Granted Patent B2

US 12,580,849 · App. 18/199,509 · Granted Mar 17, 2026

Inventors: Jean-Philippe Vasseur (Combloux, FR); Grégory Mermoud (Venthône, CH); Pierre-André Savalle (Rueil-Malmaison, FR); Eduard Schornig (Haarlem, NL); Michal Wladyslaw Garcarz (Cracow, PL)

Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc.

H04L45/302H04L45/04H04L45/76

Abstract

Claims (39)

1 . A method comprising:

identifying, by a device, available resources of an existing tunnel in a first software defined network;

providing, by the device and based on the available resources, an indication that the existing tunnel is available to convey traffic sent by a second software defined network;

receiving, at the device and based on the indication, a request to convey traffic sent by the second software defined network via the existing tunnel in the first software defined network; and

configuring, by the device, a peering node in the first software defined network to connect the second software defined network to a first tunnel endpoint of the existing tunnel to cause the traffic sent by the second software defined network to be conveyed via the existing tunnel to a second tunnel endpoint of the existing tunnel that is within the first software defined network.

2 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein the device provides the indication via an application programming interface (API).

3 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein the device provides the indication to a router of the second software defined network via a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) message.

4 . The method as in claim 1 , further comprising:

providing, by the device, an indication of a volume of the traffic sent by the second software defined network via the existing tunnel in the first software defined network for display.

5 . The method as in claim 1 , the indication includes a predicted performance of the existing tunnel.

6 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein the request is sent by the second software defined network in response to receiving a virtual private network (VPN) connection request from a client.

7 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein the indication that the existing tunnel is available indicates at least one of: a source or destination associated with the existing tunnel, a type of underlay of the existing tunnel, or quality of service (QOS) tagging associated with the existing tunnel.

8 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein the indication that the existing tunnel is available indicates a time period during which a service level agreement (SLA) is guaranteed by the existing tunnel.

9 . The method as in claim 1 , further comprising:

configuring a relay tunnel in the first software defined network between the peering node and a hub of the first software defined network.

10 . The method as in claim 1 , wherein the first software defined network and the second software defined network are software defined wide area networks.

11 . An apparatus, comprising:

one or more network interfaces;

a processor coupled to the one or more network interfaces and configured to execute one or more processes; and

a memory configured to store a process that is executable by the processor, the process when executed configured to:

identify available resources of an existing tunnel in a first software defined network;

provide, based on the available resources, an indication that the existing tunnel is available to convey traffic sent by a second software defined network;

receive, based on the indication, a request to convey traffic sent by the second software defined network via the existing tunnel in the first software defined network; and

configure a peering node in the first software defined network to connect the second software defined network to a first tunnel endpoint of the existing tunnel to cause the traffic sent by the second software defined network to be conveyed via the existing tunnel to a second tunnel endpoint of the existing tunnel that is within the first software defined network.

12 . The apparatus as in claim 11 , wherein the apparatus provides the indication via an application programming interface (API).

13 . The apparatus as in claim 11 , wherein the apparatus provides the indication to a router of the second software defined network via a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) message.

14 . The apparatus as in claim 11 , wherein the process when executed is further configured to:

provide an indication of a volume of the traffic sent by the second software defined network via the existing tunnel in the first software defined network for display.

15 . The apparatus as in claim 11 , wherein the indication includes a predicted performance of the existing tunnel.

16 . The apparatus as in claim 11 , wherein the request is sent by the second software defined network in response to receiving a virtual private network (VPN) connection request from a client.

17 . The apparatus as in claim 11 , wherein the indication that the existing tunnel is available indicates at least one of: a source or destination associated with the existing tunnel, a type of underlay of the existing tunnel, or quality of service (QOS) tagging associated with the existing tunnel.

18 . The apparatus as in claim 11 , wherein the indication that the existing tunnel is available indicates a time period during which a service level agreement (SLA) is guaranteed by the existing tunnel.

19 . The apparatus as in claim 11 , wherein the process when executed is further configured to:

configure a relay tunnel in the first software defined network between the peering node and a hub of the first software defined network.

20 . A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing program instructions that cause a device to execute a process comprising:

identifying, by the device, available resources of an existing tunnel in a first software defined network;

providing, by the device and based on the available resources, an indication that the existing tunnel is available to convey traffic sent by a second software defined network;

receiving, at the device and based on the indication, a request to convey traffic sent by the second software defined network via the existing tunnel in the first software defined network; and

configuring, by the device, a peering node in the first software defined network to connect the second software defined network to a first tunnel endpoint of the existing tunnel to cause the traffic sent by the second software defined network to be conveyed via the existing tunnel to a second tunnel endpoint of the existing tunnel that is within the first software defined network.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (15)