Network Management

• US 20140098678A1
• Filed: 09/30/2013
• Published: 04/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Laboratories America Inc (NEC Corporation)
• Inventors: Lumezanu, Cristian, Yu, Curtis, Singh, Vishal Kumar, Zhang, Yueping, Jiang, Guofei
• Granted Patent: US 9,253,042 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/248
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/122 of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/00 Reducing energy consumption in communication networks

Abstract

A method implemented in a network apparatus used in a network is disclosed. The method includes sensing network topology and network utilization, receiving a request from an application, deciding path setup requirement using network state information obtained from the network topology and the network utilization, and translating the path setup requirement into a rule to be installed. Other methods, apparatuses, and systems also are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a network apparatus used in a network, the method comprising:

sensing network topology and network utilization;

receiving a request from an application;

deciding path setup requirement using network state information obtained from the network topology and the network utilization; and

translating the path setup requirement into a rule to be installed.

2. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

deciding monitoring requirement using network state information obtained from the network topology and the network utilization.

3. The method as in claim 1, wherein the network comprises a software defined network or an OpenFlow network.

4. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining a network map by network sensing; and

using the network map to decide said at least one of path setup requirement and monitoring requirement.

5. The method as in claim 1, wherein the sensing of the network topology comprises:

inferring physical network topology by sending a Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) packet from each switch; and

examining an existing rule installed on each switch.

6. The method as in claim 1, wherein the sensing of the network utilization comprises:

polling a utilization counter on each switch.

7. The method as in claim 1, wherein the sensing of the network utilization comprises:

capturing a message triggered by a switch on flow entry expiration.

8. The method as in claim 1, wherein the decision of said at least one of path setup requirement and monitoring requirement comprises:

detecting where on the network endpoints are located;

finding a current path between a pair of endpoints specified by the application;

monitoring the current path between the pair of endpoints in case the application requests path monitoring;

finding, between the pair of endpoints, a path that satisfies the request received from the application; and

making the path setup requirement,

wherein the path setup requirement comprises a list of switches that traffic between the pair of endpoints traverses.

9. The method as in claim 8, wherein the translation of the path setup requirement comprises:

reading the pair of endpoints and the list of switches;

in case the request is for path setup,

generating the rule, wherein the rule matches the traffic between the pair of endpoints,

finding a node to associate the rule with, and

associate the rule with the node; and

in case the request is for path delete,

finding an existing rule, wherein the rule matches the traffic between the pair of endpoints,

marking the existing rule inactive.

10. The method as in claim 9, wherein the translation of the path setup requirement further comprises:

aggregating the rule.

11. The method as in claim 9, wherein the translation of the path setup requirement further comprises:

splitting the rule.

12. The method as in claim 8, wherein the translation of the path setup requirement comprises:

installing a rule on a switch.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program causing a computer to execute a process including:

sensing network topology and network utilization;

receiving a request from an application;

deciding path setup requirement using network state information obtained from the network topology and the network utilization; and

translating the path setup requirement into a rule to be installed.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium as in claim 13, the process further including:

deciding monitoring requirement using network state information obtained from the network topology and the network utilization.

15. A network apparatus used in a network, the network apparatus comprising:

sensing means for sensing network topology and network utilization;

decision means for receiving a request from an application and deciding path setup requirement using network state information obtained from the network topology and the network utilization; and

rule applying means for translating the path setup requirement into a rule to be installed.

16. The network apparatus as in claim 15, wherein the decision means further decides monitoring requirement using network state information obtained from the network topology and the network utilization.