Platform-Agnostic Network Services for Heterogeneous Policy Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Managing heterogeneous networks with diverse devices and platforms poses challenges due to complexity, security vulnerabilities, and inconsistent performance, making it difficult to maintain a uniform security posture and operational efficiency across the network.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a runtime engine that executes platform-agnostic WebAssembly bytecode to provide a standardized interface for network services, enabling consistent security policies and configurations across different devices and platforms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If heterogeneous network devices from different manufacturers are deployed to provide diverse network services, then network functionality and versatility are improved, but device complexity and difficulty of management increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a service mesh architecture with data plane proxies and control plane components as intermediaries between heterogeneous network devices and users. These proxies standardize communication protocols and service interfaces, allowing diverse devices to be managed through a unified abstraction layer that translates between different device-specific protocols and a common service interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The service mesh infrastructure provides universal functionality that works across all heterogeneous network devices. The data plane proxies implement a standardized interface that can handle multiple service types (routing, filtering, transformation) across different device manufacturers, eliminating the need for device-specific management approaches.
2Productivity
If multiple different operating systems and configuration methods are used across network devices, then device-specific optimization is improved, but ease of operation and consistency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The control plane generates standardized service templates and configuration profiles that are copied and deployed across multiple heterogeneous devices. These templates define service behavior in a device-agnostic manner, allowing consistent configuration propagation while devices execute optimized implementations of the same service logic.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent separates configuration management into distinct layers: service-level policies defined by administrators, device-specific implementations handled by the service mesh proxies. This segmentation allows administrators to manage high-level service behavior without dealing with device-specific configuration details, while each device maintains its optimized implementation.
3Extent of automation
If device-specific management tools and expertise are required for each network device type, then device-specific control is improved, but loss of time for troubleshooting and maintenance increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control plane implements automated service deployment, configuration management, and health monitoring. The system automatically generates service configurations, deploys them to appropriate devices, monitors service health, and performs remediation actions without requiring manual intervention from administrators with device-specific expertise.
Solution Approach 2:
The service mesh architecture implements continuous feedback loops where proxies monitor service performance and device health, report status to the control plane, and receive automated responses. This feedback mechanism enables rapid detection and resolution of issues without requiring administrators to manually troubleshoot each device type.
4Reliability
If standardized policies and configurations are attempted across heterogeneous devices, then security consistency is improved, but adaptability to device-specific requirements deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The service mesh architecture implements security policies at the service level with local adaptations at the device level. The control plane defines standardized security requirements and compliance rules that apply uniformly across all devices, while individual proxies translate these into device-specific security configurations appropriate for each device type and manufacturer.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are systems, apparatuses, methods, and computer-readable media for heterogenous network services using platform agnostic extensions. A method includes: instantiating a first service having a first data plane control point; instantiating a second service configured to access the first control point in a data plane; receiving a first packet at the first service in a network path; providing at least one of the first packet and first metadata associated with the first packet to the second service to analyze or process the first packet and the first metadata in conjunction with the first service; processing at least one of the first packet or the first metadata in the second service based on external bytecode and generating at least second metadata based on the processing; receiving second metadata to the first service; and processing the first packet or a second packet.