Methods, apparatuses and systems enabling a network services provider to deliver application performance management services

• US 20030005112A1
• Filed: 06/28/2001
• Published: 01/02/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Packeteer Incorporated (Gen Digital Inc.)
• Inventors: Krautkremer, Todd Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 6,934,745 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5626 Network management, e.g. Intelligent nets
• 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 41/5032 Generating service level reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/026 using flow identification
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0829 Packet loss
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0852 Delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0864 Round trip delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 Utilisation of link capacity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0888 Throughput
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses and systems enabling a network services provider to deliver application performance management services to its enterprise customers. The invention allows network service providers to extend their service model beyond connectivity-oriented MNS services to more productivity-oriented, managed application services. The present invention, in one embodiment, allows network service providers to offer an application-aware service that provides real-time monitoring, measurement and control of application performance over MNS and other wide-area network services.

Claims

1. A system allowing for centralized, network application performance management services, comprising:

a first network,

a customer site comprising a second network,

an access link between the first network and the second network of the customer site,

a managed network operations center operably connected to the first network, the managed network operations center monitoring the access link between the first network and the second network of the customer site,

and, a bandwidth management device operably connected to the access link;

wherein the bandwidth management device is operable to monitor network traffic on the access link in relation to bandwidth utilization and application performance and transmit data related to the network traffic to the managed network operations center;

wherein the bandwidth management device is operable to control network traffic based on a set of bandwidth management policies; and

,

wherein the managed network operations center is operable to apply to the bandwidth management device a set of bandwidth management policies based on application performance priorities received from an enterprise customer associated with the customer site.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the managed network operations center is operable to manage a plurality of bandwidth management devices across a plurality of enterprise customers, wherein each enterprise customer has associated therewith at least one of the plurality of bandwidth management devices.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the managed network operations center comprises

a device manager server operably connected to the first network to receive data from the bandwidth management device;

and

a network traffic database storing network traffic data corresponding to a plurality of bandwidth management devices across a plurality of business enterprises;

wherein the device manager server is operable to store the data received from the bandwidth management device in the network traffic database.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the managed network operations center further comprises

a data analysis server operable to analyze the network traffic stored in the network traffic database.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the managed network operations center includes functionality allowing for the generation of reports related to application performance and network traffic across the access link.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the data analysis server is operable to generate the reports related to the application performance and network traffic across the access link.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising a routing device at the customer site between the second network and the access link, the routing device operable to route data between the first network and the second network.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the bandwidth management device is located between the routing device and the access link.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein the bandwidth management device is located within the routing device.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the bandwidth management device is located between the access link and the first network.

11. The system of claim 7 wherein the bandwidth management device is located between the access link and the first network.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the managed network operations center is operable to alter the set of bandwidth management policies implemented by the bandwidth management device.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the first network is a wide area computer network.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein the second network is a local area network.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein the bandwidth management device further includes customer portal functionality facilitating interaction between the customer site and the managed network operations center.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising the step of

providing a report detailing application performance and bandwidth utilization levels across the access link.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the providing step comprises providing on-line access to the report.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the bandwidth management device transmits data relating to the profiled network traffic to the managed network operations center.

21. The method of claim 17 wherein the monitoring step comprises the steps of

profiling, with the bandwidth management device, the network traffic across the access link to identify bandwidth consumption of business applications and other applications;

and

receiving from the bandwidth management device data relating to the profiled network traffic.

22. The method of claim 17 wherein step of applying comprises transmitting the set of bandwidth management policies to the bandwidth management device on the access link.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising the step of

authenticating the user, before applying the new set of bandwidth management policies.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein the applying step comprises the steps of

formulating a new set of bandwidth management policies based on the desired change received from the user;

and,

transmitting the new set of bandwidth management policies to the bandwidth management device.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 further comprising a network traffic database storing network traffic data corresponding to a plurality of bandwidth management devices;

and

wherein the device manager server is operable to store in the network traffic database network traffic data received from the bandwidth management devices in association with the corresponding customer sites.

29. The apparatus of claim 28 further comprising a data analysis server operably connected to the network traffic database;

wherein the data analysis server is operable to analyze the network traffic data corresponding to a particular access link and to generate a report characterizing application performance and bandwidth utilization across the access link.

