Context-aware dynamic policy selection for load balancing behavior

• US 9,602,380 B2
• Filed: 03/28/2014
• Issued: 03/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Strassner, John Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): SCOTT, RANDY A
• Application Number:
  US14/229,640
• Publication Number:
  US 20150281339A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,089 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224, 709/225, 709/226, 709/227
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0888 Throughput
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1025 Dynamic adaptation of the criteria on which the server selection is based

Abstract

Dynamically updating load balancing policies based on operations, administration, maintenance, and provisioning (OAMP) data generated by a load balancing network may provide increased load balancing performance. As an example, an existing set of load-balancing policies can be dynamically modified based on OAMP data generated by load balancers and/or network elements. As another example, new load-balancing policies can be dynamically created based on the OAMP data. As yet another example, an updated set of load-balancing policies can be selected from a pool of policies based on OAMP data. Dynamically updating load balancing policies can be achieved using information model processing frameworks, such as the next generation directory enabled networks (DEN-ng) model.

Claims

1. A method for dynamically adjusting load balancing behavior, the method comprising:

instructing load-balancers to distribute service requests amongst a plurality of network elements in accordance with an initial set of policies during a first period;

obtaining operations, administration, maintenance, and provisioning (OAMP) data generated during the first period;

obtaining an updated set of policies in accordance with the OAMP data collected, the updated set of policies reflecting the nature of the OAMP data collected, wherein obtaining the updated set of policies comprises retrieving the OAMP data, examining the OAMP data to detect statistics and trends, and selecting the updated set of policies from a pool of policies in accordance with the statistics and trends; and

instructing the load-balancers to distribute service requests amongst the network elements in accordance with the updated set of policies during a second period.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the initial set of policies are selected from a pool of policies stored in a rule repository of a load-balancing network.

3. The method of claim 1, where obtaining the updated set of policies in accordance with the OAMP data comprises:

selecting a set of pre-defined policies from a pool of policies; and

modifying the set of pre-defined policies in accordance with the OAMP data to obtain the updated set of policies.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the updated set of policies in accordance with the OAMP data comprises:

creating at least one new policy in accordance with the OAMP data, wherein the at least one new policy is included in the updated set of policies.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the load balancers remain in continuous runtime operation from the beginning of the first period to the end of the second period.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the OAMP data is generated by the network elements.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the OAMP data is generated by the load balancers.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the OAMP data is generated by the network elements and the load balancers.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the load balancers are positioned in-between a distribution server and the network elements that are being load-balanced.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the distribution server is configured to distribute the service requests amongst the load balancers, and wherein the load balancers are configured to distribute the service requests amongst the network elements.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the updated set of policies include load-balancing policies for operating the load balancers as well as service request distribution policies for distributing service requests to the network elements.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the updated set of policies includes at least one service request distribution policy that is excluded from the initial set of policies.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the updated set of policies includes at least one load balancing policy that is excluded from the initial set of policies.

14. A method for dynamically adjusting load balancing behavior, the method comprising:

instructing load-balancers to distribute service requests amongst a plurality of network elements in accordance with an initial set of policies during a first period;

obtaining operations, administration, maintenance, and provisioning (OAMP) data generated during the first period;

obtaining an updated set of policies in accordance with the OAMP data collected, the updated set of policies reflecting the nature of the OAMP data collected, wherein obtaining the updated set of policies in accordance with the OAMP data comprises calculating workloads for the network elements in accordance with OAMP data, identifying, in accordance with the workloads, at least one overworked network element, and obtaining a policy that at least partially reduces the workload of the overworked network element, wherein the obtained policy is included in the updated set of policies; and

instructing the load-balancers to distribute service requests amongst the network elements in accordance with the updated set of policies during a second period.

15. A method for dynamically adjusting load balancing behavior, the method comprising:

instructing load-balancers to distribute service requests amongst a plurality of network elements in accordance with an initial set of policies during a first period;

obtaining operations, administration, maintenance, and provisioning (OAMP) data generated during the first period;

obtaining an updated set of policies in accordance with the OAMP data collected, the updated set of policies reflecting the nature of the OAMP data collected, wherein obtaining the updated set of policies in accordance with the OAMP data comprises calculating a workload of a load balancer in accordance with OAMP data, determining, in accordance with the workload, that the load balancer was overworked during the first period, and obtaining a first policy that at least partially reduces the workload of the load balancer, wherein the first policy is included in the updated set of policies; and

instructing the load-balancers to distribute service requests amongst the network elements in accordance with the updated set of policies during a second period.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein obtaining the updated set of policies further comprises:

calculating workloads for the network elements in accordance with OAMP data;

identifying, in accordance with the calculated workloads, at least one overworked network element; and

obtaining a second policy that at least partially reduces the workload of the overworked network element, wherein both the first policy and the second policy are included in the updated set of policies.

17. A load-balancing network comprising:

a rule repository storing a pool of load-balancing policies, the rule repository including a physical storage medium;

a plurality of load-balancers that distribute service requests amongst network elements in accordance with an initial set of load-balancing policies during a first period, the initial set of load-balancing policies including load-balancing policies selected from the pool of load-balancing policies stored in the rule repository, the load balancers including physical processing hardware; and

a context-aware policy manager that dynamically updates the initial set of load-balancing policies in accordance with operations, administration, maintenance, and provisioning (OAMP) data generated by the load balancers, the network elements, or both during the first period, wherein the context-aware policy manager is configured to dynamically update the initial set of load balancing policies by retrieving the OAMP data, examining the OAMP data to detect statistics and trends, and selecting the updated set of policies from a pool of policies in accordance with the statistics and trends.

18. The load-balancing network of claim 17, wherein the plurality of load-balancers distribute service requests amongst network elements in accordance with the updated set of load-balancing policies during a second period that follows the first period, and wherein the load-balancing network remains in continuous runtime operation from the beginning of the first period to the end of the second period.

19. The load-balancing network of claim 17, wherein the updated set of load-balancing policies include at least one load-balancing policy that is excluded from the initial set of load-balancing policies.

20. The load-balancing network of claim 17, wherein the initial set of load-balancing policies include at least one load-balancing policy that is excluded from the updated set of load-balancing policies.

21. The load-balancing network of claim 17, wherein a first set of OAMP data is generated by the network elements that are being load-balanced during the first period.

22. The load-balancing network of claim 17, wherein a second set of OAMP data is generated by the network elements of the load-balancing network during the first period.

23. The load-balancing network of claim 17, wherein the load-balancing network comprises a distribution server and a plurality of load balancers positioned in-between the distribution server and the network elements that are being load-balanced.

24. The load-balancing network of claim 23, wherein the distribution server distributes the service requests amongst the load balancers, and wherein the load balancers distribute the service requests amongst the network elements.

25. The load-balancing network of claim 23, wherein the pool of load-balancing policies include load-balancing policies for operating the load balancers and policies to balance the work performed by each network element that each load balancer is connected to.

26. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to;

instruct load-balancers to distribute service requests amongst a plurality of network elements in accordance with an initial set of policies during a first period;

obtain operations, administration, maintenance, and provisioning (OAMP) data generated during the first period;

obtain an updated set of policies in accordance with the OAMP data, wherein the instructions to obtain the updated set of policies in accordance with the OAMP data include instructions to retrieve the OAMP data, to examine the OAMP data to detect statistics and trends, and to select the updated set of policies from a pool of policies in accordance with the statistics and trends; and

instruct the load-balancers to distribute service requests amongst the network elements in accordance with the updated set of policies during a second period.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the load-balancers are configured to remain in continuous runtime operation from the beginning of the first period to the end of the second period.