Central policy based traffic management
First Claim
1. A switching node in a data communications network, the switching node comprising:
- an input receiving an inbound packet;
a repository storing a single set of policies for controlling a plurality of different traffic management protocols;
a policy engine coupled to the input and the repository, the policy engine evaluating the packet based on a policy selected from the single set of policies and configuring one or more traffic management protocol entities based on the selected policy; and
a management engine coupled to the repository and the policy engine, the management engine configuring and managing the single set of policies via a common set of commands.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A switching node configuring different traffic management protocols via a single centralized set of policies. The switching node includes a central policy repository, a central policy engine, and a central management engine. The central policy repository stores a single set of policies used to manage a plurality of different traffic management protocols in a consistent and predictable manner. The different traffic management protocols may include QoS, NAT, ACL, and the like. The central policy engine evaluates inbound traffic flows based on the policies in the central policy repository, and configures one or more traffic management protocol entities based on a selected policy. The management engine configures and manages the single set of policies via a common set of commands helping to eliminate the danger of creating conflicting policies that may lead to unpredictable results.
163 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A switching node in a data communications network, the switching node comprising:
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an input receiving an inbound packet;
a repository storing a single set of policies for controlling a plurality of different traffic management protocols;
a policy engine coupled to the input and the repository, the policy engine evaluating the packet based on a policy selected from the single set of policies and configuring one or more traffic management protocol entities based on the selected policy; and
a management engine coupled to the repository and the policy engine, the management engine configuring and managing the single set of policies via a common set of commands. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for policy based traffic management comprising:
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storing in a repository a single set of policies for controlling a plurality of different traffic management protocols;
receiving a first packet;
retrieving a first policy from the repository, the first policy identifying a first action for configuring a traffic management protocol entity of a first protocol type;
configuring the traffic management protocol of the first protocol type based on the first action;
receiving a second packet;
retrieving a second policy from the repository, the second policy identifying a second action for configuring a traffic management protocol entity of a second protocol type; and
configuring the traffic management protocol entity of the second protocol type based on the second action. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for policy based traffic management comprising:
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storing in a repository a single set of policies for controlling a plurality of different traffic management protocols;
receiving a packet;
retrieving a policy from the repository, the policy identifying a first and second action for controlling a first and second traffic management protocol entity, respectively, of a first and second protocol type, respectively;
configuring the first traffic management protocol entity based on the first action; and
configuring the second traffic management protocol entity based on the second action. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method for policy based traffic management comprising:
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storing in a repository a single set of policies for controlling a plurality of different traffic management protocols;
receiving a packet;
searching a policy cache for a policy applicable to the packet;
searching the repository if the policy cache does not include an applicable policy; and
generating and storing a new policy in the policy cache, wherein if the new policy is selected as applicable to a future packet, no policies are stored in the repository that are also applicable to the future packet but are different from the new policy. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
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Specification