CONNECTIVITY OUTAGE DETECTION: NETWORK/IP SLA PROBES REPORTING BUSINESS IMPACT INFORMATION

• US 20080091822A1
• Filed: 10/16/2006
• Published: 04/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ballantyne, Andrew John, Sheinfeld, Gil Mati
• Granted Patent: US 8,631,115 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways

Abstract

Techniques for accurate determination of service impact are provided by provisioning network deployed probes with actual business object information related to business entities, such as VPN sites. Such probes are capable of sending a network trap (or alarm) containing actual business information in response to detecting a loss of connectivity. As a result, service impact caused by the loss of connectivity may be determined accurately by simply parsing the contents of a network trap, thus avoiding the complication and inaccuracy of conventional impact analysis.

Claims

1. A method of conveying the business impact of a loss of connectivity between two points in a network, comprising:

receiving, by a device attached to the network, business impact information pertaining to a business service;

creating, at the device, a probe to monitor network traffic on a connection involved in the business service;

detecting a change in connectivity on the connection; and

in response to the detected change, populating a data structure containing the business impact information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the data structure to a network management system.

3. The method of claim 2, comprising sending the data structure to the network management system in an automatically generated network alarm.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the connection comprises a virtual private network.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the business impact information comprises at least a user-defined name of the virtual private network.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the business impact information comprises routing information identifying at least a source and destination router involved in the monitored connection.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the routing information comprises VPN routing/forwarding instance (VRF) information for at least one router.

15. The network device of claim 4, wherein the business impact information comprises:

a user-defined name of the virtual private network; and

routing information identifying at least a source and destination router involved in the monitored connection.

8. A method of determining business impact of a loss of connectivity detected in a network, comprising:

receiving business impact information relating to a business service provided over the network;

provisioning at least one probe deployed in the network to monitor traffic with the business impact information; and

detecting a change in connectivity and obtaining the business impact information from the at least one provisioned probe.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein detecting a loss in connectivity and obtaining the business impact information from the at least one provisioned probe comprises polling.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein detecting a loss in connectivity and obtaining the business impact information from the at least one provisioned probe comprises receiving a network alarm from the probe.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

generating a notification to a user of the business impact of the change in connectivity based on the business impact information.

12. A network device, comprising:

an interface for receiving business impact information pertaining to a business service; and

logic for monitoring network traffic on a connection involved in the business service and, in response to detecting a change in the connection, populating a data structure containing the business impact information.

13. The network device of claim 12, wherein the logic is configured to send the data structure to a network management system in a network alarm message.

14. The network device of claim 12, wherein the connection comprises a virtual private network.

16. A network device, comprising:

means for receiving business impact information pertaining to a business service; and

means for monitoring network traffic on a connection involved in the business service and, in response to detecting a change in the connection, populating a data structure containing the business impact information.

17. The network device of claim 16, wherein the probing means is configured to send the data structure to a network management system in a network alarm message.

18. The network device of claim 17, wherein the business impact information is contained as text in a field of the network alarm message.

19. A network management system, comprising:

configuration logic for provisioning a network deployed probe with business impact information relating to a business service provided over the network, the network probe deployed in the network to monitor network traffic; and

fault management logic configured to detect a change in connectivity and obtain the business impact information from the at least one provisioned probe.

20. The network management system of claim 19, further comprising:

business object logic allowing a user to enter the business impact information.

21. The network management system of claim 19, wherein the fault management logic is configured to detect a loss in connectivity and obtain the business impact information from the at least one provisioned probe by receiving a network alarm from the probe.

22. The network management system of claim 19, wherein the fault management logic is configured to generate a notification to a user of the business impact of the change in connectivity based on the business impact information.

23. A network management system, comprising:

means for provisioning a network deployed probe with business impact information relating to a business service provided over the network, the network probe deployed in the network to monitor network traffic; and

means for detecting a change in connectivity and obtaining the business impact information from the at least one provisioned probe.