LEARNING MACHINE BASED COMPUTATION OF NETWORK JOIN TIMES

• US 20140222975A1
• Filed: 07/23/2013
• Published: 08/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Vasseur, Jean-Philippe, Mermoud, Grgory, Dasgupta, Sukrit
• Granted Patent: US 9,553,773 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/142 using statistical or mathematical methods
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/16 using machine learning or artificial intelligence

Abstract

In one embodiment, techniques are shown and described relating to learning machine based computation of network join times. In particular, in one embodiment, a device computes a join time of the device to join a computer network. During joining, the device sends a configuration request to a server, and receives instructions whether to provide the join time. The device may then provide the join time to a collector in response to instructions to provide the join time. In another embodiment, a collector receives a plurality of join times from a respective plurality of nodes having one or more associated node properties. The collector may then estimate a mapping between the join times and the node properties and determines a confidence interval of the mapping. Accordingly, the collector may then determine a rate at which nodes having particular node properties report their join times based on the confidence interval.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

computing, by a device in a computer network, a join time of the device to join the computer network;

during joining the computer network, sending a configuration request to a server;

receiving instructions from the server whether to provide the join time; and

providing the join time to a collector in response to instructions to provide the join time.

2. The method as in claim 1, wherein the provided join time comprises one of either a scalar having only the provided join time or a vector having a plurality of information regarding the provided join time.

3. The method as in claim 1, wherein computing the join time comprises:

recording a wake-up time when functional elements of the device are operational; and

determining when the device is capable of sending traffic within the computer network and the difference from the recorded wake-up time.

4. The method as in claim 1, wherein the configuration request is a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) request to a DHCP server.

5. The method as in claim 1, wherein the instructions comprise a bit set in a configuration reply from the server.

6. The method as in claim 1, wherein the collector is selected from a group consisting of:

a learning machine (LM), a field area router (FAR), and a network management server (NMS).

7. The method as in claim 1, wherein providing the join time comprises one of either sending an independent message or piggybacking the join time within a host message.

8. The method as in claim 7, wherein the host message is a routing protocol message.

9. The method as in claim 1, wherein the provided join time is a selection of a particular range of join times within which the computed join time falls.

10. The method as in claim 1, wherein whether to provide the join time is based on the collector:

receiving a plurality of join times from a respective plurality of nodes having one or more associated node properties;

estimating a mapping between the join times and the node properties;

determining a confidence interval of the mapping; and

determining a rate at which nodes having particular node properties report their join times based on the confidence interval.

11. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a collector in a computer network, a plurality of join times from a respective plurality of nodes having one or more associated node properties;

estimating a mapping between the join times and the node properties;

determining a confidence interval of the mapping; and

determining a rate at which nodes having particular node properties report their join times based on the confidence interval.

12. The method as in claim 11, wherein the rate is selected from a group consisting of:

each time a node joins the computer network, never, and a given rate less than each time a node joins the computer network.

13. The method as in claim 11, further comprising:

correlating node properties to particular nodes to establish an explicit list of nodes for which the rate applies.

14. The method as in claim 11, further comprising:

determining a set of nodes to explicitly probe for join times based on variation in entropy expected upon probing the set of nodes.

15. The method as in claim 11, wherein estimating the mapping and the confidence interval comprises a Variational Bayes Least Square (VBLS) regression computation.

16. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more network interfaces to communicate with a computer network;

a processor coupled to the network interfaces and adapted to execute one or more processes; and

a memory configured to store a process executable by the processor, the process when executed operable to;

compute, as a device in a computer network, a join time of the device to join the computer network;

during joining the computer network, send a configuration request to a server;

receive instructions from the server whether to provide the join time; and

provide the join time to a collector in response to instructions to provide the join time.

17. The apparatus as in claim 16, wherein the provided join time comprises one of either a scalar having only the provided join time or a vector having a plurality of information regarding the provided join time.

18. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more network interfaces to communicate with a computer network;

a processor coupled to the network interfaces and adapted to execute one or more processes; and

a memory configured to store a process executable by the processor, the process when executed operable to;

receive, as a collector in a computer network, a plurality of join times from a respective plurality of nodes having one or more associated node properties;

estimate a mapping between the join times and the node properties;

determine a confidence interval of the mapping; and

determine a rate at which nodes having particular node properties report their join times based on the confidence interval.

19. The apparatus as in claim 18, wherein the process when executed is further operable to:

correlate node properties to particular nodes to establish an explicit list of nodes for which the rate applies.

20. The apparatus as in claim 18, wherein the process when executed is further operable to:

determine a set of nodes to explicitly probe for join times based on variation in entropy expected upon probing the set of nodes.