Patent ID: 9686237
Date: 2017-06-20
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A method of managing a network that includes a security blade server, wherein the security blade server is one of a plurality of network devices that are virtualized by a controller based on a software defined environment, the method comprising: mapping, by the controller, the plurality of network devices into different virtual networks; maintaining, at the controller, an address list of the plurality of network devices; executing an application to concurrently program the security blade server and another security blade server, using a single application program interface (API) at the controller to concurrently configure the security blade server and the other security blade server to perform a security operation; using the API at the controller to virtually position the security blade server as a bridge in a channel of network traffic between at least two of the plurality of network devices, wherein the security blade server is virtually positioned by the controller without reconfiguring at least one of a router and a network switch in the network; encapsulating a data packet of the network traffic with an address associated with the security blade server; and performing the security operation on the network traffic using the security blade server.