US RE50,105 E1
Overlay management protocol for secure routing based on an overlay network
Atif Khan, San Jose, CA (US); Syed Khalid Raza, Fremont, CA (US); Nehal Bhau, San Jose, CA (US); and Himanshu H. Shah, Milpitas, CA (US)
Assigned to Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed by Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed on Feb. 22, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/677,280.
Application 17/160,178 is a division of application No. 15/261,790, filed on Sep. 9, 2016, granted, now 9,736,113, issued on Aug. 15, 2017.
Application 17/677,280 is a continuation of application No. 17/160,178, filed on Jan. 27, 2021.
Application 17/160,178 is a continuation of application No. 17/085,767, filed on Oct. 30, 2020.
Application 15/261,790 is a continuation of application No. 14/133,558, filed on Dec. 18, 2013, granted, now 9,467,478, issued on Oct. 11, 2016.
Application 17/677,280 is a continuation of application No. 17/085,767, filed on Oct. 30, 2020.
Application 17/085,767 is a reissue of application No. 15/677,001, filed on Aug. 14, 2017, granted, now 10,277,558, issued on Apr. 30, 2019.
Application 17/677,280 is a reissue of application No. 15/677,001, filed on Aug. 14, 2017, granted, now 10,277,558, issued on Apr. 30, 2019.
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. H04L 29/06 (2006.01); H04L 9/40 (2022.01); H04L 12/701 (2013.01); H04L 12/715 (2013.01); H04L 12/751 (2013.01); H04L 45/00 (2022.01); H04L 45/02 (2022.01); H04L 45/64 (2022.01); H04L 12/28 (2006.01)
CPC H04L 63/0209 (2013.01) [H04L 45/00 (2013.01); H04L 45/02 (2013.01); H04L 45/64 (2013.01); H04L 63/0272 (2013.01); H04L 63/205 (2013.01); H04L 12/2854 (2013.01); H04L 63/166 (2013.01)] 27 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
[ 18. An overlay network system, comprising:
a controller and a plurality of overlay network devices of an overlay network configured to use transport parameters to connect to an underlying transport network that is not within control of an enterprise network, the controller comprising:
a processor; and
a memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing instructions which when executed by the processor causes the controller to:
create a secure overlay control plane by establishing secure control connections with the plurality of overlay network devices of the overlay network;
transmit, over corresponding ones of the secure control connections, messages including overlay routing information to the plurality of overlay network devices thereby preventing exposure of the overlay routing information to the underlying transport network, wherein the transmitted overlay routing information includes one or more overlay routes that affects how each overlay network device of the plurality of overlay network devices forwards network traffic to other overlay network devices within the overlay network; and
receive, over corresponding ones of the control connections, route information from one or more of the plurality of overlay network devices, the route information including network reachability information for endpoints available at a physical site associated with a corresponding overlay network device;
wherein each of the plurality of overlay network devices is operative to:
establish, over an underlying transport network, secure tunnels with one or more of the other overlay network devices, wherein the secure tunnels form a secure overlay data plane;
collect route information including network reachability information for endpoints available at the physical site associated with the corresponding overlay network device;
provide, using a corresponding one of the secure control connections to the controller, the collected route information;
receive the overlay routing information transmitted by the controller over a corresponding one of the secure control connections;
maintain in a memory the overlay routing information received from the controller, and
forward, based on the overlay routing information maintained in the memory, network traffic to selected ones of the plurality of overlay network devices using corresponding ones of the secure tunnels.]