402, a tag 426 associated with the packet is used to determine whether the packet is processed by VNIC-VM1 420 or VNIC-VM2 422. The packet is then processed by the corresponding VNIC. Figure 4 The configuration described in enables each tenant's compute instances to believe that they have their own host machine and NIC. Figure 4 The setup described in provides I / O virtualization to support multi-tenancy.

[0185] Figure 5A simplified block diagram of a physical network 500 is depicted in accordance with certain embodiments. Figure 5 The embodiments depicted in are structured as Clos networks. A Clos network is a specific type of network topology that is designed to provide connection redundancy while maintaining high bisection bandwidth and maximum resource utilization. A Clos network is a non-blocking, multi-stage or multi-layer switching network, where the number of stages or layers can be two, three, four, five, etc. Figure 5 The embodiment depicted in is a 3-layer network, including layer 1, layer 2, and layer 3. TOR switch 504 represents a layer 0 switch in a Clos network. One or more NVDs are connected to the TOR switch. The layer 0 switch is also called the edge device of the physical network. The layer 0 switch is connected to the layer 1 switch, which is also called the leaf switch. Figure 5 In the embodiment depicted in , a set of "n" layer 0TOR switches is connected to a set of "n" layer 1 switches and forms a cluster (pod). Each layer 0 switch in a cluster is interconnected to all layer 1 switches in the cluster, but there is no switch connectivity between clusters. In some embodiments, two clusters are referred to as blocks. Each block is served by or connected to a set of "n" layer 2 switches (sometimes called backbone switches). There can be several blocks in the physical network topology. The layer 2 switches are in turn connected to "n" layer 3 switches (sometimes called super backbone switches). Communication of data packets on the physical network 500 is typically performed using one or more layer 3 communication protocols. Typically, all layers of the physical network (except the TOR layer) are n-way redundant, thereby allowing high availability. Policies can be specified for clusters and blocks to control the visibility of switches to each other in the physical network, thereby enabling scaling of the physical network.

[0186] A Clos network is characterized by a fixed maximum number of hops from one layer 0 switch to another layer 0 switch (or from an NVD connected to a layer 0 switch to another NVD connected to a layer 0 switch). For example, in a 3-layer Clos network, a packet takes at most seven hops to reach from one NVD to another NVD, where the source and destination NVDs are connected to the leaf layer of the Clos network. Similarly, in a 4-layer Clos network, a packet takes at most nine hops to reach from one NVD to another NVD, where the source and destination NVDs are connected to the leaf layer of the Clos network. Therefore, the Clos network architecture maintains consistent latency throughout the network, which is important for communications within and between data centers. The Clos topology scales horizontally and is cost-effective. The bandwidth / throughput capacity of the network can be easily increased by adding more switches at various layers (e.g., more leaf switches and spine switches) and by increasing the number of links between switches in adjacent layers.

[0187] In some embodiments, each resource within the CSPI is assigned a unique identifier, called a cloud identifier (CID). This identifier is included as part of the resource's information and can be used to manage the resource, for example, via the console or through an API. An example syntax for a CID is:

[0188] ocid1.<RESOURCE TYPE> . <realm>.[REGION][.FUTURE USE].<UNIQUE ID>

[0189] in,

[0190] ocid1: a text string indicating the version of the CID;

[0191] resource type: the type of resource (for example, instance, volume, VCN, subnet, user, group, etc.);

[0192] realm: The realm where the resource is located. Example values ​​are "c1" for the commercial realm, "c2" for the government cloud realm, or "c3" for the federal government cloud realm. Each realm can have its own domain name;

[0193] region: The region where the resource is located. This part may be empty if the region does not apply to the resource;

[0194] future use: Reserved for future use.

[0195] uniqueID: The unique portion of the ID. The format can vary depending on the type of resource or service.

[0196] Virtual Private Label Cloud (vPLC)

[0197] This document describes techniques that enable cloud infrastructure in a region provided by a cloud service provider (CSP) for providing CSP-supplied cloud services to the CSP's customers to be used to create one or more virtual private clouds (referred to herein as virtual private label clouds or "vPLCs"). The vPLCs created according to the various techniques described in this disclosure can be used for different purposes. For example, in one use case, a vPLC can be created for a dealer that is a customer of the CSP, and the dealer can use the vPLC to provide one or more dealer-supplied cloud services to the dealer's customers. As another use case, the vPLC can be used as a virtual data center and can be associated with a domain that is different from the domain associated with the cloud infrastructure in the region provided by the CSP.

[0198] A cloud service provider (CSP) provides an infrastructure (referred to as cloud service provider infrastructure or CSPI or CSP-provided infrastructure) for providing one or more cloud services to the CSP's customers. CSP customers may include direct customers and / or distributors of the CSP. CSPI may include physical infrastructure components and virtual infrastructure components. Physical CSPI may include interconnected high-performance computing resources, including racks, servers and host machines, storage resources, network resources for forming a physical substrate or underlying network, network virtualization devices, and other resources. Virtual CSPI components may include components in an overly network, such as virtual machines, virtual routers and gateways, and other virtual components.

[0199] A CSP may offer various types of cloud services. These may include various types of services, including software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), etc. In certain embodiments, as described in the present disclosure, a CSP may offer "vPLC cloud services". Customers of a CSP may subscribe to one or more cloud services provided by the CSP. Customers may be any entity, such as an individual, organization, enterprise, etc.

[0200] Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a specific type of cloud computing service. In the IaaS model, the CSP provides infrastructure that can be used by customers to build their own customizable networks and deploy customer resources. Therefore, the customer's resources and network are hosted in a distributed environment by the infrastructure provided by the CSP. This is different from traditional computing, in which the customer's resources and network are hosted by the infrastructure provided by the customer. In some embodiments, vPLC as a Service is an IaaS service in which the allocated infrastructure is used to create a virtual private label cloud for the customer. For example, if the CSP's customer is a dealer, then the vPLC created for the dealer can be used to provide dealer-provisioned cloud services.

[0201] When a customer subscribes to or registers for a cloud service provided by a CSP, a lease (or account) is created for the customer. The customer can then access one or more subscribed cloud resources associated with the account / lease via this account / lease. Each lease is identified by a lease identifier (T_ID) assigned to the lease and uniquely identifies the lease. The lease identifier is generated when the lease is created and is associated with the lease. For example, when a direct customer of a CSP subscribes to a service provided by the CSP, a lease is created for the customer, and a lease identifier that uniquely identifies the lease is created for the direct customer. When a dealer subscribes to a vPLC service, a lease is created for the dealer, and a lease identifier that uniquely identifies the lease is created for the dealer. A lease can be a logical and secure compartment that contains all resources and services utilized by customers associated with the lease.

[0202] Resources within the infrastructure provided by the CSP are typically identified using unique resource identifiers (resource IDs or RIDs). Since these resources are provided in the cloud and used to provide cloud services, resource IDs are also referred to as cloud resource identifiers (or cloud IDs or CIDs). For example, in a cloud environment provided by Oracle Corporation, "ocids" or "Oracle Cloud Identifiers" are used to identify resources. In some embodiments, a resource ID is a globally unique identifier string that identifies a cloud resource. In some embodiments, a lease ID is a cloud resource ID (or cloud identifier (CID)).

[0203] As an example, a resource or cloud ID (CID) may be represented in the following format:

[0204] RID_version. <resourcetype> . <realm>.[REGION][.FUTURE USE].<UNIQUE ID>

[0205] in:

[0206] RID_version——refers to the version of the resource ID.

[0207] "resource type" - Identifies the specific resource type that the resource ID refers to. Examples of different resource types can include instances, virtual network subnets, tenancies, etc. For example, an "instance RID" identifies a compute instance.

[0208] "realm" and "region" - Indicates the location (realm and region) of the resource.

[0209] "Unique ID" - is the unique portion of the ID (e.g., a unique string used to identify a specific resource). Thus, a lease ID can identify a unique id within the leased resource type of the CID.

[0210] CIDs are generated for resources when they are created. Virtual machines, accounts, tenancies, authorization policies, virtual network subnets, access control lists (ACLs), and load balancers are examples of cloud resources and can therefore be referenced by their respective CIDs. A tenancy is a logical container used to group other cloud resources that belong to the same cloud customer account.

[0211] When an entity becomes a customer of a CSP and subscribes to a vPLC service, a vPLC is created for the customer and associated with the customer's lease. For example, if the customer is a dealer, a vPLC is created for the dealer and associated with the dealer's lease. The vPLC created for the dealer is considered a resource and is assigned a unique resource identifier, which is called a vPLC identifier (vPLC ID), and the vPLC ID is associated with the dealer's lease. As described herein, for a vPLC created for a dealer, the vPLC ID of the vPLC is used to identify all resources and requests related to the vPLC. Each vPLC ID uniquely identifies a vPLC.

[0212] For example, in some embodiments, all resources allocated to a vPLC are tagged with the vPLC identifier of the vPLC. In some embodiments, the vPLC ID field is inserted into the representation of the CID. When a resource is associated with a vPLC, the vPLC ID corresponding to the vPLC may be provided in this field of the CID, otherwise if the resource is not associated with a vPLC, the field may be left blank.

[0213] For purposes of this disclosure, the following terminology is used for the sake of clarity.

[0214] CSP.Cn (or just Cn) - Identifies direct customers and non-reseller customers of the CSP. For example, "CSP.C1" refers to CSP's non-reseller direct customer C1, and "CSP.C2" refers to CSP's non-reseller direct customer C2.

[0215] CSP.Rn (or just Rn) - Identifies a reseller customer of the CSP. For example, "CSP.R1" refers to CSP's reseller customer R1, and "CSP.R2" refers to CSP's reseller customer R2.

[0216] Rn.Cm - A dealer can have its own customers. This identifies a specific customer of a specific dealer. For example, "R1.C1" refers to customer C1 of dealer R1, and "R2.C1" refers to customer C1 of dealer R2.

[0217] T.Cn - Identifies a lease for a non-reseller customer of a CSP. For example, "T.C1" refers to a lease for a direct non-reseller customer C1.

[0218] T.Rn - Identifies a lease with a dealer. For example, "T.R1" refers to a lease with dealer R1.

[0219] T.Rn.Cm - A dealer's customers each have their own lease. This identifies the lease associated with a specific customer of a specific dealer. For example, "T.R1.C1" refers to the lease associated with customer C1 of dealer R1, and "T.R2.C1" refers to the lease associated with customer C1 of dealer R2.

[0220] T_ID.T.Cn - Identifies the lease identifier that identifies the lease for a non-reseller customer of the CSP. For example, "T_ID.T.C1" refers to the lease ID for the lease of direct non-reseller customer C1.

[0221] T_ID.T.Rn - The lease identifier that identifies the dealer's lease. For example, "T_ID.T.R1" refers to the lease identifier for dealer R1.

[0222] T_ID.Rn.Cm - A rental identifier that identifies a rental associated with a specific customer of a specific dealership. For example, "T_ID.T.R1.C1" refers to a rental identifier for a rental associated with customer C1 of dealership R1, and "T_ID.T.R2.C1" refers to a rental identifier for a rental associated with customer C1 of dealership R2.

[0223] vPLC.Rn - Identifies a vPLC created for dealer Rn. For example, "vPLC.R1" identifies a lease created for and associated with dealer R1. This identifies a specific vPLC created for a dealer and associated with the dealer's lease.

[0224] vPLC_ID.vPLC.Rn - The vPLC identifier that identifies the vPLC created for a specific reseller. For example, "vPLC_ID.vPLC.R1" refers to the vPLC identifier of the vPLC created for reseller R1.

[0225] As described herein, a vPLC is created for a dealer that is a customer of a CSP. The vPLC is associated with the dealer's lease. In some embodiments, a vPLC ID identifying the vPLC may be associated with a lease ID identifying the dealer's lease. Accordingly, given a vPLC ID, the corresponding vPLC and the dealer for which the vPLC was created may be identified, including the dealer's lease and lease identifier.

[0226] The infrastructure provided by a CSPI or CSP can be organized into domains, regions, and data centers. A region refers to a local geographic area that includes one or more connected data centers. Regions are independent of other regions and can be separated by a large distance, for example, across countries or even continents. A set of application programming interfaces (APIs) is provided for the infrastructure provided by the CSP in a region, where the API is used to perform operations using the infrastructure in the region. Operations that can be performed using the infrastructure in a region may include creating resources in the infrastructure in the region, accessing resources in the infrastructure in the region, performing operations involving resources in the infrastructure in the region, deleting resources from the infrastructure in the region, and performing other operations involving the infrastructure in the region.

[0227] The API set is specific to a region. Accordingly, the infrastructure provided by a CSP in a region is characterized by a set of APIs that can be used with the infrastructure in the region. The infrastructure provided by CSPs in different regions has different sets of APIs provided for the different regions. Accordingly, for the purposes of this application, the phrase "infrastructure provided by a CSP in a region" or "infrastructure provided by a CSP in a region" means that the infrastructure is characterized by a specific set of APIs provided for the region. Accordingly, a first set of APIs may be provided for a first region, a second set of APIs may be provided for a second region different from the first region, a third set of APIs may be provided for a third region different from the first and second regions, and so on. Thus, a specific set of APIs identifies the infrastructure provided by a CSP in a specific region. In other words, the infrastructure provided by CSPs in two separate regions will have two separate sets of APIs. Thus, a region is characterized by the infrastructure in the region and the set of APIs associated with the region for performing operations involving the regional infrastructure. The infrastructure provided by a CSP in a region is also referred to as "regional infrastructure" or "region-specific infrastructure."

[0228] For example, a CSP may provide a first infrastructure in Seattle and a second infrastructure in Portland. A first set of APIs may be provided for the first infrastructure in Seattle, and these APIs may be characterized by the following format:

[0229] "<service_identifier> .us-seattle.oci.oraclecloud.com"

[0230] A second set of APIs may be provided for the second infrastructure in Portland, and these APIs may be characterized by the following format:

[0231] "<service_identifier> .us-portland.oci.oraclecloud.com”

[0232] Note that Seattle and Portland are used here only as examples. The geographic locations of regions can be different. For example, there can be two or more regions in the same geographic city. For example, there can be a first region in a first building in a city, and a second region in a second separate building in the same city. As another example, there can be a first region on one floor of a building, and a second region on another floor of the building. As another example, for infrastructure provided by a CSP on one floor (a floor), a first portion of the infrastructure can belong to a first region associated with a first API set, and a second portion of the infrastructure can belong to a second region associated with a second API set that is different from the first API set.

[0233] The infrastructure provided by a CSP in a region may be organized into one or more data centers. For example, in a particular region where a CSP may have two buildings, each hosting infrastructure for providing cloud services, the infrastructure in the first building may be organized and referred to as a first data center, and the infrastructure in the second building may be organized and referred to as a second data center. As another example, in a particular region where a CSP may have a single building with multiple floors, each hosting infrastructure for providing cloud services, the infrastructure on the first floor may be organized and referred to as a first data center, and the infrastructure on the second floor may be organized and referred to as a second data center. As yet another example, in a particular region where a CSP may have infrastructure for providing cloud services, a first portion of the infrastructure may be organized and referred to as a first data center, and a second, independent portion of the infrastructure may be organized and referred to as a second data center.

[0234] A region may have one or more data centers. In some embodiments, all regional infrastructure may be contained in only one data center, while in other embodiments, the infrastructure in a region may be organized into multiple data centers. Each data center may include infrastructure resources provided by the CSP, such as computing, storage, and networking resources. Within a region, the data centers in a region may be organized into one or more availability domains (ADs). Availability domains are isolated from each other, fault-tolerant, and unlikely to fail at the same time. ADs are configured so that a failure at one AD in a region is unlikely to affect the availability of other ADs in the same region.

[0235] A domain refers to a logical collection of one or more areas. A domain can include one or more areas. Domains are typically isolated from each other and do not share data. Each domain has its own identity and trust profile (e.g., passwords, credentials, etc.). The identity and trust profile of the domain are configured so that cross-domain communication is not allowed. In this way, each domain represents an isolated domain. For example, a domain can be created for a government entity that is a customer of the CSP, another domain can be created for the commercial customers of the CSP, and a separate domain can also be created for certain private customers of the CSP, and so on. For areas within a domain, regional infrastructures can communicate with each other, but regional infrastructure associated with a first domain is not allowed to communicate with regional infrastructure associated with a different second domain.

[0236] A cloud service reseller may be an entity such as a corporation (eg, a telecommunications company), a system integrator, a government agency, an IT department of a large company, a school, or the like.

[0237] Figure 6 is a simplified block diagram of a distributed environment 600 including infrastructure provided by a CSP in a region and illustrating an example of a virtual private label cloud (vPLC) hosted by the CSP-provided infrastructure, according to certain embodiments. Figure 6 The distributed environment 600 depicted in the embodiment is merely an example and is not intended to unduly limit the scope of the claimed embodiments. Many variations, substitutions, and modifications are possible. For example, in some embodiments, the distributed environment 600 may have more than Figure 6 More or fewer systems or components than shown in the drawings may be used, two or more systems may be combined, or there may be different system configurations or arrangements. Figure 6 The systems, subsystems, and other components depicted in the can be implemented in software (e.g., code, instructions, programs) executed by one or more processing units (e.g., processors, cores) of the corresponding system, using hardware, or a combination thereof. The software can be stored on a non-transitory storage medium (e.g., on a memory device).

[0238] Figure 6 The infrastructure provided by the CSP in region 601 is depicted. The infrastructure 601 may be organized into one or more data centers. The infrastructure 601 may include memory or storage resources 622, computing resources 620, networking resources (not shown), and other physical and logical resources provided by the CSP. The storage resources 622 may include one or more volatile or non-volatile memory resources. The computing resources 620 may include one or more racks, each rack including one or more servers, and each server hosting one or more operating systems.

[0239] The regional infrastructure 601 provided by the CSP can be used by the CSP to provide one or more CSP-provided cloud services to one or more direct customers of the CSP, and can also be used to create one or more vPLCs. Figure 6 In the example depicted in , two vPLCs, namely vPLC.R1 604 and vPLC.R2 606, have been created for resellers R1 and R2, respectively. vPLC.R1 604 is used to provide one or more cloud services supplied by reseller R1 and branded by R1 to one or more customers 642 of R1. vPLC.R2 606 is used to provide one or more cloud services supplied by reseller R2 and branded by R2 to one or more customers 644 of R2.

[0240] As shown, infrastructure 601 can be communicatively coupled to computing devices used by users associated with direct customers 640 and computing devices used by users associated with customers of dealers (e.g., users associated with customer 642 of dealer R1 and users associated with customer 644 of dealer R2) via communication network 652. Communication network 652 can be of various types and can include one or more communication networks. Examples of communication network 652 are, but are not limited to, the Internet, a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), Ethernet, a public or private network, a wired network, a wireless network, and the like, and combinations thereof. Different communication protocols can be used to facilitate communication, including both wired and wireless protocols, such as the IEEE 802.XX protocol suite, TCP / IP, IPX, SAN, In general, the communication network 652 may include any infrastructure that facilitates communication with the infrastructure 601 .

