METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PREDICTIVE CHANGE MANAGEMENT FOR ACCESS PATHS IN NETWORKS

• US 20090313367A1
• Filed: 05/22/2009
• Published: 12/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
• Inventors: Alon, Roee, Scharf, Shai, Yahalom, Raphael, Levy, Assaf
• Granted Patent: US 8,112,510 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0813 characterised by the conditions triggering a change of settings
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0873 Checking configuration conflicts between network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/147 for predicting network behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing

Abstract

Methods and systems for predictive change management in a network are provided. A configuration change can be specified and pre-validated according to the access path policy, before the actual changes are implemented. The conformance of the implemented configuration change with the access path policy is validated after implementation, because of possible consequential effects of the configuration change. If a change in one or more access paths is specified, then associated component events can be simulated before implementation, so that root causes for resulting access path violations can be detected and remedied before the changes are made.

Claims

1. A system for determining the effects of one or more planned change tasks on

an access path policy of a network, comprising:

a management server for;

receiving configuration information from one or more physical network components in the network and constructing a representation of the access paths and access path attributes in the network,

specifying one or more planned change tasks, wherein specifying a planned change task includes at least one of adding, removing and configuring a physical network component, a physical link between network components, a port configuration, or a logical unit number (LUN) mapping,

forecasting the effects of the planned change tasks according to the access path policy of the network, wherein forecasting the effects includes predicting the effects of the changes to the network, and wherein access paths in the network represent end-to-end access relationships between an application on a server and data LUNs stored on storage devices in the network, and wherein the access path policy comprises a set of access paths and access path attributes,

implementing the one or more planned change tasks,

tracking implementation of the one or more changes, and

determining the effects of the implemented changes for conformance with the access path policy, wherein determining the effects includes detecting a nonconformance of the implemented change with the access path policy.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising the management server receiving update messages from the physical network component in the network, wherein the physical network component is selected from the group consisting of storage device, switch and server.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more physical network components are selected from the group consisting of storage device, switch and server

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the access path policy is updated by adding an access path to the policy, deleting an access path from the policy, or changing an attribute of an access path.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the management server specifying a planned change task includes modifying an access path attribute.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the management server forecasting the effects includes detecting a nonconformance of access paths with the access path policy and modifying the planned change task to conform the access paths to the access path policy.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the management server determining the effects includes detecting a nonconformance of the implemented change with the access path policy and determining a root cause of the nonconformance.

8. The system of claim 6, further including a display for visualizing graphically or textually, or both, a correction of at least one access path to eliminate the root cause.

9. The system of claim 1, further including a display for visualizing graphically or textually, or both, a planned change task, a forecasted change task, an implemented change, or a configuration change, or a combination thereof.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the access path attributes consist of at least one of a number of hops within a valid logical access path, a level of end-to-end redundancy for a valid logical access path, and a number of allocated ports for a valid logical access path.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the root cause is associated with a first event in the event sequence.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the management server generating the event sequence includes determining a relative order of the at least one component event based on semantics of a timestamp, a route for transmission of a timestamp, a multiplicity of messages with different timestamps for an identical event, or a causal relationship between events, or a combination thereof.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the access paths consist of at least one of a number of hops within a valid logical access path, a level of end-to-end redundancy for a valid logical access path, and a number of allocated ports for a valid logical access path.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more physical network components are selected from the group consisting of storage device, switch and server

11. A system for managing an access path change in a network, comprising:

a management server for;

receiving configuration information from one or more physical network components and constructing a representation of the access paths and access path attributes in the network,

specifying a change in an access path policy in the network, wherein specifying a change includes modifying an access path attribute, wherein access paths in the network represent end-to-end access relationships between an application on a server and data (logical units (LUNs) stored on storage devices in the network, and wherein the access path policy comprises a set of access paths and access path attributes,

associating with the specified change at least one component event,

forecasting the effects of the at least one component event by evaluating conformance of the changed access path policy, and

in the event of nonconformance, determining a root cause for the nonconformance, wherein forecasting the effects includes predicting the effects of the changes to the network, and wherein determining the root cause includes determining a logical order and a temporal order of the at least one component event, and generating an event sequence based on the logical and temporal order.