TECHNIQUE FOR MONITORING DATA TRAFFIC

• US 20150350938A1
• Filed: 12/17/2012
• Published: 12/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: HEIKKIL, Gunnar, RCZ, Andrs, VERES, Andrs
• Granted Patent: US 10,015,688 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic

Abstract

A technique that assists in identifying services for monitoring data traffic in a communication network is provided. The communication network includes a terminal configured to transceive data traffic and a component configured to measure data traffic. As to a method aspect of the technique, the terminal associates one or more communication services that are executed or executable at the terminal with one or more communication endpoints. The terminal further sends a service identification report indicative of the association to the component.

Claims

1. A method of identifying services for monitoring data traffic in a communication network including a terminal configured to transceive data traffic and a component configured to measure data traffic, the method comprising the steps performed by the terminal of:

associating one or more communication services executed or executable at the terminal with one or more communication endpoints; and

sending, to the component, a service identification report indicative of the association.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the service identification report is further indicative of a communication protocol used by the associated communication service.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more communication endpoints include at least one of a local socket at the terminal, a remote socket and a socket pair.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the service identification report is indicative, for each of the associated one or more communication services, of a socket pair associated with the communication service, a communication protocol used by the communication service, and a name for the communication service.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of local communication endpoints is successively associated with one or more communication services at the terminal, and/or a plurality of communication services is successively associated with one or more local communication endpoints.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein information as to the association is collected at the terminal prior to sending the service identification report to the component based on the collected information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the service identification report or a separate time reference report sent to the component includes a sending time provided by a clock of the terminal.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, to the component, a service packet report including packet timestamps indicative of at least one of incoming time and outgoing time of data packets at the terminal for one of the communication services.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

collecting, for each of a plurality of data packets of the communication service, the packet timestamp and a hash value of the data packet prior to sending the service packet report including the collected packet timestamps and hash values.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the hash value is computed based on key fields included in the data packet according to the communication protocol used by the communication service.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the terminal and a component in a Radio Access Network of the network measures delay or jitter in a Data Link Layer.

7. (canceled)

12. (canceled)

13. A method of identifying services for monitoring data traffic in a communication network including a terminal configured to transceive data traffic and a component configured to measure data traffic, the method comprising the steps performed by the component of:

receiving, from the terminal, a service identification report indicative of an association of one or more communication services executed or executable at the terminal with one or more communication endpoints; and

associating measured data traffic to one or more of the communication services based on the service identification report.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein at least one of a source socket, a destination socket, a socket pair and a communication protocol is derived from the measured data traffic and compared to the service identification report to identify the associated one or more communication services.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving, from the terminal, a service packet report including packet timestamps indicative of at least one of incoming time and outgoing time of data packets at the terminal for one of the communication services.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one of outgoing time and incoming time, at the component, of data packets associated with the communication service are correlated to the reported packet timestamps.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein at least one of the service identification report, the service packet report and a separate time reference report is received from the terminal and includes a sending time, and wherein at least one of association timestamps included in the service identification report and packet timestamps included in the service packet report are adjusted based on a time difference between a receipt time at the component and the sending time reported by the terminal.

17. (canceled)

20-22. -22. (canceled)

23. An agent for identifying services for monitoring data traffic in a communication network including a terminal configured to transceive data traffic and a component configured to measure data traffic, the agent comprising:

a processor; and

a memory comprising instructions which when executed by the processor causes the processor to;

associate one or more communication services executed or executable at the terminal with one or more communication endpoints; and

send, to the component, a service identification report indicative of the association.

24. The agent of claim 23, wherein the agent is installed at the terminal.

25. A device for identifying services for monitoring data traffic in a communication network including a terminal configured to transceive data traffic and a component configured to measure data traffic, the device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory comprising instructions which when executed by the processor causes the processor to;

receive, from the terminal, a service identification report indicative of an association of one or more communication services executed or executable at the terminal with one or more communication endpoints; and

associate measured data traffic to one or more of the communication services based on the service identification report.

26. The device of claim 25, wherein the device is installed at the component.