Automated network infrastructure test and diagnostic system and method therefor

• US 8,065,399 B2
• Filed: 12/23/2008
• Issued: 11/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sons of Innovation LLC
• Original Assignee: Circadence Corporation
• Inventors: McFate, Marlin Popeye, Vange, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): LAZARO, DAVID R
• Application Number:
  US12/317,721
• Publication Number:
  US 20090182868A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,064 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709223-224, 709/221, 709/226, 709/220
• US Class Current: 709/221
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0751 Error or fault detection not based on redundancy power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5021 Priority
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5055 considering software capabilities, i.e. software resources associated or available to the machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5088 involving task migration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0813 characterised by the conditions triggering a change of settings
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/193 at the transport layer, e.g. TCP related
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1408 by monitoring network traffic monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1416 Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1458 Denial of Service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 : based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 : for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10015 : Access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. using brokers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 : based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/101 : based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1021 : based on client or server locations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 : using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1031 : Controlling of the operation of servers by a load balancer, e.g. adding or removing servers that serve requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1034 : Reaction to server failures by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 : Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 : Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/561 : Adding application-functional data or data for application control, e.g. adding metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 : Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 : Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 : Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 : Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 : Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 : Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 : taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 : in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 : Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/02 : Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 : Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

A testing system provides automated testing of one or more network infrastructures. The testing system may automatically reconfigure one or more devices within a network infrastructure and then conduct testing on the newly configured network infrastructure. Test results may be used to diagnose network anomalies and to compare performance or other characteristics of various network configurations. In one embodiment, the testing system tests a communication channel between a front-end and back-end mechanism where data traffic is encoded between the front-end and back-end mechanism.

Claims

1. A testing system for a network comprising:

a front-end device configured to send request/response traffic, said front-end device operating according to a first network infrastructure configuration;

a back-end device configured to receive said request/response traffic, said back-end device operating according to a second network infrastructure configuration;

at least one communication link between said front-end device and said back-end device;

a script stored on said front-end device or said back-end device, said script configured to conduct and store tests results of one or more performance tests involving transfer of said request/response traffic between said front-end device and said back-end device across only said at least one communication link according to a configuration test file, whereby prior to conducting one or more of said one or more tests said script updates said first network infrastructure configuration and said second network infrastructure configuration according to said configuration test file.

2. The testing system of claim 1 further comprising testing system hardware comprising a processor, a memory device, and a network interface, wherein said script is stored and executed on said testing system hardware.

3. The testing system of claim 1 further comprising a web server configured to receive said test results and to display said test results on one or more web pages.

4. The testing system of claim 1, wherein said script selectively activates and deactivates encoding of said request/response traffic from a first protocol to a second protocol by updating said first network infrastructure configuration and said second network infrastructure configuration according to said configuration test file prior to conducting one or more of said one or more tests.

5. The testing system of claim 4, wherein said front-end device and said back-end device are configured to encode said request/response traffic according to preselected compatible semantics comprising processes for sharing operational information for the front-end device and back-end device, and wherein the act of encoding comprises communicating quality of service information about the communication link between the front-end device and back-end device.

6. A testing system comprising:

a processor;

a memory device in communication with said processor;

one or more network interfaces for communication with at least a front-end mechanism and a back-end mechanism, said one or more network interfaces in communication with said processor;

a configuration test file stored on said memory device, said configuration test file comprising settings for controlling operation of said front-end mechanism and said back-end mechanism;

a script stored on said memory device, said script configured to generate test results by conducting one or more data transfers between said front-end mechanism and said back-end mechanism to performance test said network, said script also configured to update a network infrastructure configuration according to said settings of said configuration test file, whereby said network infrastructure configuration is updated with said settings and pushed to said front-end mechanism and said back-end mechanism prior to one or more of said one or more data transfers and used to control operation of the front-end mechanism and back-end mechanism during said one or more data transfers.

7. The testing system of claim 6, wherein said script collects said test results from said front-end mechanism or said back-end mechanism after said one or more tests have been conducted.

8. The testing system of claim 6 further comprising a display, wherein said test results are formatted and displayed on said display.

9. The testing system of claim 6, wherein said configuration test file comprises one or more functions executable by said script during said one or more tests.

10. The testing system of claim 6, wherein said test results comprise network characteristics selected from the group consisting of throughput, bandwidth, latency, quality of service, error rate, and utilization.

11. The testing system of claim 6, wherein, prior to conducting one or more of said one or more tests, said script selectively activates and deactivates a data transport mechanism between said front-end mechanism and said back-end mechanism by updating said network infrastructure configuration according to said configuration test file and pushing said network infrastructure configuration to said front-end mechanism and said back-end mechanism.

12. The testing system of claim 11, wherein said data transport mechanism utilizes a communication protocol selected from the group consisting of TMP and TCP.

13. The testing system of claim 6 wherein said one or more network interfaces is configured to provide a secure communication link for pushing said network infrastructure configuration to said front-end mechanism or said back-end mechanism.

14. A method for testing a network infrastructure comprising:

reading at least a portion of a configuration test file;

updating a first network infrastructure configuration and a second network infrastructure configuration according to said at least a portion of said configuration test file;

pushing said first network infrastructure configuration to a front-end mechanism to configure said front-end mechanism for one or more tests, and pushing said second network infrastructure configuration to a back-end mechanism to configure said back-end mechanism for said one or more tests;

conducting said one or more tests by executing a plurality of data transfers between said front-end mechanism and said back-end mechanism using a first communication protocol;

activating a second communication protocol for at least one of the one or more data transfers, the second communication protocol distinct from the first communication protocol;

storing test results from said plurality of data transfers that occurred during said one or more tests;

repeating the above steps one or more times; and

displaying said test results to one or more users.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising combining said tests results from said one or more tests.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising interpreting said test results to determine network performance.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising interpreting said test results to determine bandwidth usage.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein said configuration test file comprises one or more portions defining at least one test where said front-end mechanism is configured to encode data according to the TMP protocol.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein said configuration test file comprises one or more portions defining at least one test where said front-end mechanism is configured to encode data according to the TMP protocol and at least another test where said front-end mechanism is configured to encode data according to the TCP protocol.

20. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

updating a second network infrastructure configuration according to said configuration test file; and

pushing said second network infrastructure configuration to a back-end mechanism to configure said back-end mechanism for one or more of said one or more tests.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein said configuration test file comprises one or more portions defining at least one test where said front-end mechanism and said back-end mechanism are configured to encode data according to the TMP protocol and at least another test where said front-end mechanism and said back-end mechanism are configured to encode data according to the TCP protocol.

22. The method of claim 14 further comprising collecting said test results from said front-end mechanism if said test results are stored on said front-end mechanism.

23. The method of claim 14 further comprising sending said test results to a web server to allow said test results to be viewed on one or more web pages.