US 11,863,450 B1
Method using network controller to deploy virtual environment in production network
Cesar Obediente, Apex, NC (US); Craig Thomas Hill, Sterling, VA (US); Nagendra Kumar Nainar, Morrisville, NC (US); David John Zacks, Vancouver (CA); Jaganbabu Rajamanickam, Kanata (CA); and Madhan Sankaranarayanan, Tamil Nadu (IN)
Assigned to CISCO TECHNOLOGY, INC., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed by Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed on Dec. 8, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/063,291.
Int. Cl. H04L 45/76 (2022.01)
CPC H04L 45/76 (2022.05) 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
at a network device configured to be connected to a network and having control and data planes, and interfaces configured for network operations in the network:
upon receiving, from a controller, instructions to form a local twin of the network device that is a virtual replica of the network device to be used for test purposes, creating the local twin and configuring the local twin to include virtual control and data planes, and virtual interfaces, which are virtual replicas of, and operate independently from, the control and data planes, and the interfaces, of the network device, respectively; and
hosting the local twin on physical resources of the network device such that the local twin is configured for virtual network operations on the network device that replicate, but are independent from, the network operations.