Abstract: Techniques are provided for mitigating the effects of slow or no drain devices on a fabric. One or more of the described embodiments can be used alone or in combination to address problems associated with inter-switch link blocking and to address the situation where flows which are not associated with slow/no drain devices suffer the negative impacts of slow or no drain devices on a fabric.

Abstract: Techniques are provided herein for distributed and hierarchical rendering and provisioning of cloud services. At a device in a cloud computing system comprising a plurality of hierarchical levels, a cloud service request is received for rendering and provisioning of a virtual data center. A determination is made as to which aspects of the cloud service request are to be satisfied by devices in a first hierarchical level and which aspects of the cloud service request are to be satisfied by devices in a second hierarchical level and in subsequent hierarchical levels. Rendering and provisioning commands are provided to one or more devices in the first hierarchical level that are selected to satisfy aspects of the cloud service request in the first hierarchical level. A subset cloud service request for aspects of the cloud service request that are to be satisfied by devices in the second hierarchical level is sent to a device in the second hierarchical level.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method comprises retrieving a request graph specifying request nodes identifying respective requested cloud computing service operations, and at least one request edge specifying a requested path requirements connecting the request nodes; identifying a placement pivot among feasible cloud elements identified in a physical graph representing a data network having a physical topology, each feasible cloud element an available solution for one of the request nodes, the placement pivot having a maximum depth in the physical topology relative to the feasible cloud elements; ordering the feasible cloud elements, according to increasing distance from the placement pivot to form an ordered list of candidate sets of feasible cloud elements; and determining an optimum candidate set, from at least a portion of the ordered list, based on the optimum candidate set having an optimized fitness function in the physical graph among the other candidate sets in the ordered list.

Abstract: Techniques are provided to move the services performed on one device to another device in a cloud computing system for a variety of reasons including failure, maintenance or upgrade of the device. A notification is received that services performed by an impacted device in a domain of a plurality of hierarchical domains need to be moved. A determination is made as to whether there are replacement resources available in the domain to perform the services, and if so, the replacement resources are automatically rendered to perform the services. The process continues to higher level domains that have a view into the capabilities of subordinate domains in order to determine where to move the services within the cloud computing system.

Abstract: Techniques are provided for a switch to assign proxy FCIDs to endpoint device so that the endpoint devices may achieve FCID mobility by retaining their originally assigned FCIDs. At a switch in a network, e.g., a Virtual Storage Area Network (VSAN), a fabric login request is received from a first endpoint device that is associated with a first FC identifier (FCID) that was previously assigned to the first endpoint device by another switch in the VSAN. The fabric login request is responded to with the first FCID. The first endpoint device is assigned a second FCID associated with a domain of the switch where the endpoint device is directly attached to, and the second FCID is used as a proxy FCID within the VSAN for the first endpoint device. A frame is received from the first endpoint device with a source FCID comprising the first FCID and a destination FCID comprising an FCID for a second endpoint device. The source FCID in the frame is overwritten with the second FCID.

Abstract: A Fiber Channel Switch which enables end devices in different Fabrics to communicate with one another while retaining their unique Fiber Channel Domain_IDs. The Switch is coupled to a first fabric having a first set of end devices and a second fabric having a second set of end devices. The Switch is configured to enable communication by the first set of end devices associated with the first fabric with the second set of end devices associated with the second set of end devices using the unique Domain_IDs of each of the first set and the second set of end devices. In one embodiment of the invention, the first and second fabrics are first and second Virtual Storage Array Networks (VSANs) respectively. In an alternative embodiment, the first fabric and the second fabric are separate physical fabrics.

Abstract: Techniques are provided for mitigating the effects of slow or no drain devices on a fabric. One or more of the described embodiments can be used alone or in combination to address problems associated with inter-switch link blocking and to address the situation where flows which are not associated with slow/no drain devices suffer the negative impacts of slow or no drain devices on a fabric.

Abstract: Techniques are provided for monitoring the state or status of virtual data centers. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving state information representing the state of hardware devices supporting instantiations of virtual data centers operating within a physical data center. The state information is mapped to hardware devices supporting a selected instantiation of a virtual data center to identify state information for the selected instantiation of a virtual data center. An assessment is then made, based on the state information for the selected instantiation of a virtual data center, regarding a degree to which the selected instantiation of a virtual data center is operating in accordance with predetermined policy. A user is then notified of the assessment via, e.g., a color-coded dashboard representation of the selected instantiation of a virtual data center or a color-coded aspect of the selected instantiation of a virtual data center.

Abstract: In one embodiment, an n-dimensional resource vector for each of a plurality of resources in a computer network is determined, each n-dimensional resource vector having n property values for a corresponding resource of the plurality of resources. Upon receiving a request for one or more resources of the plurality of resources, where the request indicates one or more desired property values, the techniques convert the desired property values of the request into an n-dimensional request vector, determine a distance between each resource vector and the request vector, and provide a response to the request, the response indicating one or more closest match resources for the request based on the distances.

