NETWORK FLOW MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• US 20170353383A1
• Filed: 06/07/2016
• Published: 12/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Hughes, Kevin Allen, Hamdi, Rabah S.
• Granted Patent: US 9,979,637 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/38 Flow based routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/64 using an overlay routing layer

Abstract

A network flow management system includes controllers that are each coupled to a subset of switch devices, and a flow management server system that is coupled to each of the controllers. The flow management server system collects first-level flow information for the switch devices from the controllers, and filters and structures the first-level flow information to generate second-level flow information. The flow management server system then analyzes the second-level flow information based on current flow operation policies that are configured to cause the switch devices to perform first flow operations and, in response, determines flow operation policy changes. The flow management server system then distributes updated flow operation policies that includes the flow operation policy changes to each of the controllers, where the updated flow operation policies cause the switch devices to perform second flow operation that are different than the first flow operations.

Claims

1. A network flow management system, comprising:

a plurality of switch devices;

a plurality of controllers, wherein each of the plurality of controllers is coupled to a subset of the plurality of switch devices; and

a flow management server system that is coupled to each of the plurality of controllers, wherein the flow management server system is configured to;

collect first-level flow information for the plurality of switch devices from the plurality of controllers;

filter and structure the first-level flow information to generate second-level flow information;

analyze the second-level flow information based on at least one current flow operation policy that is configured to cause the plurality of switch devices to perform first flow operations and, in response, determine at least one flow operation policy change; and

distribute at least one updated flow operation policy that includes the at least one flow operation policy change to each of the plurality of controllers, wherein the at least one updated flow operation policy is configured to cause the plurality of switch devices to perform second flow operations that are different than the first flow operations.

2. The network flow management system of claim 1, wherein the first-level flow information is collected, filtered, and structured using at least one current flow information collection policy, and wherein the flow management server system is configured to:

analyze the second-level flow information and, in response, determine at least one flow information collection policy change; and

distribute at least one updated flow information collection policy that includes the at least one flow information collection policy change to each of the plurality of controllers, wherein the at least one updated flow information collection policy is configured to cause at least one change to the collection, filtering, or structuring of the first-level flow information.

3. The network flow management system of claim 2, wherein the at least one flow information collection policy is configured to cause the collection of different first-level flow statistics associated with a particular flow.

4. The network flow management system of claim 1, wherein the structuring of the first-level flow information to generate the second-level flow information includes:

identifying at least one flow that has violated at least one flow operation policy.

5. The network flow management system of claim 1, wherein the analyzing the second-level flow information and, in response, determining at least one flow operation policy change includes:

detecting at least one flow pattern in a plurality of flows, wherein the at least one flow operation policy change is configured to modify the at least one flow pattern.

6. The network flow management system of claim 1, wherein the analyzing the second-level flow information and, in response, determining at least one flow operation policy change includes:

determining that a first flow that is provided along a first flow path by a first subset of the plurality of switch devices has common flow characteristics with a second flow that is provided along a second flow path by a second subset of the plurality of switch devices, wherein the at least one flow operation policy change is configured to cause the first flow and the second flow to be provided along a common flow path provided by the plurality of switch devices.

7. The network flow management system of claim 1, wherein the at least one flow operation policy change is associated with at least one flow result, and wherein the flow management server system is configured to:

monitor the second flow operations performed by the plurality of switch devices and determine whether the second flow operations are providing the at least one flow result.

8. An information handling system (IHS), comprising:

a communication system that is configured to couple to a plurality of controllers that are each coupled to at least one switch device;

a processing system that is coupled to the communication system; and

a memory system that is coupled to the processing system and that includes instruction that, when executed by the processing system, cause the processing system to perform operations including;

collecting first-level flow information for the plurality of switch devices from the plurality of controllers;

filtering and structuring the first-level flow information to generate second-level flow information;

analyzing the second-level flow information based on at least one current flow operation policy that is configured to cause the plurality of switch devices to perform first flow operations and, in response, determining at least one flow operation policy change; and

distributing at least one updated flow operation policy that includes the at least one flow operation policy change to each of the plurality of controllers, wherein the at least one updated flow operation policy is configured to cause the plurality of switch devices to perform second flow operation that are different than the first flow operations.

