Updating a virtual network topology based on monitored application data

• US 10,374,900 B2
• Filed: 03/16/2015
• Issued: 08/06/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Inventors: Dujodwala, Yogesh, Gurumallesha, Sunil
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang, Jungwon
• Application Number:
  US15/500,039
• Publication Number:
  US 20170244607A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,604 Days
• Field of Search: 709226, 709238, 709224, 370252, 370235
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/42 Loop networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• 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 41/147 for predicting network behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5025 by proactively reacting to service quality change, e.g. by reconfiguration after service quality degradation or upgrade
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 Utilisation of link capacity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/22 Traffic shaping
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

In some examples, data traffic over a virtual network can be monitored for an application. An existing topology for the virtual network can be updated based on the monitored data. The updated topology can, for example, be determined to better handle predicted data traffic for the application. The topology of the virtual network can then be updated to achieve the determined updated virtual network topology.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a processing resource; and

a memory resource storing non-transitory machine-readable instructions to cause the processing resource to;

determine historical data trends for application data traffic monitored over a virtualized routing infrastructure having a plurality of nodes in a network;

determine an updated virtual network topology for the virtualized routing infrastructure based on the determined historical data trends by identifying that virtual routing paths should be added to the virtualized routing infrastructure to accommodate a predicted increase in traffic load over the virtualized routing infrastructure above a predetermined threshold; and

automatically scale the virtualized routing infrastructure to achieve the determined updated virtual network topology by implementing Link Aggregation (LAG) via a node of the plurality of nodes such that the LAG node determines a link to route a packet downstream on the network, wherein the determination is based on packet metadata of the packet.

2. The system of claim 1, including instructions to cause the processing resource to determine an updated virtual network topology that includes additional virtual routing paths by indicating that a virtual network switch should be added to the virtualized routing infrastructure.

3. The system of claim 1, including instructions to cause the processing resource to determine an updated virtual network topology that includes additional virtual routing paths by indicating that an additional network connection should be added between previously connected network nodes.

4. The system of claim 1, including instructions to cause the processing resource to determine that virtual routing paths should be removed from the virtualized routing infrastructure to accommodate a predicted decrease in traffic load over the virtualized routing infrastructure above a predetermined threshold.

5. The system of claim 1, including instructions to cause the processing resource to determine historical data trends based on network throughput over the virtualized routing infrastructure for application data traffic.

6. The system of claim 1, including instructions to cause the processing resource to determine historical data trends based on network resiliency over the virtualized routing infrastructure for application data traffic.

7. The system of claim 1, including instructions to cause the processing resource to determine an updated network topology for the virtualized routing infrastructure to achieve a predetermined Quality of Service (QoS) for application data traffic over the network.

8. The system of claim 1, including instructions to cause the processing resource to receive data from a monitoring application installed on a network device within the virtualized routing infrastructure to determine historical data trends for application data traffic.

9. The system of claim 1, including instructions to cause the processing resource to receive data via Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to determine historical data trends for application data traffic.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the network is a cloud network and the virtualized routing infrastructure and the application are hosted in the cloud network.

11. A method comprising:

monitoring application data traffic for a predetermined software application routed through a virtual network infrastructure having a plurality of nodes in a network;

determining historical data trends for the monitored application data traffic;

determining, based on the historical data trends, an updated virtual network topology that is to better handle predicted data traffic for the predetermined software application by identifying that virtual routing paths should be added to the virtual network infrastructure to accommodate a predicted increase in traffic load over the virtual network infrastructure above a predetermined threshold; and

automatically scaling the virtual network infrastructure to achieve the determined updated virtual network topology by implementing Link Aggregation (LAG) via a node of the plurality of nodes such that the LAG node determines a link to route a packet downstream on the network, wherein the determination is based on packet metadata of the packet.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the data traffic monitoring is performed by a virtual network switch within the network.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the data traffic monitoring is performed by a hardware network switch within the network.

14. A memory resource storing non-transitory machine-readable instructions that when executed causes a processing resource to implement a virtual network topology updating system, the instructions comprising:

a data traffic monitoring module that, when executed, causes the processing resource to monitor data traffic over a virtual network having a plurality of nodes for a software application;

a historical trend module that, when executed, causes the processing resource to determine historical trends in the monitored data traffic;

a network topology determination module that, when executed, causes the processing resource to determine, based on the determined historical trends, an updated virtual network topology for the virtual network by identifying that virtual routing paths should be added to the virtual network to accommodate a predicted increase in traffic load over the virtual network above a predetermined threshold to improve network performance of the software application; and

a network topology update module that, when executed, causes the processing resource to automatically scale the topology of the virtual network to achieve the determined updated virtual network topology by implementing Link Aggregation (LAG) via a node of the plurality of nodes such that the LAG node determines a link to a packet downstream on the virtual network, wherein the determination is based on packet metadata of the packet.