Network router having integrated flow accounting and packet interception
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A network device comprising:
- a set of one or more interface cards to collect packets from a network;
a set of one or more accounting modules to generate flow statistics for the packets; and
a control unit to generate a first and second duplicate streams of the packets received by the interface cards,wherein the control unit distributes the packets of the first duplicate stream to the accounting modules for calculation of flow statistics, andwherein, simultaneous with the calculation of the flow statistics, the control unit intercepts at least a subset of the packets of the second duplicate stream for selected packet flows and forwards the intercepted packets to a packet analyzer,wherein the control unit applies an intercept filter to the second duplicate stream to select the subset of the network packets, andwherein the intercept filter defines a set of traffic flows, and wherein the control unit applies the intercept filter to identify network packets associated with the set of traffic flows.
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Abstract
A network router integrates routing functionality with accounting functionality for generation of flow statistics, and provides packet intercept functionality to provide a comprehensive traffic analysis environment. The router includes a set of interface cards to receive packets from a network, and a control unit to generate a first and second duplicate stream of the packets. The control unit provides the packets of the first stream to accounting modules for calculation of flow statistics, and applies an intercept filter to intercept at least a subset of the packets of the second stream for selected packet flows.
144 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A network device comprising:
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a set of one or more interface cards to collect packets from a network; a set of one or more accounting modules to generate flow statistics for the packets; and a control unit to generate a first and second duplicate streams of the packets received by the interface cards, wherein the control unit distributes the packets of the first duplicate stream to the accounting modules for calculation of flow statistics, and wherein, simultaneous with the calculation of the flow statistics, the control unit intercepts at least a subset of the packets of the second duplicate stream for selected packet flows and forwards the intercepted packets to a packet analyzer, wherein the control unit applies an intercept filter to the second duplicate stream to select the subset of the network packets, and wherein the intercept filter defines a set of traffic flows, and wherein the control unit applies the intercept filter to identify network packets associated with the set of traffic flows. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A network device comprising:
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a set of one or more interface cards to collect packets from a network; a set of one or more accounting modules to generate flow statistics for the packets; and a control unit to generate a first and second duplicate streams of the packets received by the interface cards, wherein the control unit distributes the packets of the first duplicate stream to the accounting modules for calculation of flow statistics, wherein, simultaneous with the calculation of the flow statistics, the control unit applies an intercept filter to the second stream of packets to intercept at least a subset of the packets of the second duplicate stream for selected packet flows, wherein the control unit updates the intercept filter based on the flow statistics generated by the accounting modules, and wherein the control unit forwards the intercepted packets to a packet analyzer.
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13. A network device comprising:
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a set of one or more interface cards to collect packets from a network; a set of one or more accounting modules to generate flow statistics for the packets; a control unit to generate a first and second duplicate streams of the packets received by the interface cards, wherein the control unit distributes the packets of the first duplicate stream to the accounting modules for calculation of flow statistics, and wherein, simultaneous with the calculation of the flow statistics, the control unit intercepts at least a subset of the packets of the second duplicate stream for selected jacket flows and forwards the intercepted packets to a packet analyzer; and a tunnel service card to relay the flow statistics and intercepted packets through network tunnels, wherein the control unit forwards the intercepted packets to the tunnel service card to form an aggregated stream of packets for output to the packet analyzer via one of the interface cards, wherein the control unit applies filter-based forwarding to direct the aggregated stream of intercepted packets to one of the interface cards.