[0241] like Figure 6 As shown in FIG. 6 , infrastructure 601 is partitioned into three securely isolated portions: (1) a first portion 602 for providing CSP-supplied and CSP-branded cloud services to one or more direct (or non-reseller) customers 640 of the CSP; (2) a second portion assigned to vPLC.R1 604 created for reseller R1; and (3) a third portion assigned to vPLC.R2 606 created for reseller R2. In some embodiments, the three portions are securely partitioned from each other.

[0242] The partitioning of resources includes partitioning storage resources 622 and computing resources 620. For example, Figure 6 As shown in FIG. 6 , storage resources 622 include a storage portion 622a included in the first portion 602 for providing cloud services provided by the CSP to direct customers of the CSP. Storage resources 622 also include a storage portion 622b allocated to vPLC.R1 604 and a storage portion 622c allocated to vPLC.R2 606. The storage or memory portion allocated to the vPLC may include one or more volatile and / or non-volatile memory resources.

[0243] Also like Figure 6 As shown in FIG. 6 , computing resources 620 are also partitioned. Computing resources 620 include computing portion 620a, which is included in first portion 602 and is used to provide cloud services provided by the CSP to direct customers of the CSP. Computing resources 620 also include portion 620b allocated to vPLC.R1 604 and portion 620c allocated to vPLC.R2 606.

[0244] As described above, a set of APIs are provided for accessing and performing functions related to the infrastructure provided by the CSP in the region. These API sets can be accessed by users associated with the direct customers 640 of the CSP using the set of endpoints 610-1 provided by the CSP. For example, a user can use one or more of the endpoints 610-1 to access and / or use computing resources 620a or memory resources 622a allocated to the infrastructure for providing the cloud services provided by the CSP to the customers of the CSP. An endpoint in 610-1 can refer to a URL with an associated fully qualified domain name (FQDN) that is used to access the cloud services provided by the infrastructure 601. Examples of these endpoints:

[0245] "createVM.compute.us-seattle.oci.oraclecloud.com" - used to create VM

[0246] "deleteVM.compute.us-seattle.oci.oraclecloud.com" - used to delete a VM

[0247] "storeObject.storage.us-seattle.oci.oraclecloud.com" - used to store data

[0248] etc.

[0249] A user associated with a direct customer 640 of the CSP and connected to the infrastructure 601 via a communication network may use one or more of the endpoints 610 - 1 .

[0250] In some embodiments, a vPLC-specific endpoint set is created for each vPLC. Figure 6 As depicted in , endpoint set 612-1 is created for vPLC.R1, and endpoint set 614-1 is created for vPLC.R2. A user associated with customer 642 of dealer R1 can use endpoint 612-1 to access resources associated with vPLC.R1 and perform one or more functions or operations involving resources allocated to vPLC.R1. A user associated with customer 644 of dealer R2 can use endpoint 614-1 to access resources associated with vPLC.R2 and perform one or more functions or operations involving resources allocated to vPLC.R2.

[0251] In some embodiments, a vPLC-specific endpoint set is created for the vPLC based on the endpoints provided by the CSP to its direct customers. Figure 6 , endpoint 612-1 of vPLC.R1 is created based on endpoint 610-1. The endpoint created for the vPLC may include an identifier that specifically identifies the vPLC for which the endpoint is created. For example, given an example endpoint provided by a CSP for its direct customers, endpoint 612-1 of vPLC.R1 may include:

[0252] "createVM.compute.vplcR1.us-seattle.oci.oraclecloud.com" - used to create VM

[0253] "deleteVM.compute.vplcR1.us-seattle.oci.oraclecloud.com" - used to delete the VM

[0254] "storeObject.storage.vplcR1.us-seattle.oci.oraclecloud.com" - used to store data

[0255] And so on, where "vplcR1" uniquely identifies the vPLC corresponding to the endpoint.

[0256] Endpoint 614-1 of vPLC R2 may also be created based on endpoint 610-1. For example, endpoint 614-1 of vPLC R2 may include:

[0257] "createVM.compute.vplcR2.us-seattle.oci.oraclecloud.com" - used to create VM

[0258] "deleteVM.compute.vplcR2.us-seattle.oci.oraclecloud.com" - used to delete the VM

[0259] "storeObject.storage.vplcR2.us-seattle.oci.oraclecloud.com" - used to store data

[0260] And so on, where "vplcR2" uniquely identifies the vPLC corresponding to the endpoint.

[0261] Since the endpoint associated with the vPLC includes an identifier that identifies a specific vPLC, when the infrastructure 601 receives an API call, the endpoint call can be parsed to determine whether the call is for a direct customer of the CSP or for a reseller. In addition, since the endpoint uses a unique identifier for different vPLCs, the specific vPLC and the associated reseller can also be identified from the endpoint call. In this way, based on the results of the parsing of the endpoint call, the endpoint request can be appropriately forwarded for processing.

[0262] The CSP also provides a console 610-2 for use by its direct customers 640. Users associated with the CSP's direct customers 640 can use the console 610-2 to configure, access, and manage the first portion 602 of the regional infrastructure provided by the CSP. In some embodiments, the console 610-2 can provide a web-based graphical user interface (GUI) set that can be used to access and manage the cloud infrastructure provided by the CSP in the region. In some embodiments, the console is a web-based application.

[0263] In some embodiments, a console is also provided for each vPLC. Figure 6 As depicted in , a console 612-2 is provided for vPLC.R1, and a console 614-2 is provided for vPLC.R2. The console 612-2 provided for vPLC.R1 can be used by a user associated with a customer 642 of dealer R1 to configure, access, and manage a second portion of a CSP-provided regional infrastructure assigned to vPLC.R1 604 created for dealer R1. The console 614-2 provided for vPLC.R2 can be used by a user associated with a customer 644 of dealer R2 to configure, access, and manage a third portion of a CSP-provided regional infrastructure assigned to vPLC.R2 606 created for dealer R2.

[0264] In some embodiments, a dealer can subscribe to two or more vPLCs, but each vPLC can still have an endpoint set and a console. For example, if a dealer subscribes to two vPLCs, vPLC 1 and vPLC 2, then vPLC 1 can have an endpoint set (e.g., 612-1) and a console (e.g., 612-2), and vPLC 2 (e.g., 614-1) can have another endpoint set and a console (e.g., 614-2). Both vPLC 1 (e.g., 604) and vPLC 2 (606) can be associated with the same dealer.

[0265] The infrastructure 601 may include networking resources that enable communications to and from the infrastructure 601. These network resources may include, for example, a network gateway 628 may be provided to enable communications of traffic from the regional infrastructure 601 provided by the CSP to and from other destinations, where the destinations may be communicatively coupled to the infrastructure 601 via a public network (e.g., the Internet) or a private network, the destinations may be in an on-premises network, in another cloud network, etc. The gateway 628 may be implemented as a physical network device (e.g., a router), a logical networking component (e.g., a virtual router), or some combination of physical and logical components.

[0266] The infrastructure 601 may include a control plane (CP) 624 and a management plane (MP) 626 provided by the CSP. In some embodiments, the CP 624 may be responsible for providing management, deployment, and orchestration functions within the cloud environment provided by the CSP. For example, the CP may receive requests from direct customers of the CSP, customers of dealer R1, and customers of dealer R2 through endpoints and consoles, collaborate with other components in the infrastructure (such as resource managers and management planes) to determine whether the request can be met, and respond accordingly to direct customers of the CSP, customers of dealer R1, and customers of dealer R2. In other words, the CSP CP 624 may be responsible for performing vPLC-related functions. In some embodiments, the CSP may also provide a vPLC-specific control plane that is specifically configured to perform vPLC operations. In some embodiments, there may be a vPLC control plane that can perform the processing of multiple vPLCs. In other embodiments, each vPLC may be provided with its own CP.

[0267] In some embodiments, MP 626 can be a collection of software components responsible for providing all the processing and workflow required for the requested operation. For example, for a service request to access a cloud service, the MP can provide a workflow involving an identity check of the requester and checking the DNS record to obtain the IP address for accessing the service backend. The MP ensures that the data plane performs different tasks appropriately and in the correct order.

[0268] In some embodiments, computing resources 620 may include one or more racks, each rack including one or more servers, and each server hosting one or more operating systems. Computing resources 620 may be partitioned into resources 620a allocated to infrastructure to serve the direct customer 640 of CSP and resources 620b and 620c allocated to vPLC along different levels or boundaries. Partitioning computing resources at a specific level may also be referred to as segmentation level in this article. In some embodiments, partitioning may be performed at the rack level (i.e., at the rack level segmentation), wherein one or more separate racks are allocated to 620a, 620b and 620c. In this embodiment, the rack is specifically allocated to a specific vPLC, and is not used by other vPLCs or CSPs to provide the services of CSP supply to its direct customer 640.

[0269] In another embodiment, partitioning can be performed at the server level (i.e., segmentation at the server level), where one or more individual servers in the same or different racks are assigned to 620a, 620b, and 620c. In this embodiment, the server is exclusively assigned to a particular vPLC and is not used by other vPLCs or CSPs to provide CSP-supplied services to its direct customers 640. Since a rack can have multiple servers, one server on the rack can be assigned to 620a, another server to 620b, and a third server to 620c. Thus, a rack can be shared between two vPLCs, or between infrastructure and vPLCs used by a CSP to provide CSP-supplied services to its direct customers 640.

[0270] In some embodiments, partitioning may be performed at the hypervisor level (i.e., segmentation at the hypervisor level), where one or more separate hypervisors from the same or different servers on the same or different racks are assigned to 620a, 620b, and 620c. In this embodiment, the hypervisor is exclusively assigned to a particular vPLC and is not used by other vPLCs or the CSP to provide CSP-provided services to its direct customers 640. Since a server can host multiple hypervisors, one hypervisor on a server may be assigned to 620a, another hypervisor on the same server may be assigned to 620b, and a third hypervisor on the same server may be assigned to 620c. Thus, a server may be shared between two vPLCs, or between infrastructure and vPLCs used by a CSP to provide CSP-provided services to its direct customers 640.

[0271] The hypervisor on the server on the rack can manage and execute multiple virtual machines (VMs). In some embodiments, partitioning can be performed at the VM level (i.e., segmented at the VM level), where VMs executed by the same hypervisor can be assigned to 620a, 620b, and 620c. In this embodiment, the VM is specifically assigned to a specific vPLC and is not used by other vPLCs or CSPs to provide CSP-supplied services to its direct customers 640. Since the hypervisor can support multiple VMs, one VM can be assigned to 620a, another VM can be assigned to 620b, and a third VM on the same hypervisor can be assigned to 620c. Therefore, the hypervisor can be shared between two vPLCs, or shared between the infrastructure and vPLCs that the CSP uses to provide CSP-supplied services to its direct customers 640.

[0272] In yet other embodiments, a combination of the above partitioning techniques may be used. Regardless of which partitioning technique is used, the partitioning is performed in a secure and reliable manner, which ensures that other dealers or their customers or other direct customers of the CSP cannot see or access the traffic and storage for a specific vPLC for a specific dealer. In addition, other customers of the dealer cannot see or access the traffic and storage for a specific customer of the dealer.

[0273] Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between a CSP, the CSP's direct and reseller customers and their associated users, and various resellers' customers and their associated users, according to certain embodiments. Figure 7 As shown in FIG. 7 , CSP 710 is located at the top or root of the hierarchy. CSP 710 can provide one or more cloud services, which can be subscribed to by customers of the CSP. Figure 7 , a customer of CSP 710 is represented by 702. A lease identified by a lease ID is created for each subscribing customer of CSP 710.

[0274] Customers 702 of CSP 710 may include direct or non-dealer customers and dealer customers. A dealer customer is an entity that subscribes to a vPLC service provided by a CSP, and the vPLC created for the dealer as a result of the subscription to the vPLC service is used to provide dealer-supplied and dealer-branded cloud services to the dealer's customers. The dealer's customers may be different from the CSP's customers. A direct or non-dealer customer of a CSP is an entity that subscribes to one or more CSP-supplied cloud services but does not use the CSP's infrastructure to provide any of its own cloud services to its customers.

[0275] exist Figure 7 In the example depicted in , direct or non-reseller customers of CSP 710 include customer C1 726 with associated lease T.CSP.C1 and customer C2 728 with associated lease T.CSP.C2. CSP 710 may have multiple such direct customers. Each direct customer of the CSP may have one or more users, where the users may use one or more of the cloud services provided by the CSP to which the corresponding direct customer subscribes. For example, a user associated with a customer of the CSP may be an employee or agent of the customer.

[0276] exist Figure 7 In the example depicted in FIG. 7 , the dealer customers of CSP 710 include dealer R1 720 having an associated lease T.CSP.R1 and dealer R2 722 having an associated lease T.CSP.R2. There may be multiple such dealer customers of CSP 710. Each dealer customer of the CSP may have one or more users ( Figure 7 not shown).

[0277] The reseller, in turn, may have its own customers who subscribe to one or more reseller-provisioned and reseller-branded cloud services, where the reseller-provisioned and branded cloud services are provided using the vPLC created by the CSP for the reseller. Figure 7 , customers of dealer R1 720 are shown using reference numeral 704, and customers of dealer R2 722 are shown using reference numerals.

[0278] A reseller's customers can have their own leases and associated user collections. For example, Figure 7 As depicted in , reseller R1 may have multiple customers, including customer R1.C1 740 with lease T.R1.C1 and associated users, customer R1.C2 742 with lease T.R1.C2 and associated users, and other customers. Reseller R1 may offer a set of R1-provided and branded cloud services, and customers of R1 may subscribe to one or more of the services offered by R1. The set of one or more R1-provided services subscribed to by R1.C1 740 may be the same as or different from the set of one or more R1-provided services subscribed to by R1.C2 742. The cloud services offered by R1 722 may be different from the cloud services offered by reseller R2 722 and the cloud services offered by CSP 710.

[0279] Reseller R2 722 may have multiple of its own customers that subscribe to R2-provisioned and branded cloud services provided using the vPLC created for R2. Figure 7 As shown in FIG. 7 , customers of R2 722 include customer R2.C1 744 having a lease T.R2.C1 and associated users, customer R2.C2 746 having a lease T.R2.C2 and associated users, and other customers. The cloud services provided by R2 722 may be different from the cloud services provided by reseller R1 720 and the cloud services provided by CSP 710. Customers of R2 may subscribe to one or more of the cloud services provided by R2. The set of one or more R2-provided services subscribed by R2.C1 744 may be the same as or different from the set of one or more R2-provided services subscribed by R2.C2 746.

[0280] like Figure 7 As shown in , when a reseller sells reseller-provisioned cloud services to the reseller's customers using vPLC, there are two levels of leases that come into play. The first level of leases corresponds to leases associated with the CSP 710's customers, including direct or non-reseller customers as well as reseller customers. These leases may also be referred to as the CSP's Customer Leases (or CoCTs). Figure 7 In the example, the CoCT includes leases associated with dealer R1 720, dealer R2 722, direct customer C1 726, and direct customer C2 728. Second-level leases include leases associated with the dealer's customers. These leases may also be referred to as the dealer's customer leases (or CoRTs). Figure 7 , CoRT includes leases associated with R1.C1 740, R1.C2 742, R2.C1 744, R2.C2746, and so on.

[0281] Figure 8 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between resources allocated to leases of a CSP's direct customers, leases of the CSP's dealers, and leases of customers of the respective dealers, according to some embodiments. Figure 8 In some embodiments, the CSP-provided infrastructure in a region (e.g., data center) 810 may be partitioned into several securely isolated portions for the CSP's resellers, such as resources allocated to vPLC.R1 820 created for reseller R1 and associated with reseller R1's lease (T.R1), resources allocated to vPLC.R2 822 created for reseller R2 and associated with reseller R2's lease (T.R2), and so on. Resource partitions may also include securely isolated partitions for the CSP's non-reseller direct customers C1 and C2, such as resources 826 allocated to the lease (T.CSP.C1) of non-reseller customer CSP.C1 and resources 828 allocated to the lease (T.CSP.C2) of non-reseller customer CSP.C2. The partitions of the regional infrastructure provided by the CSP with resources allocated to the lease 820 of reseller R1, the lease 822 of reseller R2, the lease of customer CSP.C1, and the lease of customer CSP.C2 may be referred to as first-level resource partitions.

[0282] Each securely isolated resource portion associated with the dealer's first-level resource partition or lease (i.e., R1 lease and R2 lease) can be assigned or tagged with a vPLC ID (i.e., resource ID), such as vPLC_ID.vPLC.R1 820 and vPLC_ID.vPLC.R2 822. Each of these partitions of a non-dealer direct customer of the CSP can be tagged with a resource ID. Each lease of a non-dealer direct customer of the CSP can be accessed by its respective users, where the users can use one or more of the cloud services provided by the CSP to which their corresponding direct customers subscribe.

[0283] Each first-level resource partition (or portion) of a dealer may have additional second-level resource partitions within it that are assigned to leases of the dealer's customers. For example, a securely isolated resource partition (vPLC.R1.C1) 840 may be assigned to a lease (T.R1.C1) associated with customer C1 of dealer R1, and a securely isolated resource partition (vPLC.R1.C2) 842 may be assigned to a lease (T.R1.C2) associated with customer C2 of dealer R1. The isolated partition vPLC.R1.C1 may be tagged to identify the customer resource ID of the resources assigned to T.R1.C1, and the isolated partition vPLC.R1.C2 may be tagged to identify the customer resource ID of the resources assigned to T.R1.C1.

[0284] Similarly, a securely isolated resource partition (vPLC.R2.C1) 844 may be assigned to a lease (T.R2.C1) associated with a customer C1 of dealer R2, and a securely isolated resource partition (vPLC.R2.C2) 846 may be assigned to a lease (T.R2.C2) associated with a customer C2 of dealer R2. The isolated partition vPLC.R2.C1 may be tagged to identify the customer resource ID of the resources assigned to T.R2.C1, and the isolated portion vPLC.R2.C2 may be tagged to identify the customer resource ID of the resources assigned to T.R1.C1. Each lease associated with a customer of the dealer (e.g., lease 840 of R1.C1, lease 842 of R1.C2, lease 844 of R2.C1, or lease 846 of R2.C2) may be accessed by one or more users associated with the customer, where the users may use one or more of the dealer-provided cloud services subscribed to by the corresponding customer.

[0285] Fig. 9A and Fig. 9B is a diagram illustrating a mechanism for storing information in the leases of customers of various resellers of a CSP according to certain embodiments. In some embodiments, the vPLC ID and lease ID (also referred to as the customer lease ID or CT ID) of a lease associated with a reseller's customer can be associated in two ways - 1) a distributed approach (or per vPLC record space), such as Fig. 9A , and 7) a centralized solution (or vPLC ID as a partition key), such as Fig. 9B Although Fig. 9A and Fig. 9B The information is illustrated as being stored in a tabular format, but in some embodiments, the information may be stored in a different format, such as an array, a key-value store, XML, JSON, or the like.

