Patent Application
20110158092
The disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
This invention pertains generally to policy-based networks and particularly to policy-based networks having user interfaces for efficient provisioning of quality of service for network devices.
Network priority is a means of network bandwidth management for data, video and voice traffic and is implemented with administrator-defined policies. This kind of management is termed Quality of Service (QoS) and is controlled using policy-based network processes. In policy-based networking for an Internet Protocol (IP)-based network, a policy refers to a formal set of statements that define the manner of resource allocation among its clients. In policy-based networking, the administrator uses policy statements in order to define a particular level of priority for each of the kinds of services according to parameters including time schedules and according to devices defined by parts or subnets of the network.
Typically, an administrator establishes the provisioning of the QoS of network policies on an ad hoc basis. This approach requires a great deal of administrative effort, particularly where provisioning for voice-over-IP (VoIP) devices, video devices, or critical servers is required. Further, this approach can yield undesired performance in the resulting network due to inconsistencies in the user set up.
Described herein is a policy-based IP network including a plurality of network devices, each having a directory, the plurality of network devices being operatively connected to a plurality of switches via a local area network with each of the plurality of switches supporting QoS and policy files for its respective supported network devices; a network device discovery server for retrieving directory information of each of the plurality of network devices from a supportive respective switch, the network device discovery server communicating with the switches via a network backbone; a server, such as a lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) server, having a repository for policy data and for receiving policy updates; a trap server for receiving at least one device policy table update notice from at least one of the plurality of network devices; and a network policy server having processing for provisioning QoS via a user interface, wherein the user interface provides a graphic user interface for a user to rapidly set up the network devices. Further disclosed is a method of quality of service provisioning in a policy-based IP network including the steps of: specifying a priority to provision QoS for voice-over IP network devices via a graphic user interface to policy processing; specifying a priority to provision quality of service for video and data processing network devices via the graphic user interface to policy processing; and defining and implementing network policies for provisioning quality of service via the graphic user interface to policy processing.
The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, and in which:
The several embodiments of the present invention provide a method and a network for provisioning policies so that all voice and data QoS in a policy-based IP network may be prioritized at the highest quality of service over a user-specified range of devices with minimal user interaction. Through a graphic user interface, device selection is presented to the user or network administrator with the presentation separated according to devices, i.e., voice devices versus other networking devices and servers whose applications may require a high QoS priority.
In the several embodiments of the present invention, a policy rule, or policy, is a logical device entity comprising at least one policy condition and a policy action, used for purposes of controlling bandwidth usage by switch processing features such as quality of service. If the policy condition evaluates “TRUE,” then the device performs the policy action. Generally, in order for a policy rule to be evaluated by the device, the policy must belong to a policy group. For some device operation systems, there may be an additional level, policy service, to which a policy group belongs.
The process flowchart of
The policy processing writes 240 policy information to the LDAP repository 120 and notifies the devices 240 against which the policies must be applied, as identified by the network administrator through the policy processing interface, that the LDAP server has been updated. This action works to ensure that each applicable network device is notified and thereby prompted to read the repository 120 discern applicable policy changes. When policy-enabled devices receive the notice 245 that the LDAP repository of policy data has been updated, the policy-enabled devices each generate a trap notification 250 signifying that they have each read the repository changes and that their internal policy tables have been updated. The policy processing uses a trap server service to subscribes to device trap events. In several embodiments of the present invention, the trap server uses SNMP to achieve trap notification. The policy processing will enhance trap notification by reading each device's policy rules table 260 (from the appropriate policy processing management information bases, or MIBs, where an MIB is a formal description of a set of network objects that can be managed using SNMP) and confirming that there is a policy rule name that matches the rules in the LDAP repository.
The policy processing uses SNMP directly to provide device notification through the serverPolicyDecision MIB object for example. In this example for a network management system (NMS), the object can be set to (0) to flush policies (“flushPolicies”) or to (1) to re-cache policies (“recachePolicies”). The MIB description for this object is expressible as: “This object allows an NMS application to influence the policy manager's treatment of existing policy decisions that were established by the policy manager. By setting recachePolicies, an NMS can cause the policy manager to reload all its policies from the current primary LDAP server. By setting flushPolicies, all the policies are deleted by the policy manager.” Policies for individual devices may be set through SNMP MIB browsers and through other interfaces for particular devices.
The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server information is set and stored by the policy processing during its installation process. Depending on the switch, an SNMP MIB Browser, a graphic user interface or the device user interface is used to set the LDAP Server address.
For a given device-networking feature, Policy Rules are defined that include of Policy Conditions that must be met to allow defined Policy Actions to dictate network traffic throughput. The policy processing provides the user with a mode-based management interface 300 with graphic user interfacing through which the user manages a policy-based network 310 including:
1. A policy-based network management interface for specifying a priority level (e.g., highest priority) provisioned QoS policy definition for applicable voice devices (i.e., a process for readily setting the voice mode) 320;
2. A policy-based network management interface for specifying a priority level for provisioned QoS policy definition for video devices, including multimedia devices, and data devices serving high-priority applications (i.e., a process for readily setting the data mode or the video mode) 330; and
3. For defining and implementing networking policies for defining provisioned QoS in general (i.e., a processing assisted process for rapid set up via an expert or wizard mode) 340.
For example, an embodiment of the present invention has a process that begins in a mode for providing highest-priority provisioned QoS to voice devices.
