Methods and systems for business intent driven policy based network traffic characterization, monitoring and control

• US 10,374,871 B2
• Filed: 09/16/2015
• Issued: 08/06/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Palo Alto Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cloudgenix, Inc. (Palo Alto Networks Incorporated)
• Inventors: Ramachandran, Kumar, Anand, Venkataraman, Yadav, Navneet, Ramasamy, Arivu, Edwards, Aaron, Reddy, Gopal, Sagar, Vijay, Valentini, Giorgio
• Primary Examiner(s): Truong, Lan Dai T
• Application Number:
  US14/855,747
• Publication Number:
  US 20160080250A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,420 Days
• Field of Search: 709226, 709202, 709246, 709203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/18 for evaluating statistical data , e.g. average values, frequency distributions, probability functions, regression analysis forecasting specially adapted for a specific administrative, business or logistic context G06Q10/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0668 by dynamic selection of recovery network elements, e.g. replacement by the most appropriate element after failure
• 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]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/14 Network analysis or design
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/34 Signalling channels for network management communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/062 related to network traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/065 related to network devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0864 Round trip delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/125 : based on throughput or bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 : Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/28 : using route fault recovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/302 : Route determination based on requested QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 : Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/38 : Flow based routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 : by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/22 : Traffic shaping
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 : Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 : by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/781 : Centralised allocation of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/825 : Involving tunnels, e.g. MPLS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2503 : Translation of Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 : using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4523 : using lightweight directory access protocol [LDAP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/061 : for key exchange, e.g. in peer-to-peer networks cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key agreement H04L9/0838
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 : Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 : specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 : Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 : for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/04 : Large scale networks; Deep hierarchical networks

Abstract

A method includes determining a network requirement for at least one application, dynamically determining a link suitable for data transmission in accordance with a policy based at least in part on a current network condition to meet the network requirement and routing one or more application network data flows associated with the at least one application over the link.

Claims

1. A hardware networked branch device configured to:

designate each of a plurality of network traffic flows as belonging to a selected remotely located application if a network traffic flow is to or from a traffic source that initially accesses the selected application via an anchor domain of the selected application and if that network traffic flow occurs within a predetermined time period from an identified corresponding time of the initial access by that traffic source;

check, at a predetermined interval, a status of each of a plurality of network paths associated with the designated plurality of network traffic flows, wherein each of the plurality of network paths is to or from the traffic source via the networked branch device;

determine a corresponding status of each of the plurality of network paths and rate each determined corresponding status with respect to the others, wherein each corresponding status rating is based at least in part on at least one of a determined network latency and a determined application level transaction latency;

monitor any subsequent data flow of the selected application to or from the traffic source via the networked branch device;

and

utilize the ratings to route any subsequent data flow of the selected application on the network.

2. The hardware networked branch device of claim 1, wherein control of a data transfer over the network is at least one of application based and policy based.

3. The hardware networked branch device of claim 1, further configured to apply time-based application domain classification and mapping.

4. The hardware networked branch device of claim 1, wherein the network comprises connectivity selected from a group including hybrid, physical, and logical.

5. The hardware networked branch device of claim 1, further configured to analyze the selected application on a per session basis.

6. The hardware networked branch device of claim 1, wherein the selected application is a data center application.

7. The hardware networked branch device of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of network traffic flows has an associated policy string expressed in a standardized format.

8. The hardware networked branch device of claim 1, wherein the routing is based, at least in part, on a dynamic and automated QoS (Quality of Service) definition.