METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SIMPLIFIED NETWORK WIDE TRAFFIC AND/OR FLOW MONITORING IN A DATA NETWORK

• US 20110010449A1
• Filed: 09/16/2010
• Published: 01/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Yadav, Navindra, Murthy, Shree, Andrews, Robert, Pandian, Gnanaprakasam
• Granted Patent: US 8,542,681 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• 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 12/4695 VTP [VLAN trunking protocol]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events

Abstract

Method and system for providing dynamic network data traffic monitoring including monitoring a data network, detecting a change in the data network, initiating a span session based on the detected change in the data network, and dynamically modifying network configuration based on the detected change in the data network is disclosed.

Claims

1. A method of providing dynamic network data traffic monitoring, comprising:

transmitting a request to access a data network;

receiving information associated with a virtual LAN (VLAN) allocated for a Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) session corresponding to the data network access request, the VLAN allocated for the SPAN session coupling a source to be monitored and a destination that performs monitoring and enabling the source to send a copy of traffic to the destination in the SPAN session, wherein the allocated VLAN carries the copy of the traffic sent to the destination in the SPAN session; and

accessing the data network.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein step of receiving information associated with the VLAN includes the step of receiving a SPAN source information and a SPAN destination information.

3. The method of claim 2 further including the step of storing the SPAN source information and the SPAN destination information.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of accessing the data network includes the step of receiving information associated with a VLAN trunking protocol (VTP) configuration for the SPAN session.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

configuring the VLAN as a remote SPAN (RSPAN) to VTP.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the VLAN is automatically allocated for the SPAN session.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

enabling a SPAN tunneling in the data network for the SPAN source and destination.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the enabling the SPAN tunneling includes:

informing a tunnel source end-point and a tunnel destination end-point of the VLAN.

9. A system comprising:

a network device coupled to a data network;

a controller unit coupled to the data network, the controller unit configured to;

initiate a Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) session for monitoring a client terminal coupled to the network device, the SPAN session coupling the network device to a destination that performs monitoring;

automatically allocating a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) for the SPAN session;

enable the network device to send a copy of traffic to and from the client terminal to the allocated VLAN

configure the data network to deliver the copy of traffic on the allocated VLAN to the destination that performs monitoring.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the controller unit includes a memory, and the controller is further configured to store SPAN source and SPAN destination information in the memory.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the controller unit is further configured to utilize a VLAN trunking protocol (VTP) to configure the data network to deliver the copy of traffic to the destination that performs monitoring.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the controller unit is further configured to configure the allocated VLAN as a remote SPAN (RSPAN) to VTP.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein the controller unit is further configured to enable a SPAN tunneling in the data network for the network device and the destination that performs monitoring.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the controller unit is further configured to inform a tunnel source end-point and a tunnel destination end-point of the VLAN.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the tunnel source end-point is the network device.