Augmenting flow data for improved network monitoring and management

• US 10,177,998 B2
• Filed: 06/03/2016
• Issued: 01/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Parandehgheibi, Ali, Alizadeh Attar, Mohammadreza, Madani, Omid, Jeyakumar, Vimalkumar, Scheib, Ellen Christine, Yadav, Navindra
• Primary Examiner(s): Jung, Min
• Application Number:
  US15/173,210
• Publication Number:
  US 20160359740A1
• Time in Patent Office: 949 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/122 using management policies backup systems G06F11/1446; file migration policies for HSM systems G06F16/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/137 Hash-based content-based indexing of textual data G06F16/31
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/162 Delete operations erasing in storage systems G06F3/0652
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/17 Details of further file system functions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/173 Customisation support for file systems, e.g. localisation, multi-language support, personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/174 Redundancy elimination performed by the file system management of the data involved in backup or backup restore using de-duplication of the data G06F11/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1744 using compression, e.g. sparse files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1748 De-duplication implemented within the file system, e.g. based on file segments de-duplication techniques in storage systems for the management of data blocks G06F3/0641
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2322 using timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/235 Update request formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2365 Ensuring data consistency and integrity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/288 Entity relationship models
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/4557 Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45587 Isolation or security of virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45591 Monitoring or debugging support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 : Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/53 : by executing in a restricted environment, e.g. sandbox or secure virtual machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/552 : involving long-term monitoring or reporting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/556 : involving covert channels, i.e. data leakage between processes inhibiting the analysis of circuitry or operation with measures against power attack G06F21/755
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/566 : Dynamic detection, i.e. detection performed at run-time, e.g. emulation, suspicious activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/033 : Test or assess software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 : Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2105 : Dual mode as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 : Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2115 : Third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2145 : Inheriting rights or properties, e.g., propagation of permissions or restrictions within a hierarchy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 : Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 : Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 : Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 : Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 : Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 99/00 : Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 : Drawing of charts or graphs
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/0661 : using timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/14 : Monitoring arrangements for SDH/SONET rings H04J3/085
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/242 : by comparing a transmitted test signal with a locally generated replica
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 : comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• 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 41/0803 : Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 : for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 : the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• 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 41/12 : Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/16 : using machine learning or artificial intelligence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 : comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 : using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/02 : Capturing of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/026 : using flow identification
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 : Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 : for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/062 : related to network traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 : Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0805 : by checking availability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 : by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0829 : Packet loss
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0841 : Round trip packet loss
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0858 : One way delays
• 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 43/0882 : Utilisation of link capacity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0888 : Throughput
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 : Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/106 : using time related information in packets, e.g. by adding timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/12 : Network monitoring probes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 : Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/20 : the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV
• 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 45/46 : Cluster building
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/507 : Label distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/66 : Layer 2 routing, e.g. in Ethernet based MAN's
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 : Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/11 : Identifying congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/20 : Traffic policing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 : relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2483 : involving identification of individual flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/28 : in relation to timing considerations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/31 : by tagging of packets, e.g. using discard eligibility [DE] bits
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 : by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5007 : Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 : Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0263 : Rule management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/06 : for supporting key management in a packet data network cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key management H04L9/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0876 : based on the identity of the terminal or configuration, e.g. MAC address, hardware or software configuration or device fingerprint
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1408 : by monitoring network traffic monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1416 : Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1425 : Traffic logging, e.g. anomaly detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1433 : Vulnerability analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1441 : Countermeasures against malicious traffic countermeasures against attacks on cryptographic mechanisms H04L9/002
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/145 : the attack involving the propagation of malware through the network, e.g. viruses, trojans or worms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1458 : Denial of Service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1466 : Active attacks involving interception, injection, modification, spoofing of data unit addresses, e.g. hijacking, packet injection or TCP sequence number attacks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/16 : Implementing security features at a particular protocol layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 : for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 : Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 : in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 : for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 : specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 : Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 : Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 : Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 : Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 : Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 7/10 : Arrangements for initial synchronisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0866 : involving user or device identifiers, e.g. serial number, physical or biometrical information, DNA, hand-signature or measurable physical characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3239 : involving non-keyed hash functions, e.g. modification detection codes [MDCs], MD5, SHA or RIPEMD
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3242 : involving keyed hash functions, e.g. message authentication codes [MACs], CBC-MAC or HMAC
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/54 : based on quality criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 : Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

