Methods and apparatus to track changes to a network topology

• US 9,798,810 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2014
• Issued: 10/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wang, Heng, Ferro, Robert J., Zhang, Leah L., Figueroa, Luis
• Primary Examiner(s): Chea, Philip
• Assistant Examiner(s): KHAN, HASSAN ABDUR-RAHMAN
• Application Number:
  US14/503,349
• Publication Number:
  US 20160094383A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,120 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0869 Validating the configuration within one network element
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/122 of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV]

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to track network changes are disclosed herein. An example method to track a network topology includes, in response to a reporting message including topology change information corresponding to a topology change event, generating a confirmation-seeking message based on the topology change information to confirm the topology change event and updating a topology data set representing the network topology based on a response to the confirmation-seeking message. Further disclosed methods include generating a pre-confirmation data record that reflects the topology change information contained in the reporting message, and storing the pre-confirmation data record in a pre-confirmation topology database.

Claims

1. A method to track changes to a network topology, the method comprising:

in response to a reporting message originating at a software defined network controller, the reporting message including topology change information corresponding to a pending topology change event to occur in a network at a future time,

generating, at a topology tool of a network management system, a confirmation-seeking message based on the topology change information to confirm the occurrence of the pending topology change event, the confirmation-seeking message being transmitted to a network element to the pending topology change event;

generating, at the topology tool, a pre-confirmation data record, the pre-confirmation data record to reflect the topology change information contained in the reporting message; and

storing the pre-confirmation data record in a pre-confirmation topology database of the topology tool, the pre-confirmation data record being unconfirmed at a time of storage in the pre-confirmation topology database; and

when a response to the confirmation-seeking message received at the topology tool confirms the pending topology change event has occurred, updating a post-confirmation topology database by storing a post-confirmation data record in the post-confirmation topology database, the post-confirmation data record being based on the pre-confirmation data record;

wherein the post-confirmation record is a second post-confirmation record, and the method further includes determining whether a first post-confirmation data record corresponding to the network element subject to the topology change event is stored in the post-confirmation topology database;

wherein the pre-confirmation data record is stored in the pre-confirmation topology database based on whether the first post-confirmation data record is determined to be stored in the post-confirmation topology database.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the confirmation-seeking message includes an address of the network element subject to the pending topology change event, a type of pending topology change event, a status of the pending topology change event, and information indicating a position of the network element within the network topology.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-confirmation data record is a second pre-confirmation data record, and the second pre-confirmation data record is stored in the pre-confirmation topology database based on whether a first pre-confirmation data record corresponding to the network element is stored in the pre-confirmation topology database.

11. The method of claim 1, further including, when a response to the confirmation seeking message is received, updating the pre-confirmation database to indicate that the pending topology change event has occurred.

12. The method of claim 1, further including, when a response to the confirmation seeking message is not received at the topology tool within a threshold amount of time, generating, at the topology tool a request for updated information about the pending topology change event, the request for updated information being transmitted to the software defined controller.

4. A tangible computer readable medium comprising computer readable instructions which, when executed, cause a computer to at least:

in response to a reporting message corresponding to a network device to be subject to a pending topology change event at a future time, transmit, to the network device, a confirmation-seeking message to confirm the pending topology change event has occurred, the reporting message generated by a software defined controller of a network;

store a pre-confirmation configuration record corresponding to the network device in a pre-confirmation configuration database, the pre-confirmation configuration record to include information about the pending topology change event, and the pre-confirmation configuration record being unconfirmed at a time of storage in the pre-confirmation configuration database; and

when a response to the confirmation-seeking message confirms the pending topology change event has occurred, store a post-confirmation configuration record in a post-confirmation configuration database.

5. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 4, wherein the confirmation-seeking message includes an loopback address of the network device subject to the pending topology change event, a topology change event type identifier identifying a type of pending topology change event, and a status of the pending topology change event.

6. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 5, wherein the pre-confirmation configuration record is stored in the pre-confirmation configuration database based on whether the first post-confirmation configuration record is determined to be stored in the post-confirmation configuration database.

13. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 4, wherein the instructions further cause the computer to, when a response to the confirmation-seeking message is received, update the pre-confirmation topology database to indicate that the pending topology change event has occurred.

14. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 4, wherein the instructions further cause the computer to, when a response to the confirmation seeking message is not received at the computer within a threshold amount of time, generate, a request for updated information about the pending topology change event, the request for updated information being transmitted to the software defined controller.

7. An apparatus to track a change to a network topology, the apparatus comprising:

a memory including machine readable instructions; and

a processor to execute the instructions to perform operations including;

in response to a reporting message containing topology change information corresponding to a pending topology change event to occur at a future time, the reporting message generated by a software defined controller,

generate a validation seeking message to validate occurrence of the topology change event, the validation seeking message transmitted to a network device to be subject to the pending topology change event;

generate a pre-validation topology record, the pre-validation topology record to reflect the topology change information contained in the reporting message;

store the pre-validation topology record in a pre-validation topology database; and

when a response to the validation seeking message validates the topology change event has occurred, store a post-validation topology record in a post-validation topology database, the response being received from the network device.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the pre-validation topology record is used to create the post-validation topology record.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the validation seeking message includes an address of the network device subject to the pending topology change event, type information identifying a type of the pending topology change event, and a status of the pending topology change event indicating the status of the pending topology change event.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the post-validation topology record is a second post-validation topology record and the operations further include determining whether a first post-validation topology record corresponding to the network device is stored in the post validation topology database, the pre-validation topology record being stored in the pre-validation topology database based on whether the first post-validation topology record is determined to be stored in the post validation topology database.

15. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the operations further include, when a response to the validation seeking message is received, update the pre-validation topology database to indicate that the pending topology change event has occurred.

16. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the operations further include, when a response to the validation seeking message is not received at the computer within a threshold amount of time, generate, a request for updated information about the pending topology change event, the request for updated information being transmitted to the software defined controller.