Real-time network analyzer

Abstract

A real-time network-analysis system comprises a network appliance and a plurality of management devices. The network appliance continuously monitors an object network and synthesizes a current network image comprising contemporaneous indicators of connectivity, occupancy, and performance of the object network. A management-client device may gain access to the network image for timely control and for use in producing long-term network-evolution plans. To enable the creation of a real-time network image, optimized topology synthesis algorithms are devised to minimize the computational effort. The real-time network-analysis system is adapted for use with an object network employing a variety of routing protocols, such as link-state protocols, and network-management protocols, such as the Simple-Network-Management protocol.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying exemplary drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an object network employing a network-analysis system comprising a network appliance connected to the object network and at least one management client, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a method of real-time network-analysis in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a process of observing the object network of FIG. 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates functional inputs and outputs of the network appliance of the network-analysis system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 illustrates functional inputs and outputs of a management client in the network-analysis system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary object network employing a network-analysis system comprising a network appliance directly connected to a node of the object network, a first management client directly connected to the network appliance, and a second management client connected to the network appliance through an access network, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary object network employing a network-analysis system comprising a remote network appliance connected to a node of the object network, a first management client directly connected to the network appliance, and a second management client connected to the network appliance through an access network, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates a network appliance connecting to at least two nodes in the object network of FIG. 6 or FIG. 7, the network appliance having a network address, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 illustrates a network appliance embedded within one of the nodes of the object network of FIG. 6, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary network appliance for use in the network-analysis system of FIG. 1 comprising a network-interface module, a data manager, a network-data analyzer, an external-data handler, and a communications module in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 details the network appliance of FIG. 10 illustrating constituent components of network-interface module, the data manager, and the network-data analyzer;

FIG. 12 illustrates a first microscopic analyzer associated with the network data analyzer of FIG. 10 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 illustrates a second microscopic analyzer associated with the network data analyzer of FIG. 10 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a flow chart summarizing the operation of a routing-protocol analyzer associated with the microscopic analyzer of FIG. 12; and

FIG. 15 is a flow chart indicating actions taken in processing a link-state advertisement of a protocol data unit received at the network appliance of FIG. 1;

FIG. 16 illustrates a management client in the network of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 17 illustrates a graphical user interface associated with the management client of FIG. 16;

FIG. 18 illustrates features of a resident planning module associate with the management client of FIG. 16; and

FIG. 19 illustrates an exemplary realization of a network appliance similar to the network appliance of FIG. 10 except that multiple network-interface modules may be used, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for real-time analysis of an object network having a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of links, the method comprising steps of: acquiring link-capacity data and protocol data from said object network, said protocol data comprising link-state data, link-utilization data, and performance data; andsynthesizing an integrated network image from said protocol data, said integrated network image comprising a connectivity image, an occupancy image, and a performance image.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of synthesizing comprises: determining said connectivity image from said link-state data;determining said occupancy image from said link-utilization data and said link-capacity data, said occupancy image comprising an occupancy indicator of each link in said plurality of links; anddetermining said performance image from said performance data.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of synthesizing comprises mapping said occupancy image and said performance image on said connectivity image.

4. The method of claim 3 comprising a further step of superimposing said link-capacity data on said connectivity image.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising a step of determining global performance metrics of said object network.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of acquiring comprises: continuously receiving protocol data units;ascertaining a purpose of each said protocol data unit; andperforming an action specified by said each protocol data unit.

7. A system for analyzing an object network having a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of links, the system comprising: a network appliance comprising:a module for acquiring link-capacity data and protocol data from said object network, said protocol data comprising link-state data, link-utilization data, and performance data;a medium for storing software program instructions for processing said protocol data;a module for synthesizing an integrated current network image from said link-capacity data and said protocol data using said program instructions, said integrated current network image comprising contemporaneous connectivity indicators, occupancy indicators, and performance indicators of said object network; anda plurality of management clients communicatively coupled to said network appliance for monitoring said object network.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein at least one of said management clients comprises: a visualization module for graphically presenting at least a part of said current topology image; anda status-reporting module for presenting alarm and diagnostic data.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein said network appliance connects to at least one of said nodes through a direct link.

10. The system of claim 7 wherein said network appliance connects to said at least one of said nodes through at least one tunnel within an external network.

11. The system of claim 7 wherein said network appliance is embedded within one of said nodes.

12. The system of claim 7 wherein at least one of said management clients connects to said network appliance through an external network.

13. The system of claim 7 wherein said network appliance comprises means for receiving and storing static data, said static data including at least one of: a link-cost index for each link in said plurality of links for use in computing paths from each node to each other node through said object network; anda capacity limit for said each link for use in sizing said object network.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein said medium stores software instructions for determining said paths based on said link-cost index and rules of a predefined routing protocol.

15. The system of claim 7 further comprising a resident planning module for use in influencing operational and topological changes of said object network.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein said resident planning module comprises: a scenario generator for generating network-image variants; anda first analytical model for analyzing said network-image variants for projected traffic loads.

17. The network of claim 15 wherein said resident planning module comprises: a scenario generator for generating a network-image variant; anda second analytical model for sizing said object network according to said network-image variant for projected traffic loads.

18. A network appliance for an object network having a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of links and employing at least one routing protocol and at least one network-management protocol, the network appliance comprising: a network-interface module for acquiring current protocol data from said object network;a data manager for organizing and pre-processing said current protocol data; and a microscopic-analysis module for processing said current protocol data to produce a current network image, said current network image comprising contemporaneous connectivity indicators, occupancy indicators, and performance indicators of said object network.

19. The network appliance of claim 18 wherein said data manager comprises: a short-term data handler for organizing said current protocol data to produce structured current data;a data filter computationally coupled to said short-term data handler for filtering the current data to produce aggregated data, anda long-term data handler for organizing said aggregated data to produce structured aggregated data.

20. The network appliance of claim 19 further comprising a macroscopic-analysis module for processing said aggregated data to produce network-planning information.

21. The network appliance of claim 18 wherein said network-interface module comprises: a protocol engine for executing said at least one routing protocol;an external data handler for acquiring network information provided by proprietary tools used in said object network;a network-management engine for retrieval of operational data from said plurality of nodes using said at least one network-management protocol; anda probe engine for measuring network performance.

22. The network appliance of claim 20 further comprising a communications module for receiving requests from a plurality of network-management clients and sending responses to said network-management clients.

23. The network appliance of claim 18 wherein said microscopic analyzer comprises: a topology-synthesis module for synthesizing a network image from said current protocol data;a monitoring module for detecting link-state changes including link failure and link recovery; anda fault-diagnostics module for determining a cause of a link failure.

24. The network appliance of claim 18 wherein said microscopic analyzer comprises: a connectivity-image module for determining said connectivity indicators;a performance-tracking module for determining said performance indicators;an occupancy-tracking module for determining said occupancy indicators;an alarm and diagnostics module computationally coupled to said connectivity-image module and said performance-tracking module for receiving alarms transmitted by said nodes of said object network and determining causes for said alarms; anda network-characterization module computationally coupled to said performance module and said occupancy-tracking module for determining metrics of said object network.

25. The network appliance of claim 18 wherein said at least one routing protocol includes at least one of the Open-Shortest-Path-First protocol, the intermediate-system-to-intermediate-system protocol, and the Border-Gate-Protocol; and said at least one network-management protocol includes the Simple-Network-Management-Protocol.