[0286] Fig. 9A The first approach, per vPLC record space, is illustrated. In some embodiments, per vPLC record space can be an approach that stores lease related information in a vPLC-specific table under each dealer's vPLC ID. In other words, the information can be stored in a distributed manner. Each table is assigned a vPLC ID. Within each table, a row can be specified for a customer of the dealer, and another row can be specified for another customer of the dealer, and so on. For example, in Fig. 9A In the example, there are two tables for storing information, such as identity information (e.g., a user's login name, associated credentials and certificates) or billing information (e.g., resource usage, pricing). Table 910 is assigned the vPLCID of vPLC.R1 associated with dealer R1 (vPLC_ID.vPLC.R1), and table 920 is assigned the vPLC ID of vPLC.R2 associated with dealer R2 (vPLC_ID.vPLC.R2). Inside table 910, there are three records for three customers C1, C2, and C3 of dealer R1. The first record / row may include the rental ID (T_ID.T.R1.C1) of the lease associated with customer C1 of dealer R1 and associated information of customer C1, such as identity, billing, etc. The second record / row may include the rental ID (T_ID.T.R1.C2) of the lease associated with customer C2 of dealer R1 and associated information of customer C2. The third record / row may include the lease ID (T_ID.T.R1.C3) of the lease associated with customer C3 of dealer R1 and associated information for customer C3.

[0287] The same structure can also be used for table 920, which stores three records for three customers C1, C2, and C3 of dealer R2. The first record / row may include the rental ID (T_ID.T.R2.C1) of the rental associated with customer C1 of dealer R2 and associated information of customer C1, such as identity, billing, etc. The second record / row may include the rental ID (T_ID.T.R2.C2) of the rental associated with customer C2 of dealer R2 and associated information of customer C2. The third record / row may include the rental ID (T_ID.T.R2.C3) of the rental associated with customer C3 of dealer R2 and associated information of customer C3.

[0288] Fig. 9B The figure shows the second approach, using the vPLC ID as the partition key. Fig. 9B In the second approach, the information is stored in a table with the customer lease ID and vPLC ID as two table columns so that the vPLC ID can be used as the partition key for lookup. In other words, the information can be stored in a centralized manner in the table. For example, in Fig. 9B , dealer R1 associated with the vPLC ID (vPLC_ID.vPLC.R1) has three customers C1, C2, and C3, which are associated with the rental IDs that identify the rentals of these three customers respectively: T_ID.T.R1.C1, T_ID.T.R1.C2, and T_ID.T.R1.C3. Then, the first three rows under the vPLC ID column of table 930 can be labeled as vPLC_ID.vPLC.R1, which is the vPLC ID of vPLC.R1 created for dealer R1. The customer rental ID column of the first row can be labeled as the rental ID (T_ID.T.R1.C1) of the rental associated with customer C1 of dealer R1, while the rental ID column of the second row can be labeled as the rental ID (T_ID.T.R1.C2) of the rental associated with customer C2 of dealer R1, and the rental ID column of the third row can be labeled as the rental ID (T_ID.T.R1.C3) of the rental associated with customer C3 of dealer R1. The information stored in the first three rows belongs to customers C1, C2, and C3 of dealer R1.

[0289] The same structure may also be used to store records for dealer R2's customers C1, C2, and C3 in the same table 930, such as the fourth, fifth, and sixth rows. For example, the last three rows under the vPLC ID column in table 930 may be labeled vPLC_ID.vPLC.R2, which is the vPLC ID of vPLC.R2 created for dealer R2. The customer lease ID column of the fourth row may be labeled as the lease ID (T_ID.T.R2.C1) of the lease associated with dealer R2's customer C1, while the lease ID column of the fifth row may be labeled as the lease ID (T_ID.T.R2.C2) of the lease associated with dealer R2's customer C2, and the lease ID column of the sixth row may be labeled as the lease ID (T_ID.T.R2.C3) of the lease associated with dealer R2's customer C3. The information stored in the last three rows belongs to dealer R2's customers C1, C2, and C3.

[0290] Fig.10 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a vPLC setup process according to certain embodiments. Fig.10 The processes depicted in the can be implemented in software (e.g., code, instructions, programs) executed by one or more processing units (e.g., processors, cores) of the corresponding system, using hardware, or a combination thereof. The software can be stored on a non-transitory storage medium (e.g., on a memory device). Fig.10 The methods presented in and described below are intended to be illustrative and non-limiting. Fig.10 Various processing steps are depicted as occurring in a particular order or sequence, but this is not meant to be limiting. In certain alternative embodiments, the processing may be performed in a different order, or some steps may be performed in parallel. It should be appreciated that in alternative embodiments, Fig.10 The processing described in may include Fig.10 There may be more or fewer steps than those depicted in the example.

[0291] In some embodiments, for example, Fig.10 The processing depicted in the figure may be performed by a CSP. Some steps may be performed by components (e.g., control plane (CP), resource manager (RM), and management plane (MP), etc.) within a regional infrastructure provided by a CSP or one or more cloud services provided by a CSP (such as an endpoint management service (EMS), an identity management service, etc.).

[0292] As previously described, a vPLC may be created when a dealer subscribes to a vPLC service provided by a CSP. At step 1002, a signal may be received to create a vPLC. In some embodiments, the signal may be a request received when a dealer subscribes to a vPLC service provided by a CSP. The request may be an agreement between a CSP and a dealer, listing virtual models (e.g., nested or segmented models), databases, resource placement, customization details, etc. In other embodiments, a signal may be received from some component indicating that a vPLC is being created.

[0293] At step 1004, configuration information for the vPLC to be created may be received. In some embodiments, the configuration information may include lease information (e.g., a lease identifier) ​​for which the vPLC is to be created and information for identifying a domain associated with the vPLC. As previously discussed, a lease is created for a reseller, and a lease identifier uniquely identifying the lease is also created for the reseller associated with the vPLC.

[0294] As discussed previously, in use cases where a vPLC can be used as a virtual data center and can be associated with a domain that is different from the domain associated with the cloud infrastructure in a region provided by the CSP, the identity and trust profile information (e.g., passwords, credentials, etc.) of the different domains needs to be associated with the vPLC. The association of the identity and trust profile information of the different domains can be achieved by creating a mapping (or "shadow copy") of the identity and trust profile information in the vPLC. More details will be provided in Fig.18 discussed in.

[0295] Step 1006, covering steps 1008 to 1018, may perform a process of creating a vPLC for dealer R. At step 1008, a vPLC identifier for the vPLC may be created. The vPLC created for the dealer is considered a resource and assigned a unique resource identifier, which is called a vPLC identifier (vPLC ID), and the vPLC ID is associated with the dealer's lease.

[0296] At step 1010, a resource set from an infrastructure provided by a CSP in a region may be allocated to a vPLC. The resource set allocated to the vPLC may be selected based on a contract between a dealer and a CSP. For example, dealer R may subscribe to one or more cloud services provided by a CSP, such as computing services and object storage services. Thus, the resource set may include computing resources and object storage resources.

[0297] At step 1012, a namespace may be reserved for the vPLC. The resource allocation service (or resource manager (RM)) of the CSP may create and reserve a namespace to group different types of resources that may support the vPLC. A namespace may refer to a logical grouping or virtual boundary that helps organize and manage resources and prevent naming conflicts when multiple instances of similar resources are created. Thus, a namespace provides a structured way to organize and group related resources. In some embodiments, namespace 0 is reserved for the CSP. Namespace 1 and beyond are used for vPLCs. In some embodiments, a range of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses may be reserved for the vPLC and associated with a namespace for traffic isolation purposes.

[0298] At step 1014, a console may be created for the vPLC, allowing the dealer R, the dealer's customers, and users associated with the dealer's customers to configure, access, and manage resources deployed in the vPLC, and visualize, access, and interact with the cloud services provided by the dealer. In addition, the dealer R may configure the console to provide different customized experiences for different customers of the dealer.

[0299] At step 1016, an endpoint set for the vPLC may be created. In some embodiments, some of the endpoints in the endpoint set may be default endpoints (e.g., identity endpoints) available for use, and some endpoints are determined based on cloud services subscribed to by the reseller. For example, a reseller may subscribe to one or more CSP-provided cloud services such as computing, storage, virtual cloud network (VCN), database, etc. Thus, in addition to the default identity endpoint for accessing the identity service, an endpoint for accessing the subscribed service may also be created.

[0300] At step 1018, vPLC related information (such as vPLC ID, identity information of the dealer, and other information to facilitate the cloud services provided by the dealer) can be stored in the namespace of the vPLC. At step 1020, the CSP can send a response indicating the created vPLC and other information to the dealer R. The dealer can begin to manage the vPLC for the dealer's customers, such as creating customer accounts, configuring the cloud services provided by the dealer, etc.

[0301] Fig.11 is a block diagram illustrating an example distributed environment of a virtual private label cloud (vPLC) hosted by an infrastructure provided by a CSP in a region in accordance with certain embodiments. Fig.11 Can be similar to Figure 6 , where both diagrams include securely isolated portions (or partitions) of the regional infrastructure provided by the CSP (e.g., Figure 6 The first part 602, the second part 604 and the third part 606 in FIG. 6 are for direct customers of the CSP, vPLC.R1 associated with dealer R1 and vPLC.R2 associated with dealer R2. The direct customers of the CSP, the customers of dealer R1 and the customers of dealer R2 can access their respective partitions through one or more endpoints and consoles. The regional infrastructure 602 provided by the CSP can also have a control plane, a management plane and a gateway, such as Figure 6 As described in.

[0302] but, Fig.11 A more detailed view of the interconnection between resources (such as compute, storage, gateway, CP, and management plane) in the regional infrastructure provided by the CSP is illustrated. In addition, the CSP's direct non-reseller customers, customers of reseller R1, and customers of reseller R2 can access the regional infrastructure provided by the CSP from the Internet or the enterprise network. For example, the gateway can be used to access the Internet or the enterprise network from the real application cluster (RAC) in the regional infrastructure provided by the CSP.

[0303] Fig.11 The diagram shows three cloud partitions running on the same CSP-provided regional infrastructure 1102: the CSP's native cloud 1120 and two vPLCs of dealers R1 and R2: vPLC.R1 1122 and vPLC.R2 1124. The regional infrastructure 1102 provided by the CSP is operated by the CSP. The regional infrastructure 1102 provided by the CSP may also include a control plane 1104 and a management plane 1105. As mentioned above, CP 1104 may be responsible for providing management, deployment, and orchestration functions for the cloud environment provided by the CSP. MP1105 may be a collection of software components responsible for supplying all processing and workflows required for the requested operation. In addition, the software that implements the cloud service may originate from the deployment system 1106 and enter the data center in the region through the management plane 1105. Software updates to the control plane 1104 (e.g., new services) may be delivered by the deployment system 1106 through the management plane 1105. The administrator of the CSP or the operator 1107 of the reseller who deploys the software / service can also access the regional infrastructure provided by the CSP through the management plane 1105 .

[0304] Computing resources (three real application clusters (RACs) 1140, 1142, and 1144) sharing the same storage 1150 are partitioned and respectively allocated to the CSP's native cloud 1120, vPLC.R1 1122, and vPLC.R2 1124. For example, RAC 1140 is dedicated to the CSP's direct customers, RAC 1142 is designated for vPLC.R1, and RAC 1144 is used for vPLC.R2.

[0305] Network resources can also be partitioned or shared between the CSP's direct customers and resellers, allowing their computing resources to connect to the Internet or an enterprise network. For example, each RAC 1140, 1142, and 1144 uses its network gateway 1160, 1162, and 1164 to access the Internet 1108 or the enterprise network 1109. In some embodiments, two RACs can share the same network interface. For example, RAC 1142 and RAC 1144 share the same gateway 1162 to access the Internet 1108.

[0306] Fig.11 The storage in is simplified. Storage 1150 may include overall storage, dedicated storage, and different types of storage, such as block storage and object storage. Fig.11 In FIG. 1 , vPLC.R1 and vPLC.R2 have their dedicated storage 1152 and 1154, respectively. The overall storage 1150 belongs to the CSP.

[0307] exist Fig.11 In the CSP's native cloud 1120, the CSP's native cloud 1120 can provide CSP-provisioned cloud services to the CSP's direct non-dealer customers (e.g., CSP.C1-n) (such as companies). Users associated with the dealer's customers can access the services via dedicated service endpoints, which are part of their respective namespaces, including fully qualified domain names (FQDNs), IP addresses, console experiences, identities, etc. The CSP can provide an individual console for each dealer, and the console provides services through the endpoints. The endpoints associated with the console can differ based on which services are provided to the dealer's customers based on the dealer's subscription. For example, a single dealer's customers can send access requests through a dedicated endpoint or via the console.

[0308] Users can use service endpoints 1170 and 1172 (two endpoints are shown, but there may be more endpoints) exposed by the CSP, where the endpoints have DNS names. The native cloud 1120 may also include a console 1174 with a look and feel. Direct customers of the CSP on the Internet 1108 can access the regional infrastructure 1102 provided by the CSP through public endpoints 1170 and 1172 to request instance launch or termination. Customers of dealer R1 on the Internet 1108 can also access the regional infrastructure 1102 provided by the CSP through public endpoints 1180 and 1182 to request instance launch or termination. Customers of dealer R2 on the enterprise network 1109 can access the regional infrastructure 1102 provided by the CSP through private endpoints 1190 and 1192 to request instance launch or termination. The control plane 1104 can then launch instances, terminate instances, configure connectivity for these instances, and orchestrate services in the data center. The network interfaces 1160 and 1162 (e.g., Internet Gateway (IGW)) of the CSP and vPLC.R1, respectively, can provide network interconnection with the Internet 1108. The network interface 1164 (eg, a dynamic routing gateway (DRG)) of vPLC.R2 may provide network interconnection with the enterprise network 1109 .

[0309] exist Fig.11 In , vPLC.R1 1122 and vPLC.R2 1124 share the same physical infrastructure. Their endpoints are unique to each dealer, for example, endpoints 1180 and 1182 for dealer R1, and endpoints 1190 and 1192 for dealer R2. Consoles 1184 and 1194 are customized for dealer R1 and dealer R2, respectively. The endpoints and consoles of the vPLC can be connected to the Internet or their corporate network depending on their needs. For example, in Fig.11 In , vPLC.R1 is connected to the Internet 1108 through a network gateway 1162 (e.g., IGW). However, vPLC.R2 is not connected to the Internet, and therefore is instead connected to the enterprise network 1109 through a secure network 1164 (e.g., FastConnect). Fig.11 In the example, gateway 1162 can be split and shared by vPLC.R1 and vPLC.R2, and can be part of the orchestration implemented by the CSP. In this example, part of the data of vPLC.R2 can go to the Internet 1108, and part of the data can go to its enterprise network 1109.

[0310] If the request comes in through the console 1194, it can go to the control plane 604. The control plane can determine that the request is from vPLC.R2 1124, and can find available resources (e.g., computers) from the RAC designated for vPLC.R2 (i.e., 1144 in this example), provision and then start the resource. The control plane 604 can then reply to the customer of reseller R2 through the console 1194 and provide the IP address for its network configuration (e.g., VCN). The control plane 1104 can orchestrate the gateway 1164 to the enterprise network 1109 or the Internet 1108 depending on how the gateway 1164 is configured. The control plane can not only know the request, but also know the requester, whether the requester is a direct customer of the CSP, a customer of reseller R1, or a customer of reseller R2.

[0311] As discussed previously, the partitioning of the regional infrastructure provided by the CSP can be performed for different vPLCs at various predefined infrastructure levels (e.g., at the rack level, server level, hypervisor level, or VM level). To further illustrate, for rack-level partitioning, the vPLC can have its own dedicated rack and the resources within it. For server-level partitioning, multiple vPLCs can share racks, but each vPLC has its dedicated server. In addition, in another example, for hypervisor-level partitioning, multiple vPLCs can share servers, but each vPLC has its dedicated hypervisor. For VM-level partitioning, multiple vPLCs can share hypervisors, but each vPLC has its dedicated VM. Therefore, there can be two main vPLC infrastructure partitioning models (or two ends of the continuum (spectrum)) to implement multi-vPLC solutions: segmented model and nested model. The segmented model can refer to resource partitioning at the rack level. The nested model can refer to resource partitioning at the VM level. However, considering operational efficiency (e.g., shared control plane) and fragmentation (i.e., partitioning of resources), there may be other variations between the two.

[0312] Fig.12 is a block diagram illustrating a vPLC segmentation model for resource partitioning according to certain embodiments. In this model, which represents one end of the partitioning continuum, each vPLC can have its dedicated resources, including compute resources and network resources, at the rack level. In other words, a rack can be exclusively allocated to a specific vPLC and not used by other vPLCs or CSPs to provide CSP-supplied services to their direct customers. The segmentation model performs resource and usage tracking at the physical resource level based on affinity tags (e.g., vPLC ID and customer lease ID). There may be a default behavior for each segment, but each segment can be customized by the dealer associated with the vPLCs in that segment.

[0313] exist Fig.12 In some embodiments, in a segmented model, there may be multiple vPLCs (e.g., vPLC.R1 1210, vPLC.R2 1220, and vPLC.Rn 1230) in the infrastructure provided by the CSP in a region (e.g., a data center). Fig.12 As shown in , there may be physical partitions and logical partitions. For example, for a physical partition, a vPLC may be assigned its dedicated hardware resources, such as a rack including one or more servers and each server hosting one or more operating systems. Fig.12 , the first rack is assigned to vPLC.R1 segment 1210, the second rack is assigned to vPLC.R2 segment 1220, and the third rack is assigned to vPLC.Rn segment 1230. Each vPLC may also have a dedicated networking switch (or gateway) connected to the Internet / enterprise network 1260, such as gateway 1219 for vPLC.R1 1210, gateway 1229 for vPLC.R2 1220, and gateway 1239 for vPLC.Rn 1230. Fig.12 , vPLC.R1 1210 has dedicated servers 1214a-b, a hypervisor 1216 running on server 1214b and hosting VMs 1218a-n, and a gateway (e.g., IGW) 1219. Similarly, vPLC.R2 1220 has dedicated servers 1224a-b, a hypervisor 1226 running on server 1224b and hosting VMs 1228a-n, and a gateway 1229. vPLC.Rn 1230 has dedicated servers 1234a-b, a hypervisor 1236 running on server 1234b and hosting VMs 1238a-n, and a gateway 1239.

[0314] For logical partitioning, there is a common control plane 1250 and resource manager 1252 that are managed and operated by the CSP for all vPLCs. However, the data plane can be dedicated to each vPLC in the segmentation model. For example, each vPLC.R1, vPLC.R2, and vPLC.Rn has its own data plane 1212, 1222, and 1232, respectively. In some embodiments, the resource manager 1252 can be part of the management plane. In other embodiments, the resource manager 1252 can be separate from the management plane.

