Cloud Network Management Microservices Namespace Isolation

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current network management systems are limited to managing single datacenter environments and face challenges in scaling to manage multiple tenant networks distributed across various datacenters, including on-premises and virtual datacenters in the public cloud, requiring a more comprehensive and cloud-based solution for unified management.

Innovation Solution

A cloud-based network management and monitoring system is deployed, utilizing a container cluster like Kubernetes, with service instances for policy management, network flow monitoring, and threat monitoring, featuring microservices, local managers at each datacenter, and multi-tenant services, ensuring isolation and high availability across multiple datacenters through namespace management and load balancing.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If network management services are deployed in public cloud to manage multiple tenant networks across distributed datacenters, then the system's adaptability and management scope are improved, but the system complexity and deployment difficulty increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemanagement scopeVSAvoidsystem complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The network management system is segmented into multiple independent service instances, each managing a specific datacenter group. Each service instance is further divided into microservices (policy management, network flow monitoring, threat monitoring) that can be independently deployed and scaled. This segmentation allows the system to handle multiple tenants and datacenters while maintaining manageable complexity through modular architecture.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements multi-tenant services that provide universal functionality across all tenants and datacenter groups. The same service instance architecture, microservice patterns, and management mechanisms are reused universally to manage diverse datacenter types (on-premises, cloud, hybrid), eliminating the need for separate specialized systems and reducing overall system complexity despite expanded management scope.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

2Reliability

If service instances are deployed for each datacenter group with multiple microservices, then the system's reliability and availability are improved, but the device complexity and resource requirements increase

Engineering Contradiction:
ImproveavailabilityVSAvoiddeployment complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

Each service instance is segmented into independent microservices that can be deployed across multiple containers and nodes. This segmentation enables fault isolation where failures in one microservice do not affect others, improving reliability while maintaining manageable deployment complexity through standardized containerization patterns.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent deploys replicated instances of service instances across multiple datacenters and availability zones. Each service instance is copied and adapted to specific datacenter groups, with microservices replicated within instances. This copying strategy ensures high availability through redundancy while using template-based deployment to manage the complexity of managing multiple copies.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #26Copying

3Adaptability or versatility

If the system manages multiple types of datacenters (on-premises, cloud, hybrid) with different infrastructure, then the adaptability is improved, but the ease of operation and management difficulty worsen

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedatacenter compatibilityVSAvoidmanagement ease
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The network management system implements a universal service instance architecture that can manage multiple datacenter types through standardized interfaces and protocols. The same microservice patterns and management mechanisms work across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid datacenters, providing multi-functionality that improves adaptability while maintaining ease of operation through consistent management procedures.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces local managers at each datacenter that act as intermediaries between the cloud-based service instances and the diverse datacenter infrastructure. These local managers translate and adapt management commands to work with different datacenter types, enabling the universal service instances to manage heterogeneous infrastructure while keeping operations simple for end users.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

4Reliability

If namespace management and load balancing are implemented to ensure isolation and high availability, then the reliability is improved, but the device complexity and configuration overhead increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveisolation and availabilityVSAvoidconfiguration overhead
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system uses namespace segmentation to isolate different service instances and microservices, ensuring that failures or security issues in one namespace do not affect others. This segmentation provides reliable isolation while using standardized namespace naming conventions and automated namespace creation to manage configuration overhead.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The load balancing and namespace management systems are implemented with self-service capabilities that automatically configure and adjust settings based on service instance deployment and traffic patterns. This automation reduces the manual configuration overhead while maintaining the reliability benefits of proper isolation and load distribution.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Data Source

PatentEP4407484A1Deployment of network management services in public cloud
Publication Date: 2024.07.31 VMWARE INC
  • EP4407484A1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4407484A1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4407484A1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

Some embodiments provide a method for deploying network management services for a group of datacenters. From a tenant of a network management system deployed in a container cluster of the public cloud, the method receives (i) a definition of a group of datacenters for the network management system to manage and (ii) a selection of a set of network management services from a plurality of network management services offered by the network management service. For each respective selected network management service, the method defines a respective namespace of the container cluster. The method deploys each respective selected network management service as a plurality of microservices in the respective namespace.