NETWORK STATE PLATFORM

• US 20090271510A1
• Filed: 04/28/2008
• Published: 10/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Mayfield, Paul G., Goel, Mudit
• Granted Patent: US 8,086,701 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0873 Checking configuration conflicts between network elements

Abstract

A network state platform for managing a network having a number of network nodes is disclosed. A user provides a policy layer a high level instruction indicative of the desired network performance. The policy layer parses the high level instruction to generate a number of configuration instructions for the network nodes. The network nodes provide data logs of their activity to a data layer that collates the logs into a single entry that is stored, and can be accessed by an observation layer. External applications interface with the observation layer to access the stored data and use this information to generate requests to change portions of the network configuration. These requests are provided to a control layer that converts the requests from the applications to a high level instruction that is then provided to the policy layer to implement.

Claims

1. A method of configuring a plurality of network nodes, the network nodes including at least two different types of network nodes, comprising:

receiving data indicative of a desired performance of a network including the plurality of network nodes;

converting the data into at least two separate configuration instructions, each of the configuration instructions associated with one of the plurality of network nodes;

transmitting the configuration instructions to the associated plurality of network nodes;

configuring the plurality of network nodes based upon the configuration instructions;

receiving data logs from each of the plurality of network nodes; and

storing the data logs in an network state database.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

reading at least a portion of the data logs from the network state database at an observation layer; and

providing the portion of the data logs to at least one application.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

receiving at the observation layer information from the at least one application, the information including a request to reconfigure the performance of the plurality of network nodes;

processing the request at a control layer to generate data indicative of a desired reconfigured performance of the plurality of network nodes; and

converting, at the policy layer, the reconfiguration data into configuration instructions for at least one of the plurality of network nodes.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

determining at the control layer if two or more of the requests contain conflicting requests; and

resolving the conflicting requests through a logic module disposed on the control layer.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein when the control layer cannot resolve the conflicting requests:

sending an indication to a network administrator that there are conflicting requests;

receiving a resolution from the network administrator, the resolution indicating how to resolve the conflict; and

generating the instruction incorporating the indicated resolution.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein when the control layer cannot resolve the conflicting requests, the control layer removes the conflicting requests from the generated instruction.

7. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

generating, at the observation layer, requests to change the state of the network independent from the plurality of applications connected to the observation layer; and

passing the requests to the control layer along with requests received from the plurality of applications.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

collating data in each of the data logs into a single entry, wherein a single entry represents activity of a user across the plurality of network nodes.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

modifying output in the data logs for some of the plurality of network nodes to include data that allows for the data in the data log to be collated with data in other data logs from others of the plurality of network nodes.

10. A network state management system comprising:

a plurality of network nodes, the network nodes providing various network services;

a policy layer configured to convert a received instruction into a plurality of configuration instructions, each configuration instruction associated with one of the plurality of network nodes;

a data layer configured to receive data from each of the plurality of network nodes and to store the data on a storage device in a coordinated manner; and

an observation layer configured to read data from the storage device.

11. The network state management system of claim 10 further comprising:

a plurality of applications connected to the observation layer, the plurality of applications configured to request data from the storage device; and

wherein the observation layer is further configured to receive requests for system changes from the plurality of applications.

12. The network state management system of claim 11 further comprising:

a control layer connected to the observation layer and the policy layer, the control layer configured to receive the requests for system changes from the observation layer, and to convert the requests into a single instruction representative of the desired system changes to be provided to the policy layer.

13. The network state management system of claim 12 wherein the control layer is further configured to resolve conflicting requests between two or more requests when converting the requests to the single instruction.

14. The network state management system of claim 13 wherein the control layer is configured to receive an input from a network administrator when the control layer is unable to resolve a conflict between two or more requests.

15. The network state management system of claim 11 wherein the observation layer is configured to generate one or more requests for system changes independent of the plurality of applications.

16. A system for managing a network comprising:

a policy layer configured to receive a high level instruction from a user, the high level instruction indicative of a desired network configuration, the policy layer further configured to generate a plurality of configuration instructions, each of the plurality of configuration instructions associated with a different one of a plurality of network nodes connected to the policy layer;

a data layer configured to receive a plurality of data logs from the plurality of network nodes, each of the plurality of data logs associated with one of the plurality of network nodes, the data logs including data associated with activity by users at each of the plurality of network nodes, the data layer further configured to collate data from the plurality of data logs, such that data associated with a given user is stored in a database on a data storage device as a single entry;

an observation layer configured to read data from the database in response to requests for data from a plurality of applications connected to the observation layer, and configured to receive requests from the plurality of applications; and

a control layer configured to receive the requests from the observation layer and to convert the requests into a single high level instruction to be provided to the policy layer.