Monitoring server load balancing
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A network monitoring device, comprising:
- an ingress port, for receiving a plurality of mirrored network packets;
plurality of egress ports, associated with a plurality of monitoring servers of a plurality of distinct monitoring groups;
a packet classifier, coupled to said ingress port for load-balancing said plurality of mirrored network packets across said plurality of monitoring servers of said plurality of distinct monitoring groups, by forwarding respective mirrored network packets to respective egress ports corresponding to respective said monitoring servers of said plurality of distinct monitoring groups based on a plurality of parameters contained in a network packet header of said respective mirrored network packets, wherein said plurality of parameters include a destination port protocol parameter that expressly identifies a protocol; and
associating said plurality of distinct monitoring groups with a networking protocol, wherein said examining comprises determining a networking protocol for each of said packets, and wherein said selecting comprises selecting said destination server such that said plurality of packets are forwarded by protocol to said plurality of distinct monitoring groups.
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Abstract
Embodiments described herein discuss an approach to implementing load-balancing across multiple monitoring servers. One such embodiment describes a network monitoring device. The network monitoring device includes an ingress port, for receiving mirrored network packets, and a number of egress ports. The egress ports are associated with a number of monitoring servers, and used to forward the mirrored network packets to the monitoring servers. A packet classifier, coupled to the ingress port, examines the mirrored network packets, and determines which of the monitoring servers should receive the packets.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A network monitoring device, comprising:
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an ingress port, for receiving a plurality of mirrored network packets; plurality of egress ports, associated with a plurality of monitoring servers of a plurality of distinct monitoring groups; a packet classifier, coupled to said ingress port for load-balancing said plurality of mirrored network packets across said plurality of monitoring servers of said plurality of distinct monitoring groups, by forwarding respective mirrored network packets to respective egress ports corresponding to respective said monitoring servers of said plurality of distinct monitoring groups based on a plurality of parameters contained in a network packet header of said respective mirrored network packets, wherein said plurality of parameters include a destination port protocol parameter that expressly identifies a protocol; and associating said plurality of distinct monitoring groups with a networking protocol, wherein said examining comprises determining a networking protocol for each of said packets, and wherein said selecting comprises selecting said destination server such that said plurality of packets are forwarded by protocol to said plurality of distinct monitoring groups. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of load-balancing network traffic across multiple servers of a plurality of distinct monitoring groups, comprising:
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configuring a memory with a hash function that maps at least a portion of an IP address of a packet to one of said multiple servers of said plurality of distinct monitoring groups; for incoming packets, selecting a destination server from said multiple servers of said plurality of said distinct monitoring groups in accordance with an executed result of said hash function, such that said packets are load-balanced across said multiple servers of said plurality of distinct monitoring groups based on a plurality of parameters contained in a network packet header of said packets that include a destination port protocol parameter that expressly identifies a protocol; and associating said plurality of distinct monitoring groups with a networking protocol, wherein said examining comprises determining a networking protocol for each of said packets, and wherein said selecting comprises selecting said destination server such that said plurality of packets are forwarded by protocol to said plurality of distinct monitoring groups. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of configuring a network monitoring device, comprising:
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generating forwarding data for mirrored network traffic, wherein said forwarding data subdivides said mirrored network traffic across a plurality of monitoring servers of a plurality of distinct monitoring groups; mapping a flow from a particular client to a particular server and from said particular server to said particular client to a common monitoring server for load balancing; storing said forwarding data within said network monitoring device wherein the forwarding data is based on a plurality of parameters contained in network packet headers of said mirrored network traffic that include a destination port protocol parameter that expressly identifies a protocol; and associating said plurality of distinct monitoring groups with a networking protocol, wherein said examining comprises determining a networking protocol for each of said packets, and wherein said selecting comprises selecting said destination server such that said plurality of packets are forwarded by protocol to said plurality of distinct monitoring groups. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
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Specification