MECHANISM FOR OPTIMIZED, NETWORK-AWARE CLOUD BURSTING

1 . A method for scaling out a cloud application, the method comprising:

receiving a virtual private network (VPN) scale out request at a network management system (NMS), the scale out request including communication requirements from a cloud computing manager;

determining the value of communication parameters corresponding to the communication requirements for a set of potential VPN endpoints;

determining that only a portion of the set of potential VPN endpoints meet the communication requirements based upon the communication parameters; and

sending an indication to the cloud manager that only a portion of the set of potential VPN endpoints meet the communication requirements.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication that only a portion of the set of potential VPN endpoints meet the communication requirements further includes the value of communication parameters corresponding to the communication requirements for the set of potential VPN endpoints.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

ranking the portion of the set of potential VPN endpoints that meet the communication requirements; and

sending the set of potential VPN endpoints to the cloud manager based on the ranking.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein ranking the portion of the set of potential VPN endpoints that meet the communication requirements is based on other VPN endpoint performance parameters.

5 . The method of claim 1 , receiving, by the NMS, from the cloud manager a request to configure a VPN connection to a selected VPN endpoint selected by the cloud manager.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

ranking the portion of the set of potential VPN endpoints that meet the communication requirements;

receiving, by the cloud manager, an indication that only a portion of the set of potential VPN endpoints that meet the communication requirements and the ranking of the set of potential VPN endpoints;

selecting, by the cloud manager, a VPN endpoint from the portion of the set of potential VPN endpoints; and

sending, by cloud manager, a request to configure a VPN connection to the selected VPN endpoint.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein selecting, by the cloud manager, a VPN endpoint from the portion of the set of potential VPN endpoints includes receiving user input via a user interface coupled to the cloud manager.

8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein selecting, by the cloud manager, a VPN endpoint from the portion of the set of potential VPN endpoints includes using an automated prioritization method.

9 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising reconfiguring, by the cloud manager, the cloud configuration bases upon the selected VPN endpoint.

A network management system (NMS) for configuring a virtual private network (VPN) for a scale out of a cloud application, the NMS comprising:

a network interface;

a memory; and

a processor in communication with the memory, the processor being configured to:

receive a VPN scale out request at a network management system (NMS), the scale out request including communication requirements from a cloud computing manager;

determine the value of communication parameters corresponding to the communication requirements for a set of potential VPN endpoints;

determine that only a portion of the set of potential VPN endpoints meet the communication requirements based upon the communication parameters; and

send an indication to the cloud manager that only a portion of the set of potential VPN endpoints meet the communication requirements.

10 . The NMS of claim 9 , wherein the indication that only a portion of the set of potential VPN endpoints meet the communication requirements further includes the value of communication parameters corresponding to the communication requirements for a set of potential VPN endpoints.

11 . The NMS of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

rank the portion of the set of potential VPN endpoints that meet the communication requirements; and

send the set of potential VPN endpoints to the cloud manager based on the ranking.

12 . The NMS of claim 11 , wherein ranking the portion of the set of potential VPN endpoints that meet the communication requirements is based on other VPN endpoint performance parameters.

13 . The NMS of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to receive from the cloud manager a request to configure a VPN connection to a VPN endpoint selected by the cloud manager.

14 . A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions for execution by a network management system for scaling out a cloud application, the medium comprising:

instructions for receiving a virtual private network (VPN) scale out request at a network management system (NMS), the scale out request including communication requirements from a cloud computing manager;

instructions for determining the value of communication parameters corresponding to the communication requirements for a set of potential VPN endpoints;

instructions for determining that only a portion of the set of potential VPN endpoints meet the communication requirements based upon the communication parameters; and

instructions for sending an indication to the cloud manager that only a portion of the set of potential VPN endpoints meet the communication requirements.

15 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the indication that only a portion of the set of potential VPN endpoints meet the communication requirements further includes the value of communication parameters corresponding to the communication requirements for a set of potential VPN endpoints.

16 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14 , further comprising:

instructions for ranking the portion of the set of potential VPN endpoints that meet the communication requirements; and

instructions for sending the set of potential VPN endpoints to the cloud manager based on the ranking.

17 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein ranking the portion of the set of potential VPN endpoints that meet the communication requirements is based on other VPN endpoint performance parameters.

18 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14 , further comprising instructions for receiving from the cloud manager a request to configure a VPN connection to a selected VPN endpoint selected by the cloud manager.