Connectivity outage detection: network/IP SLA probes reporting business impact information

• US 8,631,115 B2
• Filed: 10/16/2006
• Issued: 01/14/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sheinfeld, Gil Mati, Ballantyne, Andrew John
• Primary Examiner(s): GOLDBERG, ANDREW C
• Application Number:
  US11/549,913
• Publication Number:
  US 20080091822A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,647 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways

Abstract

Techniques for accurate determination of service impact are provided by provisioning network deployed probes with actual business object information related to business entities, such as VPN sites. Such probes are capable of sending a network trap (or alarm) containing actual business information in response to detecting a loss of connectivity. As a result, service impact caused by the loss of connectivity may be determined accurately by simply parsing the contents of a network trap, thus avoiding the complication and inaccuracy of conventional impact analysis.

Claims

1. A method of conveying loss of connectivity between two points in a network, comprising:

receiving, by a device attached to the network, network connectivity information pertaining to a network service, wherein the network connectivity information includes a plurality of metadata tags, each descriptive of a respective network connectivity attribute of the network service, wherein the plurality of metadata tags comprises;

a first tap specifying a user-defined name of a virtual private network connection involved in the network service,

a second tag specifying a type of the virtual private network connection,

a third tag specifying an indication of a first physical location affected by an interruption in the network service,

a fourth tag specifying an indication of a second physical location affected by the interruption in the network service,

a fifth tag specifying routing information identifying a source router involved in the virtual private network connection,

a sixth tag specifying routing information identifying a destination router involved in the virtual private network connection, and

a seventh tag specifying VPN routing/forwarding instance (VRF) information for at least one of the source router and the destination router;

writing, at the device, the received network connectivity information to a probe to monitor network traffic on the virtual private network connection involved in the network service;

detecting, using the probe to which the network connectivity information was written, a change in connectivity on the virtual private network connection;

in response to the detected change, populating, by the probe, a predefined data structure with the network connectivity information; and

generating a notification, using the network connectivity information from the populated predefined data structure, that describes a business impact of the change in connectivity for the network service, by describing the name and type of the virtual private network connection experiencing a change in connectivity, and specifying at least the first physical location and the second physical location as affected by the change in connectivity.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising sending the populated predefined data structure to the network management system in an automatically generated network alarm.

3. A method of determining loss of connectivity in a network, comprising:

receiving, by a device, network connectivity information relating to a network service provided over the network, wherein the network connectivity information includes a plurality of metadata tags, each descriptive of a respective network connectivity attribute of the network service, wherein the plurality of metadata tags comprises;

a first tag specifying a user-defined name of a virtual private network connection involved in the network service,

a second tag specifying a type of the virtual private network connection,

a third tag specifying an indication of a first physical location affected by an interruption in the network service,

a fourth tag specifying an indication of a second physical location affected by the interruption in the network service,

a fifth tag specifying routing information identifying a source router involved in the virtual private network connection,

a sixth tag specifying routing information identifying a destination router involved in the virtual private network connection, and

a seventh tag specifying VPN routing/forwarding instance (VRF) information for at least one of the source router and the destination router;

provisioning, by a device, at least one probe in the network to monitor traffic associated with the received network connectivity information, wherein the received network connectivity information is written to the at least one probe;

obtaining, by a device, a predefined data structure populated with the network connectivity information from the at least one provisioned probe, the probe having populated the predefined data structure using the network connectivity information written to the probe in response to detecting a change in connectivity for the virtual private network connection involved in the network service; and

in response to obtaining the predefined data structure, generating a notification, by a device, using the network connectivity information from the populated predefined data structure, that describes a business impact of the change in connectivity for the network service, by describing the name and type of the virtual private network connection experiencing a change in connectivity, and specifying at least the first physical location and the second physical location as affected by the change in connectivity.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein detecting the change in connectivity and obtaining the network connectivity information from the at least one provisioned probe comprises polling.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein detecting the change in connectivity and obtaining the network connectivity information from the at least one provisioned probe comprises receiving a network alarm from the probe.

6. A network device containing a processor and memory, comprising:

an interface for receiving network connectivity information pertaining to a network service, the network connectivity information including a plurality of metadata tags, each descriptive of a respective network connectivity attribute of the network service, wherein the plurality of metadata tags comprises;

a first tag specifying a user-defined name of a virtual private network connection involved in the network service,

a second tag specifying a type of the virtual private network connection,

a third tag specifying an indication of a first physical location affected by an interruption in the network service,

a fourth tag specifying an indication of a second physical location affected by the interruption in the network service,

a fifth tag specifying routing information identifying a source router involved in the virtual private network connection,

a sixth tag specifying routing information identifying a destination router involved in the virtual private network connection, and

a seventh tag specifying VPN routing/forwarding instance (VRF) information for at least one of the source router and the destination router;

logic for, subsequent to receiving the network connectivity information, monitoring network traffic on the virtual private network connection involved in the network service using a probe and, in response to detecting a change in connectivity of the virtual private network connection, populating a predefined data structure with the received network connectivity information; and

generating a notification, using the network connectivity information from the populated predefined data structure, that describes a business impact of the change in connectivity for the network service, by describing the name and type of the virtual private network connection experiencing a change in connectivity, and specifying at least the first physical location and the second physical location as affected by the change in connectivity.

