Network system having plural networks for performing quality guarantee among the networks having different policies

• US 6,708,209 B1
• Filed: 03/08/2000
• Issued: 03/16/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Hirata, Toshiaki, Koizumi, Minoru, Ebata, Tomoichi, Miyake, Shigeru, Takihiro, Masatoshi, Takada, Osamu, Tsukada, Koji, Kurosaki, Yoshiyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Wiley, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): BOUTAH, ALINA A
• Application Number:
  US09/520,832
• Time in Patent Office: 1,469 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 709/223, 709/226, 709/232, 709/229, 709/230, 370/235, 370/220
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5019 Ensuring fulfilment of SLA
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5054 Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/15 in relation to multipoint traffic arrangements for broadcast or multicast in data networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/724 at intermediate nodes, e.g. resource reservation protocol [RSVP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/781 Centralised allocation of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/785 among multiple network domains, e.g. multilateral agreements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/808 User-type aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/822 Collecting or measuring resource availability data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/826 Involving periods of time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/828 Allocation of resources per group of connections, e.g. per group of users

Abstract

A network system having a plurality of interconnected networks each having a policy server. The policy server sets a quality-guaranteed path in the network according to a policy held in the policy server. The policy server includes: a policy holding unit to hold a policy defining a quality that can be guaranteed in its own network, or local network, for an inter-network communication; a policy publicizing unit to make public the policy held in the policy holding unit to the policy servers of other networks; a guaranteed quality calculation unit to calculate, from a policy publicized by a policy server of a network on a path between the local network and other network, a quality that can be guaranteed for the path between the local network and the other network; and a quality-guaranteed path setting unit to provide a quality-guaranteed path, the quality-guaranteed path having a guaranteed quality within the quality calculated by the guaranteed quality calculation unit for the path between the local network and the other network.

Claims

1. A network system having a plurality of interconnected networks each having a policy server, the policy server setting a quality-guaranteed path in the network according to a policy held in the policy server, the policy server comprising:

a policy holding unit to hold a policy defining a quality that can be guaranteed in its own network, or local network, for an inter-network communication;

a policy publicizing unit to make public the policy held in the policy holding unit to the policy servers of other networks;

a guaranteed quality calculation unit to calculate, from a policy publicized by a policy server of a network on a path between the local network and other network, a quality that can be guaranteed for the path between the local network and the other network; and

a quality-guaranteed path setting unit to provide a quality-guaranteed path, the quality-guaranteed path having a guaranteed quality within the quality calculated by the guaranteed quality calculation unit for the path between the local network and the other network.

2. A network system having a plurality of interconnected networks each having a plurality of hosts and a policy server, the policy server setting a quality-guaranteed path in the network according to a policy held in the policy server, the policy server comprising:

a policy holding unit to hold a policy defining a quality that can be guaranteed in its own network, or local network, for a communication between each host and other network and a quality that can be guaranteed in the local network for a communication between other networks;

a policy publicizing unit to make public the policy held in the policy holding unit to the policy servers of other networks;

a guaranteed quality calculation unit to calculate from two qualities a quality that can be guaranteed for a path between a host of the local network and a host of other network, one of the two qualities being determined from a policy made public by a policy server of a network on the path between the host of the local network and the host of the other network, the one quality being able to be guaranteed for the path between the hosts of the local network and the other network, the other of the two qualities being determined by the policy held in the policy holding means, the other quality being able to be guaranteed in the local network for a communication between the host of the local network and the other network; and

a quality-guaranteed path setting unit to provide a quality-guaranteed path, the quality-guaranteed path having a guaranteed quality within the quality calculated by the guaranteed quality calculation means for the path between the host of the local network and the host of the other network.

3. A network system according to claim 2, wherein

the guaranteed quality calculation unit calculates qualities that can be guaranteed for paths between the local network and the other networks, and

the quality-guaranteed path setting unit, when it receives from the host of the local network a request for a quality-guaranteed path with a specified quality, provides a quality-guaranteed path which is guaranteed the specified quality and which has a quality calculated by the guaranteed quality calculation unit as being higher than the specified quality.

