Method and system for topological navigation of hierarchical data groups

• US 7,519,700 B1
• Filed: 02/18/2005
• Issued: 04/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Riverbed Technology, LLC (Riverbed Technology Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: OPNET Technologies Incorporated (Riverbed Technology Incorporated)
• Inventors: Wen, Han, Sapsford, Joe
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHUOC H
• Application Number:
  US11/061,978
• Time in Patent Office: 1,516 Days
• Field of Search: 709223-224, 715/735, 715/736
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9027 Trees
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/904 Browsing; Visualisation therefor for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/028 by filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data

Abstract

A system and method to visually navigate hierarchical data groups are provided. If a user wishes to graphically view network traffic for a particular business group of network nodes, a network topology navigation tool may be provided to display to the user such information that is relevant to the selected business group and the corresponding hierarchy level. The user may also be permitted to access more detailed connection information through appropriate drill-downs.

Claims

1. A system to visually navigate hierarchical data groups, the system including:

a network management console comprising,

an extractor processing subsystem configured to receive a request to retrieve network traffic information relating to logical groups of network nodes connected to a selected logical group of such nodes having a selected level of hierarchy and

a topology tool processing subsystem configured to retrieve information from those ones of the connected logical groups relevant to the selected level of hierarchy wherein the topology tool processing subsystem is further configured to,

filter the connected logical groups according to respective levels of hierarchy thereof, wherein the topological tool processing subsystem includes a filter configured to,

identify the selected logical group as a relevant logical group;

identify those of the connected logical groups as relevant logical groups if a logical group container associated with a connected logical group of interest is the same as a logical group container associated with the selected logical group and a level of hierarchy for the connected logical group of interest is the same as the level of hierarchy for the selected logical group;

identify a top level container for the connected logical group of interest as a relevant logical group if the logical group container associated with the connected logical group of interest is different from the logical group container associated with the selected logical group, and

identify those of the connected logical groups as relevant logical groups if a connected logical group is not a member of any logical group container.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein a first one of the connected logical groups is characterized by a plurality of IP addresses.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of IP addresses includes one or more ranges of IP addresses.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein a first one of the connected logical groups is a logical group container including one or more logical groups of network nodes.

5. The system of claim 1, further including a tree navigator configured to present a user with a representation of a hierarchy of the logical groups of network nodes.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the topology tool further configured to:

automatically discover the connected logical groups.

7. The system of claim 6, further including a traffic flow database configured to store the network traffic information for the connected logical groups.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the topology tool is further configured to display graphically the relevant logical groups and network traffic flows between the selected logical group and the relevant logical groups.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the topology tool is further configured to display one or more objects included in a target logical group from the displayed logical groups, responsive to a cursor control operation associated with the displayed logical group.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the topology tool further includes a drilldown component to:

receive a request for a drilldown associated with a target logical group;

display drilldown data for the target logical group according to a drilldown mode.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein:

the drilldown mode is a first drilldown mode; and

the drilldown data includes graphical representation of members of the target logical group, and graphical representation of connections between the members of the target logical group.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein:

the drilldown mode is a second drilldown mode; and

the drilldown data includes graphical representation of members of the target logical group, graphical representation of connections between the members of the target logical group, graphical representation of connections between the members of the target logical group and the displayed logical groups, and graphical representation of connections between the members of the target logical group and other logical groups.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein:

the drilldown mode is a third drilldown mode; and

the drilldown data includes graphical representation of only such members of the target logical group that have network traffic with the displayed logical groups, graphical representation of connections between the displayed logical groups that are not the target logical group, and graphical representation of connections between such members and the displayed logical groups.

14. A method to visually navigate hierarchical data groups, the method including:

receiving at a computer system a request to retrieve network traffic information associated with logical groups of network nodes connected to a selected logical group of such nodes having a selected level of hierarchy; and

retrieving such information for those of the connected logical groups relevant to the selected level of hierarchy, wherein the retrieving includes,

filtering the logical groups so connected according to respective levels of hierarchy thereof, wherein the filtering includes,

identifying the selected logical group as a relevant logical group,

identifying those of the connected logical groups as relevant logical groups if a logical group container associated with a connected logical group of interest is the same as a logical group container associated with the selected logical group and a level of hierarchy for the connected logical group of interest is the same as the level of hierarchy for the selected logical group,

identifying a top level container for the connected logical group of interest as a relevant logical group if the logical group container associated with the connected logical group of interest is different from the logical group container associated with the selected logical group, and

identifying those of the connected logical groups as relevant logical groups if a connected logical group is not a member of any logical group container.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein a first logical group from the connected logical groups is characterized by a plurality of IP addresses.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of IP addresses includes one or more ranges of IP addresses.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the first one of the connected logical groups is a logical group container including one or more logical groups of network nodes.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the receiving of the request includes presenting a user with a representation of a hierarchy of logical groups of network nodes.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the retrieving of the relevant logical groups includes:

automatically discovering logical groups connected to the selected logical groups.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the discovering of the connected logical groups includes interrogating a traffic flow database.