9. The IHS of claim 8, wherein the first-level flow information is collected, filtered, and structured using at least one current flow information collection policy, and wherein the operations include:

analyzing the second-level flow information and, in response, determining at least one flow information collection policy change; and

distributing at least one updated flow information collection policy that includes the at least one flow information collection policy change to each of the plurality of controllers, wherein the at least one updated flow information collection policy is configured to cause at least one change to the collection, filtering, or structuring of the first-level flow information.

10. The IHS of claim 9, wherein the at least one flow information collection policy is configured to cause the collection of different first-level flow statistics associated with a particular flow.

11. The IHS of claim 8, wherein the structuring of the first-level flow information to generate the second-level flow information includes:

identifying at least one flow that has violated at least one flow operation policy.

12. The IHS of claim 8, wherein the analyzing the second-level flow information and, in response, determining at least one flow operation policy change includes:

detecting at least one flow pattern in a plurality of flows, wherein the at least one flow operation policy change is configured to modify the at least one flow pattern.

13. The IHS of claim 8, wherein the analyzing the second-level flow information and, in response, determining at least one flow operation policy change includes:

determining that a first flow that is provided along a first flow path by a first subset of the plurality of switch devices has common flow characteristics with a second flow that is provided along a second flow path by a second subset of the plurality of switch devices, wherein the at least one flow operation policy change is configured to cause the first flow and the second flow to be provided along a common flow path provided by the plurality of switch devices.

14. A method for network flow management, comprising:

collecting, by a flow management server system from a plurality of controllers that are each coupled to a subset of a plurality of switch devices, first-level flow information for the plurality of switch devices;

filtering and structuring, by the flow management server system, the first-level flow information to generate second-level flow information;

analyzing, by the flow management server system, the second-level flow information based on at least one current flow operation policy that is configured to cause the plurality of switch devices to perform first flow operations and, in response, determining at least one flow operation policy change; and

distributing, by the flow management server system to each of the plurality of controllers, at least one updated flow operation policy that includes the at least one flow operation policy change, wherein the at least one updated flow operation policy is configured to cause the plurality of switch devices to perform second flow operation that are different than the first flow operations.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first-level flow information is collected, filtered, and structured using at least one current flow information collection policy, and wherein the method includes:

analyzing, by the flow management server system, the second-level flow information and, in response, determining at least one flow information collection policy change; and

distributing, by the flow management server system to each of the plurality of controllers, at least one updated flow information collection policy that includes the at least one flow information collection policy change, wherein the at least one updated flow information collection policy is configured to cause at least one change to the collection, filtering, or structuring of the first-level flow information.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one flow information collection policy is configured to cause the collection of different first-level flow statistics associated with a particular flow.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the structuring of the first-level flow information to generate the second-level flow information includes:

identifying, by the flow management server system, at least one flow that has violated at least one flow operation policy.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the analyzing the second-level flow information and, in response, determining at least one flow operation policy change includes:

detecting, by the flow management server system, at least one flow pattern in a plurality of flows, wherein the at least one flow operation policy change is configured to modify the at least one flow pattern.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the analyzing the second-level flow information and, in response, determining at least one flow operation policy change includes:

determining, by the flow management server system, that a first flow that is provided along a first flow path by a first subset of the plurality of switch devices has common flow characteristics with a second flow that is provided along a second flow path by a second subset of the plurality of switch devices, wherein the at least one flow operation policy change is configured to cause the first flow and the second flow to be provided along a common flow path provided by the plurality of switch devices.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one flow operation policy change is associated with at least one flow result, and wherein the method includes:

monitoring, by the flow management server system, the second flow operations performed by the plurality of switch devices and determining whether the second flow operations are providing the at least one flow result.