4. A network system according to claim 2, wherein

the guaranteed quality calculation unit calculates qualities that can be guaranteed for paths between the host of the local network and the hosts of the other networks, and

the quality-guaranteed path setting unit, when it receives from the host of the local network a request for a quality-guaranteed path with a specified quality, provides a quality-guaranteed path which is guaranteed the specified quality and which has a quality calculated by the guaranteed quality calculation unit as being higher than the specified quality.

5. A network system according to claim 4, wherein

the quality-guaranteed path setting unit has:

a unit to allocate to the quality-guaranteed path extending through the local network as much resource of the local network as is required by the quality level guaranteed for the quality-guaranteed path;

a unit to request the policy server of the other network, through which the quality-guaranteed path to be provided extends, to allocate to the quality-guaranteed path as much resource of the other network as is required by the quality guaranteed for the quality-guaranteed path; and

a unit to allocate the resource of the local network requested by the policy server of the other network to the quality-guaranteed path for which the resource allocation is requested.

6. A network system according to claim 4, wherein

the quality-guaranteed path setting unit has:

a unit to make a reservation for allocating to the quality-guaranteed path extending through the local network as much resource of the local network as is required by the quality level guaranteed for the quality-guaranteed path;

a unit to request the policy server of the other network, through which the quality-guaranteed path to be provided extends, to make a reservation for allocating to the quality-guaranteed path as much resource of the other network as is required by the quality guaranteed for the quality-guaranteed path;

a unit to make a reservation for allocating the resource of the local network requested by the policy server of the other network to the quality-guaranteed path for which the resource allocation is requested; and

a unit to allocate the resource of the local network according to the set reservation.

7. A network system according to claim 5, wherein

the policy server has a resource management unit to manage a present resource allocation state, and

the quality-guaranteed path setting unit performs the resource allocation when the resource allocation is allowed by the present resource allocation state managed by the resource management unit.

8. A policy server for setting a quality-guaranteed path in a controlled network according to a policy held in the policy server, the policy server comprises:

a policy holding unit to hold a policy defining a quality that can be guaranteed in the controlled network for a communication between the controlled network and other network connected to the controlled network;

a policy publicizing unit to make public the policy held in the policy holding unit to the policy servers of other networks;

a guaranteed quality calculation unit to calculate, from a policy publicized by a policy server of a network on a path between the controlled network and other network, a quality that can be guaranteed for the path between the controlled network and the other network; and

a quality-guaranteed path setting unit to provide a quality-guaranteed path, the quality-guaranteed path having a guaranteed quality within the quality calculated by the guaranteed quality calculation unit for the path between the controlled network and the other network.

9. In a network system having a plurality of interconnected networks each having a policy server, the policy server setting a quality-guaranteed path in the network according to a policy held in the policy server, a method of guaranteeing a quality of a communication between the networks to provide a quality-guaranteed path between the networks, the method comprising the steps:

for the policy server to hold a policy defining a quality that can be guaranteed in its own network, or local network, for an inter-network communication;

for the policy server to make public the policy held in it to the policy servers of other networks;

for the policy server to calculate, from a policy publicized by a policy server of a network on a path between the local network and other network, a quality that can be guaranteed for the path between the local network and the other network; and

for the policy server to provide a quality-guaranteed path, the quality-guaranteed path having a guaranteed quality within the quality calculated for the path between the local network and the other network.

10. A storage medium storing a program to be read and executed by a computer, the program being designed to build up on the computer according to a policy held in a policy server the policy server that sets a quality-guaranteed path in a controlled network, the program also being designed to build up on the computer

a policy holding unit to hold a policy defining a quality that can be guaranteed in the controlled network for a communication between the controlled network and other network connected to the controlled network;

a policy publicizing unit to make public the policy held in the policy holding unit to the policy servers of other networks;

a guaranteed quality calculation unit to calculate, from a policy publicized by a policy server of a network on a path between the controlled network and other network, a quality that can be guaranteed for the path between the controlled network and the other network; and

a quality-guaranteed path setting unit to provide a quality-guaranteed path, the quality-guaranteed path having a guaranteed quality within the quality calculated by the guaranteed quality calculation unit for the path between the controlled network and the other network.

