Methods and apparatus to track changes to a network topology

• US 10,210,258 B2
• Filed: 10/23/2017
• Issued: 02/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wang, Heng, Ferro, Robert J., Zhang, Leah L., Figueroa, Luis
• Primary Examiner(s): Chea, Philip J
• Assistant Examiner(s): Khan, Hassan A
• Application Number:
  US15/790,902
• Publication Number:
  US 20180046715A1
• Time in Patent Office: 484 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0869 Validating the configuration within one network element
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/122 of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV]

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to track network topology changes are disclosed. An example apparatus includes machine readable instructions, and a processor to execute the instructions to perform operations. The operations include, in response to a reporting message generated by a software defined controller containing topology change information corresponding to a topology change event scheduled to occur at a future time, store, in a topology database, a pre-validation data record reflecting the occurrence of the topology change event. The pre-validation data record indicates the occurrence is not validated. In addition, a validation seeking message is generated to validate occurrence of the topology change event and is transmitted to a network device to be subject to the topology change event after the future time. In response to a validation message from the network device, a post-validation data record is stored in the topology database.

Claims

1. An apparatus to track a change to a network topology, the apparatus comprising:

memory including machine readable instructions; and

a processor to execute the instructions to perform operations including;

in response to a reporting message generated by a software defined network controller, the reporting message including topology change information corresponding to a topology change event scheduled to occur at a future time, the reporting message also identifying the future time;

storing, in a topology database, a pre-validation data record reflecting the occurrence of the topology change event, the pre-validation data record indicating the occurrence is not validated; and

generating a validation seeking message to validate occurrence of the topology change event, the validation seeking message transmitted to a network device to be subject to the topology change event, the validation seeking message generated at least one of at or after the future time; and

in response to a validation message validating the occurrence of the topology change, storing a post-validation data record in the topology database, the validation message received from the network device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is to create the post-validation data record based on the pre-validation data record.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the validation seeking message includes an address of the network device subject to the topology change event, type information identifying a type of the topology change event, and a status of the topology change event indicating the status of the topology change event.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the post-validation data record is a second post-validation data record and the operations further include determine whether a first post-validation data record corresponding to the network device is stored in the topology database, the pre-validation data record being stored in the topology database based on whether the first post-validation data record is determined to be stored in the topology database.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the topology database includes:

a pre-validation topology database including data records corresponding to topology events that have been validated and topology events that have not been validated, and

a post-validation topology database including data records corresponding to topology events that have been validated but not including data records corresponding to topology events that have not been validated.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the operations further include, when a validation message is not received at the processor within a threshold amount of time, generating a request for updated information about the topology change event, the request for updated information being transmitted to the software defined network controller.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the operations further include:

generating a near real-time, unvalidated representation of the network topology based on a combination of pre-validation data records and post-validation data records; and

generating a validated representation of the network topology based on the post-validation records, the validated representation of the network topology not based on the pre-validation data records.

8. A tangible computer readable medium comprising computer readable instructions which, when executed, cause a computer to at least:

in response to a reporting message generated by a software defined network controller, the reporting message including topology change information corresponding to a topology change event scheduled to occur at a future time, the reporting message also identifying the future time;

store, in a topology database, a pre-validation data record reflecting the occurrence of the topology change event, the pre-validation data record indicating the occurrence is not validated;

generate a validation seeking message to validate occurrence of the topology change event, the validation seeking message transmitted to a network device to be subject to the topology change event, the validation seeking message generated at least one of at or after the future time; and

in response to a validation message validating the occurrence of the topology change, store a post-validation data record in the topology database, the validation message received from the network device.

9. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the validation seeking message includes an address of the network device subject to the topology change event, type information identifying a type of the topology change event, and a status of the topology change event indicating the status of the topology change event.

10. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the post-validation data record is a second post-validation data record, and the instructions further cause the computer to determine whether a first post-validation data record corresponding to the network device is stored in the topology database, the pre-validation data record being stored in the topology database based on whether the first post-validation data record is determined to be stored in the topology database.

11. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the topology database includes:

a pre-validation topology database including data records corresponding to topology events that have been validated and topology events that have not been validated, and

a post-validation topology database including data records corresponding to topology events that have been validated but not including data records corresponding to topology events that have not been validated.

12. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the computer to, when a validation message is not received at the processor within a threshold amount of time, generate a request for updated information about the topology change event, the request for updated information transmitted to the software defined network controller.

13. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the computer to:

generate a near real-time, unvalidated representation of the network topology based on a combination of pre-validation data records and post-validation data records; and

generate a validated representation of the network topology based on the post-validation records, the validated representation of the network topology not based on the pre-validation data records.

14. A method to track changes to a network topology, the method comprising:

based on a reporting message received from a software defined network controller, the reporting message including topology change information corresponding to a topology change event to occur in a network at a future time, and the reporting message also identifying the future time;

storing, by executing an instruction with a processor, a pre-confirmation data record in a topology database, the pre-confirmation data record reflecting the occurrence of the topology change event, the pre-confirmation data record indicating the occurrence of the topology change event is unconfirmed;

generating, at a topology tool of a network management system, a confirmation-seeking message based on the topology change information to confirm the occurrence of the topology change event, the confirmation-seeking message transmitted to a network element to be subject to the topology change event, and the confirmation-seeking message generated at least one of at or after the future time; and

in response to a confirmation message confirming the topology change event has occurred, storing, in the topology database and by executing an instruction with a processor, a post-confirmation data record, the post-confirmation data record reflecting the occurrence of the topology change event in the network and indicating the topology change event has been confirmed.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the confirmation-seeking message includes an address of the network element subject, a type of topology change event, a status of the topology change event, and information indicating a position of the network element within the network topology.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the post-confirmation data record is a second post-confirmation data record, and the method further includes determining whether a first post-confirmation data record corresponding to the network element subject to the topology change event is stored in the topology database.

17. The method of claim 14, the method further including, when a confirmation message is not received at the processor within a threshold amount of time, generating a request for updated information about the topology change event, the request for updated information being transmitted to the software defined network controller.

18. The method of claim 14, the method further including:

generating a near real-time, unconfirmed representation of the network topology based on a combination of pre-confirmation data records and post-confirmation data records; and

generating a confirmed representation of the network topology based on the post-confirmation records, the confirmed representation of the network topology not based on the pre-confirmation data records.