Methods and apparatus for determining and using SDN link and/or path status

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10320655-B1
Application number	US-201615216547-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 21, 2016
Priority date	Jul 21, 2016
Publication date	Jun 11, 2019
Grant date	Jun 11, 2019

Abstract

The present invention relates to communications methods, apparatus and systems for determining and using Software Defined Networking (SDN) communications link and path status information. An exemplary embodiment of a method of operating a Session Border Controller (SBC) in a software defined network (SDN) includes: determining application level metrics at a SBC for a data communications flow and transmitting the application level metrics to a SDN controller. An exemplary embodiment of a method of operating a software defined networking (SDN) controller in a software defined network includes the steps of receiving, at a receiver of the SDN controller via the software defined network, application level metrics corresponding to a data communications session flow; and determining, by the SDN controller, the status of a communications path between two Internet Protocol addresses based on the received application level metrics. Exemplary apparatus embodiments include an SDN controller and SBC controller implementing the exemplary methods.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of operating a software defined networking (SDN) controller in a software defined network, said method comprising:
receiving, at a receiver of the SDN controller via said software defined network, application level metrics corresponding to a data communications session flow;
determining, by the SDN controller, a status of a communications path between two Internet Protocol addresses based on the received application level metrics;
receiving, at the SDN controller from a first device via said software defined network subsequent to receiving said application level metrics, a request for a data flow communications path between said two Internet Protocol addresses, one of said two Internet Protocol addresses corresponding to said first device;
determining said data flow communications path between said two Internet Protocol addresses based on said application level metrics;
transmitting, from a transmitter of the SDN controller, in response to said request for a data flow communications path the determined data flow communications path between said two Internet Protocol addresses; and
wherein said determining said data flow communications path between said two Internet Protocol addresses based on said application level metrics includes determining which links and devices in the software defined network need to be traversed for optimum network utilization or quality.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein one or more of said application level metrics is based on at least one of Quality of Service (QoS), load, or financial cost.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said determining said data flow communications path between said two Internet Protocol addresses includes:
determining multiple different paths through the software defined network;
deducting from application level metrics received for different data communications flows the status of links on each of the different multiple paths determined; and
eliminating any paths which include a link deducted as experiencing a problem.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said determining said data flow communications path between said two Internet Protocol addresses is further based on aggregated application level metrics received pertaining to a plurality of different data session communications flows.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said application level metrics are included in one or more messages, said one or more messages including a data communications session flow identifier, said data communications session flow identifier identifying the data communications session flow to which the application level metrics pertain.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein said one or more messages further includes a flag indicating whether the application level metrics included in the one or more messages are aggregated application level metrics.

7. A method of operating a Session Border Controller (SBC) in a software defined networking (SDN) system including:
transmitting from a transmitter in the Session Border Controller to a SDN network controller a request for a path for a data communications session flow between a first Internet Protocol address corresponding to said SBC and a second Internet Protocol address;
receiving at a receiver of the SBC a data communications session flow path with a data communications session flow identifier in response to said request;
determining application level metrics at said SBC for said data communications session flow; and
transmitting from said transmitter in the Session Border Controller the application level metrics to the SDN network controller.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said application level metrics include the results of measurements made by the Session Border Controller.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said application level metrics include one or more quality of session metrics based on the results of one or more of the following measurements: number of packets exchanged, packet loss, loss rate, discard rate due to late arrival of packets, burst density gap, gap durations, Mean Opinion Score (MOS) score, Rx factor, jitter, round-trip-time, and number of consecutive packet losses for packet loss periods experienced during the session.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein transmitting from said transmitter in the Session Border Controller the application level metrics to the SDN network controller includes transmitting one or more messages that include the application level metrics, said one or more messages including the data communications session flow identifier.

11. A software defined networking (SDN) controller comprising:
a receiver for receiving via a software defined network application level metrics corresponding to a data communications session flow;
a transmitter; and
a processor configured to control the SDN controller to determine a status of a communications path between two Internet Protocol addresses based on the received application level metrics; and
wherein said receiver is also for receiving a request for a data flow communications path between said two Internet Protocol addresses via said software defined network subsequent to receiving said application level metrics; and
wherein said processor is further configured to control said SDN controller to determine said data flow communications path between said two Internet Protocol addresses based on said application level metrics and to operate said transmitter in response to said request for a data flow communications path to transmit the determined data flow communications path between said two Internet Protocol addresses;
wherein said processor is further configured to control said SDN controller to determine which links and devices in the software defined network need to be traversed for optimum network utilization or quality as part of said operation to determine said data flow communications path between said two Internet Protocol addresses based on said application level metrics.

12. The SDN controller of claim 11 wherein said processor is further configured, as part of controlling said SDN controller to determine which links and devices in the software defined network need to be traversed for optimum network utilization or quality as part of said operation to determine said data flow communications path between said two Internet Protocol addresses based on said application level metrics, to control said SDN controller to:
determine multiple different paths through the software defined network;
deduct from application level metrics received for different data communications flows the status of links on each of the different multiple paths determined; and
eliminate any paths which include a link deducted as experiencing a problem.

13. The SDN controller of claim 11 wherein said processor is further configured to control said SDN controller to determine said data flow communications path between said two Internet Protocol addresses also based on aggregated application level metrics received pertaining to a plurality of different data session communications flows.

14. A Session Border Controller (SBC) comprising:
a transmitter for transmitting from the Session Border Controller to a software defined networking (SDN) network controller a request for a path for a data communications session flow between a first Internet Protocol address corresponding to said SBC and a second Internet Protocol address;
a receiver for receiving a data communications session flow path with a data communications session flow identifier in response to said request;
a processor configured to control said SBC to determine application level metrics at said SBC

Assignees

• Ribbon Comm Operating Co Inc

Inventors

• Asveren Tolga
• Riley Kevin
• Malek Dan

Classifications

• H04L45/42

  Centralised routing · CPC title

• H04L45/64

  using an overlay routing layer · CPC title

• H04L45/123 Primary

  Evaluation of link metrics (techniques for monitoring network metrics H04L43/08) · CPC title

• H04L45/306

  Route determination based on the nature of the carried application · CPC title