Method and apparatus for enforcing service level agreements
First Claim
1. A network device for enforcing service level agreements between a provider and a customer set relating to a network having network traffic composed of data packets, the network device comprising:
- memory for storing customer information, statistics and policies, the policies defining network attributes and services agreed to in the service level agreement;
a traffic flow scanning processor connected to the memory for scanning data packets, associating the data packets with a particular customer from the customer set, and determining a treatment for the data packets based on the policies for the particular customer; and
a quality of service processor connected to the traffic flow scanning processor and including a plurality of queues to process the data packets according to the treatment determined by the traffic flow scanning processor, wherein the network device checks for available bandwidth for each of the data packets by comparing available capacity for a particular type of network traffic contained within the data packets with a predetermined unit capacity associated with the particular type of network traffic, such that if the available capacity is greater than the unit capacity there is available bandwidth for the data packets.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A network device for enforcing service level agreements is described that is able to scan the contents of entire data packets including header and payload information. The network device includes memory for storing subscriber information, policies and statistics. The traffic flow scanning processor scans the header and payload information from each data packet, which is used to associate each data packet with a particular subscriber, classify the type of network traffic in the data packet and to enforce the particular policies associated with the subscriber. The traffic flow scanning processor produces a treatment for the data packet based on the scanning. The scanned data packets and the associated treatments are then passed to a quality of service processor, which modifies the data packets if necessary and enforces resource allocation according to the preprogrammed policies.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A network device for enforcing service level agreements between a provider and a customer set relating to a network having network traffic composed of data packets, the network device comprising:
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memory for storing customer information, statistics and policies, the policies defining network attributes and services agreed to in the service level agreement; a traffic flow scanning processor connected to the memory for scanning data packets, associating the data packets with a particular customer from the customer set, and determining a treatment for the data packets based on the policies for the particular customer; and a quality of service processor connected to the traffic flow scanning processor and including a plurality of queues to process the data packets according to the treatment determined by the traffic flow scanning processor, wherein the network device checks for available bandwidth for each of the data packets by comparing available capacity for a particular type of network traffic contained within the data packets with a predetermined unit capacity associated with the particular type of network traffic, such that if the available capacity is greater than the unit capacity there is available bandwidth for the data packets. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for enforcing resource allocation in service level agreements for a data network including a plurality of traffic flows each formed by a plurality of data packets, the method comprising:
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associating a data packet with a particular customer; classifying contents of the data packet, the contents being classified as a type of traffic that is real time or non-real time; checking for available bandwidth according to preprogrammed policies for the particular customer and the type of traffic; and sending the data packet to an appropriate quality of service queue based on the type of traffic and available bandwidth according to the preprogrammed policies, wherein real time traffic is marked for deletion when there is not available bandwidth in the associated quality of service queue. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification