Virtual link mapping

• US 8,289,878 B1
• Filed: 05/09/2007
• Issued: 10/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Gonzalez, Jose A., Ham, David M., Lobo, Shane, Parrott, Steve D., Rubin, Jonathan, Shinholster, Drew A. Jr., Szymanski, Todd
• Primary Examiner(s): Phillips, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cattungal, Ajay
• Application Number:
  US11/746,273
• Time in Patent Office: 1,987 Days
• Field of Search: 370/216, 370/235, 370/254, 370/392, 370/395.2, 370/401, 370/408, 370/409, 709/223, 709/224, 709/253, 709/254
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0661 by reconfiguring faulty entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0677 Localisation of faults
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0856 by backing up or archiving configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0897 by horizontal or vertical scaling of resources, or by migrating entities, e.g. virtual resources or entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5061 characterised by the interaction between service providers and their network customers, e.g. customer relationship management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/507 Filtering out customers affected by service problems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/64 using an overlay routing layer

Abstract

Network virtual link mapping methods and systems are disclosed. In some method embodiments, router configurations are parsed to determine virtual link information for a network. A map is derived for virtual link information associated with a customer. The map is displayed, and may be used for highlighting problem areas for a customer, recommending solutions, and reconfiguring the virtual links to address specific customer needs.

Claims

1. A method for network mapping, comprising:

parsing, by a data manager, router configurations of routers of a network service provider that facilitate communication between customer source nodes and customer destination nodes of a plurality of customers to determine virtual link information for virtual links between the customer source nodes and the customer destination nodes of the plurality of customers in a network;

deriving, by the data manager, a map that shows virtual link lines between customer source nodes and customer destination nodes of one of the plurality of customers, wherein the map is based on virtual link information associated with the one of the plurality of customers, and wherein the map does not include nodes of physical network elements of the network service provider; and

highlighting, by the data manager, at least one object of the derived map to identify a problem area, wherein the highlighted at least one object is selected from displayed customer source nodes, displayed customer destination nodes, and displayed virtual link lines.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the network is a packet switched network.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising highlighting one of a customer source node and a customer destination node with a virtual link line that is misconfigured.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising highlighting a virtual link line that is obsolete.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising highlighting a virtual link line that is a congested data path.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising highlighting one of a customer source node and a customer destination node with inadequate redundancy.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising recommending an addition of a redundant node and corresponding virtual links in response to highlighting the one of a customer source node and a customer destination node with inadequate redundancy.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the virtual link information comprises customer bandwidth.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the virtual links are permanent virtual circuits.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the virtual links are based on layer two tunneling protocol.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the virtual links are created based on a customer security policy.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the map is one of a hierarchical map, a spring model map, a radial layout map, and a circular layout map.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein parsing router configurations comprises integrating the virtual link information with customer data to create an integrated database and wherein the customer data comprises at least one of billing plans, billing information, and customer names.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying, by a user interface, the map.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein at least some of the routers are connected to a plurality of customer source nodes and customer destination nodes of a plurality of customers.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the router configurations are stored in one or more backup data stores.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the map only depicts the customer source nodes and the customer destination nodes of the one of the plurality of customers.

18. A method for network mapping, comprising:

displaying, by a processor, a map showing virtual link lines between customer source nodes and customer destination nodes associated with a customer for a network, wherein the map does not include nodes of physical network elements of a network service provider;

highlighting, by the processor, a problem area on the displayed map, wherein the highlighted problem area corresponds to at least one object selected from displayed customer source nodes, displayed customer destination nodes, and displayed virtual link lines; and

recommending, by the processor, a solution for the problem area.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the problem area is one of a misconfigured virtual link and an obsolete virtual link.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the problem area is a virtual link that is a congested data path.

21. The method of claim 18 wherein the problem area is one of a customer source node and a customer destination node that has inadequate redundancy.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein recommending a solution for the problem area comprises recommending an addition of a redundant node and corresponding virtual links.

23. A system for network mapping, comprising:

a data retriever to retrieve router configurations;

a data manager to parse router configurations of routers of a network service provider that facilitate communication between customer source nodes and customer destination nodes of a plurality of customers to identify virtual link information for virtual links between the customer source nodes and the customer destination nodes of the plurality of customers in each network and to derive a map that shows virtual link lines between customer source nodes and customer destination nodes of one of the plurality of customers based on virtual link information associated with the one of the plurality of customers, wherein the map does not include nodes of physical network elements of the network service provider; and

a user interface to display the map and to highlight at least one object of the displayed map to identify a problem area, wherein the highlighted at least one object is selected from displayed customer source nodes, displayed customer destination nodes, and displayed virtual link lines.