Abstract: A switch includes a processor, an ingress port having ingress port logic, and an egress port. It may also include a virtual network identifier rewrite component for rewriting a virtual network identifier in a data frame received the ingress port with a new virtual network identifier. Also included is a virtual network identifier rewrite rule set, where a rule may have one or more of the following: a received virtual network identifier, a source Fiber Channel identifier (FCID) address, an ingress port identifier, and a new virtual network identifier. The ingress port logic may insert a received virtual network identifier into the data frame received at the ingress port, where the virtual network identifier may correspond to the ingress port. The virtual network identifier rewrite component may assign the new virtual network identifier to the data frame according to a specific virtual network identifier rewrite rule.

Abstract: A first network device determines capabilities of resources in a section of a network that is accessible using the first network device. The first network device groups the resources into a resource cluster. The first network device advertises the resource cluster in the network, wherein each of a plurality of network devices advertise a resource cluster associated with sections of the network. A second network device receives a request for providing a service. The second network device groups the request into a plurality of request clusters. The second network device selects at least one resource cluster for providing the service based on information associated with the request clusters and the advertised resource clusters. The second network device allocates resources included in the at least one resource cluster for providing the service based on selecting the at least one resource cluster.

Abstract: A method for summarizing capabilities in a hierarchically arranged data center includes receiving capabilities information, wherein the capabilities information is representative of capabilities of respective nodes at a first hierarchical level in the hierarchically arranged data center, clustering nodes based on groups of capabilities information, generating a histogram that represents individual node clusters, and sending the histogram to a next higher level in the hierarchically arranged data center. Relative rankings of capabilities may be used to order a sequence of clustering operations.

Abstract: Graph-based virtual data center requests are described. In some implementations, a method includes displaying a graph having graphical elements representing network resources. A user can select one of the graphical elements and provide input specifying requirements for a network resource corresponding to the selected graphical element. A virtual data center request can be generated based on the graph and the specified requirements. The virtual data center request can be transmitted to a data center device for processing. In some implementations, the virtual data center request can be an extensible markup language (XML) representation of the graph that includes the specified service requirements. In some implementations, a data center server can receive a graph-based virtual data center request and allocate data center resources based on the virtual data center request.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving a request for a distributed service, the distributed service offered by a service provider via a data communications network having service delivery locations reachable via a prescribed physical topology; identifying the service delivery locations within a prescribed logical topology overlying the prescribed physical topology, the prescribed logical topology segregating the distributed service from other network traffic on the prescribed physical topology; and identifying one or moreof the service delivery locations optimized for providing the distributed service to at least one service consumption location in the prescribed logical topology according to a prescribed service level agreement with the service provider.

Abstract: Techniques are provided for monitoring the state or status of virtual data centers. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving state information representing the state of hardware devices supporting instantiations of virtual data centers operating within a physical data center. The state information is mapped to hardware devices supporting a selected instantiation of a virtual data center to identify state information for the selected instantiation of a virtual data center. An assessment is then made, based on the state information for the selected instantiation of a virtual data center, regarding a degree to which the selected instantiation of a virtual data center is operating in accordance with predetermined policy. A user is then notified of the assessment via, e.g., a color-coded dashboard representation of the selected instantiation of a virtual data center or a color-coded aspect of the selected instantiation of a virtual data center.

Abstract: Techniques are provided herein for defragmenting resources within a cloud computing system. The cloud computing system includes a plurality of servers deployed in a plurality of respective racks, wherein the respective racks are deployed in a pod of a data center. An element of the cloud computing system determines for each server in a given rack of servers a number of free resource slots available thereon and a number of resource slots in an idle state, and then further determines whether the number of free resource slots on a first server in the plurality of servers is greater than a predetermined threshold. When the number of free resource slots in the first server is greater than the predetermined threshold, a second server in the plurality of servers is identified with sufficient resource slots thereon to accommodate the number of resource slots in the idle state on the first server, and the resource slots in the idle state on the first server are caused to be migrated to the second server.

Abstract: Data representing capabilities of devices in a data is aggregated on a cluster-basis. Information representing capability attributes of devices in the data center is received. The information representing the capability attributes is analyzed to generate data that groups devices based on similarity of at least one capability attribute. Aggregation data is stored that represents the grouping of the devices based on similarity of the at least one capability attribute and identifies the devices in corresponding groups.

Abstract: Techniques are described for selecting an optimal data center for instantiating a first cloud service. Embodiments of the invention receive a request specifying a topology of a first cloud service to be hosted by one of a plurality of data centers which provide computing resources to host a plurality of cloud services. A suitability value is then determined for each of the data centers which measures a fitness of the data center for instantiating the first cloud service. In one embodiment, the suitability value is determined by calculating a plurality of metric values for the data center, normalizing the metric values and calculating a weighted average of the normalized values. One of the data centers is then selected for instantiating the first cloud service, based at least in part on the determined suitability values.

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

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for receiving at a provider edge routing device capabilities data representative of capabilities of computing devices disposed in a data center, the capabilities data having been published by an associated local data center edge device, and advertising, by the provider edge routing device, the capabilities data to other provider edge routing devices in communication with one another in a network of provider edge routing devices. The provider edge routing device also receives respective capabilities data from each of the other provider edge routing devices, wherein each of the other provider edge routing devices is associated with a respective local data center via a corresponding data center edge device, and stores all the capabilities data in a directory of capabilities.