Flow data can be augmented with features or attributes from other domains, such as attributes from a source host and/or destination host of a flow, a process initiating the flow, and/or a process owner or user. A network can be configured to capture network or packet header attributes of a first flow and determine additional attributes of the first flow using a sensor network. The sensor network can include sensors for networking devices (e.g., routers, switches, network appliances), physical servers, hypervisors or container engines, and virtual partitions (e.g., virtual machines or containers). The network can calculate a feature vector including the packet header attributes and additional attributes to represent the first flow. The network can compare the feature vector of the first flow to respective feature vectors of other flows to determine an applicable policy, and enforce that policy for subsequent flows.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

capturing one or more packet header attributes for a first flow using a plurality of sensors that includes at least a first sensor of one of a source endpoint or a destination endpoint of the first flow and one or more second sensors of one or more networking devices along a path of the first flow;

determining one or more additional attributes of the first flow using at least the first sensor, the one or more additional attributes including at least one of a host attribute, a virtualization attribute, a process attribute, or a user attribute of the first flow;

normalizing at least one of the one or more additional attributes by calculating a term frequency-inverse document frequency of the at least one of the one or more additional attributes;

calculating a first feature vector that includes at least the one or more packet header attributes and the one or more additional attributes including the at least one normalized attribute;

determining a policy for the first flow based at least in part on a similarity between the first feature vector and a second feature vector of a second flow, the second feature vector being features or attributes of the second flow; and

applying the policy to one or more third flows that are considered similar to the first flow based on second predefined criteria.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the first flow corresponds to one of routine traffic, anomalous traffic, misconfigured traffic, or malicious traffic based at least in part on the similarity between the first feature vector and the second feature vector.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining that the similarity between the first feature vector and a second feature vector satisfies a first similarity threshold; and

determining that a second similarity between the first feature vector and a third feature vector of a third flow satisfies a second similarity threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that a first endpoint that corresponds to the first flow and a second endpoint that corresponds to the second flow from at least a part of a first endpoint group based at least in part on the similarity between the first feature vector and the second feature vector.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

generating an application dependency map that includes at least the first endpoint group.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the additional attributes is a combination of attributes from a single domain.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the additional attributes is a combination of attributes from a plurality of domains.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the plurality of domains include two or more of a network domain, a virtualization domain, a process domain, or a user domain.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the plurality of domains includes at least a network domain.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an I² norm of the term frequency-inverse document frequency vector.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

capturing one or more second packet header attributes for the second flow using at least a third sensor of one of a second source endpoint or a second destination endpoint of the second flow and one or more fourth sensors of one or more second networking devices along a second path of the second flow;

determining one or more second additional attributes of the second flow using at least the third sensor; and

calculating the second feature vector that includes the one or more second packet header attributes and the one or more second additional attributes.

12. A system comprising:

a processor; and

memory including instructions that, upon being executed by the processor, cause the system to;

receive network data for a first flow using a plurality of sensors that includes at least a first sensor of one of a source endpoint or a destination endpoint of the first flow and one or more second sensors of one or more networking devices along a path of the first flow;

determine additional data corresponding to the first flow using at least the first sensor, the additional data including at least one of an attribute of the source endpoint or the destination endpoint, an attribute of a process initiating the first flow, or an attribute of an owner of the process;

normalize at least one of the one or more additional attributes by calculating a term frequency-inverse document frequency of the at least one of the one or more additional attributes;

calculate a first feature vector that includes at least the network data and the additional data including the at least one normalized attribute;

determine a policy applicable to the first flow based at least in part on a similarity between the first feature vector and a second feature vector of a second flow, the second feature vector being features or attributes of the second flow; and

apply the policy to one or more third flows that are considered similar to the first flow based on second predefined criteria.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the instructions upon being executed further cause the system to:

determine that the first flow corresponds to one of routine traffic, anomalous traffic, misconfigured traffic, or malicious traffic based at least in part on the similarity between the first feature vector and the second feature vector.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions upon being executed further cause the system to:

determine that the similarity between the first feature vector and a second feature vector satisfies a first similarity threshold; and

determine that a second similarity between the first feature vector and a third feature vector of a third flow satisfies a second similarity threshold.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the additional data includes at least one attribute representing a combination of attributes from a single domain.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer readable instructions that, upon being executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

receive network data for a first flow using a plurality of sensors that includes at least a first sensor of one of a source endpoint or a destination endpoint of the first flow and one or more second sensors of one or more networking devices along a path of the first flow;

determine additional data corresponding to the first flow using at least the first sensor, the additional data including at least one of an attribute of the source endpoint or the destination endpoint, an attribute of a process initiating the first flow, or an attribute of an owner of the process;

normalize at least one of the -one or more additional attributes by calculating a term frequency-inverse document frequency of the at least one of the one or more additional attributes;

calculate a first feature vector that includes at least the network data and the additional data including the at least one normalized attribute;

determine a policy applicable to the first flow based at least in part on a similarity between the first feature vector and a second feature vector of a second flow, the second feature vector being features or attributes of the second flow; and

apply the policy to one or more third flows that are considered similar to the first flow based on second predefined criteria.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions upon being executed further cause the processor to:

determine that a first endpoint that corresponds to the first flow and a second endpoint that corresponds to the second flow from at least a part of a first endpoint group based at least in part on the similarity between the first feature vector and the second feature vector.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

generate an application dependency map that includes at least the first endpoint group.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the additional data includes at least one attribute representing a combination of attributes from a plurality of domains, and wherein the plurality of domains include two or more of a network domain, a virtualization domain, a process domain, or a user domain.