Intent based controller for provisioning a network

Abstract

An intent driven controller (IDC) operates to automatically build and provision networks using specified communication service requirements for one or more computer applications running in the network, optimizing among these requirements given the available networking resources, and then provisioning the forwarding gear according the network requirements.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A method for provisioning a network communication domain, comprising:
 defining the network communication domain to have a plurality of network forwarding elements;   detecting, by an intent driven controller, one or more capabilities associated with the plurality of the network forwarding elements;   specifying communication service requirements for each one of a plurality of computer applications running in the network, and assigning an importance to the data traffic associated with each application;   selecting the highest importance computer application and provisionally determining a path through the network forwarding elements for the data traffic from the selected application, the provisionally determined network path satisfying the communication service requirements; and   configuring one or more of the network forwarding elements to permit the application data traffic to be forwarded through the network according to the provisionally determined network path.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the communication facets of the communication service requirements are any one or more of a forwarding precedence, a minimum bandwidth, typical bandwidth, maximum bandwidth, an oversubscription, a latency, a loss tolerance, an encryption, and forwarding confluence. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising recursively selecting a next highest importance computer application until all computer application are provisionally determined. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the network forwarding elements operate in ISO layers 1, 2, 3 and 4. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the network is a physical network, a virtual network or a combination of a physical and a virtual network. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the intent driven controller comprises a placement algorithm that is initialized by a network administrator or automatically based upon measurable or observable network characteristics. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , where in the specification of communication services can be expressed by a network administrator, a software application or a script representing a class of software applications, and provided to a region, sector or element controller.