Granted Patent B2

US 12,375,427 · App. 17/847,063 · Granted Jul 29, 2025

Inventor: Jason Anthony Lochhead (Frisco, TX)

H04L49/25H04L12/4641H04L41/0803

Abstract

Claims (52)

1. A computing system comprising:

a first server rack and a second server rack located in different locations, the first server rack containing a first top-of-rack (TOR) switch connected to a first server, the second server rack containing a second TOR switch connected to a second server;

a first computing device separate from the first server rack and the second server rack and configured to:

receive, from a client device accessed by a first user and configured to be in communication with the first computing device, a request to create a group of a plurality of virtual networks, to implement a virtual extensible local area network (VXLAN), and to connect a virtual server to the group;

create the plurality of virtual networks in response to the request;

assign the plurality of virtual networks to the group;

configure at least one switch of a network fabric to associate the virtual server with the plurality of virtual networks of the group;

in response to receiving a configuration selection made via a user interface, connect the group of the plurality of virtual networks to the first and second server racks by automatically configuring ports of the first and second TOR switches to provide access, by at least one server of the first and second server racks, to each virtual network of the plurality of virtual networks of the group;

implement the VXLAN for transmitting data between the first and second server based on the request from the client device accessed by the first user and configured to be in communication with the first computing device by converting at least one virtual networks of the group of the plurality of virtual networks into the VXLAN, wherein the first computing device includes an Internet configuration manager for configuring IP services to provide Internet connectivity to the first and second server based on the request from the client device, and wherein the Internet configuration manager is configured to communicate configuration data for configuring the first and second TOR switch to connect the first and second server to the IP services;

a second computing device separate from the first server rack and the second server rack and configured to allocate the second server to handle workloads of the first user by forming a virtual machine containing the first and second server at the request from the client device accessed by the first user;

wherein the second computing device executes a hyper-converged management service to allocate compute, memory and storage resources provided by the first server rack and the second server rack and stores data regarding the allocation of resources in a second data store; and

the network fabric,

wherein the first computing device and the second computing device are coupled in electronic communication with the first server rack and the second server rack via the network fabric.

2. The computing system of claim 1 , further comprising a first and second physical fiber port coupling the first and second server rack, respectively, to the network fabric.

3. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the first TOR switch includes a memory and a plurality of ports, wherein the memory is configured to store connection assignments of the plurality of ports to a router and servers in the first server rack.

4. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the first computing device includes a switch configuration manager to implement the VXLAN and a first data store to store configurations of the switch configuration manager.

5. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the client device communicates with the first computing device by an API through an external network.

6. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the network fabric includes the plurality of virtual networks to be selected by the client device to be associated with the first and second server.

7. A computing system comprising:

a first server rack and a second server rack located in different locations, the first server rack containing a first top-of-rack (TOR) switch connected to a first server, the second server rack containing a second TOR switch connected to a second server;

a first computing device separate from the first server rack and the second server rack and configured to:

receive, from a client device accessed by a first user and configured to be in communication with the first computing device, a request to create a group of a plurality of virtual networks, to implement a virtual extensible local area network (VXLAN), and to connect a virtual server to the group;

create the plurality of virtual networks in response to the request;

assign the plurality of virtual networks to the group;

configure at least one switch of a network fabric to associate the virtual server with the plurality of virtual networks of the group;

in response to receiving a configuration selection made via a user interface, connecting the group of the plurality of virtual networks to the first and second server racks by automatically configuring ports of the first and second TOR switches to provide access, by at least one server of the first and second server racks, to each virtual network of the plurality of virtual networks of the group;

a switch configuration manager configured to implement the virtual extensible local area network (VXLAN) for transmitting data between the first and second server at the request from the client device accessed by a first user by converting at least one virtual networks of the group of the plurality of virtual networks into the VXLAN;

a hyper-converged management service configured to allocate the second server to handle workloads of the first user by forming a virtual machine containing the first and second server at the request from the client device accessed by the first user, wherein the hyper-converged management service is installed on the first computing device separate from the first server rack and the second server rack;

the network fabric coupled to the first and second server rack, the switch configuration manager and the hyper-converged management service;

a first and second physical fiber port coupling the first and second server rack, respectively, to the network fabric; and

an Internet configuration manager for configuring IP services to provide Internet connectivity to the first and second server at a request from the client device, wherein the Internet configuration manager is configured to communicate configuration data needed by the switch configuration manager for configuring the first and second TOR switch to connect the first and second server to the IP services.

8. The computing system of claim 7 , further comprising a first and second physical fiber port coupling the first and second server rack, respectively, to the network fabric.

9. The computing system of claim 7 , wherein the first TOR switch includes a memory and a plurality of ports, wherein the memory is configured to store connection assignments of the plurality of ports to a router and servers in the first server rack.

10. The computing system of claim 7 , wherein the switch configuration manager is configured to store configurations of the switch configuration manager in a first data store.

11. The computing system of claim 7 , wherein the client device communicates with the switch configuration manager by an API through an external network.

12. The computing system of claim 7 , wherein the hyper-converged management service allocates compute, memory and storage resources provided by the first and second server rack and stores data regarding the allocation of resources in a second data store.

13. The computing system of claim 7 , wherein the network fabric includes the plurality of virtual networks to be selected by the client device to be associated with the first and second server.

14. A method for providing access to multiple server racks, the method comprising:

receiving a request from a client device accessed by a first user to allocate more computing resources, to create a group of a plurality of virtual networks, to implement a virtual extensible local area network (VXLAN), and to connect a virtual server to the group;

creating the plurality of virtual networks in response to the request;

assigning the plurality of virtual networks to the group;

configuring at least one switch of a network fabric to associate the virtual server with the plurality of virtual networks of the group;

in response to receiving a configuration selection made via a user interface, connecting the group of the plurality of virtual networks to first and second server racks by automatically configuring ports of a first top-of-rack (TOR) switch and a second TOR switch to provide access, by at least one server of the first and second server racks, to each virtual network of the plurality of virtual networks of the group;

connecting, upon receiving the request, a first server contained in the first server rack with a second server contained in the second server rack through the first TOR switch contained in the first server rack and the second TOR switch contained in the second server rack, the first and second server rack being located in different locations;

implementing, by a first computing device, the VXLAN for transmitting data between the first and second server at the request from the client device accessed by the first user by converting at least one virtual networks of the group of the plurality of virtual networks into the VXLAN;

configuring, by the first computing device, IP services to provide Internet connectivity to the first and second server at a request from the client device, wherein the IP services correspond to a public IP address and protocol selected using the user interface of the client device;

allocating, by a second computing device separate from the first server rack and the second server rack, the second server to handle workloads of the first user by forming a virtual machine containing the first and second server at the request from the client device;

wherein the second computing device executes a hyper-converged management service to allocate compute, memory and storage resources provided by the first and second server rack and stores data regarding the allocation of resources in a second data store; and

providing the network fabric coupled to the first and second server rack and the first and second computing device,

wherein the first computing device and the second computing device are coupled in electronic communication with the first and second server rack via the network fabric.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising providing a first and second physical fiber port coupling the first and second server rack, respectively, to the network fabric.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the network fabric includes the plurality of virtual networks to be selected by the client device to be associated with the first and second server.

Assignments (4)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (48)