Fault detection and diagnosis
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method comprising:
- detecting a discrepancy in operation of an actual network by;
supplying trace data that describes the actual network to a network simulator in order for the network simulator to provide an estimate of a simulated network performance of a trace-driven simulation of the actual network, the trace data being collected through operation of the actual network and comprising one or more of network topology data, traffic statistics data, physical medium data, and network operation data of the actual network, wherein the simulated network is;
implemented by software to perform traffic load simulation, routing simulation, signal strength simulation, and fault injection simulation of the actual network; and
configured to reflect an accurate depiction of the actual network based on the collected trace data of the actual network; and
determining the estimate of the simulated network performance differs from an observed network performance of the actual network; and
diagnosing a root cause of the discrepancy by injecting one or more of a plurality of faults into the simulated network until the estimate of the simulated network performance approximates the observed actual network performance.
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Abstract
A network troubleshooting framework is described. In an implementation, a method includes detecting discrepancy in operation of a network by supplying data that describes the network to a network simulation so that the network simulation provides an estimation of network performance. A determination is made as to whether the estimation of network performance differs from observed network performance of the network. A root cause of the discrepancy is diagnosed by injecting one or more of a plurality of faults into the network simulation until the estimation of network performance approximates the observed network performance.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
detecting a discrepancy in operation of an actual network by; supplying trace data that describes the actual network to a network simulator in order for the network simulator to provide an estimate of a simulated network performance of a trace-driven simulation of the actual network, the trace data being collected through operation of the actual network and comprising one or more of network topology data, traffic statistics data, physical medium data, and network operation data of the actual network, wherein the simulated network is; implemented by software to perform traffic load simulation, routing simulation, signal strength simulation, and fault injection simulation of the actual network; and configured to reflect an accurate depiction of the actual network based on the collected trace data of the actual network; and determining the estimate of the simulated network performance differs from an observed network performance of the actual network; and diagnosing a root cause of the discrepancy by injecting one or more of a plurality of faults into the simulated network until the estimate of the simulated network performance approximates the observed actual network performance. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method comprising:
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estimating a performance of an actual network by execution of a network simulator to provide a simulated network that uses one or more network settings obtained from the actual network as an input, the one or more network settings being collected through operation of the actual network and comprising network topology data, traffic statistics data, physical medium data, and network operation data of the actual network, wherein the simulated network is; implemented by software to perform traffic load simulation, routing simulation, signal strength simulation, and fault injection simulation of the actual network, and configured to reflect an accurate depiction of the actual network based on the one or more network settings of the actual network; and when a difference between the estimated network performance of the simulated network and observed network performance of the actual network is greater than a corresponding threshold; making an initial diagnosis to generate an initial fault set; and iteratively refining the initial fault set to arrive at a current fault set that, when utilized as an input by the network simulation, causes the simulated network to output another estimate of network performance that approximates the network performance of the actual network. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed on a computer, direct the computer to perform a method comprising:
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establishing whether an observation of network performance of an actual network differs from an estimate of network performance output by a simulated network that simulates the actual network, wherein; network settings comprising one or more of network topology data, traffic statistics data, physical medium data, and network operation data of the actual network are collected through operation of the actual network and supplied to the simulated network; and the simulated network is implemented by software and configured to reflect an accurate depiction of the actual network based on the collected network settings; and if so, determining a root cause of the difference by adding or removing one or more faults from a fault set until the fault set, when utilized by the simulated network, causes the simulated network to provide another estimate of network performance that approximates the observation of network performance of the actual network. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A system comprising a plurality of nodes that are communicatively coupled, one to another, to form a real network, wherein:
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each of the plurality of nodes comprises at least a processor and memory coupled to the processor; one or more nodes from the plurality of nodes include an agent module that is executable on the processor of each of the one or more nodes to perform a first method comprising; collecting network settings comprising network topology settings, traffic statistics settings, physical medium settings, and network operation settings; and forming a communication that includes the network settings for communication over the network; and at least one node from the plurality of nodes includes a manager module that is executable on the processor of the one node to perform a second method comprising; receiving the communication; generating a simulation of the real network based on the network settings obtained from the communication, wherein the simulation of the real network is implemented by software executable on the processor of the one node and the simulation of the real network is configured to reflect an accurate depiction of the real network by retrieving the network settings from the received communication; detecting a fault in real network operation by comparing an estimate of network performance of the simulation of the real network with an observation of network performance of the real network; and diagnosing the fault by injecting one or more of a plurality of faults into the simulation of the real network until the estimate of network performance of the simulation approximates the observation of the real network. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A node comprising:
means for managing operation of an actual network having a plurality of means for routing data packets, wherein; each said routing means is communicatively coupled to another said routing means; and the means for managing operation of the actual network includes; means for simulating the actual network configured to provide a simulated network of the actual network, the simulated network being implemented by software; means for providing network settings obtained from the actual network to the means for simulating the actual network, wherein; the network settings comprise network topology data, traffic statistics data, physical medium data, and network operation data; and the means for simulating the actual network is configured to reflect an accurate depiction of the actual network based on the obtained network settings; means for receiving an output from the means for simulating the actual network, wherein the output estimates network performance of the simulated network; means for detecting a fault by comparing the output of network performance of the simulated network with an observation of network performance of the actual network; and means for diagnosing the fault configured to diagnose by injecting one or more of a plurality of faults into the simulated network until estimate of network performance of the simulated network approximates the observation of network performance of the actual network. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35)
Specification