7. The network device of claim 6, wherein the logic is configured to send the data structure to a network management system in a network alarm message.

8. A network device containing a processor and memory, comprising:

means for receiving network connectivity information pertaining to a network service, the network connectivity information including a plurality of metadata tags, each descriptive of a respective network connectivity attribute of the network service, wherein the plurality of metadata tags comprises;

a first tag specifying a user-defined name of a virtual private network connection involved in the network service,

a second tag specifying a type of the virtual private network connection,

a third tag specifying an indication of a first physical location affected by an interruption in the network service,

a fourth tag specifying an indication of a second physical location affected by the interruption in the network service,

a fifth tag specifying routing information identifying a source router involved in the virtual private network connection,

a sixth tag specifying routing information identifying a destination router involved in the virtual private network connection, and

a seventh tag specifying VPN routing/forwarding instance (VRF) information for at least one of the source router and the destination router;

means for, subsequent to receiving the network connectivity information, monitoring network traffic on the virtual private network connection involved in the network service using a probe and, in response to detecting a change in connectivity of the virtual private network connection, populating a predefined data structure with the received network connectivity information; and

means for generating a notification, using the network connectivity information from the populated predefined data structure, that describes a business impact of the change in connectivity for the network service, by describing the name and type of the virtual private network connection experiencing a change in connectivity, and specifying at least the first physical location and the second physical location as affected by the change in connectivity.

9. The network device of claim 8, wherein the probing means is configured to send the data structure to a network management system in a network alarm message.

10. The network device of claim 9, wherein the network connectivity information is contained as text in a field of the network alarm message.

11. A network management system containing a processor and memory, comprising:

configuration logic for provisioning a network probe in a network, with network connectivity information relating to a network service provided over the network written to the network probe, the network probe deployed in the network to monitor network traffic on a connection involved in the network service, wherein the network connectivity information includes a plurality of metadata tags, each descriptive of a respective network connectivity attribute of the network service, wherein the plurality of metadata tags comprises;

a first tag specifying a user-defined name of a virtual private network connection involved in the network service,

a second tag specifying a type of the virtual private network connection,

a third tag specifying an indication of a first physical location affected by an interruption in the network service,

a fourth tag specifying an indication of a second physical location affected by the interruption in the network service,

a fifth tag specifying routing information identifying a source router involved in the virtual private network connection,

a sixth tag specifying routing information identifying a destination router involved in the virtual private network connection, and

a seventh tag specifying VPN routing/forwarding instance (VRF) information for at least one of the source router and the destination router;

fault management logic configured to obtain a predefined data structure populated with the network connectivity information from the at least one provisioned probe, the at least one provisioned probe having populated the predefined data structure using the network connectivity information written to the at least one provisioned probe in response to detecting a change in connectivity on the virtual private network connection involved in the network service, wherein the fault management logic is further configured to generate a notification, using the network connectivity information from the populated predefined data structure, that describes a business impact of the change in connectivity for the virtual private network connection, by describing the name and type of the virtual private network connection experiencing a change in connectivity, and specifying at least the first physical location and the second physical location as affected by the change in connectivity.

12. The network management system of claim 11, further comprising:

business object logic allowing a user to enter the network connectivity information.

13. The network management system of claim 11, wherein the fault management logic is configured to detect a loss in connectivity and obtain the predefined data structure from the at least one provisioned probe by receiving a network alarm from the probe.

14. A network management system containing a processor and memory, comprising:

means for provisioning a network probe in a network with network connectivity information relating to a network service provided over the network written to the network probe, the network probe deployed in the network to monitor network traffic on at least one connection involved in the network service, wherein the network connectivity information includes a plurality of metadata tags, each descriptive of a respective network connectivity attribute of the network service, wherein the plurality of metadata tags comprises;

a first tag specifying a user-defined name of a virtual private network connection involved in the network service,

a second tag specifying a type of the virtual private network connection,

a third tag specifying an indication of a first physical location affected by an interruption in the network service,

a fourth tag specifying an indication of a second physical location affected by the interruption in the network service,

a fifth tag specifying routing information identifying a source router involved in the virtual private network connection,

a sixth tag specifying routing information identifying a destination router involved in the virtual private network connection, and

a seventh tag specifying VPN routing/forwarding instance (VRF) information for at least one of the source router and the destination router;

means for obtaining a predefined data structure populated with the network connectivity information from the at least one provisioned probe, the at least one provisioned probe having populated the predefined data structure using the network connectivity information written to the at least one provisioned probe upon detecting a change in connectivity on the virtual private network connection involved in the network service, wherein the populated predefined data structure is configured for use in generating a notification, using the network connectivity information from the populated predefined data structure, that describes a business impact of the change in connectivity for the virtual private network connection, by describing the name and type of the virtual private network connection experiencing a change in connectivity, and specifying at least the first physical location and the second physical location as affected by the change in connectivity.