Systems and methods for a multi-tenant system providing virtual data centers in a cloud configuration

Abstract

An automatically provisioned virtual private data center provided on a cloud network of multiple virtual private data centers that reside in one or more physical data centers and may migrate between multiple physical data centers. The VPDC is a encapsulated virtual structure provisioned according to customer selected options within a virtual data center having one or more foundation nodes. Different service profiles are provided in a provisioning interface to the customer, each defining several configuration specifics that are used to automatically provision a VPDC for the customer.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A provisioning system for a cloud computing network, comprising:
 a storage device, storing:
 a plurality of POD data structures, each POD data structure storing parameter data for a respective service supplied by the cloud under a variety of configurations supported by the service, 
 a plurality of VPDC data structures, each VPDC data structure storing parameter data extracted from the POD structures according to a respective level of service selected by a respective tenant, and 
 a processor, executing a user interface for engagement with a tenant of the cloud network, to present data of the VPDC data structures to a tenant and receive selections in response thereto, and further to provision a tenant VPDC within the cloud according to the selected VPDC configurations and service level. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein to provision includes establishing a plurality of application tiers; wherein to provision further includes establishing network services including a unique virtual local area network (VLAN) for each application tier; wherein to provision further includes creating separate port groups and assigning a unique port group to each VLAN. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein to provision further includes establishing a firewall between each VLAN. 
     
     
         4 . A method of provisioning resources of a cloud computing network by a cloud tenant, comprising:
 retrieving, from storage, data of a plurality of Virtual Private Data Center (VPDC) configuration options, the VPDC configuration options storing parameter data extracted from POD data structures of the cloud network, the POD data structures storing parameter data for a respective service supplied by the cloud under a variety of service configurations,   presenting the retrieved configuration options to the tenant,   receiving selections in response to the presented configuration options, and   installing a Virtual Private Data Center (VPDC) instance within the cloud network according to the configurations selected.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the VPDCs are configured to migrate from one cloud site to another cloud site within the cloud network. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the parameter data includes defining processor power, data storage, and network capacity. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein a plurality of data storage tiers are available and wherein a lesser service level is associated with a lesser data storage tier and a greater service level is associated with a greater data storage tier. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein data associated with a VPDC associated with the greater service level is initially stored in the greater data storage tier, and parts of the data that are infrequently accessed are migrated to the lesser data storage tier. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the installing includes establishing a plurality of application tiers; wherein the installing further includes establishing network services including a unique virtual local area network (VLAN) for each application tier; wherein the installing further includes creating separate port groups and assigning a unique port group to each VLAN. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the installing further includes establishing a firewall between each VLAN. 
     
     
         11 . A method of provisioning a Virtual Private Data Center (VPDC) in a cloud network of physical data centers, comprising:
 providing a design user interface to a user;   receiving configuration selections from the user, including a service level selection;   creating a design manifest based on the configuration selections;   automatically provisioning a VPDC based on the design manifest, wherein the VPDC is provisioned in a cloud site physical data center configured to provide a plurality of VPDCs, and wherein the cloud site physical data center is organized with a plurality of service deployments and a plurality of compute-resource deployments, which together provide the VPDCs, based on configuration data specified by each VPDC.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the VPDCs are configured to migrate from one cloud site physical data center to another cloud site physical data center. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the plurality of service deployments and the plurality of compute-resource deployments are standardized at each cloud site physical data center. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein substantial portions of the VPDC are defined by the service level selection. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the substantial portions include defining processor power, data storage, and network capacity. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein a plurality of data storage tiers are available and wherein a lesser service level is associated with a lesser data storage tier and a greater service level is associated with a greater data storage tier. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein data associated with a VPDC associated with the greater service level is initially stored in the greater data storage tier, and parts of the data that are infrequently accessed are migrated to the lesser data storage tier. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the provisioning includes establishing a plurality of application tiers; wherein the provisioning further includes establishing network services including a unique virtual local area network (VLAN) for each application tier; wherein the provisioning further includes creating separate port groups and assigning a unique port group to each VLAN. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the provisioning further includes establishing a firewall between each VLAN.