Centralized management of quality of service (QoS) information for data flows
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- maintaining, within a router, a data structure that associates routes through a network with access information for retrieving interface parameters from an external service management system, wherein the data structure associates service profile identifiers corresponding with respective services provided by the router with the access information;
receiving, with the router, a routing protocol packet from a second router, wherein the routing protocol packet includes routing information that specifies at least one route through the network;
selecting, from the data structure, the access information associated with the route specified by the routing information, wherein selecting the access information comprises associating the route with one of the service profile identifiers without specifying an individual user and retrieving access information for the respective service provided by the router based on the service profile identifier associated with the route;
querying the external service management system with the selected access information to obtain interface parameters for instantiating an interface;
instantiating at least one interface within the router based on the interface parameters obtained from the external service management system; and
forwarding data of a data flow associated with the route specified by the routing information with the at least one interface of the router that was instantiated using the interface parameters obtained from the external service management system.
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Abstract
Techniques are described for centralized management of quality of service (QoS) characteristics of network data flows. A service management system maintains a database that associates access information, such as a username and password, with QoS information. A router or other network device associates a data flow with access information, and queries the service management system with the access information to obtain the QoS information. The router forwards data of the data flow in accordance with the QoS information obtained from the service management system. As the access information may be a username and password, an existing system, such as a Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) system, may easily be adapted for use as the service management system. As a result, QoS information may easily be centrally managed for numerous routers or other network devices.
9 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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maintaining, within a router, a data structure that associates routes through a network with access information for retrieving interface parameters from an external service management system, wherein the data structure associates service profile identifiers corresponding with respective services provided by the router with the access information; receiving, with the router, a routing protocol packet from a second router, wherein the routing protocol packet includes routing information that specifies at least one route through the network; selecting, from the data structure, the access information associated with the route specified by the routing information, wherein selecting the access information comprises associating the route with one of the service profile identifiers without specifying an individual user and retrieving access information for the respective service provided by the router based on the service profile identifier associated with the route; querying the external service management system with the selected access information to obtain interface parameters for instantiating an interface; instantiating at least one interface within the router based on the interface parameters obtained from the external service management system; and forwarding data of a data flow associated with the route specified by the routing information with the at least one interface of the router that was instantiated using the interface parameters obtained from the external service management system. - 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 control unit that; maintains a data structure that associates routes through a network with access information for retrieving interface parameters from an external service management system, wherein the control unit maintains the data structure to associate service profile identifiers corresponding with respective services provided by the network device with access information, receives a routing protocol packet from a second router that includes routing information that specifies at least one route through the network, associates the route with one of the service profile identifiers, selects, from the data structure, the access information associated with the route specified by the routing information by at least retrieving access information for the respective service provided by the router based on the service profile identifier associated with the route, and queries the external service management system with the selected access information to obtain interface parameters for instantiating an interface; and an interface through which the control unit forwards data of a data flow associated with the route specified in the routing information, wherein the interface is configured based on the interface parameters obtained from the external service management system. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions for causing one or more programmable processors to:
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maintain a data structure that associates routes through a network with access information for retrieving interface parameters from an external service management system, wherein the data structure associates service profile identifiers corresponding with respective services provided by the router with the access information; receive a routing protocol packet from a router, wherein the routing protocol packet includes routing information that specifies at least one route through the network; select, from the data structure, the access information associated with the route specified by the routing information, wherein selecting the access information comprises associating the route with one of the service profile identifiers without specifying an individual user and retrieving access information for the respective service provided by the router based on the service profile identifier associated with the route; query the external service management system with the selected access information to obtain interface parameters for instantiating an interface; instantiate at least one interface based on the interface parameters obtained from the external service management system; and forward data of a data flow associated with the route specified by the routing information with the at least one interface that was instantiated using the interface parameters obtained from the external service management system. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification