System and method to configure distributed measuring devices and treat measurement data

• US 10,394,759 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2016
• Issued: 08/27/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetScout Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Airmagnet (NetScout Systems Incorporated)
• Inventors: Nordstrom, Ross D., Burbach, Kevin T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Kim T
• Application Number:
  US15/069,736
• Publication Number:
  US 20170262460A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,261 Days
• Field of Search: 714 32
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3006 where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3058 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring environmental properties or parameters of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring of power, currents, temperature, humidity, position, vibrations thermal management in cooling arrangements of a computing system G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3082 the data filtering being achieved by aggregating or compressing the monitored data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3086 where the reporting involves the use of self describing data formats, i.e. metadata, markup languages, human readable formats
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/323 Visualisation of programs or trace data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3409 for performance assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3495 for systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/13 File access structures, e.g. distributed indices arrangements of input from, or output to, record carriers G06F3/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/156 Query results presentation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0631 using root cause analysis; using analysis of correlation between notifications, alarms or events based on decision criteria, e.g. hierarchy, tree or time analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/08 Configuration management of networks or network elements address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A method to configure a measuring device is provided. In other aspects, a server and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium are provided. The method includes receiving a configuration request that specifies configuration criteria for configuring a measuring device to perform a test, wherein the configuration criteria includes configuration instructions, analysis instructions, and visualization instructions, and configuring the measuring device to perform measurements and output measurement data in accordance with the configuration instructions. The method further includes receiving the measurement data output by the measuring device, storing the measurement data received, processing the measurement data stored based on the analysis instructions, and outputting visualization data corresponding to the processed measurement data to a display device based on the visualization instructions.

Claims

1. A server to configure a measuring device, the server comprising:

a memory configured to store instructions;

at least one processing device disposed in communication with the memory, wherein the at least one processor upon execution of the instructions is configured to;

receive a configuration request that specifies configuration criteria for configuring a measuring device to perform a test associated with monitoring a network, the configuration criteria including configuration instructions, analysis instructions, visualization instructions, and pre-analysis instructions specifying statistical aggregation to be performed on measurement data obtained by performing the test prior to storage of the measurement data in a measurement database;

submit the configuration instructions to the measuring device to configure the measuring device to perform at least one of detection and measurements associated with monitoring the network and output measurement data in accordance with the configuration instructions;

receive the measurement data output by the measuring device;

perform pre-analysis processing on the measurement data in accordance with the pre-analysis instructions;

selectively store, as the measurement data, the measurement data received and/or the results of the pre-analysis processing operations;

process the measurement data stored based on the analysis instructions; and

output visualization data corresponding to the processed measurement data to a display device based on the visualization instructions.

2. The server of claim 1, wherein the configuration instructions specify programmable instructions that cause the measuring device to perform operations, the operations including at least one of detecting and measuring characteristics of network traffic and/or network performance and outputting the measurement data in a predetermined format.

3. The server of claim 2, wherein the predetermined format uses a JSON data structure.

4. The server of claim 1, wherein the measuring device is a virtual measuring device.

5. The server of claim 4, wherein the configuration criteria further specify a location of a specified computer network at which to deploy the virtual measuring device, and the at least one processor is further configured to deploy the measuring device at the specified location of the specified computer network.

6. The server of claim 1, wherein the configuration instructions specify a characteristic of information transmitted via a network being monitored, and instruct the measuring device to perform the measurements upon detection of the characteristic.

7. The server of claim 1, wherein the configuration criteria include pre-analysis instructions that specify at least one selected field of the measurement data to process prior to storing the measurement data, and wherein storing the measurement data is restricted to storing the at least one selected field.

8. The server of claim 1, wherein the analysis instructions specify alert conditions associated with at least one of the measurement data and results of processing the measurement data, and the at least one processing device is further configured to generate an alert in response to detection of the alert condition.

9. The server of claim 1, wherein the at least one processing device is configured to:

access a measurement database to store measurement data and results of processing measurement data associated with a plurality of tests associated with a plurality of configuration requests performed by different measuring devices and submitted by different users;

receive an aggregation request that includes an aggregation instruction and an aggregation visualization instruction, the aggregation instruction specifying attributes of measurement data and results of processing measurement data stored in the measurement database to include in the aggregation and analysis operations to perform on the data included in the aggregation, the aggregation visualization instructions specifying which aggregation results to display and how to display the aggregation results;

determine data of the at least one of measurement data and results of processing measurement data to include in the aggregation in accordance with the aggregation instructions;

aggregate the data determined using analysis operations specified in the aggregation instruction; and

output visualization data that corresponds to the data aggregated to a display device in accordance with the visualization instructions.

10. The server of claim 9, wherein the different users can access the measurement database to browse, access, compare, and track measurement data and aggregation results.

11. The server of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to browse, access, activate, update, and add to a database of configuration requests, the database of configuration requests including configuration requests, configuration instructions, analysis instructions, and visualization instructions, and provide a user interface that communicates with a plurality client devices operated by respective users, the user interface providing the users with the ability to select and/or compose a configuration request from the database of configuration requests.

12. A method to configure a measuring device comprising:

receiving a configuration request that specifies configuration criteria for configuring a measuring device to perform a test associated with monitoring a network, the configuration criteria including configuration instructions, analysis instructions, visualization instructions and pre-analysis instructions specifying statistical aggregation to be performed on measurement data obtained by performing the test prior to storage of the measurement data in a measurement database;

submitting the configuration instructions to the measuring device to configure the measuring device to perform at least one of detection and measurements associated with monitoring the network and output measurement data in accordance with the configuration instructions;

receiving the measurement data output by the measuring device;

perform pre-analysis processing on the measurement data in accordance with the pre-analysis instructions;

selectively storing, as the measurement data, the measurement data received and/or the results of the pre-analysis processing operations;

processing the measurement data stored based on the analysis instructions; and

outputting visualization data corresponding to the processed measurement data for display based on the visualization instructions.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the configuration criteria further specify a location of a specified computer network at which to deploy the virtual measuring device, and the method further includes deploying the measuring device at the specified location of the specified computer network.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the configuration instructions specify a characteristic of information transmitted via a network being monitored, and the method further includes instructing the measuring device to perform the measurements upon detection of the characteristic.

15. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

accessing a measurement database to store measurement data and results of processing measurement data associated with a plurality of tests associated with a plurality of configuration requests performed by different measuring devices and submitted by different users;

receiving an aggregation request that includes an aggregation instruction and an aggregation visualization instruction, the aggregation instruction specifying attributes of at least one of measurement data and results of processing measurement data stored in the measurement database to include in the aggregation and analysis operations to perform on the data included in the aggregation, the aggregation visualization instructions specifying which aggregation results to display and how to display the aggregation results;

determining data of the at least one of measurement data and results of processing measurement data to include in the aggregation in accordance with the aggregation instructions;

aggregating the data determined using analysis operations specified in the aggregation instruction; and

outputting visualization data corresponding to the processed measurement data for display based on the visualization instructions.