Method and system for traffic monitoring in a packet communication network

• US 20030198190A1
• Filed: 04/19/2002
• Published: 10/23/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sons of Innovation LLC
• Original Assignee: Iptivia
• Inventors: Guerin, Roch, Rajan, Rajendran
• Granted Patent: US 7,257,081 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• 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 45/12 Shortest path evaluation

Abstract

A method and system for monitoring traffic and path information in a packet communication network operated according to an IP routing protocol is disclosed. The method and system enables a user, such as a network administrator, to explicitly identify a full set of paths (i.e., links and routers) that the traffic of a specific customer or set of customers, such as service providers hosted at a hosting site, is using when traversing the network. The system allows the dynamic monitoring of the set of active links carrying traffic belonging to the specific customer or set of customers, and the proportion of that traffic that is carried by each active link. This allows, among other things, the identification of network links that are critical for ensuring a high level of service to key customers.

Claims

1. A method of determining traffic intensity associated with one or more users of a communications network, comprising:

identifying a set of packets of data that travel across one or more links of a communications network, wherein the set of packets is associated with a group of users of the network, the group comprising one or more users;

identifying a plurality of network paths across which the packets travel; and

determining an intensity of packet traffic corresponding to one or more portions of the network paths, wherein at least a portion of the intensity corresponds to the group of users of the network.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein one or more portions of the network paths are determined by a method comprising the steps of

identifying at least one selected route entry in the communication network, wherein the at least one selected route entry is associated with at least one user in the group of users of the network;

and

retrieving a path or paths to which the selected route entry relates.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each path comprises one or more links and one or more routers, and wherein each portion in the subset comprises at least one of the links.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of returning an intensity of traffic for one or more of the network paths.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining step comprises monitoring traffic at a point that is common to a plurality of the network paths using one or more monitoring parameters.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the monitoring parameters comprise an amount of traffic destined for a predetermined destination or set of destinations, an amount of traffic destined to a predetermined user address, and/or an amount of traffic being sent to or received by a user of the network.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the determining step further comprises:

identifying a set of route entries that are associated with the traffic that is monitored at the point;

measuring an amount of the packet traffic for each route entry in the set of route entries;

identifying a common set of paths for at least one of the route entries in the set of route entries; and

summing the amounts of packet traffic measured for each route entry that shares the common set of paths to yield an intensity of packet traffic for the common set of paths.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein each of the portions of the network paths comprises a link, and wherein the determining step further comprises:

identifying a set of active links for the network paths; and

determining a traffic fraction for each link.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of determining a traffic intensity for one or more of the active links in the set by multiplying the traffic fraction for each said active link by a measurement corresponding to the traffic monitored at the point, wherein the measurement is also associated with the set of paths to which each said active link belongs.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising summing, for each said active link, the link traffic intensities obtained for each set of paths to which said active link belongs.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the method is dynamically adjusted as paths and/or traffic intensity changes.

12. A method of measuring traffic intensity in a communications network, comprising:

identifying a set of packets of data that travel across one or more links of a communications network, wherein the set of packets is associated with one or more users of the network; and

determining an intensity of packet traffic corresponding to one or more portions of network paths via which the set of packets travels, wherein at least a portion of the intensity corresponds to the one or more users of the network.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the determining step comprises monitoring traffic at a point that is common to a plurality of the network paths.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the method is dynamically adjusted as paths and/or traffic intensity changes.

15. A method of measuring traffic intensity in a communications network, comprising:

identifying a set of packets of data that travel across one or more links of a communications network, wherein the set of packets is associated with one or more users of the network;

identifying at least one selected route entry in the communication network, wherein the at least one selected route entry is associated with at least one of the users;

retrieving a path or paths to which the selected route entry relates; and

determining an intensity of packet traffic corresponding to one or more portions of network paths via which the set of packets travels.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of returning an intensity of traffic for one or more of network paths that correspond to one or more users of the network.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the determining step comprises monitoring traffic at a point that is common to a plurality of the network paths.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the method is dynamically adjusted as paths and/or traffic intensity changes.

19. A computer-readable medium containing instructions thereon for instructing a computing device to measuring traffic intensity in a communications network by a method comprising:

identifying a set of packets of data that travel across one or more links of a communications network, wherein the set of packets is associated with a group of users of the network, the group comprising one or more users;

identifying a plurality of network paths across which the packets travel; and

determining an intensity of packet traffic corresponding to a subset of portions of the network paths, wherein at least a portion of the intensity corresponds to the group of users of the network.

20. The medium of claim 19 wherein the instructions for the step of determining an intensity comprise instructions that instruct the computing device to:

identify a set of packets of data that travel across one or more links of a communications network, wherein the set of packets is associated with a group of users of the network, the group comprising one or more users;

identify a plurality of network paths across which the packets travel; and

determine an intensity of packet traffic corresponding to a subset of portions of the network paths, wherein at least a portion of the intensity corresponds to the group of users of the network.