16. A system allowing for centralized, network application performance management services deployed over a computer network to a customer site, comprising:

an access link between the computer network and the customer site,

a managed network operations center operably connected to and monitoring the access link, and

a bandwidth management device operably connected to the access link;

wherein the bandwidth management device is operable to monitor network traffic on the access link in relation to bandwidth utilization and application performance and transmit data related to the network traffic to the managed network operations center;

wherein the bandwidth management device is operable to control network traffic based on a set of bandwidth management policies; and

,

wherein the managed network operations center is operable to receive application performance priorities from the customer site and apply a set of bandwidth management policies based on the priorities to the bandwidth management device.

17. A method allowing for centralized application performance management services at a managed network operations center to at least one customer site associated with an enterprise customer, wherein the customer site is operably connected to a first network via an access link, the method comprising the steps of:

deploying a bandwidth management device on the access link;

wherein the bandwidth management device is operable to transmit data to and receive data from the managed network operations center;

profiling with the bandwidth management device(s) the network traffic across the access link to identify bandwidth consumption of applications;

receiving from the enterprise customer a prioritization of applications based on the profiled network traffic;

applying a set of bandwidth management policies for controlling network traffic based on the prioritization received from the enterprise customer; and

monitoring, at a managed network operations center, application performance to access compliance with the prioritization received from the enterprise customer.

23. A method enabling centralized application performance management services, wherein the services are provided by a managed network operations center operably connected to a first network, and wherein the services are provided to at least one customer site connected to the first network via a transmission link, the transmission link including a bandwidth management device operable to monitor network traffic in relation to bandwidth utilization and application performance and transmit data related to the network traffic to the managed network operations center;

wherein the bandwidth management device is operable to control network traffic across the transmission link based on a set of bandwidth management policies, the method comprising the steps of;

receiving, at the managed network operations center, a request to change a policy for a customer site;

applying a new set of bandwidth management policies based on the requested change.

26. A method facilitating centralized application performance management services, the services provided by a managed network operations center to a customer site, wherein the customer site is operably connected to a first network through an access link, and wherein a bandwidth management device is operably connected to the access link to monitor and collect network traffic across the access link, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving, at the managed network operations center, data relating to network traffic collected by the bandwidth management device;

analyzing the data to characterize the network traffic across the access link;

generating a report detailing at least one aspect of the network traffic across the access link; and

delivering the report to the customer site.

27. An apparatus enabling the provision of centralized application performance management services to a plurality of enterprises, comprising

a plurality of bandwidth management devices each corresponding to a customer site;

a device manager server operably connected to the bandwidth management devices;

wherein the bandwidth management devices are operable to monitor network traffic on respective access links between the customer sites and a wide area network in relation to bandwidth utilization and application performance and transmit data related to the network traffic to the device manager server;

wherein the bandwidth management devices are further operable to control network traffic across the access links based on bandwidth management policies; and

,

wherein the device manager server is operable to receive application performance priorities for access links corresponding to customer sites and apply a set of bandwidth management policies implementing the priorities to corresponding bandwidth management devices.

30. A system allowing for centralized, network application performance management services, comprising:

a first network,

at least one customer site associated with an enterprise customer, the customer site comprising a second network and a routing device,

an access link between the first network and the routing device of the customer site,

wherein the routing device is operably connected to the second computer network to route data between the first network and the second network,

a managed network operations center operably connected to the first network, the managed network operations center monitoring the access link between the first network and the second network of the customer site,

and, a bandwidth management device operably connected to the access link;

wherein the bandwidth management device is operable to monitor network traffic on the access link in relation to bandwidth utilization and application performance and transmit data related to the network traffic to the managed network operations center;

wherein the bandwidth management device is operable to control network traffic based on a set of bandwidth management policies; and

,

wherein the managed network operations center is operable to apply to the bandwidth management device a set of bandwidth management policies based on application performance priorities received from an enterprise customer associated with the customer site; and

wherein the managed network operations center is operable to manage a plurality of bandwidth management devices across a plurality of enterprise customers, wherein each enterprise customer has associated therewith at least one of the plurality of bandwidth management devices.