Automatic classification of network devices in a network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11329886-B2
Application number	US-201916584618-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 26, 2019
Priority date	Sep 28, 2018
Publication date	May 10, 2022
Grant date	May 10, 2022

Abstract

The automatic classification of network devices in a network. Specifically, the disclosure entails the designation of network device roles to network devices, as well as the clustering of network devices into logical groups. The association of network devices with network device roles and logical groups may be contingent on the connections between the network devices and a set of network device classification heuristics.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for effecting network classification, comprising:
generating, based on network topology information for a network, a network connectivity graph representative of the network, wherein the network connectivity graph comprises a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of edges;
assigning network device roles to at least a portion of the plurality of nodes based on at least a portion of the plurality of edges and a set of network device classification heuristics, wherein assigning the network device roles, comprises:
partitioning a subset of the plurality of nodes into a set of management nodes and a set of non-management nodes;
identifying, from the set of management nodes, a first set of network devices belonging to a first class of network devices;
identifying, from the set of non-management nodes, a second set of network devices suitable as candidates for a second class of network devices;
identifying, based on the second set of network devices and from a first set of role-unidentified nodes comprising the plurality of nodes excluding nodes representative of the first and second sets of network devices, a third set of network devices suitable as candidates for the first class of network devices; and
assigning, to a first set of logical groups, a first set of role-confirmed network devices comprising the first set of network devices, at least a portion of the second set of network devices, and at least a portion of the third set of network devices; and

performing a service action based on the network device roles.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein partitioning the subset of the plurality of nodes, comprises:
for each node of the plurality of nodes:
identifying a set of connections associated with the node;
identifying, from the set of connections, a number of management connections (NMC) and a number of non-management connections (NNC); and
assigning a network device role tag to the node based on the NMC and the NNC.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the network device role tag assigned to the node comprises a non-management network device tag based on the NMC matching one and the NNC exceeding one.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the network device role tag assigned to the node comprises a management network device tag based on the NMC exceeding one and the NMC exceeding the NNC.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the first set of network devices, comprises:
for each node of the set of management nodes:
identifying a set of connections associated with the node;
seeking a multi-chassis link aggregation group (MLAG) connection from the set of connections;
making a determination that at least one MLAG connection has been identified; and
assigning, based on the determination and to the node, a network device role tag associated with the first class of network devices.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the second set of network devices, comprises:
for each node of the set of non-management nodes:
identifying a set of connections associated with the node;
identifying a cardinality for the set of connections;
making a determination that the cardinality is less than a threshold cardinality value; and
assigning, based on the determination and to the node, a network device role tag associated with a candidate for the second class of network devices.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the third set of network devices, comprises:
for each node of the first set of role-unidentified nodes:
identifying a set of connections associated with the node;
seeking, from the set of connections, a connection to a candidate for the second class of network devices;
making a determination that at least one connection to a candidate for the second class of network devices has been identified; and
assigning, based on the determination and to the node, a network device role tag associated with a candidate for the first class of network devices.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein assigning the network device roles, further comprises:
identifying, based on the first set of role-confirmed network devices and from a second set of role-unidentified nodes comprising the plurality of nodes excluding nodes representative of the first, second, and third sets of network devices, a fourth set of network devices suitable as candidates for a third class of network devices; and
assigning, to a second set of logical groups, a second set of role-confirmed network devices comprising the first set of role-confirmed network devices and at least a portion of the fourth set of network devices.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein identifying the fourth set of network devices, comprises:
for each node of the second set of role-unidentified nodes:
identifying a set of connections associated with the node;
seeking, from the set of connections, a connection to a network device belonging to the first class of network devices;
making a determination that at least one connection to a network device belonging to the first class of network devices has been identified; and
assigning, based on the determination and to the node, a network device role tag associated with a candidate for the third class of network devices.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein assigning the network device roles, further comprises:
identifying, based on the second set of role-confirmed network devices and from a third set of role-unidentified nodes comprising the plurality of nodes excluding nodes representative of the first, second, third, and fourth sets of network devices, a fifth set of network devices suitable as candidates for a fourth class of network devices; and
assigning, to a third set of logical groups, a third set of role-confirmed network devices comprising the second set of role-confirmed network devices and at least a portion of the fifth set of network devices.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein identifying the fifth set of network devices, comprises:
for each node of the third set of role-unidentified nodes:
identifying a set of connections associated with the node;
seeking, from the set of connections, a connection to a network device belonging to the third class of network devices;
making a determination that at least one connection to a network device belonging to the third class of network devices has been identified; and
assigning, based on the determination and to the node, a network device role tag associated with a candidate for the fourth class of network devices.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the service action comprises generating a delta assessment between expected network device roles associated with an expected network connectivity graph and the network device roles associated with the network connectivity graph.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
prior to performing the service action:
tagging, based on the network device roles, each endpoint of the at least portion of the plurality of edges as an uplink, a downlink, or a peer-link,
wherein performing the service action is further based on tags assigned to the endpoints.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium (CRM) comprising computer readable program code, which when executed by a computer processor, enables the computer processor to:
generate, based on network topology information for a network, a network connectivity graph representative of the network, wherein the network connectivity graph comprises a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality of edges;
assign network device roles to at least a portion of the plurality of nodes based

Assignees

• Arista Networks Inc

Inventors

• Sirton Guy

Classifications

• G06N5/01

  Dynamic search techniques; Heuristics; Dynamic trees; Branch-and-bound · CPC title

• H04L41/12 Primary

  Discovery or management of network topologies · CPC title

• H04L41/0893

  Assignment of logical groups to network elements · CPC title

• H04L41/22

  comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI] · CPC title

• H04L41/0806

  for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play · CPC title