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14. A network device comprising:
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a set of one or more interface cards to collect packets from a network; a set of one or more accounting service, cards to generate flow statistics for the packets, a control unit to generate a first and second duplicate streams of the packets received by the interface cards, wherein the control unit identifies packet flows within the first duplicate stream and distributes packets for a common packet flow to a common accounting service card by implementing a hash function on header information within each packet to calculate a hash value, and distribute each of the packets to one of the accounting service cards for calculation of flow statistics based on the calculated hash values, wherein, simultaneous with the calculation of the flow statistics, the control unit intercepts at least a subset of the packets of the second duplicate stream for selected packet flows and forwards the intercepted packets to a packet analyzer. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. A network device comprising
a set of one or more interface cards to collect packets from a network; -
a set of one or more accounting modules to generate flow statistics for the packets; and a control unit to generate a first and second duplicate streams of the packets received by the interface cards, wherein the control unit distributes the packets of the first duplicate stream to the accounting modules, and wherein, simultaneous with the calculation of the flow statistics, the control unit intercepts at least a subset of the packets of the second duplicate stream for selected packet flows and forwards the intercepted packets to a packet analyzer, wherein the control unit comprises a routing engine to maintain routing information representing a topology of the network, wherein the routing engine generates forwarding information in accordance with the routine information, and wherein the control unit comprises a forwarding engine to forward the packets received from the interface cards in accordance with the forwarding information, and wherein the routing engine updates the forwarding information based on the flow statistics generated by the accounting modules.
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18. A method comprising:
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receiving packets from a network via an interface card of a network device; generating, with the network device, first and second duplicate streams of the packets received from the interface cards; applying a hash function to header information of each of the packets of the first duplicate data stream to calculate a hash value for each of the packets; distributing the packets of the first duplicate stream to accounting service cards of the network device for calculation of flow statistics based on the calculated hash values; and simultaneous with the calculation of the flow statistics, intercepting, with the network device, at least a subset of the packets of the second duplicate stream for selected packet flows. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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24. A method comprising:
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receiving packets from a network via an interface card of a network device; generating, with the network device, first and second duplicate streams of the packets received from the interface cards; distributing the packets of the first duplicate stream to accounting modules of the network device for calculation of flow statistics; simultaneous with the calculation of the flow statistics, intercepting, with the network device, at least a subset of the packets of the second duplicate stream for selected packet flows; forwarding the intercepted packets to a tunnel service card to form an aggregated stream of packets; and applying filter-based forwarding to direct the aggregated stream of intercepted packets to one of the interface cards for output to a packet analyzer.
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30. A method comprising:
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generating forwarding information in accordance with routing information representing a topology of a network, receiving packets from the network via one or more interface cards of a network device; generating, with the network device, first and second duplicate streams of the packets received from the interface cards; distributing the packets of the first duplicate stream to accounting modules of the network device for calculation of flow statistics; simultaneous with the calculation of the flow statistics, intercepting, with the network device, at least a subset of the packets of the second duplicate stream for selected packet flows; forwarding the intercepted packets to a tunnel service card to form an aggregated stream of packets for output via one of the interface cards; forwarding the packets in accordance with the forwarding information; and updating the forwarding information based on the generated flow statistics.
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31. A method comprising:
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receiving packets from a network via an interface card of a network device; generating, with the network device, first and second duplicate streams of the packets received from the interface cards; distributing the packets of the first duplicate stream to accounting modules of the network device for calculation of flow statistics; and simultaneous with the calculation of the flow statistics, intercepting, with the network device, at least a subset of the packets of the second duplicate stream for selected packet flows by applying an intercept filter to the second stream of packets to identify packets associated with a set of traffic flows. - View Dependent Claims (32)
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33. A method comprising:
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receiving packets from a network via an interface card of a network device; generating first and second duplicate streams of the packets received from the interface cards; distributing the packets of the first stream to accounting modules for calculation of flow statistics; applying a filter to packets of the second stream to intercept at least a subset of the packets of the second stream for selected packet flows; receiving a return stream of packets from the accounting modules, wherein the return stream of packets comprises the packets received from the network interface cards merged with packets carrying the flow statistics; routing the packets of the return packet stream in accordance with forwarded information generated from routing information representing a topology of the network; updating the forwarding information based on the generated flow statistics; forwarding the packets carrying the flow statistics to an accounting server; and forwarding the intercepted packets to a packet analyzer. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35)
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Specification