What is claimed is:
1. A system for enabling processing over a heterogeneous computer network, said system comprising a financial resolution center adapted to receive a source identification data packet over the network from a network client, wherein the source identification data packet describes a task for which process execution is requested by the client, and the financial resolution center is adapted to provide a task identity to the client before presenting a payload from the network client, wherein the task identity is indicative of the suitability of the task for process execution.
2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the heterogeneous network comprises a network of computational devices.
3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the heterogeneous network is absent information sent thereacross for maintaining secure access thereto.
4. The system as recited in claim 2, wherein the network of computational devices comprises a network of multiple operating platforms.
5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the system further comprises the network client.
6. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the source identification data packet comprises:
an identification data set relating to the identity of the network client; and
a request data set relating to the task.
7. The system as recited in claim 6, wherein the identification data set comprises:
a client identification data set; and
a requester identification data set, wherein the requestor is a user of the client.
8. The system as recited in claim 6, wherein the request data set comprises:
a credit request data set relating to an estimated budget for the task; and
a resource request data set related to the estimated resources for the task.
9. The system as recited in claim 6, wherein the request data set further comprises a criteria data set relating to the task
10. The system as recited in claim 8, wherein a task identity comprises a financial charging authorization identity, wherein the financial charging authorization identity is uniquely identified with a resource request data set related to the estimated resources for the task.
11. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the task identity corresponds to an authentication key, wherein the authentication key is uniquely identified with the resource request data set.
12. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the financial charging authorization identity comprises:
a credit limit data set related to the credit available to the task; and
a client credit data set related to the credit history of the client.
13. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein the authentication key is void upon the termination of the task.
14. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein the authentication key comprises a PKI key pair.
15. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the financial resolution center comprises a computational device.
16. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein the financial resolution center comprises a processor, a storage device, an evaluation program, and a task identity creation program.
17. The system as recited in claim 16, wherein the evaluation program is adapted to analyze the contents of the source ID packet.
18. The system as recited in claim 9, wherein the network further comprises a network host adapted to process a task defined by the request data set.
19. The system as recited in claim 18, wherein the network further comprises a network server adapted to enable the network client and the network host to negotiate a price for the process execution related to the task, wherein the client and host remain anonymous to one another.
20. The system as recited in claim 12, wherein the client credit data set comprises:
a client credit index related to the client’s payment history; and
a credit authentication key to allow access to purchasing data associated with the client.
21. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the client associated with the task identity is known only to the financial resolution center and the client.
22. A method of enabling processing over a heterogeneous computer network, said method comprising:
receiving a source identification data packet from a network client wherein the source identification data packet describes a task for which process execution is requested by the client
evaluating the source identification data packet; and
providing a task identity to the network client prior to the network client forwarding data over the network to a network server, wherein the task identity is adapted to indicate suitability of the task for process execution over the network
23. The method as recited in claim 22, further comprising maintaining confidentiality as to the identity of the network client associated with the task identifier.
24. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein receiving a source identification data packet comprises:
receiving a client identification data set;
receiving a credit request data set relating to an estimated budget for the task; and
receiving a resource request data set related to the estimated resources for the task.
25. The method as recited in claim 24, wherein evaluating the source identification data packet comprises:
validating a client identified by the client identification data set included in the source identification data packet; and
verifying the availability of the credit requested by the credit request data set included in the source identification data packet.
26. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein providing a task identity to the network client comprises:
providing a financial charging authorization identity, wherein the financial charging authorization identity is uniquely identified with the task described by the source identification packet; and
providing a task authentication key wherein the authentication key is uniquely identified with the task described by the source identification packet.
27. The method as recited in claim 26, wherein providing the financial charging authorization identity comprises:
providing a credit limit data set related to the credit available to the task; and
providing a client credit data set related to the credit history of the client.
28. The method as recited in claim 27, wherein providing the client credit data set comprises:
providing a client credit index related to the client’s payment history;
providing a client credit authentication key to allow access to purchasing data associated with the client.
29. A computer-usable carrier medium, comprising:
first programming instructions executable on a computational device for receiving a source identification data packet from a network client;
second programming instructions executable on the computational device for evaluating the source identification data packet;
third programming instructions executable on the computational device for providing a task identity to the network client.
30. The computer-usable carrier medium as recited in claim 29, wherein the task identity comprises a unique task authentication key.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method, comprising:
multicasting a discovery packet in an overlay network, which includes a Layer 2 scheme over a Layer 3 network; and
identifying endpoints based on their respective responses to the discovery packet, wherein the endpoints are coupled across a multicast backbone.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
identifying disconnected endpoints in the overlay network based on a lack of responses from the disconnected endpoints.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the endpoints are Virtual Ethernet Modules (VEMs) configured to support one or more virtual machines (VMs).
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the discovery packet is provided in a type-length-value (TLV) format and includes an identifier that identifies a segment of the overlay network.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the overlay network is a selected one of a group of networks, the group consisting of:
a) a Virtual eXtensible Local Area Network (VXLAN);
b) a Network Virtualization Generic Routing Encapsulation (NV-GRE) network; and
c) a media access control (MAC)-in-MAC network.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the overlay network is a multi-tenant VXLAN comprising one or more segments that are identified by a corresponding VXLAN segment identifier (VNI).
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
aggregating the responses into multipoint information; and
displaying the multipoint information.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the discovery packet is a selected one of a Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) packet and a Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) packet.
9. Logic encoded in non-transitory media that includes instructions for execution and when executed by a processor operable to perform operations, comprising: multicasting a discovery packet in an overlay network, which includes a Layer 2 scheme over a Layer 3 network; and
identifying endpoints based on their respective responses to the discovery packet, wherein the endpoints are coupled across a multicast backbone.
10. The logic of claim 9, the operations further comprising:
identifying disconnected endpoints in the overlay network based on a lack of responses from the disconnected endpoints.
11. The logic of claim 9, wherein the endpoints are Virtual Ethernet Modules (VEMs) configured to support one or more virtual machines (VMs).
12. The logic of claim 9, wherein the discovery packet is provided in a type-length-value (TLV) format and includes an identifier that identifies a segment of the overlay network.
13. The logic of claim 9, wherein the overlay network is a selected one of a group of networks, the group consisting of:
d) a Virtual eXtensible Local Area Network (VXLAN);
e) a Network Virtualization Generic Routing Encapsulation (NV-GRE) network; and
f) a media access control (MAC)-in-MAC network.
14. The logic of claim 9, wherein the overlay network is a multi-tenant VXLAN comprising one or more segments that are identified by a corresponding VXLAN segment identifier (VNI).
15. The logic of claim 9, the operations further comprising:
aggregating the responses into multipoint information; and
displaying the multipoint information.
16. The logic of claim 9, wherein the discovery packet is a selected one of a Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) packet and a Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) packet.
17. An apparatus, comprising:
a debug engine;
a memory for storing instructions; and
a processor operable to execute the instructions such that the apparatus is configured for:
multicasting a discovery packet in an overlay network, which includes a Layer 2 scheme over a Layer 3 network; and
identifying endpoints based on their respective responses to the discovery packet, wherein the endpoints are coupled across a multicast backbone.
18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the apparatus is further configured for:
identifying disconnected endpoints in the overlay network based on a lack of responses from the disconnected endpoints.
19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the apparatus is further configured for:
aggregating the responses into multipoint information; and
displaying the multipoint information
20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the discovery packet is provided in a type-length-value (TLV) format and includes an identifier that identifies a segment of the overlay network.