[0315] In some embodiments, a user associated with a customer 1280 of dealer R1 can send a request to start a VM instance or a bare metal server through one of vPLC.R1 endpoints 1270. Assume that the request is to start a new VM instance. In this case, the control plane 1250 can collaborate with the identity service to check the correct credentials of the user for vPLC.R1, and then the resource manager 1252 can identify all resources dedicated to vPLC.R1, such as IP address ranges. Then, the VM instance (e.g., 1218a) is started on the hypervisor 1216 in the vPLC.R1 segment 1210. Thereafter, the control plane 1250 sends a response back to the requesting user through the vPLC.R1 endpoint 1270. If the request is for a bare metal server (e.g., 1214a), then the resource manager 1252 can supply the resources of vPLC.R1 and assign it to vPLC.R1 together with all necessary configurations. Similar processing may be performed for requests from users associated with customer 1282 of reseller R2 to be satisfied by vPLC.R2 segment 1220, and requests from users associated with customer 1284 of reseller Rn to be satisfied by vPLC.Rn segment 1230. Each processing of a vPLC may be performed independently of another vPLC, as well as concurrently with another vPLC.

[0316] The vPLC segmentation model may have some advantages, such as physical separation and a shared common control plane 1250 operated by the CSP. In addition, a resource manager 1252 manages resources across vPLCs 1210-1230. However, resources (including networking and storage) are replicated to be assigned to each vPLC, and therefore there may be scaling challenges. Small footprints (such as a single rack or server) are also not feasible under this model. However, the vPLC segmentation model can still have shared power, cooling, etc. As mentioned above, the segmentation model is only one end of the continuum, and there are various partitioning methods based on resources and efficiency.

[0317] Fig.13 is a block diagram illustrating a vPLC nesting model of resource partitioning according to certain embodiments. Fig.13 The nested model in illustrates the other end of the continuum of VM-level resource partitioning. In other words, a VM may be exclusively assigned to a particular vPLC and not used by other vPLCs or the CSP to provide services offered by the CSP to its direct customers. However, a hypervisor, server, or rack may be shared between customers of the CSP and customers of one or more vPLCs. In some embodiments, the nested model may have a base layer that none of the customers can see as a basis for sharing, such as a hypervisor, and an abstraction layer (e.g., VM) may be built on top of the base layer, allowing each dealer to create clones and customize the abstraction layer for the dealer's customers.

[0318] exist Fig.13 In an embodiment of the present invention, all vPLCs (e.g., vPLC.R1, vPLC.R2, and vPLC.Rn) are hosted on a single segment with a shared infrastructure, shown as a "server CSP" 1320 (e.g., a bare metal server) operated by a CSP, where the "server CSP" 1320 can have control plane functionality. The server CSP 1320 can be configured to host a hypervisor 1330 that manages virtual machines (VMs) 1332a-n running on the hypervisor. In some embodiments, a segment may include multiple racks. Here, two VM instances of vPLC.R1 1332a-b, one VM instance of vPLC.R2 1332c, and one VM instance of vPLC.Rn 1332n reside on the shared hypervisor 1330. All vPLCs share the same data plane 1312 in the segment 1310. In some embodiments, a segment may include multiple racks. Since hypervisors, servers, and racks can be shared by multiple vPLCs, the servers of those vPLCs may be from different racks.

[0319] Fig.13 A variation of the partitioning scenario is further illustrated, where a customer of reseller R2 can request an additional bare metal server, server vPLC.R2 1322, which is provisioned as a dedicated server. In the vPLC nested model, the shared server pool can be placed wherever there is space. Thus, it provides a low-cost point for the reseller.

[0320] exist Fig.13 In the example, a gateway 1340 (e.g., an IGW or DRG) shared by the vPLCs has a connection to the Internet or an enterprise network if necessary. Incoming packets from the Internet / enterprise network 1360 can be tagged (i.e., encapsulated in each packet header) with vPLC-related information (e.g., vPLC ID and customer lease ID) at the gateway 1340 to track the destination to the appropriate vPLC. Packet encapsulation helps to isolate traffic within a single segment 1310 shared by multiple vPLCs. As an example, a packet destined for a VM 1332a that belongs to a lease associated with a customer C1 of a dealer R1 associated with vPLC.R1 can be encapsulated with vPLC_ID.vPLC.R1 and a customer lease ID (T_ID.R1.C1) in the packet header. The packet can then be routed to VMs 1332a-b that are partitioned for vPLC.R1 based on the vPLC ID (vPLC_ID.vPLC.R1). The customer tenancy ID (T_ID.R1.C1) in the packet header associated with customer C1 of reseller R1 may further assist in routing the packet to tenant C1 running on VM 1332a. The packet is decapsulated before delivery to VM 1332a.

[0321] Similarly, a packet destined for VM 1332c belonging to a lease associated with customer C1 of reseller R2 associated with vPLC.R2 may be encapsulated with vPLC_ID.vPLC.R2 and the customer lease ID (T_ID.R2.C1) in the packet header. The packet may then be routed to resources partitioned for vPLC.R2 based on the vPLC ID (vPLC_ID.vPLC.R2). The customer lease ID (T_ID.R2.C1) associated with customer C1 of reseller R2 in the packet header may further assist in routing the packet to tenant C1 running on VM 1332c in vPLC.R2. The packet is decapsulated prior to delivery to VM1332c.

[0322] Outgoing packets can be executed with the opposite processing. For example, an outgoing packet originating from VM 1332a in vPLC.R1 and destined for the Internet 1360 can be encapsulated with vPLC_ID.vPLC.R1 and a customer lease ID (T_ID.R1.C1) associated with customer C1 of dealer R1 in the packet header. When the packet arrives at gateway 1340, the packet can be decapsulated before going to the Internet 1360. Similarly, an outgoing packet originating from VM 1332c in vPLC.R2 and destined for the Internet 1360 can be encapsulated with vPLC_ID.vPLC.R2 and a customer lease ID (T_ID.R2.C1) associated with customer C1 of dealer R2 in the packet header. When the packet arrives at gateway 1340, the packet can be decapsulated before going to the Internet 1360. Therefore, both incoming and outgoing traffic are isolated within a single segment 1310 shared by multiple vPLCs.

[0323] In some embodiments, in a nested model, one or more VMs may belong to direct customers of the CSP and share the same hypervisor with other vPLCs.

[0324] Users of a dealer accessing the vPLC infrastructure are authenticated in both the segmented and nested models. A user associated with a customer of a particular dealer can access an endpoint and be authenticated as a user of the vPLC associated with the particular dealer by using the user's credentials (e.g., username and customer tenancy ID). For example, in some embodiments, Fig.13 , a user associated with customer C1 of reseller R1 may send a request to launch a VM instance through one of the vPLC.R1 endpoints 1302. The specific vPLC.R1 endpoint 1302 may augment the request with the vPLC ID of vPLC.R1. The control plane 1350 may collaborate with the identity service to check the correct credentials of the user for vPLC.R1 (e.g., the user's username and the lease ID of customer C1). The resource manager 1352 may then identify all resources allocated to vPLC.R1 based on the vPLC ID, e.g., servers 1320 and hypervisor 1330, and identify VM 1332a based on the customer lease ID of customer C1. The VM instance 1332a may then be launched on the hypervisor 1330 accordingly.

[0325] Fig.14 is a flow chart illustrating a registration process for a customer of a reseller associated with a vPLC according to certain embodiments. When a direct customer of a CSP subscribes to or registers (i.e., registers for) a cloud service provided by the CSP (i.e., a CSP-provided cloud service), a lease or account is created for that customer. Similarly, when a customer of a single reseller subscribes to or registers for a cloud service provided by the reseller (i.e., a reseller-provided cloud service), a lease or account is created for that customer.

[0326] Fig.14 The diagram shows the registration process for a specific customer C1 of dealer R1. However, the registration process is applicable to customers of a single dealer. Fig.14 In the example, at step S1, customer C1 1401 of dealer R1 may register to create a new account using a registration portal on the console 1402 of vPLC.R1 by entering the user's identity credentials, such as a user name or account name (e.g., John). At step S2, the vPLC1.R1 console 1402 may augment the registration request by adding the vPLC ID (e.g., vPLC_ID.vPLC.R1) identifying the vPLC created by dealer R1 to the user's credentials, and forward the registration request to the CSP (control plane (CP) or management plane (MP)) 1404. In some embodiments, account creation for customer C1 of dealer R1 may be handled by dealer R1 with the help of the CP or MP of the CSP.

[0327] At step S3, the CSP then creates a customer lease (or account, T.R1.C1) for customer C1 1401 of dealer R1. A lease identifier (T_ID.T.R1.C1) is assigned to the newly created lease (T.R1.C1) of customer C1. The vPLC ID (e.g., vPLC_ID.vPLC.R1) identifying vPLC.R1 of dealer R1 can be associated with the customer lease ID (e.g., T_ID.T.R1.C1) of the newly created customer C1, as shown in 1430, and stored in database 1420 along with other credentials (e.g., account name and password). Other customers of dealer R1 and dealer R2 can also be stored in database 1420. For example, the customer lease ID of dealer R1's customer C2 (i.e., R1.C2) is associated with the vPLC ID of vPLC.R1—T_ID.T.R1.C2 and vPLC_ID.vPLC.R1, as shown in 1432. The customer lease ID of dealer R2's customer C2 (i.e., R2.C1) is associated with the vPLC ID of vPLC.R2—T_ID.T.R2.C1 and vPLC_ID.vPLC.R2, as shown in 1434.

[0328] The association between the vPLC ID and the lease ID of a customer of a single reseller can provide isolation between the leases of customers within a vPLC. For example, a customer lease of R1.C1 can be securely isolated from a customer lease of R1.C2 by using different customer lease IDs (T_ID.T.R1.C1 for customer C1 and T_ID.T.R1.C2 for customer C2), even though both customer leases are within the same vPLC.R1. A lease associated with reseller R1 and a lease associated with reseller R2 can be securely isolated using their respective vPLC IDs (vPLC_ID.vPLC.R1 for reseller R1, vPLC_ID.vPLC.R2 for reseller R2).

[0329] At step S4, CSP 1404 may return a handle including the customer lease ID (e.g., T_ID.T.R1.C1), a temporary default password, and an account name to vPLC.R1 console 1402. At step S5, vPLC.R1 console may receive the temporary credentials and forward the customer lease ID and password to customer C1 1401 of reseller R1. Fig.14 As shown in FIG. 1 , a customer C1 1401 of a reseller R1 can interact directly with the reseller R1 to register and subscribe to one or more cloud services provided by the reseller through the vPLC.R1 console 1402. Similarly, a customer of a CSP can interact separately with the CSP and register at the CSP's console (not shown) to subscribe to cloud services provided by the CSP.

[0330] As discussed above with respect to lease creation, the CSP’s database (e.g. Fig.14 1420) can store vPLCIDs, customer lease IDs, and their corresponding credentials. In some embodiments, multiple customer lease IDs can be associated with the same vPLC ID, as shown in 1430 (T_ID.T.R1.C1 is associated with vPLC_ID.vPLC.R1) and 1432 (T_ID.T.R1.C2 is associated with vPLC_ID.vPLC.R1). Leases can be defined at the realm level, so a lease can have a realm identifier associated with a vPLC.

[0331] Fig.15 is a flow chart illustrating a login process for a user associated with a customer of a dealer associated with a vPLC according to some embodiments. Fig.15 In the above example, steps S1 and S2 involve a single dealer's customer having completed Fig.14 The login phase follows the registration process described in .

[0332] At step S1, a user 1501 associated with a customer of dealer R1 may log in using a customer tenancy ID (or CT ID), username, and password at vPLC.R1 endpoint 1510. At S2, user 1501 and its customer tenancy may be verified at vPLC.R1 endpoint 1510 by undergoing a verification process that may include, but is not limited to, user authentication (e.g., verifying valid credentials, such as username and password), session management (e.g., session tokens or timeouts), and access control enforcement (based on access rights, permissions, and policies).

[0333] At step S3, vPLC.R1 endpoint 1510 may return a session handle. A session handle may refer to a token or unique identifier returned to a customer after successfully logging into a customer account. The session handle may be used for subsequent requests to access cloud services and resources (e.g., launch an instance) without having to re-authenticate for each individual request during an active login session (or API session).

[0334] When resources are created, cloud resource IDs (CIDs) may be generated for these resources, including customer tenancy IDs. Virtual machines, accounts, tenancies, authorization policies, virtual network subnets, ACLs, and load balancers may be examples of cloud resources and may therefore be referenced by their respective CIDs.

[0335] Fig.16 is a flow chart illustrating a resource allocation and provisioning process for a reseller's customers associated with a vPLC according to certain embodiments.A resource manager (RM) manages the resources of the cloud infrastructure provided by the CSP in a region and the resource partitions assigned to each vPLC.

[0336] As discussed above, users associated with customers of the reseller may use a vPLC-specific endpoint to access resources associated with the vPLC and perform one or more functions or operations involving resources allocated to the vPLC. Fig.16 , at step S1 , a user 1601 associated with a customer C1 of a reseller R1 may issue a request through a vPLC-specific endpoint vPLC.R1 endpoint 1602 to launch a computing instance, for example, a VM instance with 1 GB of RAM.

[0337] At step S2, vPLC.R1 endpoint 1602 may augment (or annotate) the request to indicate that the request is from a customer of reseller R1 by marking the vPLC.R1 endpoint with a corresponding vPLC ID (e.g., vPLC_ID.vPLC.R1), and forward the request to resource manager (RM) 1604. In other words, once the request has been authenticated, the annotation information (e.g., vPLC ID) allows the request to be processed using all policies associated with vPLC.R1. In some embodiments, the policies associated with the vPLC may include, for example, the type of resource, the amount of resource allowed to be allocated (i.e., capacity limit), permissions, etc.

[0338] At step S3, RM 1604 queries its database (i.e., resource database) 1606 to determine whether the requested resource is available for vPLC.R1 under the policy. Based on the query, at step S4, RM can perform resource allocation after confirming that the requested resource is available under the policy. In other words, RM allocates a portion of the resources of vPLC.R1 that have been allocated to dealer R1 to the customer lease (T.R1.C1) associated with customer C1 of dealer R1 (based on the customer lease ID when the user logs in). Such resource allocation can be performed by assigning or specifying a portion of the available cloud resources (already allocated to vPLC.R1) to the user associated with customer C1 based on the policy agreed upon between customer C1 and dealer R1 (such as capacity restrictions or licenses, etc.). For example, dealer R1 and its customer C1 may have a contract policy to allow up to 100GB of storage to be available for use. Currently 80GB has been allocated (or used). If a user associated with customer C1 requests 10GB, RM can identify the CID of the 10GB that CP will supply. If a user associated with customer C1 requests 30GB, which would exceed the total limit of 100GB, the request may be denied.

[0339] At step S5, RM 1604 obtains the cloud resource ID of the resource (vPLC.R1.C1) assigned to the lease (T.R1.C1) of customer C1 assigned to dealer R1 from the resource database. At step S6, RM passes the resource ID to vPLC.R1 endpoint 1602. At step S7, vPLC.R1 endpoint 1602 issues a resource request to control plane (CP) 1608, requesting a resource with a specific resource ID of the resource assigned to the lease (T.R1.C1) of customer C1 assigned to dealer R1. In other words, resource manager 1604 can augment (e.g., step S6) the user's request with information related to vPLC (e.g., the resource ID assigned to vPLC.R1.C1), and control plane 1608 can use this information to provision resources (e.g., step S8).

[0340] At step S8, the control plane may provision the requested resources (e.g., launch a specific VM instance and storage). The resources may include compute, networking, storage, etc. At step S9, the control plane 1608 may respond to the vPLC.R1 endpoint 1602 with a status and a resource handle. The resource handle may refer to a unique resource identifier assigned to the provisioned resource, such as a cloud resource ID assigned to a provisioned compute instance (e.g., VM), storage volume, virtual cloud network (VCN or subnet), database, etc. The resource handle may allow the customer to access and manage the provisioned resources through an API or command line tool.

[0341] At step S10, the status and resource handle are forwarded to user 1601 associated with customer C1 of reseller R1. At step S11, the control plane may notify RM about the resource provisioning status, such as success or failure. At step S12, RM may update a record in resource DB 1606 that tracks resource usage of customer C1 associated with the user. Continuing with the above example, the record may be updated to indicate that the total amount of memory used by customer C1 is 90GB after successfully provisioning 10GB (on top of the previously provisioned 80GB), or remains at 80GB after the user's request is denied. The records maintained by the resource DB may help enforce policies associated with the vPLC.

[0342] Fig.17 is a flow diagram illustrating a resource allocation and provisioning process for a dealer's customers associated with a vPLC in accordance with certain embodiments. Fig.17 yes Fig.16 Instead of using a resource manager (RM) as a central role that receives requests for communication with all subsystems and coordinates resource allocation and provisioning processes, a control plane (CP) may also be used to play this central role.

[0343] For example, in Fig.17 In the example of FIG. 1 , at step S1, a user 1701 associated with a customer C1 of a dealer R1 may issue a request to a vPLC-specific endpoint vPLC.R1 endpoint 1702. At step S2, the vPLC.R1 endpoint 1702 may augment the request by marking the corresponding vPLC ID to indicate that the request is from a customer of the dealer R1, and forward the request to a control plane (CP) 1704. At step S3, the CP 1704 forwards the request to a resource manager (RM) 1706. At step S4, the RM 1706 queries its database (i.e., resource database) 1708 to determine whether the requested resource is available for vPLC.R1. Based on the query, at step S5, if the requested resource is available, the RM performs resource allocation.

[0344] At step S6, the RM obtains the resource ID of the resource (vPLC.R1.C1) assigned to the lease (T.R1.C1) assigned to the customer C1 of dealer R1 from the resource database. At step S7, the RM passes the resource ID to the CP 1704. At step S8, the control plane can supply the requested resources. At step S9, the control plane 1704 can respond to the vPLC.R1 endpoint 1702 with the status and resource handle. At step S10, the status and resource handle can be forwarded to the user 1701. At step S11, the control plane can notify the RM about the resource supply status. At step S12, the RM can update the record in the resource DB that tracks the resource usage of the customers associated with the user.

[0345] like Fig.17 As shown in FIG. 1 , CP 1704 may play a central role by forwarding resource requests to RM 1706 (eg, step S3) and receiving resource IDs from RM (eg, step S6) and provisioning the requested resources (eg, step S8). Fig.16 In contrast, this embodiment avoids the need for the vPLC.R1 endpoint 1702 to perform additional steps, such as issuing a resource request to the CP, such as Fig.16 As shown in steps S7 and S8 in .

[0346] Fig.18 is a simplified diagram illustrating a use case in which a vPLC is hosted by infrastructure in a first domain but is associated with a second, different domain, according to certain embodiments. Fig.18 In , there are two separate domains, Domain A 1802 and Domain B 1812 provided by the CSP. Each domain is a logical collection of regions. Domains are isolated from each other and do not share data. Accordingly, Domain A 1802 is isolated from Domain B 1812 and there is no shared data or communication between the two domains. Leases created for customers of the CSP exist within a single domain and cannot be used to access another domain or regions in another domain. Domains enable the CSP to provide defined levels of service between regions in the domain that meet the needs of a specific organization. For example, a CSP may create a domain to achieve an elevated level of security and separation, such as a "Government" domain created for government entities that are customers of the CSP. The CSP may create a second domain with a lower elevated level of security and separation, such as a "Commercial" domain created for non-government commercial customers of the CSP. Examples of domains that a CSP may create: (a) Commercial domain; (b) U.S. Government FedRAMP authorized domain; (c) U.S. Government IL5 authorized domain; (d) Country A government domain; (e) Country B government domain; and so on. For example, in Fig.18 In the example, domain A 1802 may have a higher security posture than domain B 1812.

