Communications network traffic monitor system

• US 20030179705A1
• Filed: 03/18/2003
• Published: 09/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Kojima, Tomoaki
• Granted Patent: US 7,719,990 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/11 Identifying congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/254 Centralised controller, i.e. arbitration or scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/50 Overload detection or protection within a single switching element

Abstract

First to N-th circuit interface units 104₁ to 104_N corresponding to first to N-th circuits 103₁ to 103_N include an input traffic counter unit 114₁, etc. and an output traffic counter unit 115₁, etc. for counting the traffic of input and output. A traffic counter monitor block 123 in a control unit 105 specifies an input traffic counter unit 114 and an output traffic counter unit 115 of two circuits 103 through a switch unit 102 in a specific packet flow, and periodically obtains the count values, based on which the utilization rate, the discard rate, etc. of the corresponding circuit 103 are obtained to monitor the traffic. This makes it possible to monitor packet signal traffic when a plurality of circuits are to be switched without capturing each packet signal.

Claims

1. A traffic monitor system for monitoring traffic in a communications network, comprising:

a plurality of circuit interface units, each being associated with a respective pair of input and outputs for a packet signal;

a switch unit for connecting a packet signal input into a first of said circuit interface units to a second of said circuit interface units;

each of said circuit interface units having an input traffic count unit for counting input packet signals and an output traffic count unit for counting output packet signals and an input and output circuit designation unit for designating a packet flow to be monitored;

an input traffic counter collection unit for periodically obtaining a count value from said input traffic count unit in the packet flow designated by said input and output circuit designation unit;

an output traffic counter collection unit for periodically obtaining a count value from said output traffic count unit in the packet flow designated by said input and output circuit designation unit; and

a monitor data storage unit for storing each count value obtained by said input traffic counter collection unit and output traffic counter collection unit.

4. The traffic monitor system, as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

said input and output circuit designation unit designates a packet flow to be monitored by selecting the flow from among all packet flows.

7. The traffic monitor system, as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

said input and output circuit designation unit designates a packet flow to be monitored by sequentially and divisionally selecting the flow to be monitored from among all packet flows.

10. The traffic monitor system, as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a circuit utilization rate computation unit for computing a utilization rate of the packet flow being monitored using an input count value or an output count value stored in said monitor data storage unit.

2. A traffic monitor system for monitoring traffic in a communications network, comprising:

a plurality of circuit interface units, each being associated with a respective pair of input and outputs for a packet signal;

a switch unit for connecting a packet signal input into a first of said circuit interface units to a second of said circuit interface units;

each of said circuit interface units having an input discard traffic count unit for counting input packet signals that have been discarded and an output discard traffic count unit for counting output packet signals that have been discarded and an input and output circuit designation unit for designating a packet flow to be monitored;

an input discard traffic counter collection unit for periodically obtaining a count value from said input discard traffic count unit in the packet flow designated by said input and output circuit designation unit;

an output discard traffic counter collection unit for periodically obtaining a count value from said output discard traffic count unit in the packet flow designated by said input and output circuit designation unit; and

a monitor data storage unit for storing each count value obtained by said input discard traffic counter collection unit and output discard traffic counter collection unit.

5. The traffic monitor system, as claimed in claim 2, wherein:

said input and output circuit designation unit designates a packet flow to be monitored by selecting the flow from among all packet flows.

8. The traffic monitor system, as claimed in claim 2, wherein:

said input and output circuit designation unit designates a packet flow to be monitored by sequentially and divisionally selecting the flow to be monitored from among all packet flows.

12. The traffic monitor system, as claimed in claim 2, further comprising a circuit discard rate computation unit for computing a discard rate of the packet flow being monitored using an input discard count value or an output discard count value stored in said monitor data storage unit.

3. A traffic monitor system for monitoring traffic in a communications network, comprising:

a plurality of circuit interface units, each being associated with a respective pair of input and outputs for a packet signal;

a switch unit for connecting a packet signal input into a first of said circuit interface units to a second of said circuit interface units;

each of said circuit interface units having an input traffic count unit for counting input packet signals and an output traffic count unit for counting output packet signals and each of said circuit interface units having an input discard traffic count unit for counting input packet signals that have been discarded and an output discard traffic count unit for counting output packet signals that have been discarded and an input and output circuit designation unit for designating a packet flow to be monitored;

an input traffic counter collection unit for periodically obtaining a count value from said input traffic count unit in the packet flow designated by said input and output circuit designation unit;

an output traffic counter collection unit for periodically obtaining a count value from said output traffic count unit in the packet flow designated by said input and output circuit designation unit;

an input discard traffic counter collection unit for periodically obtaining a count value from said input discard traffic count unit in the packet flow designated by said input and output circuit designation unit;

an output discard traffic counter collection unit for periodically obtaining a count value from said output discard traffic count unit in the packet flow designated by said input and output circuit designation unit; and

a monitor data storage unit for storing each count value obtained by said input traffic counter collection unit and output traffic counter collection unit, and each count value obtained by said input discard traffic counter collection unit and output discard traffic counter collection unit.

6. The traffic monitor system, as claimed in claim 3, wherein:

said input and output circuit designation unit designates a packet flow to be monitored by selecting the flow from among all packet flows.

9. The traffic monitor system, as claimed in claim 3, wherein:

said input and output circuit designation unit designates a packet flow to be monitored by sequentially and divisionally selecting the flow to be monitored from among all packet flows.

11. The traffic monitor system, as claimed in claim 3, further comprising a circuit utilization rate computation unit for computing a utilization rate of the packet flow being monitored using an input count value or an output count value stored in said monitor data storage unit.

13. The traffic monitor system, as claimed in claim 3, further comprising a circuit discard rate computation unit for computing a discard rate of the packet flow being monitored using an input discard count value or an output discard count value stored in said monitor data storage unit.