SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRANSLATING APPLICATION PROGRAM NETWORK SERVICE REQUESTS INTO ACTIONS AND PERFORMING THOSE ACTIONS THROUGH THE MANAGEMENT AND/OR CONTROL PLANE RESPONSIVE TO PREVIOUSLY DEFINED POLICIES AND PREVIOUS REQUESTS BY THE SAME OR ANOTHER APPLICATION PROGRAM

• US 20110238850A1
• Filed: 06/08/2011
• Published: 09/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Clearinghouse LLC (RPX Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Monga, Indermohan, Schofield, Bruce, Travostino, Franco
• Granted Patent: US 8,943,212 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0226 Mapping or translating multiple network management protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0253 using browsers or web-pages for accessing management information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display

Abstract

Application program network service requests are translated into specific actions that are then performed through the management plane and/or control plane. The translations and resulting actions are responsive to previously defined policies for the communication network, and may further reflect processing of previous service requests by the same or another application program. The amount of resources available for use by a given application program may be predefined based on a globally defined network policy. Each service request obtained from an application program may be translated into multiple actions performed using various specific protocols and/or interfaces provided by either the management plane, the control plane, or both the management and control planes. Reports of network activity, status and/or faults for a requesting application program may be tailored to the requesting program'"'"'s view of the network, and passed directly and exclusively to the requesting program.

Claims

1. An interface operable to interconnect at least one application to a communication network, the communication network having management plane functions, control plane functions and data plane functions, the interface comprising:

virtualization layer logic operable;

to present network information to the at least one application in a form meaningful to the at least one application; and

to translate network service requests from the at least one application into specific actions performable by at least one of the management plane functions and the control plane functions of the communication network; and

at least one set of socket logic operable to support communication by the at least one application over the data plane functions of the communication network.

2. The interface of claim 1, further comprising management and control protocol logic operable to express the specific actions in management plane protocol messages and control plane protocol messages actionable by the management plane functions and the control plane functions of the communication network.

3. The interface of claim 1, wherein the virtualization layer logic is further operable to translate information from at least one of the management plane functions and the control plane functions into network information presented in a form meaningful to the at least one application.

4. The interface of claim 3, wherein the virtualization layer logic is operable to translate at least one of network activity information, network status information, network fault information, network capability information, network capability availability information, and network policy information into the network information meaningful to the at least one application.

5. The interface of claim 1, wherein the virtualization layer logic is operable to present, to each application, network information relevant to that application.

6. The interface of claim 1, wherein the virtualization layer logic is responsive to policy information to forward service requests translated into specific actions performable by at least one of the management plane functions and the control plane functions only when the service requests are consistent with the policy information.

7. The interface of claim 1, wherein the virtualization layer logic maintains per-application state information regarding communication network resource allocation and processes network service requests.

8. The interface of claim 1, wherein the interface is operable to select an appropriate network layer for communication by the at least one application over the data plane functions of the communication network.

9. The interface of claim 1, wherein the interface further comprises at least one processor, and the virtualization layer logic comprises at least one processor-readable medium carrying processor-readable instructions, the instructions being executable by the at least one processor to present the network information to the at least one application and to translate the network service requests from the at least one application into specific actions performable by the management plane functions and the control plane functions of the communication network.

10. The interface of claim 9, wherein the socket logic comprises the at least one processor-readable medium, the medium carrying processor readable instructions executable by the at least one processor to support communication by the at least one application over the data plane functions of the communication network.

11. The interface of claim 2, wherein the management and control protocol logic comprises the at least one processor-readable medium, the medium carrying processor readable instructions executable by the at least one processor to express the specific actions in management plane protocol messages and control plane protocol messages actionable by the management plane functions and the control plane functions of the communication network.

12. The interface of claim 1, wherein:

the communication network has a management plane implementing the management plane functions, a control plane implementing the control plane functions and a data plane implementing the data plane functions;

the virtualization layer logic is operable to translate network service requests from the at least one application into specific actions performable by at least one of the management plane and the control plane of the communication network; and

the at least one set of socket logic is operable to support communication by the at least one application over the data plane of the communication network.

13. A method of operating an interface to interconnect at least one application to a communication network, the communication network having management plane functions, control plane functions and data plane functions, the method comprising:

operating virtualization layer logic;

to present network information to the at least one application in a form meaningful to the at least one application; and

to translate network service requests from the at least one application into specific actions performable by at least one of the management plane functions and the control plane functions of the communication network; and

operating at least one set of socket logic to support communication by the at least one application over the data plane functions of the communication network.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising operating management and control protocol logic to express the specific actions in management plane protocol messages and control plane protocol messages actionable by the management plane functions and the control plane functions of the communication network.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising operating the virtualization layer logic is to translate information from at least one of the management plane functions and the control plane functions into network information presented in a form meaningful to the at least one application.

16. The method of claim 15, comprising operating the virtualization layer logic to translate at least one of network activity information, network status information, network fault information, network capability information, network capability availability information, and network policy information into the network information meaningful to the at least one application.

17. The method of claim 13, comprising operating the virtualization layer logic to present, to each application, network information relevant to that application.

18. The method of claim 13, comprising operating the virtualization layer logic responsive to policy information to forward service requests translated into specific actions performable by at least one of the management plane functions and the control plane functions only when the service requests are consistent with the policy information.

19. The method of claim 13, comprising operating the virtualization layer logic to maintain per-application state information regarding communication network resource allocation and to process network service requests.

20. The method of claim 13, comprising operating the interface to select an appropriate network layer for communication by the at least one application over the data plane functions of the communication network.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein the interface comprises at least one processor, and the virtualization layer logic comprises at least one processor-readable medium carrying processor-readable instructions, the instructions being executable by the at least one processor, the method comprising executing the instructions by the at least one processor to present the network information to the at least one application and to translate the network service requests from the at least one application into specific actions performable by the management plane functions and the control plane functions of the communication network.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the socket logic comprises the at least one processor-readable medium, the medium carrying processor readable instructions executable by the at least one processor, the method comprising executing the instructions by the at least one processor to support communication by the at least one application over the data plane functions of the communication network.

23. The method of claim 14, wherein the management and control protocol logic comprises at least one processor-readable medium, the medium carrying processor readable instructions executable by the at least one processor, the method comprising executing the instructions by the at least one processor to express the specific actions in management plane protocol messages and control plane protocol messages actionable by the management plane functions and the control plane functions of the communication network.

24. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the communication network has a management plane implementing the management plane functions, a control plane implementing the control plane functions and a data plane implementing the data plane functions;

translating network service requests comprises translating network service requests from the at least one application into specific actions performable by at least one of the management plane and the control plane of the communication network; and

supporting communication comprises supporting communication by the at least one application over the data plane of the communication network.