Methods and apparatus to track changes to a network topology

• US 10,733,245 B2
• Filed: 01/03/2019
• Issued: 08/04/2020
• 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:
  US16/239,254
• Publication Number:
  US 20190138559A1
• Time in Patent Office: 579 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 topology tool to track a change to a network topology includes a message processor to, in response to a reporting message generated by a software defined network controller, identify a unique identifier (UID) associated with a network element to be subject to a topology change event, where the reporting message including topology change information corresponding to the topology change event scheduled to occur at a future time. A database search tool is to search a first topology database for a first post-confirmation data record corresponding to the UID and in response to the first post-confirmation data record missing from the first topology database, search a second topology database for a first pre-confirmation data record corresponding to the UID. A database controller is to generate a second pre-confirmation data record in response to the first pre-confirmation data record missing from the second topology database.

Claims

1. A topology tool to track a change to a network topology, the topology tool comprising:

a message processor to, in response to a reporting message generated by a software defined network controller, identify a unique identifier (UID) associated with a network element to be subject to a topology change event, the reporting message including topology change information corresponding to the topology change event scheduled to occur at a future time;

a database search tool to;

search a first topology database for a first post-confirmation data record corresponding to the UID;

in response to the first post-confirmation data record missing from the first topology database, search a second topology database for a first pre-confirmation data record corresponding to the UID;

a database controller to generate a second pre-confirmation data record in response to the first pre-confirmation data record missing from the second topology database; and

a message generator to generate a confirmation-seeking message to confirm occurrence of the topology change event after the first pre-confirmation data record is stored in the second topology database, the message generator to generate the confirmation-seeking message by sending a loopback address of the network element subject to the topology change event, a type of the topology change event, a status of the topology change event, and information indicating a position of the network element within the network topology.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the database controller is to store the second pre-confirmation data record in the second topology database.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the database controller is to generate a second post-confirmation data record in response to a validation message responsive to the confirmation-seeking message.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the database controller is to store the second post-confirmation data record in the first topology database in response to the validation message.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the database controller is to delete the second pre-confirmation data record from the second topology database after the second post-confirmation data record is stored in the first topology database.

6. A tangible computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to at least:

identify, in response to a reporting message generated by a software defined network controller, a unique identifier (UID) associated with a network element to be subject to a topology change event, the reporting message including topology change information corresponding to the topology change event scheduled to occur at a future time;

search a first topology database for a first post-confirmation data record corresponding to the UID;

in response to the first post-confirmation data record missing from the first topology database, search a second topology database for a first pre-confirmation data record corresponding to the UID;

generate a second pre-confirmation data record in response to the first pre-confirmation data record missing from the second topology database; and

generate a confirmation-seeking message to confirm occurrence of the topology change event after the first pre-confirmation data record is stored in the second topology database by sending a loopback address of the network element subject to the topology change event, a type of the topology change event, a status of the topology change event, and information indicating a position of the network element within a network topology.

7. The computer-readable medium as defined in claim 6, wherein the instructions cause the processor to store the second pre-confirmation data record in the second topology database.

8. The computer-readable medium as defined in claim 6, wherein the instructions cause the processor to generate a second post-confirmation data record in response to a validation message responsive to the confirmation-seeking message.

9. The computer-readable medium as defined in claim 8, wherein the instructions cause the processor to store the second post-confirmation data record in the first topology database in response to the validation message.

10. The computer-readable medium as defined in claim 8, wherein the instructions cause the processor to delete the second pre-confirmation data record from the second topology database after the second post-confirmation data record is stored in the first topology database.

11. A topology tool to track a change to a network topology, the tool comprising:

memory including instructions; and

processor circuitry to execute the instructions to;

identify, in response to a reporting message from a software defined network controller, a unique identifier (UID) associated with a network element to be subject to a topology change event, the reporting message to include topology change information corresponding to the topology change event scheduled to occur at a future time;

search a first topology database for a first post-confirmation data record corresponding to the UID;

search, in response to the first post-confirmation data record missing from the first topology database, a second topology database for a first pre-confirmation data record corresponding to the UID;

generate a second pre-confirmation data record in response to the first pre-confirmation data record missing from the second topology database; and

generate a confirmation-seeking message to confirm occurrence of the topology change event in response to the first pre-confirmation data record being present in the second topology database by sending a loopback address of the network element subject to the topology change event, a type of the topology change event, a status of the topology change event, and information indicative of a position of the network element within the network topology.

12. The tool of claim 11, wherein the processor is to store the second pre-confirmation data record in the second topology database.

13. The tool of claim 11, wherein the processor is to generate a second post-confirmation data record in response to a validation message responsive to the confirmation-seeking message.

14. The tool of claim 13, wherein the processor is to:

cause the second post-confirmation data record to be stored in the first topology database in response to the validation message; and

cause the second pre-confirmation data record to be deleted from the second topology database after the second post-confirmation data record is stored in the first topology database.