[0347] A realm can have one or more zones. Each realm has its own identity and trust profile (e.g., passwords, credentials, etc.). This identity and trust profile information is shared between zones belonging to the same realm, and thus zones within a realm can communicate with each other. The identities and trust profiles of a realm are configured so that cross-realm communication is not allowed.

[0348] exist Fig.18 In the example depicted in FIG, domain A 1802 includes region A 1804. The infrastructure provided by the CSP in region A 1804 is organized as data centers 1806. Fig.18 , data center 1806 is shown as a dedicated regional cloud data center (DRCC) hosted at a customer's premises. A DRCC may refer to a fully managed cloud region built using high-performance infrastructure designed by a CSP to help customers bring cloud primitives and services closer to the customer's existing data and applications. A DRCC may be dedicated to a single customer and run within the customer's data center but fully managed by the CSP.

[0349] exist Fig.18 In the example, domain B 1812 includes region B 1814. The infrastructure provided by the CSP in region B 1814 is organized as data center 1816. Fig.18 As shown in FIG, data center 1816 hosts vPLC 1818. Accordingly, a portion of the infrastructure provided by the CSP in data center 1816 in region B 1812 is allocated to vPLC 1818. Therefore, vPLC 1818 is physically located in region B 1814 in domain B 1812.

[0350] As previously described, when a vPLC is created, as part of configuring the vPLC, the vPLC is associated with a particular domain. Typically, the vPLC is associated with the same domain associated with the region where the regional infrastructure provided by the CSP hosting the vPLC is located. In some embodiments, when the vPLC is configured, the vPLC may be associated with a domain that is different from the domain associated with the regional infrastructure hosting the vPLC. For example, in Fig.18 , vPLC 1818 may be associated with realm A 1802, but not realm B 1812. Dashed box 1820 and associated arrow 1830 are intended to indicate that vPLC 1818 is physically hosted by data center 1816 in realm B 1812, but is logically or virtually associated with and belongs to realm A 1802. Realm B 1812 is referred to as the hosting realm or host realm of vPLC 1818. Realm A 1802 is referred to as the logical realm or virtual realm of vPLC 1818.

[0351] This makes vPLC 1818 and data center 1806 in the same domain, i.e., domain A 1802. Since the infrastructure in the same domain shares the same identity and trust profile, vPLC 1818 is configured with the identity and trust profile of domain A 1802. The configuration of the identity and trust profile information of domain A 1802 can be completed by creating a mapping in vPLC 1818. For example, the identity service API in the virtual domain (i.e., domain A 1802) can call the vPLC in the host domain (i.e., domain B 1812), and the vPLC in the host domain can accept the call and establish trust (i.e., share identity and trust profile information) between the two domains. When an instance is created in a customer lease in the vPLC in the host domain, the resource ID and lease ID associated with the newly created instance in the host domain can be mapped to the new resource ID and lease ID in the virtual domain. Therefore, a mapping table (or "shadow lease") can be maintained in the host domain (i.e., domain B 1812). The same processing and mapping is also performed in the virtual realm (i.e., realm A 1802). Therefore, both the vPLC 1818 and realm A 1802 (i.e., the virtual realm) share the same identity and trust profile information. Therefore, since the vPLC 1818 and the data center 1806 are located in realm A 1802, they are able to communicate with each other, even though the vPLC 1818 is physically hosted by infrastructure in a different realm B 1812. The vPLC 1818 may not be able to communicate with other infrastructure in region B 1814 associated with realm B 1812.

[0352] Additionally, the vPLC 1818 is also logically associated with region A 1804, even though the vPLC is physically hosted by region B 1814. Region B 1814 is referred to as a hosted region or host region of the vPLC 1818. Region A 1804 in realm A 1802 is referred to as a logical region or virtual region of the vPLC 1818. The virtual realms and virtual regions of a vPLC may be configured when the vPLC is created.

[0353] As described above, the resource ID of a resource includes a portion identifying a domain associated with the resource and a portion identifying a region associated with the resource. The vPLC is considered a resource and is therefore assigned a resource ID. In some embodiments, a vPLC ID that uniquely identifies a vPLC is a resource ID. The vPLC ID includes a portion identifying a virtual domain associated with the vPLC identified by the vPLC ID, and a portion identifying a virtual region associated with the vPLC. Accordingly, for identity management purposes in domain A 1802, the vPLC is considered to be part of the domain and region identified by the vPLC ID corresponding to the vPLC.

[0354] In certain embodiments, a vPLC may be configured in the manner described above using a virtual bootstrap environment (ViBE) technology, wherein the vPLC is hosted by one region and one domain, but is associated with different virtual regions and different virtual domains. ViBE may refer to a virtual cloud network (VCN) that is provisioned in an overlay of an existing region (e.g., a "host region"). Once provisioned, ViBE is connected to the new region using a communication channel (e.g., an IPSec tunnel VPN). Certain basic core services (or "seed" services), such as deployment orchestrators, public key infrastructure (PKI) services, etc., may be provisioned in ViBE. These services may provide the capabilities required to bring hardware online, establish a chain of trust in a new region, and deploy the remaining services in a new region. Utilizing a virtual bootstrap environment may prevent circular dependencies between boot resources by utilizing the resources of the host region. Services may be prepared and tested in ViBE before a physical region (e.g., a target region) is available.

[0355] For example, in some embodiments, Realm B 1812 may create a ViBE within its realm, where the ViBE shares identity and trust profile information with Realm A 1802. The ViBE in Realm B 1812 may then be used to bootstrap new areas in Realm A 1802. Further details related to ViBE are described in the following applications, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes:

[0356] (1) U.S. Nonprovisional Application No. 18 / 105,779, filed on February 3, 2023, entitled “VIRTUAL BOOTSTRAP ENVIRONMENT FOR BUILDING REGIONAL DATA CENTERS”;

[0357] (2) U.S. Nonprovisional Application No. 18 / 105,768, filed on February 3, 2023, entitled “TECHNIQUES FOR AVIRTUAL BOOTSTRAPENVIRONMENT IN A DISTRIBUTED VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK”; and

[0358] (3) U.S. nonprovisional application No. 18 / 105,779, filed on February 3, 2023, entitled “TECHNIQUES FOR MIGRATING SERVICES FROMA VIRTUAL BOOTSTRAP ENVIRONMENT.”

[0359] Fig.18 The architecture depicted in can be used for different purposes, where the vPLC is hosted by one zone and one realm, but is associated with different virtual zones and different virtual realms. Fig.18 In the example depicted in , vPLC 1818 can be used as a backup for data center 1806. This allows for backups for disaster recovery (DR) in different geographic locations. For example, when data center 1806 is a DRCC located at a customer's premises, the customer can ask the CSP to provide backup services for DRCC 1806. In response, the CSP can select vPLC 1818 to back up DRCC 1806, where vPLC 1818 is physically hosted in region B 1812, which is far away from region A 1802 hosting DRCC 1806 and is located in a different geographic location. This can provide a more cost-effective solution for the CSP without having to build another data center for the customer in domain A 1802 just for backup purposes. In some embodiments, the customer may not even know where the backup is performed, that is, the existence and location of vPLC 1818 may be invisible to the customer. The vPLC used for backup can be physically hosted in a cloud provided by a CSP in different domains and regions.

[0360] Since the goal of a DR site is to minimize the occurrence of correlated failures by introducing geographic separation between the primary and DR sites and avoiding simultaneous modifications to the primary and secondary locations, the DRCC 1806 can enjoy DR guarantees once the CSP can ensure that the DRCC and the paired vPLC 1818 (and by extension, its hosted area in domain B 1812) are not modified simultaneously.

[0361] Fig.19 is a flow chart 1900 illustrating an example method of creating a vPLC, in accordance with certain embodiments, where the vPLC is hosted by infrastructure provided by a CSP in a particular region in a particular domain, but is virtually associated with a different region in a different domain. Fig.19 The processing depicted in can be performed as part of the processing performed to create a vPLC. In some embodiments, Fig.19 The processing depicted in can be performed primarily by infrastructure provided by CSPs in hosting regions and domains.

[0362] Processing begins at 1902 when information is received identifying a host zone in a host domain to be physically hosted where a vPLC is to be created. Fig.18 In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 18, information may be received that a vPLC is to be created in region B 1814 in realm A 1812. The region and realm identified in 1902 represent the host region and host realm of the vPLC to be created.

[0363] At 1904, information identifying a zone in a specific realm may be received, wherein the specific realm is different from the host realm identified in 1902, wherein the zone identified in 1904 and the specific realm are to be associated as a virtual zone and a virtual realm of a vPLC to be created. Fig.18 In the embodiment depicted in , information may be received that a vPLC will be virtually associated with area A 1804 in domain A 1802 .

[0364] At 1906, identity and trust profile information is obtained for the particular realm identified in 1904. The information obtained in 1906 may include identity credentials associated with the realm that will become the virtual realm of the vPLC, including passwords, certificates, and the like.

[0365] At 1908 , a vPLC ID is generated for the vPLC to be created, wherein the vPLC ID identifies the region and specific domain identified in the information received in 1904 .

[0366] At 1910, a vPLC is created in the host domain and resources are allocated to the vPLC, wherein the allocated resources are selected from resources in the infrastructure provided by the CSP in the region identified in 1902 and the domain identified in 1902. The resources may include one or more physical resources (e.g., racks, servers, routers, memory or storage resources) and / or logical resources (e.g., hypervisors, virtual machines, virtual routers). For example, for Fig.18 In the embodiment depicted in , resources are allocated from data center 1816 to the vPLC.

[0367] At 1912, the vPLC is configured using the identity and trust profile information obtained in 1906. For example, for Fig.18 In the embodiment depicted in , the vPLC may be configured using the identity and trust profile information of domain A 1802 .

[0368] At 1914, the vPLC begins communicating with the infrastructure provided by the CSP in the specific domain identified in 1904, which is the virtual domain of the vPLC. Fig.18 In the embodiment depicted in , vPLC 1818 communicates with data center 1806. The communication may be initiated by vPLC 1818 or data center 1806.

[0369] Virtual Private Label Cloud (vPLC) - Metadata Customization

[0370] Fig. 20 is a block diagram illustrating a distributed environment for providing metadata services according to some embodiments. Fig. 20 The distributed environment 2000 depicted in the embodiment is merely an example and is not intended to unduly limit the scope of the claimed embodiments. Many variations, substitutions, and modifications are possible. For example, in some embodiments, the distributed environment 2000 may have more than Fig. 20 More or fewer systems or components than shown in the drawings may be used, two or more systems may be combined, or there may be different system configurations or arrangements. Fig. 20 The systems, subsystems, and other components depicted in the can be implemented in software (e.g., code, instructions, programs) executed by one or more processing units (e.g., processors, cores) of the corresponding system, using hardware, or a combination thereof. The software can be stored on a non-transitory storage medium (e.g., on a memory device).

[0371] Fig. 20 The distributed environment 2000 may include a vPLC instance 2020, a metadata service (MD) system 2030, an overall repository / storage 2050, and a collection of endpoints (2002, 2004, and 2006). Fig. 20 As shown in , the metadata service system 2030 may include, but is not limited to, a metadata collection subsystem (referred to as a metadata collector) 2032 for collecting metadata information, a metadata customizer 2034 for customizing metadata, a metadata responder 2036 for responding to requests for metadata, and an interface subsystem 2038 for providing an interface to the metadata service system. The vPLC instance set 2020 including vPLC.R1 2024, vPLC.R2 2026, etc. may be communicatively coupled to the metadata service system 2030.

[0372] The overall repository 2050, which can be a non-volatile memory (NV), a database, a disk, etc., can include three repositories for storing information from the metadata service system or providing information to the metadata service system: (1) a first repository (CSP format metadata repository) 2052, for storing CSP format metadata; (2) a second repository (vPLC-specific information repository) 2054, for storing vPLC-specific information of customized instructions and response instructions; and (3) a third repository (vPLC-specific metadata repository) 2056, for storing vPLC-specific metadata.

[0373] A vPLC-specific set of endpoints and consoles vPLC.R1 2002, vPLC.R1 2004, and vPLC.Rn 2006 may be provided to customers of reseller R1 2082, customers of reseller R2 2084, and customers of reseller Rn 2086 for accessing and performing functions related to metadata services.

[0374] like Fig. 20 As shown in , vPLC instances 2020 may include vPLCs assigned to resellers from infrastructure provided by a CSP in a region. For example, vPLC.R1 2024 may be an isolated portion of infrastructure provided by a CSP in a region and assigned to reseller R1 to provide reseller-supplied cloud services, such as metadata services. vPLC.R2 2026 may be an isolated portion of infrastructure provided by a CSP in a region and assigned to reseller R2 to provide reseller-supplied cloud services, such as metadata services. In some embodiments, each vPLC instance may include resources, such as compute, storage, database, network, etc. The resources in each vPLC instance may have associated metadata, such as a region, a fault domain, a domain name, etc.

[0375] exist Fig. 20 In the embodiment of the present invention, the metadata collector 2032 in the metadata service system 2030 can collect metadata associated with resources in each vPLC instance. The collected metadata associated with resources in the vPLC instance (referred to herein as raw metadata (i.e., uncustomized)) is in CSP format and can be stored in a first repository (CSP format metadata repository) 2052. The raw metadata is in CSP format (e.g., JSON binary large object (blob)) because the resources of the vPLC are allocated from the infrastructure provided by the CSP in the region. In some embodiments, the CSP format metadata 2052 collected from the vPLC instance 2020 may include static metadata and dynamic metadata. Examples of static metadata may include resource identifiers (resource IDs), console names, IP addresses, etc. Dynamic metadata may include information that may change over time, such as performance information (e.g., the number of CPUs used or the number of VMs running at a particular time).

[0376] In some embodiments, the collection of raw metadata may be performed periodically from the vPLC instance 2020. For example, some metadata may be dynamic and change over time, and therefore be collected periodically for efficiency purposes when needed. In other embodiments, the collection of raw metadata may be performed based on a request from a customer (e.g., 2082-2086), for example, of a dealer. As an example, when a metadata service (MDS) system 2030 receives a metadata request, it may check a CSP format metadata repository 2052. If the CSP format metadata is stored in the repository 2052, the MDS system may retrieve the CSP format metadata and perform customization based on vPLC-specific customization instructions. If the CSP format metadata is not in the repository 2052, the MDS system may need to obtain the requested metadata from a specific vPLC instance (e.g., vPLC.R1 2024 or vPLC.R2 2026) through the metadata collector 2032, and perform customization based on vPLC-specific customization instructions.

[0377] exist Fig. 20 In some embodiments, metadata customizer 2034 may interact with metadata collector 2032 and perform metadata customization by customizing original metadata (i.e., CSP format metadata) to vPLC-specific metadata using vPLC-specific customization instructions stored in vPLC-specific information repository 2054. For example, the CSP format metadata of the top-level domain name may be "oraclecloud.com". After customizing vPLC.R1, the vPLC-specific metadata of the top-level domain name may become "vplcR1cloud.com".

[0378] The vPLC-specific information stored in the second repository (vPLC-specific information repository) 2054 may include metadata customization instructions and response instructions. The metadata customization and response instructions 2054 may be vPLC-specific and stored in separate partitions of vPLC.R1 and vPLC.R2, for example, in a namespace associated with vPLC.R1 2054a and a namespace associated with vPLC.R2 2054b.

[0379] The metadata customizer 2034 may customize the CSP format metadata 2052 (or raw metadata) to vPLC-specific metadata 2056 (discussed later) using vPLC-specific customization instructions. The metadata responder 2036 may determine how to respond to the metadata request using vPLC-specific metadata response instructions. In some embodiments, the customization instructions and response instructions may be provided by a single dealer associated with each vPLC and may be different for different customers of a single dealer. For example, metadata customization for a dealer's customer C1 may display a subset of customized vPLC-specific metadata at the dealer level, and metadata customization for a dealer's customer C2 may display another subset of customized vPLC-specific metadata at the dealer level.

[0380] The vPLC-specific customization instructions may provide instructions (e.g., configurations and rules) on how to convert CSP format metadata into vPLC-specific metadata, and how to display the vPLC-specific metadata on a vPLC-specific console (e.g., the console in vPLC.R1 2002 or the console in vPLC.R2 2004). For example, in some embodiments, the vPLC-specific metadata customization instructions provided by a dealer associated with the vPLC may include, but are not limited to, the type of metadata to be customized, the format to be customized for display, which metadata to display for customers of the dealer associated with the particular vPLC, and how to display the customized metadata (i.e., user interface (UI) aspects).

[0381] For example, for the type of metadata, the metadata for a region or availability domain may not be customized, and therefore may still be displayed in CSP format, such as "us-phoenix-1", indicating the first AD in the US West region (Phoenix). However, a reseller may prefer to customize the top-level domain metadata to indicate that the reseller's customers are accessing a service provided by the reseller. As an example, the top-level domain "oraclecloud.com" in CSP format may be customized to be displayed as "vplcR1cloud.com".

[0382] For the format of metadata to be customized, in some embodiments, the customization instructions can indicate the type of metric to be used for specific metadata. For example, the load of a virtual machine (VM) (i.e., the resources being used) can be expressed in many different ways, such as the number of CPUs used, the total memory consumption in gigabytes, or the storage space used in terabytes. For another example, network performance can be expressed in terms of latency (ns) or throughput (in GB / sec). For another example, a time reference for initiating a live migration or terminating a cloud resource (e.g., a VM) can be expressed in different formats, such as a UTC timestamp (e.g., 2023-09-16T15:00:00Z) or a day of the week and time (e.g., Saturday morning 01:00).

[0383] Regarding which metadata to display, the instructions may want to display all static metadata, such as the operating system (OS) in which the VM is running, and only some but not all dynamic metadata, such as performance information for a particular VM (e.g., the load of the VM) rather than the total number of available VMs for use at any given time.

[0384] In some embodiments, the distributor can aggregate the original metadata in the CSP format and modify it. For example, if the original metadata contains CPU cycle information of hardware resources, the distributor can customize it to generate an average CPU cycle usage within a certain range based on the original metadata. As another example, the distributor can add cost saving information on top of the metadata already provided by the CSP.

[0385] As for how to display customized metadata, the custom instructions may want to graphically display the VM load over time and provide a command line for metadata requests in addition to a drop-down menu. If the reseller is an organization, the reseller may want to display a logo.

[0386] vPLC-specific metadata (i.e., customized metadata based on CSP format metadata using custom instructions) can be stored in a third repository (vPLC-specific metadata repository) 2056, which includes separate partitions for different vPLCs. Each vPLC has its own customized metadata. For example, vPLC.R1's vPLC-specific metadata can be customized metadata based on CSP format metadata collected from vPLC.R1 2024 and stored in a namespace associated with vPLC.R1 2056a. vPLC.R2's vPLC-specific metadata can be customized metadata based on CSP format metadata collected from vPLC.R2 2026 and stored in a namespace associated with vPLC.R2 2056b.

