Methods and systems for controller-based network topology identification, simulation and load testing

• US 9,960,958 B2
• Filed: 09/16/2015
• Issued: 05/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Palo Alto Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cloudgenix, Inc. (Palo Alto Networks Incorporated)
• Inventors: Ramachandran, Kumar, Anand, Venkataraman, Yadav, Navneet, Ramasamy, Arivu
• Primary Examiner(s): Shin, Kyung H
• Application Number:
  US14/856,457
• Publication Number:
  US 20160080221A1
• Time in Patent Office: 958 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/18 for evaluating statistical data , e.g. average values, frequency distributions, probability functions, regression analysis forecasting specially adapted for a specific administrative, business or logistic context G06Q10/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0668 by dynamic selection of recovery network elements, e.g. replacement by the most appropriate element after failure
• 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]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/14 Network analysis or design
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/34 Signalling channels for network management communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/062 related to network traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/065 related to network devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0864 Round trip delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/125 : based on throughput or bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 : Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/28 : using route fault recovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/302 : Route determination based on requested QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 : Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/38 : Flow based routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 : by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/22 : Traffic shaping
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 : Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 : by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/781 : Centralised allocation of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/825 : Involving tunnels, e.g. MPLS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2503 : Translation of Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 : using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4523 : using lightweight directory access protocol [LDAP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/061 : for key exchange, e.g. in peer-to-peer networks cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key agreement H04L9/0838
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 : Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 : specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 : Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 : for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/04 : Large scale networks; Deep hierarchical networks

Abstract

A method includes receiving information describing an addition of a first site comprising at least one application to an existing network wherein the information is selected from the group consisting of type of site, planned connectivity to the site and planned policies for the site and estimating an impact on the operation of the at least one application and associated network traffic using statistical analysis of monitored data collected from a second site similar to the first site.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a multi-tenant controller, information describing an addition of a first site comprising at least one application to an existing network, wherein the received information includes an application profile corresponding to the at least one application, a type of the first site, a planned connectivity to the first site, a number of users of the first site, and planned policies for the first site; and

estimating an impact on the operation of the at least one application and associated network traffic using statistical analysis of monitored data collected from a second site similar to the first site, wherein the statistical analysis takes into account at least one of;

an average bandwidth of the at least one application on the second site scaled to a size of the first site, a peak bandwidth of the at least one application on the second site scaled to the size of the first site, a maximum flow per unit time of the at least one application on the second site scaled to the size of the first site; and

an estimation of simultaneous flows at the first site using corresponding simultaneous flows from the second site.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing application analysis on a per session basis.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a type of site is selected from the group including a retail store bank, a POS device, and a distributed computing site.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one application comprises a data center application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one application is selected from the group including transactional applications and file transfer applications.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing modeling and analytics selected from the group including a Pareto analysis and a Weibull analysis.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a network type is selected from the group including wired and wireless.

8. The method of claim 1, further utilizing parameters to categorize network traffic.

9. A method comprising:

receiving information describing a change to a policy for an existing network that includes a plurality of network sites, wherein the received information includes identification of the policy to be changed and the network sites to which the policy is to apply; and

estimating an impact on the operation of the at least one application and associated network traffic using statistical analysis of monitored data collected from a second site of the plurality of network sites similar to the first site, wherein the statistical analysis takes into account at least one of;

an average bandwidth of the at least one application on the second site scaled to a size of the first site, a peak bandwidth of the at least one application on the second site scaled to the size of the first site, a maximum flow per unit time of the at least one application on the second site scaled to the size of the first site; and

an estimation of simultaneous flows at the first site using corresponding simultaneous flows from the second site.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising performing application analysis on a per session basis.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein a type of site is selected from the group including a retail store bank, a POS device, and a distributed computing site.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one application comprises a data center application.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one application is selected from the group including transactional applications and file transfer applications.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising performing modeling and analytics selected from the group including a Pareto analysis and a Weibull analysis.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein a network type is selected from the group including wired and wireless.

16. The method of claim 9, further utilizing parameters to categorize network traffic.

17. A method comprising:

receiving, by a multi-tenant controller, information describing a new network link to be added to an existing network first site having at least one application, wherein the information comprises identification of the existing first site, a number of users of the at least one application, and identification of the network link to be added; and

estimating an impact on the operation of the at least one application and associated network traffic using statistical analysis of monitored data collected from a second site similar to the first site, wherein the statistical analysis takes into account at least one of;

an average bandwidth of the at least one application on the second site scaled to a size of the first site, a peak bandwidth of the at least one application on the second site scaled to the size of the first site, a maximum flow per unit time of the at least one application on the second site scaled to the size of the first site; and

an estimation of simultaneous flows at the first site using corresponding simultaneous flows from the second site.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising performing application analysis on a per session basis.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein a type of site is selected from the group consisting of retail store bank, POS device, and distributed computing site.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein at least one application comprises a data center application.