Patent ID: 8046456

Claim:
A computing system, comprising: one or more processors; and a manager module that is configured to, when executed by at least one of the processors, and for each of one or more clients: receive configuration information from the client to configure a computer network provided for use by the client, the configuration information indicating interconnections between multiple computing nodes of the provided computer network that include one or more networking devices; automatically configure the provided computer network for the client in accordance with the received configuration information, by: overlaying the provided computer network on a distinct second computer network without physically providing the one or more networking devices, the multiple computing nodes being connected to the second computer network, the overlaying performed to enable multiple communications between the multiple computing nodes to be forwarded over the second computer network without physically providing the one or more networking devices; establishing a connection between the provided computer network and one or more remote computing systems of the client to enable communications between the multiple computing nodes and the one or more remote computing systems; and associating network addresses for the provided computer network with the networking devices to enable one or more routing communications to each be directed to at least one of the networking devices, the routing communications including network routing information for the one or more remote computing systems that is specified in accordance with a network routing protocol and that enables the manager module to update the configuration information for the provided computer network and forward one or more subsequent communications from the multiple computing nodes to the one or more remote computing systems over the established connection in accordance with the updated configuration information; and provide to the client access to the multiple computing nodes of the provided computer network.