[0387] In some embodiments, metadata may be pre-generated in two ways: (1) pre-generated CSP format metadata, and (2) pre-generated customized vPLC-specific metadata. Pre-generated CSP format metadata may refer to raw metadata collected by metadata collector 2032 from vPLC instance 2020 and then stored in CSP format metadata repository 2052 before the MDS system receives any request from a user associated with a customer of the dealer. Pre-generated customized vPLC-specific metadata may refer to metadata that has been customized based on raw metadata (i.e., CSP format metadata) obtained directly from vPLC instance 2020 or from CSP format metadata repository 2052 and stored in vPLC-specific metadata repository 2056 before the MDS system receives any request from a user associated with a customer of the dealer.

[0388] In other embodiments, vPLC-specific metadata can be customized on the fly without accessing the CSP format metadata repository 2052 or the vPLC-specific metadata repository 2056. For example, when the MDS system 2030 receives a request from a user associated with a customer of a dealer, it can collect raw metadata from the vPLC instance 2020, customize the raw metadata to vPLC-specific metadata using vPLC-specific customization instructions 2054, and send it directly to the requesting user. The metadata created by this just-in-time customization process can be referred to as just-in-time customized metadata. In some embodiments, the vPLC-specific metadata created during the just-in-time customization process can be cached in the repository 2056 for future use.

[0389] Metadata responder 2036 may be responsible for obtaining metadata requests from the dealer's customers and responding to the requesting customers. For example, when MDS system 2030 receives a metadata request, metadata responder 2036 in the MDS system may check vPLC-specific response instructions 2054 to determine whether (1) the pre-generated customized vPLC-specific metadata stored in 2056 can satisfy the request, (2) the CSP format metadata stored in 2052 should be used to perform customization to generate a response, or (3) whether just-in-time customized metadata should be created. In some embodiments, a combination of the above three options may be used based on the request.

[0390] As an example, some raw metadata does not need to be customized according to vPLC-specific customization instructions, such as metadata for a region as described above, and can be collected only from vPLC instance 2020 and stored directly in vPLC-specific metadata repository 2056. Therefore, the metadata responder may only need to access vPLC-specific metadata repository 2056 to prepare a response. For another example, requests for metadata (e.g., network performance) may change more frequently and faster than the collection frequency of metadata collector 2032. Therefore, just-in-time customized metadata can be used.

[0391] As another example, fully qualified domain name (FQDN) metadata may change less frequently because users associated with a dealer's customers typically access a particular cloud service (e.g., compute) for a period of time before switching to another cloud service (e.g., storage). For metadata requests involving FQDN metadata, for efficiency reasons, customization may be performed using pre-generated CSP format metadata in repository 2052 (e.g., compute.oraclecloud.com for compute services and storage.oraclecloud.com for storage services) to generate responses. Accessing pre-generated CSP format metadata (i.e., accessing only storage) may be more efficient than collecting raw metadata from vPLC instances 2020, because collecting raw metadata from vPLC instances 2020 may involve several processing steps, such as identifying which particular vPLC instance and particular resources within that vPLC, performing metadata collection functions, and retrieving the raw metadata to metadata collector 2032.

[0392] Finally, for requests involving multiple metadata, a combination of the above three options may be used. For example, one metadata may require on-the-fly customized metadata, and another metadata may require pre-generated customized vPLC-specific metadata.

[0393] like Fig. 20 As shown in , the interface subsystem 2038 can be communicatively coupled with a set of vPLC-specific endpoints and consoles (referred to as endpoints for convenience only), vPLC.R1 2002, vPLC.R1 2004, and vPLC.Rn 2006, and is responsible for interfacing with the dealer's customers. Fig. 20 In the embodiment of the present invention, the customer of dealer R1 2082 can request and receive vPLC.R1 2024's vPLC-specific metadata through the endpoint associated with vPLC.R1 2002 and interface subsystem 2038. Similarly, the customer of dealer R2 2084 can request and receive vPLC.R2 2026's vPLC-specific metadata through the endpoint associated with vPLC.R2 2004 and interface subsystem 2038. In some embodiments, the metadata request can be originated from the inside. For example, the metadata service can create pre-generated customized vPLC-specific metadata instead of waiting until the customer requests it. In this case, the original metadata can be collected by metadata collector 2032 from the vPLC instance (e.g., vPLC.R1 2024), customized by metadata customizer 2034 using vPLC-specific customization instructions for vPLC.R1 2054a, and then stored in vPLC.R1 2056a of vPLC-specific metadata repository 2056.

[0394] like Fig. 20 As shown in , the metadata service performed by the distributed environment 2000 can support multiple vPLCs simultaneously. In some embodiments, the metadata service of each vPLC can be executed independently. For example, a metadata request from a user associated with a customer of dealer R1 can be received by one of the endpoints in the endpoint set of vPLC.R1 2002, and processed by the MDS system 2030 by collecting raw metadata from vPLC.R1 instance 2024, customizing the collected raw data using custom instructions 2054a specific to vPLC.R1 to generate customized metadata specific to vPLC.R1, and preparing a response using response instructions 2054a specific to vPLC.R1. Therefore, a user who issues a request and is associated with a customer of dealer R1 can receive a response including customized metadata specific to vPLC.R1.

[0395] Similarly, a metadata request from a user associated with a customer of dealer R2 may be received by one of the endpoints in the set of endpoints of vPLC.R2 2004 and processed by the MDS system 2030 by collecting raw metadata from the vPLC.R2 instance 2026, customizing the collected raw data using vPLC.R2-specific customization instructions 2054b to generate customized vPLC.R2-specific metadata, and preparing a response using vPLC.R2-specific response instructions 2054b. Thus, the requesting user associated with a customer of dealer R2 may receive a response including customized vPLC.R2-specific metadata. The above-described processing of metadata requests from users associated with customers of dealer R1 may be performed independently of processing metadata requests from users associated with customers of dealer R2.

[0396] In some embodiments, the metadata service can enable dealers to manage metadata (e.g., add, modify, or remove) and control the use of some resources. For example, a user associated with a dealer's customer (e.g., 2082) can create a spot (or preemptive) instance running in vPLC.R1 2024 through a console, API, or other means. A spot (or preemptive) instance can be a computing instance that utilizes spare capacity at a significantly discounted rate, but can be reclaimed by a service provider (e.g., CSP or dealer) after a short notice when capacity is needed elsewhere. The instance can automatically obtain metadata about the upcoming reclaim of this spot (or preemptive) instance through the metadata service. For example, a process on a running instance can query metadata related to information about the environment, such as static metadata (e.g., domain name) or dynamic metadata (e.g., upcoming live migration, cost changes, etc.) periodically or event-driven. Based on the information obtained (e.g., environmental changes), the instance can be stopped gracefully. The metadata service may provide customized vPLC-specific metadata (pre-generated or generated on the fly) on a vPLC-specific console (eg, 2002) that allows a user to interact with the metadata service, for example, to initiate a graceful stop of a specific instance.

[0397] Fig.21 is an example flow diagram illustrating a metadata service setup process according to some embodiments. Fig.21 The processes depicted in the can be implemented in software (e.g., code, instructions, programs) executed by one or more processing units (e.g., processors, cores) of the corresponding system, using hardware, or a combination thereof. The software can be stored on a non-transitory storage medium (e.g., on a memory device). Fig.21 The methods presented in and described below are intended to be illustrative and non-limiting. Fig.21 Various processing steps are depicted as occurring in a particular order or sequence, but this is not meant to be limiting. In certain alternative embodiments, the processing may be performed in a different order, or some steps may be performed in parallel. It should be appreciated that in alternative embodiments, Fig.21 The processing described in may include Fig.21 There may be more or fewer steps than those depicted in the example.

[0398] In some embodiments, for example, Fig.21 The processing depicted in can be performed by one or more components responsible for setting up metadata services. For example, obtaining metadata customization instructions can be performed by one or more subsystems in the CSP control plane (CP) and metadata service system 2030.

[0399] At step 2110, a request to set up a metadata service (MDS) for a vPLC may be received. For example, dealer R1 may subscribe to a vPLC service provided by a CSP. Thus, a vPLC is created for dealer R1 to provide dealer-provisioned and dealer-branded cloud services, including metadata services, to customers of dealer R1. In some embodiments, during the creation of a vPLC for dealer R1, a request may come from a component of a regional infrastructure provided by the CSP.

[0400] At step 2112, metadata customization instructions for vPLC-specific metadata customization and metadata response instructions for vPLC-specific metadata response may be obtained. Fig. 20 In the embodiment of the present invention, vPLC-specific metadata customization and response instructions can be obtained and stored separately for each vPLC in a vPLC-specific information repository 2054, such as instructions specific to vPLC.R1 are stored in vPLC.R1 2054, and instructions specific to vPLC.R2 are stored in vPLC.R2 2054.

[0401] At step 2114, the metadata service (MDS) system 2030 may start metadata service related functions for the vPLC. Fig. 20 In the example, the MDS system 2030 may perform metadata services for vPLC.R1 by obtaining a metadata request from a user associated with a customer of dealer R1 2082, collecting raw metadata from vPLC.R1 2024, and customizing the raw metadata in CSP format using vPLC-specific custom instructions obtained from vPLC.R1 2054a to generate vPLC-specific metadata for responding to the request.

[0402] Fig. 22 is an example flow chart illustrating a metadata collection process for a metadata service according to some embodiments. Fig. 22 The processes depicted in the can be implemented in software (e.g., code, instructions, programs) executed by one or more processing units (e.g., processors, cores) of the corresponding system, using hardware, or a combination thereof. The software can be stored on a non-transitory storage medium (e.g., on a memory device). Fig. 22 The methods presented in and described below are intended to be illustrative and non-limiting. Fig. 22 Various processing steps are depicted as occurring in a particular order or sequence, but this is not meant to be limiting. In certain alternative embodiments, the processing may be performed in a different order, or some steps may be performed in parallel. It should be appreciated that in alternative embodiments, Fig. 22 The processing described in may include Fig. 22 There may be more or fewer steps than those depicted in the example.

[0403] In some embodiments, for example, Fig. 22 The processing depicted in can be performed by one or more components responsible for performing the metadata collection processing of the metadata service. For example, step 2210 can be performed by the metadata collector 2032 to collect raw metadata, and step 2220 can be performed by the metadata customizer 2034 to access customized instructions.

[0404] At step 2210, metadata related to the vPLC instance may be collected. Fig. 20 In the present invention, the metadata collector 2032 can collect raw metadata of vPLC.R1, for example, pre-generated CSP format metadata or pre-generated customized vPLC-specific metadata, based on a metadata request from a customer of dealer R1 2082, or based on an internal request (such as a periodic metadata collection process for efficiency purposes), upon request from another component in the distributed environment.

[0405] At step 2212, the CSP formatted metadata information collected in 2212 may be stored in the CSP formatted metadata repository 2052. As described above, the collected raw metadata from the vPLC instance 2020 and stored in the CSP formatted metadata repository 2052 may occur before any metadata request from a user associated with a customer of the dealer. This early raw metadata collection is referred to as pre-generated CSP formatted metadata. Since the raw metadata is in CSP format and is common to all vPLC instances, the raw metadata is stored in the repository 2052 for use by all vPLCs.

[0406] At step 2220, vPLC-specific customization instructions may be accessed to determine how to customize (or convert) the collected raw metadata (ie, CSP format metadata) into vPLC-specific metadata. Fig. 20 In the customization instructions, the customization instructions may indicate whether metadata is to be customized, what format or metric to use for customization, which metadata should be displayed to the requesting customer, and how the customized metadata should be displayed. For example, the customization instructions may indicate that metadata for a geographic region is not customized and can be collected from the vPLC instance 2020 and placed directly into the vPLC-specific metadata repository 2056. The load of a VM can be expressed as the number of CPUs used by one customer of the dealer and the total memory consumed in gigabytes by another customer of the dealer.

[0407] At step 2222, customized vPLC-specific metadata is generated from the CSP format metadata based on the vPLC-specific customization instructions in 2220. For example, in Fig. 20 In some embodiments, more than one customized vPLC-specific metadata may be generated from the CSP format metadata at once rather than sequentially.

[0408] At step 2224, customized vPLC-specific metadata may be stored. Fig. 20 In some embodiments, the customized vPLC-specific metadata may be generated and stored in the vPLC-specific metadata repository 2056 before the MDS system 2030 receives any metadata request from a user associated with a customer of the dealer. In some embodiments, the customized vPLC-specific metadata generated during the just-in-time customization process may be cached in the vPLC-specific metadata repository 2056 for later use when another user associated with the same customer requests the same vPLC-specific metadata.

[0409] Fig.23 is an example flow chart illustrating vPLC-specific metadata response processing for a metadata service in accordance with certain embodiments. Fig.23 The processes depicted in the can be implemented in software (e.g., code, instructions, programs) executed by one or more processing units (e.g., processors, cores) of the corresponding system, using hardware, or a combination thereof. The software can be stored on a non-transitory storage medium (e.g., on a memory device). Fig.23 The methods presented in and described below are intended to be illustrative and non-limiting. Fig.23 Various processing steps are depicted as occurring in a particular order or sequence, but this is not meant to be limiting. In certain alternative embodiments, the processing may be performed in a different order, or some steps may be performed in parallel. It should be appreciated that in alternative embodiments, Fig.23 The processing described in may include Fig.23 There may be more or fewer steps than those depicted in the example.

[0410] In some embodiments, for example, Fig.23 The processing depicted in 2300 may be performed by one or more components responsible for performing vPLC-specific metadata response processing for metadata services. For example, step 2310 may be performed by vPLC-specific endpoints (2002-2006) and interface subsystem 2038 to receive a request and transmit it to MDS system 2030. For another example, step 2350 may be performed by metadata responder 2036 to prepare a response.

[0411] At step 2310, a request for metadata of a vPLC may be received. Fig. 20 , a user associated with customer C1 of reseller R1 may request metadata related to a VM instance via a compute service endpoint of endpoint set vPLC.R1 2002. The request may be received by interface subsystem 2038 in MDS system 2030. In some embodiments, the request may originate from within MDS system 2030.

[0412] At step 2312, one or more processes / flows (2320, 2322, and 2324) that generate a response to the request in 2310 may be used depending on the determination based on the request and the vPLC-specific response instructions. In some embodiments, the MDS system may determine that only one of the following flows needs to be used: the pre-generated customized vPLC-specific metadata flow 2320, the pre-generated CSP format metadata flow 2322, and the just-in-time customized metadata flow 2324. For example, the request indicates that the requesting user associated with customer C1 of reseller R1 only wants the latest performance information for the VM. Accordingly, based on the request and response instructions, only the just-in-time customized metadata flow 2324 may be used.

[0413] In other embodiments, the MDS system may determine that two processes (or flows) should be used to satisfy the request. For example, in a metadata request for both the FQDN of a compute service and the region where the compute service is executed, both the pre-generated customized metadata flow 2320 and the pre-generated CSP format metadata flow 2322 may be used. The pre-generated customized metadata flow may access the vPLC-specific metadata repository 2056 to obtain the region metadata (e.g., us-phoenix-1), which does not need to be customized according to the customization instructions discussed previously. The pre-generated CSP format metadata flow may access the CSP format metadata repository 2052 to obtain a less frequently changing FQDN (e.g., compute.oraclecloud.com) to generate vPLC-specific metadata (e.g., compute.vplcR1cloud.com), as discussed previously.

[0414] exist Fig.23 In the example, the pre-generated customized metadata process 2320 includes steps 2330, 2332, 2350, and 2352. At step 2330, the pre-generated customized vPLC-specific metadata stored in the vPLC-specific metadata repository 2056 may be accessed. Fig. 20 , if the metadata request is for vPLC.R1, then vPLC.R1 2054a may be accessed. If the metadata request is for vPLC.R2, then vPLC.R2 2054a may be accessed. At step 2332, customized vPLC-specific metadata may be identified to be included in the response. As shown in the above example, regional metadata (e.g., us-phoenix-1) may be identified to be included in the response. At step 2350, a response including pre-generated customized vPLC-specific metadata may be prepared and generated. At step 2352, the generated response may be sent to the requestor, which may be a user associated with a customer of the dealer or another component in the MDS system 2030.

[0415] review Fig.23 , the pre-generated CSP format metadata process 2322 may include steps 2340, 2342, 2344, 2350, and 2352. At step 2340, the pre-generated CSP format metadata may be accessed. The pre-generated CSP format metadata may be stored in the CSP format metadata repository 2052 and may be common to all vPLCs. At step 2342, custom instructions specific to the vPLC may be obtained. For example, in Fig. 20 In the embodiment, vPLC-specific customization instructions for vPLC.R1 can be obtained from a namespace associated with vPLC.R1 2054a in the vPLC-specific information repository 2054 to determine how to customize the pre-generated CSP format metadata obtained in 2340. vPLC-specific customization instructions for vPLC.R2 can be obtained from a namespace associated with vPLC.R2 2054b in the vPLC-specific information repository 2054 to determine how to customize the pre-generated CSP format metadata obtained in 2340.

[0416] At step 2344, customized vPLC-specific metadata may be generated based on the vPLC-specific custom instructions. Fig. 20 , customized vPLC-specific metadata for requests from users associated with customers of dealer R1 may be generated based on customized instructions obtained from vPLC.R1 2054a. Customized vPLC-specific metadata for requests from users associated with customers of dealer R2 may be generated based on customized instructions obtained from vPLC.R2 2054b.

[0417] At step 2350 , a response including the customized vPLC-specific metadata may be prepared and generated. At step 2352 , the generated response may be sent to the requestor, which may be a user associated with a customer of the dealer or another component in the MDS system 2030 .

[0418] Reference Fig.23 , the just-in-time customized metadata process 2324 may include steps 2341, 2342, 2344, 2350, and 2352. At step 2341, raw metadata information related to the vPLC instance may be collected. Fig. 20 In step 2342, the original metadata in CSP format related to vPLC.R1 can be collected from vPLC.R1 instance 2024, and the original metadata in CSP format related to vPLC.R2 can be collected from vPLC.R2 instance 2026. At step 2342, the custom instructions specific to the vPLC can be obtained. For example, in Fig. 20 2054a in the vPLC-specific information repository 2054 to determine how to customize the raw metadata collected from the vPLC.R1 instance 2024. The vPLC-specific customization instructions for vPLC.R2 can be obtained from the namespace associated with vPLC.R2 2054b in the vPLC-specific information repository 2054 to determine how to customize the raw metadata collected from the vPLC.R2 instance 2026. Steps 2344, 2350, and 2352 are the same between the pre-generated CSP format metadata flow 2322 and the just-in-time customized metadata flow 2324, and can be performed in accordance with the discussion related to the just-in-time customized metadata flow 2324.

