Identification of candidate problem network entities

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10721145-B2
Application number	US-201816191331-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 14, 2018
Priority date	Jun 20, 2014
Publication date	Jul 21, 2020
Grant date	Jul 21, 2020

Abstract

The detection of network communication problems in networks that have multiple end nodes, and multiple transit nodes in between. One or more of the end nodes monitors one or more flows, creates associated flow information including performance information for each flow, and then reports the flow information. A system then estimates, for each of multiple flows within the network, a likely path that network traffic takes through that network. The system might then use performance information for each of the reported flows to identify at least one candidate problem network entity that is common amongst the estimated paths of the at least the subset of the plurality of flows.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. One or more computer hardware storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that are executable by one or more processors of a computing system to cause the computing system to implement a method that includes:
receiving flow information for a flow, wherein the flow is a set of network communications having common characteristics in a network such that the set of network communications tend to follow a same path of consecutive communication links from a first endpoint node through a mesh of transit nodes to reach a second endpoint node, and wherein the flow information includes information identifying the first endpoint node and the second endpoint node but omits path information identifying which specific one or more transit nodes are to be used by the flow when the flow travels between the first endpoint node and the second endpoint node;
as a result of the path information being omitted from the flow information, performing an estimation to determine a plurality of candidate network travel paths the flow will follow when traveling between the first endpoint node and the second endpoint node, the plurality of candidate network travel paths being estimates regarding which one or more transit nodes will be used to transmit the flow, each of the plurality of candidate network travel paths (1) originating at the first endpoint node, (2) terminating at the second endpoint node, and (3) having associated therewith a determined probability traversal, wherein determining a first candidate network travel path that is included in the plurality of candidate network travel paths includes:
identifying a first node and a second node;
determining that multiple different links are established between the first node and the second node, each of the multiple different links connecting the first node with the second node;
based on the flow information, estimating that the set of network communications of the flow will traverse a particular one link established between the first node and the second node; and
selecting the particular one link for inclusion in the first candidate network travel path;

determining a particular network entity used by the flow is a problem network entity by analyzing a performance threshold associated with the problem network entity; and
reducing or eliminating use of the problem network entity.

2. The one or more computer hardware storage devices of claim 1 , wherein the problem network entity comprises a transit node in the network.

3. The one or more computer hardware storage devices of claim 1 , wherein the problem network entity comprises a network link in the network.

4. The one or more computer hardware storage devices of claim 1 , wherein the problem network entity comprises one of a plurality of candidate problem network entities.

5. The one or more computer hardware storage devices of claim 1 , wherein the flow information includes performance information comprising a retransmission statistic.

6. The one or more computer hardware storage devices of claim 1 , wherein the flow information includes performance information comprising a latency statistic.

7. The one or more computer hardware storage devices of claim 1 , wherein the flow information includes performance information comprising:
how many retransmissions of network communications have occurred within a determined time period, or
an indication regarding what percentage of transmitted network communications end up being retransmitted.

8. The one or more computer hardware storage devices of claim 1 , wherein the flow information is received from the first endpoint node or the second endpoint node.

9. A computer system for identifying a candidate source of network performance insufficiency in order to enable greater functionality of a computer network, the computer system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more hardware storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to cause the computer system to implement at least:
receive flow information for a flow, wherein the flow is a set of network communications having common characteristics in a network such that the set of network communications tend to follow a same path of consecutive communication links from a first endpoint node through a mesh of transit nodes to reach a second endpoint node, and wherein the flow information includes information identifying the first endpoint node and the second endpoint node but omits path information identifying which specific one or more transit nodes are to be used by the flow when the flow travels between the first endpoint node and the second endpoint node;
as a result of the path information being omitted from the flow information, perform an estimation to determine a plurality of candidate network travel paths for the flow will follow when traveling between the first endpoint node and the second endpoint node, the plurality of candidate network travel paths being estimates regarding which one or more transit nodes will be used to transmit the flow, each of the plurality of candidate network travel paths (1) originating at the first endpoint node, (2) terminating at the second endpoint node, and (3) having associated therewith a determined probability traversal, wherein determining a first candidate network travel path that is included in the plurality of candidate network travel paths includes:
identifying a first node and a second node;
determining that multiple different links are established between the first node and the second node, each of the multiple different links connecting the first node with the second node;
based on the flow information, estimating that the set of network communications of the flow will traverse a particular one link established between the first node and the second node; and
selecting the particular one link for inclusion in the first candidate network travel path;

determine a particular network entity used by the flow is a problem network entity by analyzing a performance threshold associated with the problem network entity; and
reduce or eliminate use of the problem network entity.

10. The computer system of claim 9 , wherein execution of the computer-executable instructions further causes the computer system to:
take mitigation action against the problem network entity.

11. The computer system of claim 9 , wherein the flow information includes performance information comprising:
how many retransmissions of network communications have occurred within a determined time period, and
an indication regarding what percentage of transmitted network communications end up being retransmitted, and
a maximum number of times a same network communication has been attempted for transmission.

12. The computer system of claim 9 , wherein the problem network entity comprises a transit node in the computer network.

13. The computer system of claim 9 , wherein the problem network entity comprises a network link in the computer network.

14. A computer-implemented method for an end node to report regarding network communication problems in order to enable greater functionality of a computer network, the method comprising:
receiving flow information for a flow, wherein the flow is a set of network communications having common characteristics in a network such that the set of network communications tend to follow a same path of consecutive communication links from a first endpoint node through a mesh of transit nodes to reach a second endpoint node, and wherein the flow information includes information ident

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Power Adrian
• Hill Peter John

Classifications

• H04L43/0852

  Delays · CPC title

• H04L12/1863

  comprising mechanisms for improved reliability, e.g. status reports (arrangements for detecting or preventing errors by carrying supervisory signal the return channel H04L1/16) · CPC title

• H04L41/0654

  using network fault recovery (ring fault isolation or reconfiguration in loop networks without recovery actions by a network management system H04L12/437) · CPC title

• H04L43/062 Primary

  related to network traffic · CPC title

• H04L43/16

  Threshold monitoring · CPC title