11. A policy server used in a network system, the network system having a plurality of interconnected networks each having a plurality of hosts and a policy server, the policy server setting a quality-guaranteed path in the network according to a policy held in the policy server, the policy server comprising:

a policy holding unit to hold a policy defining a quality that can be guaranteed in a controlled network for a communication between a host in the controlled network and other network and a quality that can be guaranteed in the controlled network for a communication between other networks connected to the controlled network;

a policy publicizing unit to make public the policy held in the policy holding unit to the policy servers of other networks;

a guaranteed quality calculation unit to calculate from two qualities a quality that can be guaranteed for a path between a host of the controlled network and a host of other network, one of the two qualities being determined from a policy made public by a policy server of other network on the path established by the host of the controlled network, the one quality being able to be guaranteed for the path between the hosts of the controlled network and the other network, the other of the two qualities being determined by the policy held in the policy holding means, the other quality being able to be guaranteed in the controlled network for a communication between the host of the controlled network and the other network; and

a quality-guaranteed path setting unit to provide a quality-guaranteed path, the quality-guaranteed path having a guaranteed quality within the quality calculated by the guaranteed quality calculation unit for the path between the host of the controlled network and the host of the other network.

12. A policy server according to claim 11, wherein

the guaranteed quality calculation unit calculates qualities that can be guaranteed for paths between the controlled network and the other networks, and

the quality-guaranteed path setting unit, when it receives from the host of the controlled network a request for a quality-guaranteed path with a specified quality, provides a quality-guaranteed path which is guaranteed the specified quality and which has a quality calculated by the guaranteed quality calculation unit as being higher than the specified quality.

13. A policy server according to claim 11, wherein

the guaranteed quality calculation unit calculates qualities that can be guaranteed for paths between the host of the controlled network and the hosts of the other networks, and

the quality-guaranteed path setting unit, when it receives from the host of the controlled network a request for a quality-guaranteed path with a specified quality, provides a quality-guaranteed path which is guaranteed the specified quality and which has a quality calculated by the guaranteed quality calculation unit as being higher than the specified quality.

14. A policy server according to claim 13, wherein

the quality-guaranteed path setting unit has:

a unit to allocate to the quality-guaranteed path extending through the controlled network as much resource of the controlled network as is required by the quality level guaranteed for the quality-guaranteed path;

a unit to request the policy server of the other network, through which the quality-guaranteed path to be provided extends, to allocate to the quality-guaranteed path as much resource of the other network as is required by the quality guaranteed for the quality-guaranteed path; and

a unit to allocate the resource of the controlled network requested by the policy server of the other network to the quality-guaranteed path for which the resource allocation is requested.

15. A policy server according to claim 13, wherein

the quality-guaranteed path setting unit has:

a unit to make a reservation for allocating to the quality-guaranteed path extending through the local network as much resource of the controlled network as is required by the quality level guaranteed for the quality-guaranteed path;

a unit to request the policy server of the other network, through which the quality-guaranteed path to be provided extends, to make a reservation for allocating to the quality-guaranteed path as much resource of the other network as is required by the quality guaranteed for the quality-guaranteed path;

a unit to make a reservation for allocating the resource of the controlled network requested by the policy server of the other network to the quality-guaranteed path for which the resource allocation is requested; and

a unit to allocate the resource of the controlled network according to the set reservation.

16. A policy server according to claim 14, wherein

the policy server has a resource management unit to manage a present resource allocation state, and

the quality-guaranteed path setting unit performs the resource allocation when the resource allocation is allowed by the present resource allocation state managed by the resource management unit.