[0419] Example CSPI Architecture

[0420] As noted above, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a specific type of cloud computing. IaaS can be configured to provide virtualized computing resources over a public network (e.g., the Internet). In the IaaS model, cloud computing providers can host infrastructure components (e.g., servers, storage devices, network nodes (e.g., hardware), deployment software, platform virtualization (e.g., hypervisor layer), etc.). In some cases, IaaS providers can also supply various services to accompany these infrastructure components (example services include billing software, monitoring software, logging software, load balancing software, and clustering software, etc.). Therefore, since these services may be policy-driven, IaaS users can be able to implement policies to drive load balancing to maintain the availability and performance of applications.

[0421] In some cases, IaaS customers can access resources and services over a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet, and can use the cloud provider's services to install the remaining elements of the application stack. For example, a user can log in to the IaaS platform to create a virtual machine (VM), install an operating system (OS) on each VM, deploy middleware such as a database, create storage buckets for workloads and backups, and even install enterprise software into that VM. The customer can then use the provider's services to perform a variety of functions, including balancing network traffic, troubleshooting application problems, monitoring performance, managing disaster recovery, and more.

[0422] In most cases, the cloud computing model will require the involvement of a cloud provider. A cloud provider may, but need not, specialize in providing (e.g., provisioning, renting, selling) third-party IaaS services. An entity may also choose to deploy a private cloud, thereby becoming its own infrastructure service provider.

[0423] In some examples, IaaS deployment is the process of placing a new application or a new version of an application onto a prepared application server, etc. It may also include the process of preparing the server (e.g., installing libraries, daemons, etc.). This is typically managed by the cloud provider, below the hypervisor layer (e.g., servers, storage, network hardware, and virtualization). Thus, the customer may be responsible for handling (OS), middleware, and / or application deployment (e.g., on a self-service virtual machine (e.g., that can be started on demand), etc.).

[0424] In some examples, IaaS provisioning can refer to obtaining computers or virtual hosts for use, and even installing required libraries or services on them. In most cases, deployment does not include provisioning, and provisioning may need to be performed first.

[0425] In some cases, there are two different challenges with IaaS provisioning. First, there is the initial challenge of provisioning the initial set of infrastructure before anything is running. Second, once everything has been provisioned, there is the challenge of evolving the existing infrastructure (e.g., adding new services, changing services, removing services, etc.). In some cases, both of these challenges can be addressed by enabling configuration that defines the infrastructure in a declarative manner. In other words, the infrastructure (e.g., which components are required and how they interact) can be defined by one or more configuration files. Therefore, the overall topology of the infrastructure (e.g., which resources depend on which resources, and how they work together) can be described in a declarative manner. In some cases, once the topology is defined, workflows can be generated to create and / or manage the different components described in the configuration files.

[0426] In some examples, the infrastructure can have many interconnected elements. For example, there may be one or more virtual private clouds (VPCs) (e.g., potential on-demand pools of configurable and / or shared computing resources), also referred to as core networks. In some examples, one or more inbound / outbound traffic group rules may also be provided to define how to set up inbound / outbound traffic for the network and one or more virtual machines (VMs). Other infrastructure elements, such as load balancers, databases, etc., may also be provided. The infrastructure may evolve gradually as more and more infrastructure elements are desired and / or added.

[0427] In some cases, continuous deployment techniques can be employed to enable deployment of infrastructure code across various virtual computing environments. In addition, the described techniques can enable infrastructure management within these environments. In some examples, a service team can write code that is expected to be deployed to one or more but typically many different production environments (e.g., across various different geographic locations, sometimes across the world). However, in some examples, the infrastructure on which the code will be deployed is first set up. In some cases, provisioning can be done manually, resources can be provisioned using a provisioning tool, and / or code can be deployed using a deployment tool once the infrastructure is provisioned.

[0428] Fig.24 2400 is a block diagram illustrating an example mode of an IaaS architecture according to at least one embodiment. A service operator 2402 can be communicatively coupled to a secure host lease 2404 that can include a virtual cloud network (VCN) 2406 and a secure host subnet 2408. In some examples, the service operator 2402 can use one or more client computing devices, which can be portable handheld devices (e.g., Cellular phone, computing tablets, personal digital assistants (PDAs), or wearable devices (e.g., Google head mounted display), running software (such as Microsoft Windows ) and / or various mobile operating systems (such as iOS, Windows Phone, Android, BlackBerry 8, Palm OS, etc.), and supports Internet, email, short message service (SMS), or other communication protocols. Alternatively, the client computing device may be a general-purpose personal computer, including, for example, a computer running various versions of Microsoft Apple The client computing device may be a personal computer and / or laptop computer running various commercially available The client computing device may be a workstation computer running any of a variety of GNU / Linux operating systems (such as, for example, Google Chrome OS). Alternatively or additionally, the client computing device may be any other electronic device, such as a thin client computer, an Internet-enabled gaming system (e.g., with or without A Microsoft Xbox gaming console with a gesture input device), and / or a personal messaging device capable of communicating over a network that has access to VCN 2406 and / or the Internet.

[0429] VCN 2406 may include a local peer gateway (LPG) 2410, which may be communicatively coupled to a secure shell (SSH) VCN 2412 via LPG 2410 contained in SSH VCN 2412. SSH VCN 2412 may include an SSH subnet 2414, and SSH VCN 2412 may be communicatively coupled to control plane VCN 2416 via LPG 2410 contained in control plane VCN 2416. In addition, SSH VCN 2412 may be communicatively coupled to data plane VCN 2418 via LPG 2410. Control plane VCN 2416 and data plane VCN 2418 may be contained in a service lease 2419, which may be owned and / or operated by an IaaS provider.

[0430] The control plane VCN 2416 may include a control plane demilitarized zone (DMZ) layer 2420 that acts as a perimeter network (e.g., a portion of a corporate network between a corporate intranet and an external network). DMZ-based servers may have limited liability and help control vulnerabilities. In addition, the DMZ layer 2420 may include one or more load balancer (LB) subnets 2422, a control plane application layer 2424 that may include (one or more) application subnets 2426, and a control plane data layer 2428 that may include (one or more) database (DB) subnets 2430 (e.g., (one or more) front-end DB subnets and / or (one or more) back-end DB subnets). The LB subnet(s) 2422 included in the control plane DMZ layer 2420 may be communicatively coupled to the application subnet(s) 2426 included in the control plane application layer 2424 and the Internet gateway 2434 that may be included in the control plane VCN 2416, and the application subnet(s) 2426 may be communicatively coupled to the DB subnet(s) 2430 included in the control plane data layer 2428 and the service gateway 2436 and the network address translation (NAT) gateway 2438. The control plane VCN 2416 may include the service gateway 2436 and the NAT gateway 2438.

[0431] The control plane VCN 2416 may include a data plane mirror application layer 2440, which may include application subnet(s) 2426. The application subnet(s) 2426 included in the data plane mirror application layer 2440 may include a virtual network interface controller (VNIC) 2442 that may execute a compute instance 2444. The compute instance 2444 may communicatively couple the application subnet(s) 2426 of the data plane mirror application layer 2440 to the application subnet(s) 2426 that may be included in the data plane application layer 2446.

[0432] The data plane VCN 2418 may include a data plane application layer 2446, a data plane DMZ layer 2448, and a data plane data layer 2450. The data plane DMZ layer 2448 may include (one or more) LB subnets 2422, which may be communicatively coupled to the (one or more) application subnets 2426 of the data plane application layer 2446 and the Internet gateway 2434 of the data plane VCN 2418. The (one or more) application subnets 2426 may be communicatively coupled to the service gateway 2436 of the data plane VCN 2418 and the NAT gateway 2438 of the data plane VCN 2418. The data plane data layer 2450 may also include (one or more) DB subnets 2430, which may be communicatively coupled to the (one or more) application subnets 2426 of the data plane application layer 2446.

[0433] The internet gateway 2434 of the control plane VCN 2416 and the data plane VCN 2418 may be communicatively coupled to a metadata management service 2452, which may be communicatively coupled to a public Internet 2454. The public Internet 2454 may be communicatively coupled to a NAT gateway 2438 of the control plane VCN 2416 and the data plane VCN 2418. The service gateway 2436 of the control plane VCN 2416 and the data plane VCN 2418 may be communicatively coupled to a cloud service 2456.

[0434] In some examples, a service gateway 2436 of a control plane VCN 2416 or a data plane VCN 2418 can make application programming interface (API) calls to cloud services 2456 without going through public internet 2454. API calls from service gateway 2436 to cloud services 2456 can be one-way: service gateway 2436 can make API calls to cloud services 2456, and cloud services 2456 can send requested data to service gateway 2436. However, cloud services 2456 may not initiate API calls to service gateway 2436.

[0435] In some examples, secure host lease 2404 can be directly connected to service lease 2419, which can otherwise be isolated. Secure host subnet 2408 can communicate with SSH subnet 2414 through LPG 2410, which can enable two-way communication on otherwise isolated systems. Connecting secure host subnet 2408 to SSH subnet 2414 can enable secure host subnet 2408 to access other entities within service lease 2419.

[0436] The control plane VCN 2416 may allow a user of the service lease 2419 to set up or otherwise provision desired resources. The desired resources provisioned in the control plane VCN 2416 may be deployed or otherwise used in the data plane VCN 2418. In some examples, the control plane VCN 2416 may be isolated from the data plane VCN 2418, and the data plane mirror application layer 2440 of the control plane VCN 2416 may communicate with the data plane application layer 2446 of the data plane VCN 2418 via the VNIC 2442, which may be included in the data plane mirror application layer 2440 and the data plane application layer 2446.

[0437] In some examples, a user or customer of the system may make a request, such as a create, read, update, or delete (CRUD) operation, through the public internet 2454 which may transmit the request to the metadata management service 2452. The metadata management service 2452 may transmit the request to the control plane VCN 2416 through the internet gateway 2434. The request may be received by the LB subnet(s) 2422 contained in the control plane DMZ layer 2420. The LB subnet(s) 2422 may determine that the request is valid, and in response to the determination, the LB subnet(s) 2422 may transmit the request to the application subnet(s) 2426 contained in the control plane application layer 2424. If the request is validated and a call to the public internet 2454 is required, the call to the public internet 2454 may be transmitted to the NAT gateway 2438 which may make the call to the public internet 2454. The metadata that the request may desire to be stored may be stored in the DB subnet(s) 2430.

[0438] In some examples, data plane mirror application layer 2440 may facilitate direct communication between control plane VCN 2416 and data plane VCN 2418. For example, it may be desirable to apply changes, updates, or other appropriate modifications to the configuration to the resources contained in data plane VCN 2418. Control plane VCN 2416 may communicate directly with the resources contained in data plane VCN 2418 via VNIC 2442 and may thereby perform changes, updates, or other appropriate modifications to the configuration.

[0439] In some embodiments, control plane VCN 2416 and data plane VCN 2418 may be included in service lease 2419. In this case, a user or customer of the system may not own or operate control plane VCN 2416 or data plane VCN 2418. Alternatively, an IaaS provider may own or operate control plane VCN 2416 and data plane VCN 2418, both of which may be included in service lease 2419. This embodiment may enable isolation of networks that may prevent a user or customer from interacting with the resources of other users or other customers. In addition, this embodiment may allow a user or customer of the system to store databases privately without relying on the public Internet 2454, which may not have the desired level of threat protection, for storage.

[0440] In other embodiments, the LB subnet(s) 2422 contained in the control plane VCN 2416 can be configured to receive signals from the service gateway 2436. In this embodiment, the control plane VCN 2416 and the data plane VCN 2418 can be configured to be called by customers of the IaaS provider without calling the public Internet 2454. Customers of the IaaS provider may desire this embodiment because the database(s) used by the customer can be controlled by the IaaS provider and can be stored on the service lease 2419, which can be isolated from the public Internet 2454.

[0441] Fig.25 2500 is a block diagram illustrating another example model of an IaaS architecture according to at least one embodiment. A service operator 2502 (e.g., Fig.24 The service operator 2402) can be communicatively coupled to the secure host lease 2504 (e.g., Fig.24 The secure host lease 2404 may include a virtual cloud network (VCN) 2506 (e.g., Fig.24 VCN 2406) and secure host subnet 2508 (e.g., Fig.24 The VCN 2506 may include a local peer gateway (LPG) 2510 (e.g., Fig.24 2410), which may be communicatively coupled to a secure shell (SSH) VCN 2512 via an LPG 2410 contained in an SSH VCN 2512 (e.g., Fig.24 SSH VCN 2512). SSH VCN 2512 may include SSH subnet 2514 (e.g., Fig.24 SSH subnet 2414 of the control plane VCN 2514), and SSH VCN 2512 can be communicatively coupled to control plane VCN 2516 via LPG 2510 contained in control plane VCN 2516 (e.g., Fig.24 The control plane VCN 2416). The control plane VCN 2516 may be included in a service lease 2519 (e.g., Fig.24 service lease 2419), and the data plane VCN 2518 (e.g., Fig.24 The data plane VCN 2418) may be contained in a customer lease 2521 which may be owned or operated by a user or customer of the system.

[0442] The control plane VCN 2516 may include a LB subnet 2522 (e.g., Fig.24 The control plane DMZ layer 2520 (e.g., Fig.24 The control plane DMZ layer 2420 may include (one or more) application subnets 2526 (e.g., Fig.24 (one or more) application subnets 2426) of the control plane application layer 2524 (e.g., Fig.24 The control plane application layer 2424 of FIG. 1 may include (one or more) database (DB) subnets 2530 (e.g., similar to Fig.24 (one or more) DB subnets 2430) of the control plane data layer 2528 (e.g., Fig.24 The LB subnet(s) 2522 contained in the control plane DMZ layer 2520 may be communicatively coupled to the application subnet(s) 2526 contained in the control plane application layer 2524 and the internet gateway 2534 (e.g., Fig.24 2434), and the application subnet(s) 2526 may be communicatively coupled to the DB subnet(s) 2530 and the service gateway 2536 (e.g., Fig.24 service gateway 2436) and network address translation (NAT) gateway 2538 (e.g., Fig.24 The control plane VCN 2516 may include a service gateway 2536 and a NAT gateway 2538.

[0443] The control plane VCN 2516 may include a data plane mirror application layer 2540 (e.g., Fig.24 The data plane image application layer 2440). The application subnet(s) 2526 included in the data plane image application layer 2540 may include a computing instance 2544 (e.g., similar to Fig.24 The compute instance 2544 can facilitate the application subnet(s) 2526 of the data plane mirroring application layer 2540 and can be included in the data plane application layer 2546 (e.g., Fig.24 Communication between (one or more) application subnets 2526 in the data plane application layer 2446) via the VNIC 2542 contained in the data plane mirror application layer 2540 and the VNIC 2542 contained in the data plane application layer 2546.

[0444] The Internet gateway 2534 included in the control plane VCN 2516 can be communicatively coupled to the metadata management service 2552 (e.g., Fig.24 2452), which can be communicatively coupled to the public Internet 2554 (e.g., Fig.24 The public Internet 2554 can be communicatively coupled to a NAT gateway 2538 included in the control plane VCN 2516. The service gateway 2536 included in the control plane VCN 2516 can be communicatively coupled to a cloud service 2556 (e.g., Fig.24 Cloud service 2456).

[0445] In some examples, the data plane VCN 2518 may be contained in a customer lease 2521. In this case, the IaaS provider may provide a control plane VCN 2516 for each customer, and the IaaS provider may provision each customer with a unique compute instance 2544 contained in a service lease 2519. Each compute instance 2544 may allow communication between a control plane VCN 2516 contained in a service lease 2519 and a data plane VCN 2518 contained in a customer lease 2521. The compute instance 2544 may allow resources provisioned in a control plane VCN 2516 contained in a service lease 2519 to be deployed or otherwise used in a data plane VCN 2518 contained in a customer lease 2521.

[0446] In other examples, a customer of the IaaS provider may have a database that exists in the customer tenancy 2521. In this example, the control plane VCN 2516 may include a data plane mirror application layer 2540, which may include (one or more) application subnets 2526. The data plane mirror application layer 2540 may reside in the data plane VCN 2518, but the data plane mirror application layer 2540 may not be in the data plane VCN 2518. That is, the data plane mirror application layer 2540 may access the customer tenancy 2521, but the data plane mirror application layer 2540 may not exist in the data plane VCN 2518 or be owned or operated by the customer of the IaaS provider. The data plane mirror application layer 2540 may be configured to make calls to the data plane VCN 2518, but may not be configured to make calls to any entity contained in the control plane VCN 2516. A customer may desire to deploy or otherwise use resources provisioned in control plane VCN 2516 in data plane VCN 2518, and data plane mirror application layer 2540 may facilitate the customer's desired deployment or other use of resources.

[0447] In some embodiments, a customer of an IaaS provider may apply filters to the data plane VCN 2518. In this embodiment, the customer may determine what the data plane VCN 2518 may access, and the customer may restrict access to the public Internet 2554 from the data plane VCN 2518. The IaaS provider may not apply filters or otherwise control access to any external network or database by the data plane VCN 2518. The customer applying filters and controls to the data plane VCN 2518 contained in the customer lease 2521 may help isolate the data plane VCN 2518 from other customers and the public Internet 2554.

[0448] In some embodiments, cloud services 2556 may be called by service gateway 2536 to access services that may not exist on public Internet 2554, control plane VCN 2516, or data plane VCN 2518. The connection between cloud services 2556 and control plane VCN 2516 or data plane VCN 2518 may not be real-time or continuous. Cloud services 2556 may exist on different networks owned or operated by IaaS providers. Cloud services 2556 may be configured to receive calls from service gateway 2536 and may be configured not to receive calls from public Internet 2554. Some cloud services 2556 may be isolated from other cloud services 2556, and control plane VCN 2516 may be isolated from cloud services 2556 that may not be in the same region as control plane VCN 2516. For example, control plane VCN 2516 may be located in "region 1", and cloud service "deployment 24" may be located in region 1 and "region 2". If a service gateway 2536 contained in a control plane VCN 2516 located in region 1 makes a call to a deployment 24, the call may be transmitted to the deployment 24 in region 1. In this example, the control plane VCN 2516 or deployment 24 in region 1 may not be communicatively coupled or otherwise in communication with the deployment 24 in region 2.

[0449] Fig.26 2600 is a block diagram illustrating another example model of an IaaS architecture according to at least one embodiment. A service operator 2602 (e.g., Fig.24 The service operator 2402) can be communicatively coupled to the secure host lease 2604 (e.g., Fig.24 The secure host lease 2404 may include a virtual cloud network (VCN) 2606 (e.g., Fig.24 VCN 2406) and secure host subnet 2608 (e.g., Fig.24 VCN 2606 may include LPG 2610 (e.g., Fig.24 ), which may be communicatively coupled to the SSH VCN 2612 via the LPG 2610 contained in the SSH VCN 2612 (e.g., Fig.24 SSH VCN 2412). SSH VCN 2612 may include SSH subnet 2614 (e.g., Fig.24 SSH subnet 2414 of the control plane VCN 2614), and SSH VCN 2612 can be communicatively coupled to control plane VCN 2616 via LPG 2610 contained in control plane VCN 2616 (e.g., Fig.24 The control plane VCN 2416 of FIG. 2414 is coupled to the data plane VCN 2618 via the LPG 2610 included in the data plane VCN 2618 (e.g., Fig.24 The control plane VCN 2616 and the data plane VCN 2618 may be included in a service lease 2619 (e.g., Fig.24 Service lease 2419).

