PRIORITIZING NETWORK TRAFFIC

• US 20090122699A1
• Filed: 11/08/2007
• Published: 05/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: McAfee, LLC
• Original Assignee: Secure Computing Corporation (McAfee, LLC)
• Inventors: Krasser, Sven, Alperovitch, Dmitri, Schneck, Phyllis Adele, Judge, Paul, Greve, Paula
• Granted Patent: US 8,045,458 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2458 Modification of priorities while in transit
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames

Abstract

Methods and systems for operation upon one or more data processors for prioritizing transmission among a plurality of data streams based upon a classification associated with the data packets associated with each of the plurality of data streams, respectively. Systems and methods can operate to allocate bandwidth to priority data streams first and recursively allocate remaining bandwidth to lesser priority data streams based upon the priority associated with those respective lesser priority data streams.

Claims

1. A computer implemented network traffic prioritization method comprising the steps of:

receiving a plurality of network traffic streams, the network traffic streams comprising data communicated between sender devices and recipient devices;

parsing the network traffic streams based upon one or more transmission protocol associated with the network traffic streams, the parsing being operable to identify data packets respectively associated with the traffic streams;

applying a plurality of tests to the data packets, each of the plurality of tests being operable to test the data packets for a classification characteristic;

generating a results array comprising results from each of the classification characteristics identified by the plurality of tests;

classifying each of the data packets into one or more classifications from a plurality of classifications based upon the results array; and

prioritizing the traffic streams associated with the data packets based upon a prioritization scheme, the prioritization scheme being based on the one or more classifications associated with the data packet.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a throttling command wherein the throttling command is operable to specify a prioritization scheme in response to an emergency; and

wherein the prioritization of the traffic streams is based upon receiving the throttling command.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising dropping packets associated with a specified classification based on the throttling command.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising delaying the delaying data packets associated with the traffic based on the throttling command.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of classifications comprise one or more categories of content type, traffic behavior, and risk exposure.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of classifications comprises low priority traffic and high priority traffic.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein classifying comprises comparing the results array to one or more classification arrays, and wherein the one or more classification arrays are characteristic of an associated classification of traffic.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

deriving reputations associated with a plurality of originating or destination entities associated with the network traffic streams; and

prioritizing the network traffic streams based upon a reputation of the associated originating or destination entity.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a prioritization instruction, the prioritization instruction comprising a request to prioritize a specific classification of traffic; and

prioritizing traffic based on the prioritizing instruction.

10. A computer implemented traffic prioritization method comprising:

receiving a plurality of data packets associated with a plurality of data streams;

identifying a source and a destination associated with the plurality of data packets;

classifying the data stream based upon similarities to a plurality of classified types of data streams; and

prioritizing transmission of the data packets based upon a classification associated with each of the data streams.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein prioritizing the transmission of the data packets comprises ensuring a connection specific classifications of data streams, while transmission of other classifications of data streams is based upon dynamic policy and network bandwidth available after transmission of the specific classification of data streams.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein prioritizing the transmission of the data packets comprises:

recursively allocating network bandwidth to each of the plurality of data streams based upon a prioritization policy specifying a hierarchy associated with each of the classification types until no bandwidth remains;

identifying a prioritization policy, the prioritization policy comprising a prioritization of each of a plurality of classification types.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein prioritizing the transmission of the data packets comprises:

identifying a prioritization policy, the prioritization policy specifying a prioritization of each of a plurality of classification types; and

transmitting the data streams based upon the prioritization policy.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining a reputation associated with the source or the destination;

prioritizing transmission of the data packets based upon the reputation associated with the source or destination;

wherein identifying the source or the destination comprises parsing a received data packet to identify a source address or a destination address associated with the received data packet.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

transmitting the data packets based upon prioritization of the data streams.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein determining a reputation associated with the source or the destination comprises retrieving a reputation from a reputation server.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein classifying the data stream comprises:

applying a plurality of tests to one or more of the plurality of data packets associated with the data stream to generate a results array, wherein the plurality of tests comprise testing for characteristics associated with the one or more of the plurality of data packets;

comparing the results array associated with the data stream to a plurality of characteristic arrays, each of the plurality of characteristic arrays being associated with a characteristic type of data stream; and

classifying the data stream based upon the comparison.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein classifying the data stream based upon the comparison comprises classifying the data stream based upon determining a substantial similarity between the results array and one or more of the plurality of characteristic arrays, said one or more of the plurality of characteristic arrays defining the classification associated with the data stream.

19. The method of claim 10, further comprising blocking or de-prioritizing a data stream based upon the classification

20. A prioritization system comprising:

a classification module operable to receive a plurality of data packets associated with a plurality of data streams, the classification module operable to classify each of the plurality of data streams into one or more of a plurality of classifications;

a prioritization module operable to prioritize transmission of the plurality of data packets based upon a prioritization scheme, the prioritization scheme comprising a prioritization of each of the plurality of classifications, wherein the application of the prioritization scheme is operable to identify one or more priority data streams; and

a communications interface operable to allocate bandwidth to the one or more priority data streams before allocation of any remaining bandwidth to remaining data streams.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the prioritization module is operable to ensure specific classifications of data streams are allocated network bandwidth prior to the allocation of any remaining bandwidth to other data streams.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the communications interface is operable to ensure transmission of priority streams by delaying the transmission of the remaining data streams.

23. The system of claim 20, further comprising a delay module operable to delay one or more of the plurality of data packets based upon the prioritization scheme.

24. A prioritization system comprising:

a classification module operable to receive a plurality of data packets associated with a plurality of data streams, the classification module operable to classify each of the plurality of data streams into one or more of a plurality of classifications;

a prioritization module operable to prioritize transmission of the plurality of data packets based upon a prioritization scheme, the prioritization scheme comprising a prioritization of each of the plurality of classifications, wherein the application of the prioritization scheme is operable to identify one or more priority data streams, and to allocate bandwidth to the one or more priority data streams before allocation of any remaining bandwidth to any remaining data streams; and

a communications interface operable to communicate data packets responsive to the prioritization module, the communication interface being further operable to receive the prioritization scheme and updates to the prioritization scheme from a management system.

25. A prioritization system comprising:

a stream identifier module operable to receive a plurality of data packets associated with a plurality of data streams, the stream identifier module operable to identify each of the plurality of data packets into the plurality of data streams;

a prioritization module operable to prioritize transmission of a particular group of data packets based upon receipt of a prioritization code, the prioritization code comprising an identification of a priority data stream; and

a communications interface operable to allocate bandwidth to the priority data stream before allocation of any remaining bandwidth to remaining data streams.