MEASURING NETWORK TRAFFIC BASED ON PREDICTED AMOUNT OF PADDING

• US 20110032841A1
• Filed: 10/18/2010
• Published: 02/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Juniper Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: GREENE, Spencer
• Granted Patent: US 8,521,870 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/253
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/147 for predicting network behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level

Abstract

A system measures traffic in a device. The system tracks an amount of data and the data units and predicts the amount of padding associated with the data units. The system determines the amount of traffic in the device based on the predicted padding, the amount of data, and the number of data units.

Claims

1-38. -38. (canceled)

39. A method comprising:

determining, by a network device, a size of a data unit;

determining, by the network device, a minimum size parameter; and

predicting, by the network device, an amount of padding associated with the data unit based on the size of the data unit and the minimum size parameter.

40. The method of claim 39, where the data unit includes:

a packet; and

where the minimum size parameter includes;

a minimum layer 3 (L3) size parameter.

41. The method of claim 40, where the predicting the amount of the padding, further comprises:

predicting the amount of padding by subtracting the size of the data unit from the minimum L3 size parameter.

42. The method of claim 40, where the minimum size parameter further includes:

an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) cell size parameter, and

where the predicting the amount of the padding, further comprises;

predicting the amount of padding based on the ATM cell size parameter, the size of the data unit, and an ATM adaptation layer 5 (AAL5) header size.

43. The method of claim 40, where the predicting the amount of the padding, further comprises:

calculating a raw pad amount.

44. The method of claim 43, where the calculating the raw pad amount, further comprises:

adding the minimum L3 size parameter to an inverse of the size of the data unit; and

where the predicting the amount of the padding, further comprises;

predicting, when the raw pad amount is a positive value, the amount of the padding to be the raw pad amount; and

predicting, when the raw pad amount is a negative value, the amount of the padding to be 0.

45. The method of claim 44, where the predicting the amount of padding, further comprises:

receiving a signal representing whether the raw pad amount comprises the positive value or the negative value.

46. A system comprising:

a first non-transitory memory to;

store a minimum size parameter;

a second non-transitory memory comprising;

a plurality of entries, each entry to store a pad count; and

at least one computation unit connected to the first non-transitory memory and the second non-transitory memory, the at least one computation unit to;

receive a data unit size value,

predict an amount of padding associated with the data unit based on the data unit size value and the minimum size parameter, and

store the amount of padding in one of the entries of the second non-transitory memory.

47. The system of claim 46, where the minimum size parameter includes:

a layer 3 (L3) minimum size parameter.

48. The system of claim 46, where the first non-transitory memory includes:

a plurality of entries, each entry associated with an entry from the second non-transitory memory, and

where each entry, of the plurality of entries, is to store a minimum size parameter corresponding to a particular packet stream.

49. The system of claim 46, further comprising:

a third non-transitory memory comprising a plurality of entries, each entry associated with an entry of the second non-transitory memory and to store a first value representing an amount of received or transmitted packets; and

a fourth non-transitory memory comprising a plurality of entries, each entry associated with an entry of the second non-transitory memory and to store a data unit count.

50. The system of claim 49, further comprising:

a traffic processing unit to;

retrieve a pad count from an entry of the second non-transitory memory,

retrieve the first value and the data unit count from a corresponding entry in the third and fourth non-transitory memories, and

determine an amount of traffic in the system based on the retrieved pad count, the first value, and the data unit count.

51. The system of claim 46, where the at least one computation unit comprises:

an adder to;

calculate a raw pad amount, and

where the at least one computation unit predicts the amount of padding associated with the data unit based on the raw pad amount.

52. The system of claim 51, where the minimum size parameter includes:

a layer 3 (L3) minimum size parameter,

where the adder is to;

add the minimum L3 size parameter to an inverse of the data unit size value to calculate the raw pad amount, and

where the at least one computation unit predicts, when the raw pad amount comprises a positive value, the amount of padding associated with the data unit to be the raw pad amount and predicts, when the raw pad amount comprises a negative value, the amount of padding associated with the data unit to be 0.

53. A system comprising:

a first non-transitory memory to;

store at least one minimum size parameter;

a second non-transitory memory comprising;

at least one entry, the entry to store a pad count; and

a plurality of computation units connected to the first non-transitory memory and the second non-transitory memory, each of the plurality of computation units being associated with at least one of at least two different communication protocols and the plurality of computation units to;

receive a data unit size value, and

predict an amount of padding associated with the data unit based on the data unit size value and the at least one minimum size parameter.

54. The system of claim 53, where the at least one of the communication protocols includes:

an Ethernet protocol.

55. The system of claim 54, where the at least one of the communication protocols includes:

an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) protocol.

56. The system of claim 53, where one of the plurality of computation units is associated with a first communication protocol and predicts an amount of padding associated with the data unit based on the data unit size value and the a minimum size parameter associated with the first communication protocol, and

where another one of the plurality of computation units is associated with a different communication protocol and predicts an amount of padding associated with the data unit based on the data unit size value and a different minimum size parameter associated with the different communication protocol.

57. The system of claim 55, where the at least one minimum size parameter includes:

an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) cell size parameter, and

where at least one of the plurality of computation units predicts the amount of padding based on the ATM cell size parameter, the size of the data unit, and an ATM adaptation layer 5 (AAL5) header size.

58. The system of claim 53, where the data unit includes:

a packet,

where the at least one minimum size parameter includes;

a minimum layer 3(L3) size parameter, and

where the plurality of computation units predict the amount of padding by subtracting the size of the data unit from the minimum L3 size parameter.