21. The method of claim 14, further including displaying graphically the selected logical group, relevant logical groups, and network traffic flow between the selected logical group and the relevant logical groups.

22. The method of claim 21, further including, responsive to a cursor control operation associated with a target logical group from the displayed logical groups, displaying one or more objects included in the target logical group.

23. The method of claim 21, further including:

receiving a request for a drilldown associated with a target logical group;

displaying drilldown data for the target logical group according to a drilldown mode.

24. The method of claim 23, including:

selecting a first drill mode; and

displaying graphical representation of members of the target logical group, and graphical representation of connections between the members of the target logical group.

25. The method of claim 23, including:

selecting a second drill mode; and

displaying graphical representation of members of the target logical group, graphical representation of connections between the members of the target logical group, graphical representation of connections between the members of the target logical group and the displayed logical groups, and graphical representation of connections between the members of the target logical group and other logical groups.

26. The method of claim 23, including:

selecting a third drill mode; and

displaying graphical representation of only such members of the target logical group that have network traffic with the displayed logical groups, graphical representation of connections between the displayed logical groups that are not the target logical group, and graphical representation of connections between such members and the displayed logical groups.

27. A user interface including:

a display configured to present,

a hierarchy tree area configured to permit a user to select, using a cursor control device, a graphical representation of a logical group of network nodes having a selected level of hierarchy,

an activation control configured to permit the user to request retrieval of network traffic information for logical groups of such nodes connected to the selected logical group, wherein the retrieving includes,

filtering the logical groups so connected according to respective levels of hierarchy thereof, wherein the filtering includes, identifying the selected logical group as a relevant logical group,

identifying those of the connected logical groups as relevant logical groups if a logical group container associated with a connected logical group of interest is the same as a logical group container associated with the selected logical group and a level of hierarchy for the connected logical group of interest is the same as the level of hierarchy for the selected logical group,

identifying a top level container for the connected logical group of interest as a relevant logical group if the logical group container associated with the connected logical group of interest is different from the logical group container associated with the selected logical group, and

identifying those of the connected logical groups as relevant logical groups if a connected logical group is not a member of any logical group container, and

a graphical navigation area configured to display graphical representation of those of the connected logical groups relevant to the selected level of hierarchy.

28. The user interface of claim 27 wherein the graphical navigation area is further configured to display members of those of the logical groups responsive to a cursor control operation by the user.

29. A machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon data representing sets of instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

receive a request network traffic information relating to logical groups of network nodes connected to a selected logical group of such nodes having a selected level of hierarchy; and

retrieve information from those ones of the connected logical groups relevant to the selected level of hierarchy, wherein the retrieving further causes the machine to,

filter the logical groups so connected according to respective levels of hierarchy thereof, wherein the filtering further causes the machine to,

identify the selected logical group as a relevant logical group,

identify those of the connected logical groups as relevant logical groups if a logical group container associated with a connected logical group of interest is the same as a logical group container associated with the selected logical group and a level of hierarchy for the connected logical group of interest is the same as the level of hierarchy for the selected logical group,

identify a top level container for the connected logical group of interest as a relevant logical group if the logical group container associated with the connected logical group of interest is different from the logical group container associated with the selected logical group, and

identify those of the connected logical groups as relevant logical groups if a connected logical group is not a member of any logical group container.

30. An apparatus including:

means for receiving at a computer system a request to retrieve network traffic information associated with logical groups of network nodes connected to a selected logical group of such nodes having a selected level of hierarchy, wherein said means for receiving includes memory; and

means for retrieving such information for those of the connected logical groups relevant to the selected level of hierarchy, wherein the retrieving means further includes,

means for filtering the logical groups so connected according to respective levels of hierarchy thereof, wherein the filtering means further includes,

first identifying means for identifying the selected logical group as a relevant logical group,

second identifying means for identifying those of the connected logical groups as relevant logical groups if a logical group container associated with a connected logical group of interest is the same as a logical group container associated with the selected logical group and a level of hierarchy for the connected logical group of interest is the same as the level of hierarchy for the selected logical group,

third identifying means for identifying a top level container for the connected logical group of interest as a relevant logical group if the logical group container associated with the connected logical group of interest is different from the logical group container associated with the selected logical group, and

fourth identifying means for identifying those of the connected logical groups as relevant logical groups if a connected logical group is not a member of any logical group container.