PROVIDING DYNAMIC QUALITY OF SERVICE FOR VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORKS

• US 20090225762A1
• Filed: 03/04/2008
• Published: 09/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amdocs Canadian Managed Services Inc. (Amdocs Ltd.), Amdocs Development Limited (Amdocs Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Bridgewater Systems Corp. (Amdocs Ltd.)
• Inventors: Berry, Michael James, Brooks, David John, DAVIDSON, Andrew Jamie
• Granted Patent: US 7,852,849 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/00 Error detection; Error correction; Monitoring error detection, correction or monitoring in information storage based on relative movement between record carrier and transducer G11B20/18; monitoring, i.e. supervising the progress of recording or reproducing G11B27/36; in static stores G11C29/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4675 Dynamic sharing of VLAN information amongst network nodes configuration of the network or of network elements H04L41/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/808 User-type aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/825 Involving tunnels, e.g. MPLS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products for providing dynamic Quality of Service (QoS) for connections to virtual private networks (VPNs) are provided. The method receives a message from an organization associated with the VPN, wherein the message includes information identifying the VPN connection and information associated with the organization. The method then determines, based on a set of rules defined for the organization, a QoS level to apply to the connection, and applies the determined QoS level to the connection. The QoS applied to the connection corresponds to the organization hosting the VPN and not the QoS associated with a personal or home account QoS that would otherwise be applied to the connection.

Claims

1. A method for providing dynamic quality of service (QoS) for a connection to a virtual private network (VPN), comprising:

(a) receiving a message from an organization associated with the VPN, wherein the message includes information identifying the VPN connection and information associated with the organization;

(b) determining, based on a set of rules defined for the organization, a QoS level to apply to the connection; and

(c) applying the determined QoS level to the connection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of rules includes a rule regulating time periods during which a QoS level alteration is applied to the connection can be adjusted.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of rules includes a rule regulating an upload data transfer rate limit applied to the connection.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of rules includes a rule regulating a download data transfer rate limit applied to the connection.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of rules includes a rule regulating an amount of data that can be transmitted over the connection.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the message further includes the Internet Protocol (IP) address of a client device used to establish the connection.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the IP address is used in step (b) to determine the characteristics of the client device, and wherein said characteristics are used in conjunction with the set of rules to determine the QoS level to be applied to the connection.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the message includes information identifying a user'"'"'s role in the organization, and wherein the user is associated with the connection.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the user'"'"'s role is used in step (b) in conjunction with the set of rules to determine the QoS level to be applied to the connection.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the message includes information identifying a requested QoS level to be applied to the connection.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining includes identifying the policy enforcement point to be used to regulate throughput for the connection.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(d) reporting the QoS level applied to the connection;

(e) determining, based on an additional message from the organization, if the QoS level needs to be adjusted; and

(f) repeating steps (b)-(d) to adjust the previously-applied level when the determining in step (e) determines that the QoS level needs to be adjusted.

13. A system for providing dynamic quality of service (QoS) for a connection to a virtual private network (VPN), comprising:

a listening module configured to receive a message from an organization associated with the VPN, wherein the message includes information identifying the VPN connection and information associated with the organization;

a QoS module configured to determine, based on a set of rules defined for the organization, a QoS level to apply to the connection; and

a network policy control module configured to apply the determined QoS level to the connection.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the set of rules includes a rule regulating time periods during which a QoS level alteration is applied to the connection can be adjusted.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the set of rules includes a rule regulating an upload data transfer rate limit applied to the connection.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the set of rules includes a rule regulating a download data transfer rate limit applied to the connection.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the set of rules includes a rule regulating an amount of data that can be transmitted over the connection.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the message further includes the Internet Protocol (IP) address of a client device used to establish the connection.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the message includes information identifying a requested QoS level to be applied to the connection.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the QoS module identifies the policy enforcement point to be used to regulate throughput for the connection.

21. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for enabling a processor to provide dynamic quality of service (QoS) for a connection to a virtual private network (VPN), comprising:

a listening means for enabling a processor to receive a message from an organization associated with the VPN, wherein the message includes information identifying the VPN connection and information associated with the organization;

a determining means for enabling a processor to determine, based on a set of rules defined for the organization, a QoS level to apply to the connection;

a comparison means for enabling a processor to determine, based on a comparison of the determined QoS level to the current QoS level for the connection, whether the determined QoS level is superior to the current QoS level; and

an application means for enabling a processor to apply the determined QoS level to the connection.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein when the comparison means determines that the current QoS level for the connection is superior to the determined QoS level, the application means does not apply the determined QoS.

23. The computer program product of claim 21, further wherein the set of rules includes a rule regulating time periods during which a QoS level alteration is applied to the connection can be adjusted.

24. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the set of rules includes a rule regulating an upload data transfer rate limit applied to the connection.

25. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the set of rules includes a rule regulating a download data transfer rate limit applied to the connection.

26. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the set of rules includes a rule regulating an amount of data that can be transmitted over the connection.