Methods and Apparatus to Track Changes to a Network Topology

• US 20160094383A1
• Filed: 09/30/2014
• Published: 03/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wang, Heng, Ferro, Robert J., Figueroa, Luis, Zhang, Leah L.
• Granted Patent: US 9,798,810 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0869 Validating the configuration within one network element
• 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]

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to track network changes are disclosed herein. An example method to track a network topology includes, in response to a reporting message including topology change information corresponding to a topology change event, generating a confirmation-seeking message based on the topology change information to confirm the topology change event and updating a topology data set representing the network topology based on a response to the confirmation-seeking message. Further disclosed methods include generating a pre-confirmation data record that reflects the topology change information contained in the reporting message, and storing the pre-confirmation data record in a pre-confirmation topology database.

Claims

1. A method to track changes to a network topology, the method comprising:

in response to a reporting message including topology change information corresponding to a topology change event, generating a confirmation-seeking message based on the topology change information to confirm the topology change event; and

updating a topology data set representing the network topology based on a response to the confirmation-seeking message.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the confirmation-seeking message comprises a loopback address of a network element subject to the topology change event, a type of topology change event, a status of the topology change event, and information indicating a position of the network element within the network topology.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a pre-confirmation data record, the pre-confirmation data record to reflect the topology change information contained in the reporting message; and

storing the pre-confirmation data record in a pre-confirmation topology database.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein updating the network topology data set comprises storing the pre-confirmation data record in a post-confirmation topology database.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining whether a post-confirmation data record corresponding to a network element subject to the topology change event is stored in a post-confirmation topology database.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the pre-confirmation data record is stored in the pre-confirmation topology database based on whether the post-confirmation data record is determined to be stored in the post-confirmation database.

7. The method of claim 3 wherein updating the topology data set comprises storing a post-confirmation data record in a post-confirmation database when the response to the confirmation-seeking message indicates that the topology change event has been confirmed.

8. The method of claim 3 wherein the pre-confirmation data record is a second pre-confirmation data record, and the second pre-confirmation data record is stored in the pre-confirmation database based on whether a first pre-confirmation data record corresponding to a network element subject to the topology change event is stored in the pre-confirmation topology database.

9. A tangible computer readable medium storing computer readable instructions which, when executed, cause a computer to:

in response to a reporting message corresponding to a network device change, transmit a confirmation-seeking message to confirm the network device change; and

update a network configuration data set to reflect the network device change based on a response to the confirmation-seeking message.

10. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein the confirmation-seeking message comprises a loopback address of a network element subject to the network device change, a network device change type identifier identifying a type of network device change, and a status of the network device change.

11. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the computer to:

determine, based on the reporting message, a network device subject to the network device change; and

store a pre-confirmation configuration record corresponding to the network device in a pre-confirmation configuration database, the pre-confirmation configuration record to include network device change information obtained from the reporting message.

12. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 11 wherein the instruction to update the network configuration data set comprises an instruction to cause the computer to use the pre-confirmation configuration record to create a post-confirmation configuration record and to store the post-confirmation configuration record in a post-confirmation configuration database.

13. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 11, the instructions further to cause the computer to determine whether a post-confirmation configuration record corresponding to the network device change is stored in a post-confirmation configuration database.

14. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein the pre-confirmation configuration record is stored in the pre-confirmation configuration database based on whether the post-confirmation configuration record is determined to be stored in the post-confirmation configuration database.

15. An apparatus to track a change to a network topology, the apparatus comprising:

a memory having machine readable instructions stored thereon; and

a processor to execute the instructions to perform operations comprising;

in response to a reporting message containing topology change information corresponding to a topology change event, generating a validation seeking message to validate the topology change event; and

updating a topology data set representing the network topology based on a response to the validation seeking message.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the operations further comprise:

generating a pre-validation topology record, the pre-validation topology record to reflect the topology change information contained in the reporting message; and

storing the pre-validation topology record in a pre-validation topology database.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the operation of updating the topology data set comprises:

using the pre-validation topology record to create a post validation topology record; and

storing the post validation topology record in a post validation topology database based on a response to the validation seeking message.

18. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the validation seeking message comprises a loopback address of a network element subject to the topology change event, type information identifying a type of the topology change event, and a status of the topology change event indicating the status of the topology change event.

19. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the operations further comprise determining whether a post validation topology record corresponding to a network device subject to the topology change event is stored in a post validation topology database, the pre-validation topology record being stored in the pre-validation topology database based on whether the post validation data record is determined to be stored in the post validation database.

20. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein updating the topology data set comprises storing a post validation topology record in a post validation topology database when the response to the validation seeking message indicates that the topology change event has been confirmed.