Supporting network self-healing and optimization

• US 20070274337A1
• Filed: 02/06/2007
• Published: 11/29/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Purpura, William
• Granted Patent: US 7,969,879 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/465
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/00 Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
• 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

Abstract

A method of managing a network includes configuring nodes and applications of the network to refer to the same framework of predefined network capabilities. Each of the applications is configured to implement one or more of the capabilities. Each of the applications also is configured to negotiate, as to each of the capabilities, with the nodes to obtain a network resource to support the capabilities. Each node is configured to negotiate, after an application obtains a network resource, with other nodes to optimize network resource allocation. This method provides a framework for application self-healing and network optimization that can improve network performance.

Claims

1. A method of managing a network including a plurality of nodes and a plurality of applications of the nodes, the method comprising:

configuring a plurality of nodes and a plurality of applications of the network to refer to the same framework of predefined network capabilities;

configuring each of the applications to implement one or more of the capabilities;

configuring each of the applications to negotiate, as to each of the one or more capabilities, with the nodes to obtain a network resource to support the one or more capabilities; and

configuring each node to negotiate, after an application obtains a network resource, with other nodes to optimize network resource allocation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring each node to negotiate to optimize network resource allocation comprises configuring each node to negotiate as to each capability with the other nodes.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring each node to negotiate to optimize network resource allocation comprises configuring each node to use modeling of the predefined network capabilities to evaluate resource allocation to each capability.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each node is configured to use the modeling to obtain static and dynamic balance of the resources.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising configuring each node to negotiate as to the capabilities in the same predetermined capability order.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the applications is configured to implement one or more of the capabilities subject to one or more predefined capability-specific performance parameters, and a network resource is obtained to support the one or more capabilities in accordance with one or more of the one or more performance parameters.

7. A network comprising:

a plurality of nodes and a plurality of applications of the nodes, each node and application configured to refer to the same framework of predefined network capabilities;

each application further configured to implement one or more of the capabilities subject to one or more performance parameters predefined for the one or more application capabilities;

each node further configured to;

negotiate, as to each of the capabilities, with other nodes to obtain network resources to support one or more of the capabilities in accordance with one or more of the one or more performance parameters; and

negotiate, as to each capability, with other nodes to optimize network resource allocation after a network resource is obtained to support one or more of the capabilities.

8. The network of claim 7, wherein each node is configured to use modeling of the predefined network capabilities to evaluate resource allocation to each capability.

9. The network of claim 8, wherein each node is configured to use the modeling to obtain static and dynamic balance of the resources.

10. The network of claim 7, wherein each node is configured to evaluate a priority associated with one of the capabilities to optimize the network resource allocation.

11. A network comprising:

a plurality of nodes and a plurality of applications of the nodes, each node and application configured to refer to the same framework of predefined network capabilities;

each application further configured to implement one or more of the capabilities subject to one or more performance parameters predefined for the one or more application capabilities;

each node further configured to;

for each capability, determine a cumulative value of resource allocation to the applications; and

negotiate, for each capability, with other nodes to optimize the cumulative value.

12. The network of claim 11, wherein each node is further configured to modify a functionality level of an application to optimize the cumulative value.

13. The network of claim 11, wherein each node is further configured to modify usage of a resource to optimize the cumulative value.

14. The network of claim 13, wherein the resource is one of bandwidth, storage, processing and an input/output port.

15. The network of claim 11, wherein each application is further configured to negotiate for a change in allocation of a resource to a capability of the application in accordance with the one or more performance parameters.

16. A method of optimizing a network including a plurality of applications, the method comprising:

for each application;

specifying one or more performance parameters for each capability attributed to the application from a predefined set of capabilities; and

for each attributed capability, assigning one or more network resources to the application;

for each capability in the predefined set, determining a cumulative value of resource usage for each network resource assigned to the applications; and

for one capability in the predefined set, modifying a functionality level of one of the performance parameters to optimize the cumulative value.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising using capability-based modeling to determine the cumulative value of resource usage.

18. A method of optimizing a network having a plurality of applications, each application having one or more different capabilities, each capability supported by one or more resources, the method comprising:

identifying one or more performance parameters for each capability;

assigning one or more functionality levels for each capability;

assigning a priority for each resource of each capability;

in a predefined order, selecting a capability across the applications in the network; and

negotiating for a resource with other applications in the network to acquire the resource for the selected capability based on each performance parameter, one of the functionality levels, and a priority corresponding to the resource.