DYNAMIC UPDATE OF VIRTUAL NETWORK TOPOLOGY

• US 20180316594A1
• Filed: 04/27/2017
• Published: 11/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2017
• 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: Wu, Tsong-Ho, Li, Wen-Jui, Lai, Wai
• Granted Patent: US 10,484,265 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/036 Updating the topology between route computation elements, e.g. between OpenFlow controllers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/64 using an overlay routing layer

Abstract

An IP network topology update system may update IP network topology in near real-time and on-demand with minimum overheads. It identifies likely impact area (e.g., layer 2 or layer 3), objects (e.g., link or node such a device), and timing (e.g., what topology objects located where or when the topology update process should be performed) in the IP Layer 3 network and its underlying SDN Layer 2 network under virtualized networking infrastructure as candidates of impacts for topology update

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled with the processor, the memory comprising executable instructions stored thereon that when executed by the processor cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising;

obtaining a first alert, the first alert comprising information affecting a virtual topology;

determining that the first alert is a parent event;

based on the determining that the first alert is a parent event, determining an object associated with the parent event;

obtaining other parent events that are associated with the object; and

based on the other parent events that are associated with the object, determining an impact area that the parent event affects.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, the operations further comprising based on the determined impact area, performing a topology update for the impact area.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, the operations further comprising:

based on the determined impact area, performing a topology update for the impact area; and

providing instructions to display the topology update on a display of a device.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the impact area comprises a layer 2 area or a layer 3 area.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the object comprises a virtual network device.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the object comprises a physical network device.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the object comprises a physical link.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the object comprises a virtual link.

9. A method comprising:

obtaining, by a server, a first alert, the first alert comprising information affecting a virtual topology;

determining, by the server, that the first alert is a parent event;

based on the determining that the first alert is a parent event, determining, by the server, an object associated with the parent event;

obtaining, by the server, other events that are associated with the object; and

based on the other events that are associated with the object, determining, by the server, an impact area that the parent event affects.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising based on the determined impact area, performing a topology update for the impact area.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

based on the determined impact area, performing a topology update for the impact area; and

displaying the topology update on a display of a device.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the impact area comprises a layer 2 area or a layer 3 area.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the object comprises a virtual network device.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the object comprises a physical network device.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the object comprises a physical link.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the object comprises a virtual link.

17. A computer readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions that when executed by a computing device cause said computing device to effectuate operations comprising:

obtaining a first alert, the first alert comprising information affecting a virtual topology;

determining that the first alert is a parent event;

based on the determining that the first alert is a parent event, determining an object associated with the parent event;

obtaining other events that are associated with the object; and

based on the other events that are associated with the object, determining an impact area that the parent event affects.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, the operations further comprising:

based on the determined impact area, performing a topology update for the impact area; and

displaying the topology update on a display of a device, wherein the topology update comprises a layer 2 topology or a layer 3 topology.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the impact area comprises a layer 2 area or a layer 3 area.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the object comprises a virtual network device.