Policy engine which supports application specific plug-ins for enforcing policies in a feedback-based, adaptive data network

• US 6,505,244 B1
• Filed: 06/29/1999
• Issued: 01/07/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rawat, Vipin, Harvey, Andrew G., Lee, Hsuan-Chung, Pereira, Leo, Natarajan, Shankar
• Primary Examiner(s): Meky, Moustafa M.
• Application Number:
  US09/342,337
• Time in Patent Office: 1,288 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 709/223, 709/220, 709/221, 709/222, 709/203, 709/238, 709/236, 709/250, 709/225, 709/226, 370/232, 370/235
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/11 Identifying congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/20 Traffic policing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/29 using a combination of thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/762 triggered by the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/765 triggered by the end-points
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/801 Real time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/808 User-type aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/822 Collecting or measuring resource availability data

Abstract

A feedback-based adaptive network is described wherein at least a portion of the network elements report operating information relating to network conditions to a centralized data store. The information which is reported to the data store is analyzed by a policy engine which includes a plurality of application specific plug-in policies for analyzing selected information from the data store and for computing updated control information based upon the analysis of the information. The updated control information is fed back to selected network elements to thereby affect operation of the selected elements. Typically, when the operation of a network element has been affected, its corresponding operating information will change. The new or changed network element operating information is then reported to the data store and analyzed by the policy engine. The policy engine may then generate new or updated control information for affecting the operation of selected elements in the network. In this way, the dynamic and automatic feedback control of network elements is provided in order to allow the network to adapt to changing conditions. Events relating to changing conditions in the network may be reported to selected elements in the network using an event notification service. Additionally the adaptive, feedback-based network of the present invention may include a network quality monitoring system for evaluating performance characteristics or other aspects of the network based upon predetermined standards or criteria. If it is determined that a particular characteristic of the network does not conform with the standards established for that characteristic, the policy which controls that particular characteristic of the network may be automatically and dynamically modified to thereby affect the network performance.

Claims

1. A method for providing dynamic feedback control of network elements in a data network, the data network including a plurality of network elements, each of said network elements having a plurality operating parameters associated therewith, said operating parameters being related to at least one control parameter of said element, said method comprising:

loading an application specific policy for analyzing of an aspect of network performance;

acquiring selected information associated with a first subset of network elements, said selected information being related to the aspect of network performance to be analyzed;

analyzing said selected information in accordance with said policy;

automatically generating updated control information for at least one network element based upon said analysis of said information, said updated control information being for affecting said aspect of network performance;

evaluating whether said policy is effective in affecting said aspect of network performance to conform with predefined performance criteria; and

modifying said policy in response to a determination that said policy is not effective in affecting said aspect of network performance to conform with said predefined performance criteria.

2. The method of claim 1 further including providing said updated control information to at least one network element to thereby affect said aspect of network performance.

3. The method of claim 2 further including:

analyzing at least a portion of said selected information to determine whether said policy is effective in dynamically controlling said aspect of network performance to conform with predefined performance criteria; and

dynamically modifying said policy in response to a determination that said policy is not effective in affecting said aspect of network performance to conform with said predefined performance criteria.

4. The method of claim 1 further including providing said updated control information to at least one data store for storing said control information.

5. The method of claim 1 further including dynamically modifying said policy in response to input from a remote user.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the modification of said policy is an automated process.

7. The method of claim 1 further including reporting a non-effective policy evaluation to a system administrator.

8. The method of claim 7 further including receiving instructions from said system administrator for modifying said reported policy.

9. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer code embodied therein for implementing the method of claim 1.

10. A policy engine for providing dynamic feedback control of network elements in a data network, the data network including a plurality of network elements, each of said network elements having a plurality operating parameters associated therewith, said operating parameters being related to at least one control parameter of said element, said policy engine comprising:

at least one CPU; and

memory configured to store specific policies for analyzing selected aspects of network performance;

said policy engine being operable to use a selected policy to analyze of an aspect of network performance based upon selected information associated with a first subset of network elements;

said policy engine being further operable to automatically generate updated control information for at least one network element based upon said analysis of said selected information, said updated control information being for affecting said aspect of network performance;

said policy engine being further operable to evaluate whether said policy is effective in affecting said aspect of network performance to conform with predefined performance criteria; and

said policy engine being further operable to cause said policy to be modified in response to a determination that said policy is not effective in affecting said aspect of network performance to conform with said predefined performance criteria.

11. The policy engine of claim 10 wherein said policies are implemented as plug-in objects coupled to said policy engine.

12. The policy engine of claim 10 further comprising an interface for retrieving said selected information from a data source.

13. The policy engine of claim 12 wherein said interface is further operable to transmit said updated control information to said data source.

14. The policy engine of claim 10 further including a second interface operable to provide said updated control information to at least one network element to thereby affect said aspect of network performance.

15. The policy engine of claim 10 wherein said policy engine is further operable to dynamically modify at least one selected policy of said plurality of policies in response to input from a remote user.

16. The policy engine of claim 10 wherein said policy engine is further operable to dynamically modify a selected policy of said plurality of policies in response to instructions from an external source.

17. The policy engine of claim 10 wherein said network element is a router.

18. The policy engine of claim 10 wherein said network element is a data terminating equipment device.

19. The policy engine of claim 10 wherein said network element is a data communication equipment device.

20. The policy engine of claim 10 wherein said network element is a switching circuit.

21. The policy engine of claim 10 wherein said network is a frame relay network.

22. The policy engine of claim 10 wherein said network is an ATM network.

23. A feedback analysis system including the policy engine defined in claim 10, said feedback system further including:

a policy evaluation system operable to evaluate whether said selected policy is effective in affecting said aspect of network performance to conform with predefined performance criteria; and

wherein said policy engine is further operable to modify said selected policy in response to a determination that said policy is not effective in affecting said aspect of network performance to conform with said predefined performance criteria.

24. The policy engine of claim 23 wherein the modification of said policy is an automated process.

25. The policy engine of claim 23 wherein said policy evaluation system is further operable to reporting a non-effective policy evaluation to a system administrator.