Diagnostic tool for troubleshooting multimedia streaming applications

• US 8,014,322 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2007
• Issued: 09/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bangalore, Manjunath S., Baird, Randall B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Banks Harold; Marsha D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wyllie; Christopher T
• Application Number:
  US11/711,448
• Publication Number:
  US 20080205390A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,653 Days
• Field of Search: 370/389, 370/351, 709/221, 709/223
• US Class Current: 370/265
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/091 Measuring contribution of individual network components to actual service level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/65 Network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes correlating, for each intermediate device associated with a Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) application that connects endpoints through a plurality of intermediate devices across a network, one or more first RTP segments input into the intermediate device with one or more second RTP segments output from the intermediate device. The correlation results are then graphically displayed results of the correlating to obtain a full, end-to-end picture of RTP quality from a source endpoint to a destination endpoint of the RTP application. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a graphical user interface (GUI) running on or associated with a first node connected to a network which includes an intermediate node in a signaling path that connects a source endpoint with a destination endpoint, the intermediate node comprising a mixer or a translator device;

a stream discovery agent (SDA) associated with the intermediate node, the SDA being operable to convert call-based addresses to stream-based addresses and to return characteristics of an Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) flow in the signaling path responsive to a first request from the GUI;

an RTP management agent (RMA) associated with the intermediate node, the RMA being operable to return Management Information Base (MIB) information which comprises statistics associated with a specified RTP stream in the RTP flow in response to a second request from the GUI, the statistics including source and destination Internet Protocol (IP) sockets, and a list of contributing source information for all RTP streams that have contributed to the specified RTP stream; and

wherein the GUI is operable to use the MIB information to trace back to one or more additional intermediate nodes in the signaling path to obtain additional statistics associated with the recently contributing RTP streams in the RTP flow, the GUI being further operable to display a graphical image of the signaling path from the source endpoint to the destination endpoint, the GUI further allowing a user of the first node to selectively display the characteristics obtained from the first logical entity and/or the information obtained from the second logical entity, including statistics associated with each of the RTP streams that have contributed to the specified RTP stream.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the characteristics include at least one synchronization source (SSRC) value, and a canonical name (CNAME) associated with the RTP flow.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the stream-based addresses include a source IP address and a destination IP address associated with the RTP flow.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the statistics include instantaneous statistics and historical statistics.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the system further comprises additional intermediate nodes in the signaling path, the signaling path including multiple RTP Layer 7 segments.

6. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving call information for a reported quality of service (QoS) problem from a first participant to a conference session;

receiving Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) addressing information from a stream discovery agent (SDA) associated with a first intermediate node connected in a signaling path from a source endpoint associated with the first participant to a destination endpoint, the intermediate node comprising a mixer or a translator device, the addressing information including at least one synchronization source (SSRC) value, and a canonical name (CNAME) associated with an RTP flow in the signaling path;

receiving Management Information Base (MIB) information from an RTP management agent (RMA) associated with the first intermediate node, the MIB information including sender statistics gathered for a specified RTP stream/segment of the RTP flow through the first intermediate node, and a list of all streams that have recently contributed to the specified RTP stream/segment;

using the MIB information to gather, on a node-by-node basis, additional statistical information regarding other specified RTP streams/segments from each of a set of additional secondary agents associated with corresponding additional intermediate nodes connected in the signaling path; and

correlating the statistics and the additional statistical information for the RTP flow along the signaling path from the source endpoint to the destination endpoint; and

displaying the correlated information as a directed graph that includes the first intermediate node and the additional intermediate nodes along with the statistics associated with the first node and the additional statistical information associated with the corresponding additional intermediate nodes.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 wherein the additional intermediate nodes each comprise either a mixer or a translator device.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 wherein one of the additional intermediate nodes comprises a session border controller.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with a computer program, which, when executed, is operable to:

receive characteristics of an Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) flow in a signaling path responsive to a first request to a stream discovery agent (SDA) associated with an intermediate node, the signaling path including one or more mixers and/or translators;

receive Management Information Base (MIB) information from an RTP management agent (RMA) associated with the intermediate node which comprises statistics associated with a specified RTP stream in the RTP flow responsive to a second request, the statistics including source and destination Internet Protocol (IP) sockets, and a list of contributing source information for all RTP streams that have contributed to the specified RTP stream;

using the MIB information, trace back to one or more of additional intermediate nodes in the signaling path to obtain additional statistics associated with the recently contributing RTP streams in the RTP flow;

display an image of the signaling path from the source endpoint to the destination endpoint, and, responsive to input received, selectively display the characteristics and/or information associated with the specified RTP stream, or statistics associated with any of the RTP streams that have contributed to the specified RTP stream.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein the characteristics include at least one synchronization source (SSRC) value, and a canonical name (CNAME) associated with the RTP flow.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein the signaling path includes multiple RTP Layer 7 segments.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein the statistics include instantaneous statistics and historical statistics.

13. An apparatus comprising:

a node for connection to a network which includes a plurality of intermediate nodes which comprise one or more mixers and/or translators in a signaling path that connects a source endpoint with a destination endpoint, the signaling path includes one or more mixers and/or translators, the node including;

one or more processors; and

a memory comprising one or more instructions executable at the processors, the processors operable when executing the instructions to;

(a) communicate with a stream discovery agent (SDA) associated with an intermediate node to obtain stream-level information associated with an RTP flow of the signaling path, the stream-level information including a synchronous source (SSRC) value, a source IP address, a destination IP address, and a canonical name (CNAME) associated with the RTP flow;

(b) address an RTP management agent (RMA) associated with the intermediate node to obtain Management Information Base (MIB) information associated with a specified RTP stream in the RTP flow, the MIB information including statistics of the specified RTP stream and a list of all RTP streams that have recently contributed to the construction of the specified RTP stream;

(c) using the MIB information, trace back to one or more of the intermediate nodes in the signaling path to obtain additional statistics associated with the recently contributing RTP streams in the RTP flow; and

(d) output image data that provides a directed graph of the RTP flow from the source endpoint to the destination endpoint, the directed graph including the statistics and the additional statistics for each of the intermediate nodes.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the image data comprises an RMA map that shows a complete directed graph of all RTP flows active in the network.