[0450] The control plane VCN 2616 may include a subnet 2622 that may include (one or more) load balancers (LBs) (e.g., Fig.24 The control plane DMZ layer 2620 (e.g., Fig.24 The control plane DMZ layer 2420 may include (one or more) application subnets 2626 (e.g., similar to Fig.24 (one or more) application subnets 2426) of the control plane application layer 2624 (e.g., Fig.24 A control plane application layer 2424), a control plane data layer 2628 (e.g., Fig.24 The LB subnet(s) 2622 contained in the control plane DMZ layer 2620 may be communicatively coupled to the application subnet(s) 2626 contained in the control plane application layer 2624 and the Internet gateway 2634 (e.g., Fig.24 2434), and the application subnet(s) 2626 may be communicatively coupled to the DB subnet(s) 2630 and the service gateway 2636 (e.g., Fig.24 ) and a network address translation (NAT) gateway 2638 (e.g., Fig.24 The control plane VCN 2616 may include a service gateway 2636 and a NAT gateway 2638.

[0451] The data plane VCN 2618 may include a data plane application layer 2646 (e.g., Fig.24 Data plane application layer 2446), data plane DMZ layer 2648 (e.g., Fig.24 Data plane DMZ layer 2448), and data plane data layer 2650 (e.g., Fig.24 The data plane DMZ layer 2648 may include (one or more) trusted application subnets 2660 and (one or more) untrusted application subnets 2662 that may be communicatively coupled to the data plane application layer 2646 and (one or more) LB subnets 2622 of the Internet gateway 2634 included in the data plane VCN 2618. The (one or more) trusted application subnets 2660 may be communicatively coupled to the service gateway 2636 included in the data plane VCN 2618, the NAT gateway 2638 included in the data plane VCN 2618, and (one or more) DB subnets 2630 included in the data plane data layer 2650. The (one or more) untrusted application subnets 2662 may be communicatively coupled to the service gateway 2636 included in the data plane VCN 2618 and (one or more) DB subnets 2630 included in the data plane data layer 2650. The data plane data layer 2650 may include (one or more) DB subnets 2630 that may be communicatively coupled to a service gateway 2636 included in the data plane VCN 2618.

[0452] The untrusted application subnet(s) 2662 may include one or more primary VNICs 2664(1)-(N) that may be communicatively coupled to tenant virtual machines (VMs) 2666(1)-(N). Each tenant VM 2666(1)-(N) may be communicatively coupled to a respective application subnet 2667(1)-(N) that may be contained in a respective container egress VCN 2668(1)-(N), which may be contained in a respective customer tenancy 2670(1)-(N). A respective secondary VNIC 2672(1)-(N) may facilitate communication between the untrusted application subnet(s) 2662 contained in the data plane VCN 2618 and the application subnets contained in the container egress VCN 2668(1)-(N). Each container egress VCN 2668(1)-(N) may include a NAT gateway 2638 that may be communicatively coupled to the public Internet 2654 (e.g., Fig.24 of the public Internet 2454).

[0453] An internet gateway 2634 included in control plane VCN 2616 and included in data plane VCN 2618 may be communicatively coupled to a metadata management service 2652 (e.g., Fig.24 2654) can be communicatively coupled to a public Internet 2654. The public Internet 2654 can be communicatively coupled to a NAT gateway 2638 included in the control plane VCN 2616 and included in the data plane VCN 2618. A service gateway 2636 included in the control plane VCN 2616 and included in the data plane VCN 2618 can be communicatively coupled to a cloud service 2656.

[0454] In some embodiments, data plane VCN 2618 may be integrated with customer lease 2670. In some cases, such integration may be useful or desirable for customers of the IaaS provider, such as where support may be desired when executing code. A customer may provide code to run that may be destructive, may communicate with other customer resources, or may otherwise cause undesirable effects. In response to this, the IaaS provider may determine whether to run code given to the IaaS provider by the customer.

[0455] In some examples, a customer of an IaaS provider may grant temporary network access to the IaaS provider and request functionality attached to the data plane application layer 2646. Code running the functionality may be executed in a VM 2666(1)-(N), and the code may not be configured to run anywhere else on the data plane VCN 2618. Each VM 2666(1)-(N) may be connected to a customer tenancy 2670. The corresponding container 2671(1)-(N) contained in the VM 2666(1)-(N) may be configured to run the code. In this case, there may be double isolation (e.g., the container 2671(1)-(N) runs the code, where the container 2671(1)-(N) may be contained at least in a VM 2666(1)-(N) contained in (one or more) untrusted application subnets 2662), which may help prevent incorrect or otherwise undesirable code from damaging the IaaS provider's network or damaging the network of a different customer. Containers 2671(1)-(N) may be communicatively coupled to customer lease 2670 and may be configured to transmit or receive data from customer lease 2670. Containers 2671(1)-(N) may not be configured to transmit or receive data from any other entity in data plane VCN 2618. After running the code is complete, the IaaS provider may terminate or otherwise dispose of containers 2671(1)-(N).

[0456] In some embodiments, the trusted application subnet(s) 2660 may run code that may be owned or operated by the IaaS provider. In this embodiment, the trusted application subnet(s) 2660 may be communicatively coupled to the DB subnet(s) 2630 and configured to perform CRUD operations in the DB subnet(s) 2630. The untrusted application subnet(s) 2662 may be communicatively coupled to the DB subnet(s) 2630, but in this embodiment, the untrusted application subnet(s) may be configured to perform read operations in the DB subnet(s) 2630. The containers 2671(1)-(N) that may be included in each customer's VM 2666(1)-(N) and that may run code from the customer may not be communicatively coupled to the DB subnet(s) 2630.

[0457] In other embodiments, the control plane VCN 2616 and the data plane VCN 2618 may not be directly communicatively coupled. In this embodiment, there may be no direct communication between the control plane VCN 2616 and the data plane VCN 2618. However, communication may occur indirectly through at least one method. The LPG 2610 may be established by an IaaS provider, which may facilitate communication between the control plane VCN 2616 and the data plane VCN 2618. In another example, the control plane VCN 2616 or the data plane VCN 2618 may call the cloud service 2656 via the service gateway 2636. For example, the call from the control plane VCN 2616 to the cloud service 2656 may include a request for a service that can communicate with the data plane VCN 2618.

[0458] Fig. 27 2700 is a block diagram illustrating another example model of an IaaS architecture according to at least one embodiment. A service operator 2702 (e.g., Fig.24 The service operator 2402) can be communicatively coupled to the secure host lease 2704 (e.g., Fig.24 The secure host lease 2404 may include a virtual cloud network (VCN) 2706 (e.g., Fig.24 VCN 2406) and secure host subnet 2708 (e.g., Fig.24 VCN 2706 may include LPG 2710 (e.g., Fig.24 LPG 2410), which can be accessed via an LPG 2710 contained in an SSH VCN 2712 (e.g., Fig.24 LPG 2710 in SSH VCN 2412 of the present invention is communicatively coupled to SSH VCN 2712. SSH VCN 2712 may include SSH subnet 2714 (e.g., Fig.24 SSH subnet 2414 of the control plane VCN 2716), and SSH VCN 2712 can be communicatively coupled to control plane VCN 2716 via LPG 2710 contained in control plane VCN 2716 (e.g., Fig.24 The control plane VCN 2416 of FIG. 2414 is coupled to the data plane VCN 2718 via the LPG 2710 included in the data plane VCN 2718 (e.g., Fig.24 The control plane VCN 2716 and the data plane VCN 2718 may be included in a service lease 2719 (e.g., Fig.24 Service lease 2419).

[0459] The control plane VCN 2716 may include a LB subnet 2722 (e.g., Fig.24 The control plane DMZ layer 2720 (e.g., Fig.24 The control plane DMZ layer 2420 may include (one or more) application subnets 2726 (e.g., Fig.24 (one or more) application subnets 2426) of the control plane application layer 2724 (e.g., Fig.24 control plane application layer 2424), may include (one or more) DB subnets 2730 (e.g., Fig.26 (one or more) DB subnets 2630) of the control plane data layer 2728 (e.g., Fig.24 The LB subnet(s) 2722 contained in the control plane DMZ layer 2720 may be communicatively coupled to the application subnet(s) 2726 contained in the control plane application layer 2724 and the Internet gateway 2734 (e.g., Fig.24 2434), and the application subnet(s) 2726 may be communicatively coupled to the DB subnet(s) 2730 and the service gateway 2736 (e.g., Fig.24 ) and a network address translation (NAT) gateway 2738 (e.g., Fig.24 The control plane VCN 2716 may include a service gateway 2736 and a NAT gateway 2738.

[0460] The data plane VCN 2718 may include a data plane application layer 2746 (e.g., Fig.24 Data plane application layer 2446), data plane DMZ layer 2748 (e.g., Fig.24 Data plane DMZ layer 2448)), and data plane data layer 2750 (e.g., Fig.24 The data plane DMZ layer 2748 may include (one or more) trusted application subnets 2760 (e.g., Fig.26 (one or more) trusted application subnets 2660) and (one or more) untrusted application subnets 2762 (e.g., Fig.26 The trusted application subnet(s) 2760 may be communicatively coupled to the service gateway 2736 contained in the data plane VCN 2718, the NAT gateway 2738 contained in the data plane VCN 2718, and the DB subnet(s) 2730 contained in the data plane data layer 2750. The untrusted application subnet(s) 2762 may be communicatively coupled to the service gateway 2736 contained in the data plane VCN 2718 and the DB subnet(s) 2730 contained in the data plane data layer 2750. The data plane data layer 2750 may include the DB subnet(s) 2730 that may be communicatively coupled to the service gateway 2736 contained in the data plane VCN 2718.

[0461] The untrusted application subnet(s) 2762 may include primary VNICs 2764(1)-(N) that may be communicatively coupled to tenant virtual machines (VMs) 2766(1)-(N) residing within the untrusted application subnet(s) 2762. Each tenant VM 2766(1)-(N) may run code in a corresponding container 2767(1)-(N) and may be communicatively coupled to an application subnet 2726 that may be contained in a data plane application layer 2746 contained in a container egress VCN 2768. Corresponding secondary VNICs 2772(1)-(N) may facilitate communications between the untrusted application subnet(s) 2762 contained in the data plane VCN 2718 and the application subnets contained in the container egress VCN 2768. The container egress VCN may include a primary VNIC that may be communicatively coupled to a public Internet 2754 (e.g., Fig.24 NAT gateway 2738 for the public Internet 2454).

[0462] The Internet gateway 2734 included in the control plane VCN 2716 and included in the data plane VCN 2718 can be communicatively coupled to the metadata management service 2752 (e.g., Fig.24 2754) can be communicatively coupled to a public Internet 2754. The public Internet 2754 can be communicatively coupled to a NAT gateway 2738 contained in the control plane VCN 2716 and contained in the data plane VCN 2718. A service gateway 2736 contained in the control plane VCN 2716 and contained in the data plane VCN 2718 can be communicatively coupled to a cloud service 2756.

[0463] In some examples, Fig. 27 The architecture model shown in block diagram 2700 can be considered as Fig.26 2600 , and may be desired by customers of the IaaS provider if the IaaS provider cannot communicate directly with the customer (e.g., a disconnected region). The customer may have real-time access to the corresponding container 2767(1)-(N) contained in each customer's VM 2766(1)-(N). The container 2767(1)-(N) may be configured to make calls to the corresponding secondary VNIC 2772(1)-(N) contained in the (one or more) application subnets 2726 of the data plane application layer 2746, which may be contained in the container egress VCN 2768. The secondary VNIC 2772(1)-(N) may transmit the call to the NAT gateway 2738, which may transmit the call to the public Internet 2754. In this example, containers 2767(1)-(N), which may be accessed by customers in real time, may be isolated from control plane VCN 2716 and may be isolated from other entities contained in data plane VCN 2718. Containers 2767(1)-(N) may also be isolated from resources from other customers.

[0464] In other examples, a customer may use containers 2767(1)-(N) to call cloud service 2756. In this example, a customer may run code in containers 2767(1)-(N) to request a service from cloud service 2756. Containers 2767(1)-(N) may transmit the request to secondary VNICs 2772(1)-(N), which may transmit the request to a NAT gateway, which may transmit the request to the public Internet 2754. The public Internet 2754 may transmit the request to LB subnet(s) 2722 contained in control plane VCN 2716 via Internet gateway 2734. In response to determining that the request is valid, the LB subnet(s) may transmit the request to application subnet(s) 2726, which may transmit the request to cloud service 2756 via service gateway 2736.

[0465] It should be appreciated that the IaaS architectures 2400, 2500, 2600, 2700 depicted in the various figures may have other components in addition to those depicted. In addition, the embodiments shown in the various figures are merely some examples of cloud infrastructure systems that may be combined with embodiments of the present disclosure. In some other embodiments, the IaaS system may have more or fewer components than shown in the various figures, may combine two or more components, or may have a different configuration or component arrangement.

[0466] In certain embodiments, the IaaS system described herein may include application suites, middleware, and database service offerings delivered to customers in a self-service, subscription-based, elastically scalable, reliable, highly available, and secure manner. An example of suc...

Claims

1. A method comprising: creating a first virtual private label cloud (vPLC) for the first reseller based on infrastructure provided by a cloud service provider (CSP) in the region, wherein creating the first vPLC includes allocating a first portion of the infrastructure provided by the CSP to the first vPLC; creating a second vPLC for the second reseller based on the infrastructure provided by the CSP, wherein creating the second vPLC includes allocating a second portion of the infrastructure provided by the CSP to the second vPLC; using the first vPLC to provide one or more first dealer-provided cloud services to one or more customers of the first dealer; providing one or more second-retailer-provisioned cloud services to one or more customers of the second reseller using the second vPLC; Creating a first set of metadata customization instructions for a first vPLC; Creating a second set of metadata customization instructions for a second vPLC; generating first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC based at least on the first set of metadata customization instructions; as well as Second customized metadata associated with the second vPLC is generated based on at least the second set of metadata customization instructions. 2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a first set of metadata customization instructions for a first vPLC is different from a second set of metadata customization instructions for a second vPLC.

3. The method of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein generating first customized metadata associated with a first vPLC is performed independently of generating second customized metadata associated with a second vPLC.

4. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein generating first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC occurs before receiving a request for first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising storing first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC in a repository prior to receiving the request.

6. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein generating first customized metadata associated with a first vPLC comprises: Prior to receiving the request, obtaining original metadata associated with the first vPLC; as well as Prior to receiving the request, a first set of metadata customization instructions is applied to the obtained raw metadata associated with the first vPLC.

7. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein generating first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC occurs upon receiving a request for first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein generating first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC comprises: Upon receiving the request, obtaining raw metadata associated with the first vPLC; as well as A first set of metadata customization instructions is applied to the obtained raw metadata associated with the first vPLC.

9. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein generating first customized metadata associated with a first vPLC comprises: Prior to receiving the request, obtaining original metadata associated with the first vPLC; as well as Upon receiving the request, a first set of metadata customization instructions is applied to the obtained raw metadata associated with the first vPLC.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising storing first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC in a repository prior to receiving the request.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: creating a first virtual private label cloud (vPLC) for the first reseller based on infrastructure provided by a cloud service provider (CSP) in the region, wherein creating the first vPLC includes allocating a first portion of the infrastructure provided by the CSP to the first vPLC; creating a second vPLC for the second reseller based on the infrastructure provided by the CSP, wherein creating the second vPLC includes allocating a second portion of the infrastructure provided by the CSP to the second vPLC; using the first vPLC to provide one or more first dealer-provided cloud services to one or more customers of the first dealer; providing one or more second-retailer-provisioned cloud services to one or more customers of the second reseller using the second vPLC; Creating a first set of metadata customization instructions for a first vPLC; Creating a second set of metadata customization instructions for a second vPLC; generating first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC based at least on the first set of metadata customization instructions; as well as Second customized metadata associated with the second vPLC is generated based on at least the second set of metadata customization instructions.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein a first set of metadata customization instructions for a first vPLC is different from a second set of metadata customization instructions for a second vPLC.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11 or claim 12, wherein generating first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC occurs before receiving a request for first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC; and Wherein generating first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC comprises: Prior to receiving the request, obtaining original metadata associated with the first vPLC; as well as Prior to receiving the request, a first set of metadata customization instructions is applied to the obtained raw metadata associated with the first vPLC.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein generating the first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC occurs upon receiving a request for the first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC; and Wherein generating first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC comprises: Upon receiving the request, obtaining raw metadata associated with the first vPLC; as well as A first set of metadata customization instructions is applied to the obtained raw metadata associated with the first vPLC.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein generating the first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC occurs upon receiving a request for the first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC; and Wherein generating first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC comprises: Prior to receiving the request, obtaining original metadata associated with the first vPLC; as well as Upon receiving the request, a first set of metadata customization instructions is applied to the obtained raw metadata associated with the first vPLC.

16. A system comprising: one or more processors; as well as one or more memories storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to: creating a first virtual private label cloud (vPLC) for the first reseller based on infrastructure provided by a cloud service provider (CSP) in the region, wherein creating the first vPLC includes allocating a first portion of the infrastructure provided by the CSP to the first vPLC; creating a second vPLC for the second reseller based on the infrastructure provided by the CSP, wherein creating the second vPLC includes allocating a second portion of the infrastructure provided by the CSP to the second vPLC; using the first vPLC to provide one or more first dealer-provided cloud services to one or more customers of the first dealer; providing one or more second-retailer-provisioned cloud services to one or more customers of the second reseller using the second vPLC; Creating a first set of metadata customization instructions for a first vPLC; Creating a second set of metadata customization instructions for a second vPLC; generating first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC based at least on the first set of metadata customization instructions; as well as Second customized metadata associated with the second vPLC is generated based on at least the second set of metadata customization instructions.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein generating first customized metadata associated with a first vPLC is performed independently of generating second customized metadata associated with a second vPLC.

18. A system as claimed in claim 16 or claim 17, wherein generating first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC occurs before receiving a request for first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC; and Wherein generating first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC comprises: Prior to receiving the request, obtaining original metadata associated with the first vPLC; as well as Prior to receiving the request, a first set of metadata customization instructions is applied to the obtained raw metadata associated with the first vPLC.

19. The system of any one of claims 16 to 18, wherein generating the first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC occurs upon receiving a request for the first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC; and Wherein generating first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC comprises: Upon receiving the request, obtaining raw metadata associated with the first vPLC; as well as A first set of metadata customization instructions is applied to the obtained raw metadata associated with the first vPLC.

20. The system of any one of claims 16 to 19, wherein generating the first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC occurs upon receiving a request for the first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC; and Wherein generating first customized metadata associated with the first vPLC comprises: Prior to receiving the request, obtaining original metadata associated with the first vPLC; as well as Upon receiving the request, a first set of metadata customization instructions is applied to the obtained raw metadata associated with the first vPLC.

Images