In the graphic user interface example of
One or more status icons are used in the graphic user interfaces of the several embodiments of the present invention. In an example embodiment illustrated in
In the several embodiments of the present invention, data devices, video devices, including multimedia devices, serving high-demand application servers may be set to use any of the several QoS priority queues supported for the network devices using the data mode set up process. In the present example, four QoS priority queues are supported by devices.
In an example embodiment of the present invention, the user interface of the data setting mode is illustrated in
Discovered devices that are not configured using the above voice and data set up modes will remain at the default (i.e., best effort) QoS, unless they are alternatively prioritized using some other means. In several embodiments of the present invention, the policy processing using the above voice and data set up processes provides for a majority of the cases for which policy creation is typically necessary.
At the bottom of the voice set up display 500 and the data set up display 700 there is an “Expert Mode” button 530 that, when selected, allows the user to access the guiding processing for creating and editing policies.
The guiding process 800 begins with the policy rule creation or selection for editing process 820. The graphic user interface provides an interactive means for reviewing, editing or deleting existing policy rules having current LDPA repository values and for creating new policy rules with default device values displayed 830. Thereafter, policy condition names are displayed 840. The guiding process then requires selection of the condition set 850 for display. The guiding processing then displays valid policy action names associable with the displayed conditions 860. The guiding processing prompts the user to make a selection of the action set for provisioned QoS and finishes by prompting the user to select the discovered devices against which the Policy Rule should be applied 870.
Where both Source IP and Destination IP definition is desired, two rules are required as the condition set. For example, if the logical operator AND is applied to both Source IP and Destination IP, then QoS is applied only if the traffic is both from the Source and to the Destination The graphic user interface of the guiding processing begins by bringing up a list of existing policies as shown in
Generally, the QoS order of precedence is determined by the device according to the level of QoS priority (e.g., 1-4, or 0-6). However, when a policy is created, all other determining factors being equal, the QoS order of precedence (e.g., 0-65535) determines the order of evaluation by the device. The QoS precedence numbering of rules created by policy process is set by the policy processing via a QoS MIB variable and is transparent to the user. The user will be allowed to move an entry in the Existing Policies table 920 up or down within the list. When this happens, the policy processing will reset the precedence of the affected policies and they will be rewritten to the LDAP server.
After the user has chosen whether the policy is to be created or edited, the graphic user interface of the guiding processing displays a screen, illustrated in FIG. 10, where the policy condition set must be defined 1000 and in particular for this display screen, information pertaining to the MAC addresses 1005. If the policy is being created, the user is required to enter a name for the new policy 1010. Otherwise, the policy is being edited and the name will not be concurrently editable. If the policy must be renamed, the policy must be deleted and recreated, since the name field is the key for the data repository. The tab selections 1020 represent the features for setting policy conditions that are valid for provisioned QoS. Only those conditions that are valid for the selected feature and any conditions that are currently in effect are presented. When the user selects the targets for the Policy, if a target is selected that cannot support the policy, then an error message will be displayed to the user and processing will continue.
An example of the provisioned QoS action screen is depicted in
When the user selects the “Finish” button 2110 from the “Apply Policy To Devices” screen 2120, the following processing, as illustrated in
Policy Rule Name:
Policy Condition Name:
Policy Condition Set:
Policy Action Name:
If the user wishes to establish an order of precedence for this policy, other than the default precedence, the initial guiding processing graphic user interface screen depicted in
An appropriate error message will be displayed once the “Apply” or “Finish” button 2110 is selected, if the LDAP server cannot be updated, or if there is an error in notifying the selected devices that they should re-cache their LDAP repository data or if there is an error in the devices notifying the policy processing of their updates status.
Many alterations and modifications may be made by those having ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and its several embodiments disclosed herein. Therefore, it must be understood that the illustrated embodiments have been set forth only for the purposes of example and that it should not be taken as limiting the invention as defined by the following claims. For example, the services disclosed may be performed by processing hosted on one or several network devices such as servers.
The words used in this specification to describe the invention and its various embodiments are to be understood not only in the sense of their commonly defined meanings, but to include by special definition in this specification structure, material or acts beyond the scope of the commonly defined meanings. Thus if an element can be understood in the context of this specification as including more than one meaning, then its use in a claim must be understood as being generic to all possible meanings supported by the specification and by the word itself.
The definitions of the words or elements of the following claims are, therefore, defined in this specification to include not only the combination of elements which are literally set forth, but all equivalent structure, material or acts for performing substantially the same function in substantially the same way to obtain substantially the same result.
In addition to the equivalents of the claimed elements, obvious substitutions now or later known to one with ordinary skill in the art are defined to be within the scope of the defined elements. For example, the identifying colors for the icons may different that those disclosed and still achieve the function of status-by-color.
The claims are thus to be understood to include what is specifically illustrated and described above, what is conceptually equivalent, what can be obviously substituted and also what essentially incorporates the essential idea of the invention.
This application claims priority from the following U.S. Provisional Patent Application, the disclosure of which, including all appendices and all attached documents, is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes: U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/336,906, of Philippe Levillain, Raymond Hanson and Lawrence F. Helmerich entitled, “POLICY RULE MANAGEMENT FOR QOS PROVISIONING,” filed Nov. 7, 2001.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60336906 | Nov 2001 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10289698 | Nov 2002 | US |
| Child | 11304375 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 11304375 | Dec 2005 | US |
| Child | 13044249 | US |
