Determining customized software recommendations for network devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11698782-B2
Application number	US-201916689694-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 20, 2019
Priority date	Sep 16, 2019
Publication date	Jul 11, 2023
Grant date	Jul 11, 2023

Abstract

Techniques for receiving operational preferences for operating network devices, and determining software updates for the network devices based on the operational preferences. A recommendation system may determine a group of network devices in a device network based on the network devices in the group performing a common functional role or have common attributes. The recommendation engine may further receive the operational preferences for the group of network devices from a user associated with the device network. These operational preferences may be continuously, or periodically, evaluated against actual operating conditions of the group of network devices to determine whether a risk metric associated with the actual operation conditions violates an operational preference. In some instances, the recommendation system may provide the user with access to a recommendation to run updated software that is more optimized for the network device and that satisfies the operational preferences of the user.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
identify a first group of network devices in a device network that share a first common functional attribute, and a second group of network devices in the device network that share a second common functional attribute, wherein individual ones of the first group of network devices and the second group of network devices are running first software;
receive, from a user account and via a user device, input data defining first operational preferences associated with the first group of network devices;
receive, from the user account and via the user device, input data defining second operational preferences associated with the second group of network devices;
collect operational data that indicates a first current operating condition associated with the first group of network devices and a second current operating condition associated with the second group of network devices running the first software;
determine, based at least in part on the first current operating condition, a first risk metric indicating a first measure of risk associated with the first group of network devices running the first software;
determine, based at least in part on the second current operating condition, a second risk metric indicating a second measure of risk associated with the second group of network devices running the first software;
determine that the first risk metric violates the first operational preferences;
determine that the second risk metric does not violate the second operational preferences;
identify second software configured for execution by individual ones of the first group of network devices, wherein the second software satisfies the first operational preferences and is associated with the first common functional attribute of the first group of network devices;
determine that running the second software lowers the first measure of risk associated with the first group of network devices as compared to running the first software;
provide the user device with access to a first recommendation to run the second software on individual ones of the first group of network devices, and a second recommendation to continue to run the first software on the second group of network devices; and
cause the first group of network devices to run the second software.

2. The system of claim 1 , comprising further computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
store an association between the first operational preferences associated with the first group of network devices and the second operational preferences associated with the second group of network devices, with the user account.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
to determine that the first risk metric violates the first operational preferences comprises to determine that the first risk metric indicates a higher measure of risk than an allowable measure of risk.

4. The system of claim 1 , comprising further computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
obtain telemetry data associated with a plurality of network devices in the device network;
analyze the telemetry data to identify, from the plurality of network devices, the first group of network devices as sharing the first common functional attribute in the device network, and the second group of network devices as sharing the second common functional attribute in the device network;
generate a first device policy for the first group of network devices;
generate a second device policy for the second group of network devices;
store an indication of the first device policy for the first group of network devices indicating that the first group of network devices share the first common functional attribute in the device network; and
store an indication of the second device policy for the second group of network devices indicating that the second group of network devices share the second common functional attribute in the device network.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein a common functional attribute shared by a group of network devices comprises at least one of:
a common hardware component type;
a common functional role in the device network;
a common software version; or
common software features being supported.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first operational preferences include a popularity-preference metric indicating a permitted measure of other user accounts associated with other network devices that are running other software,
comprising further computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
determine that the second software is associated with a popularity metric indicating an actual measure of other users associated with the other network devices that are running the second software; and
determine that the popularity metric is greater than or equal to the popularity-preference metric.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first operational preferences include a stability-preference metric indicating a permitted measure of at least one of software bugs, security advisories, or security vulnerabilities determined for other software,
comprising further computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
determine that the second software is associated with a stability metric indicating an actual measure of at least one of software bugs, security advisories, or security vulnerabilities determined for the second software; and
determine that the stability metric is less than or equal to the stability-preference metric.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein operational preferences comprise at least one of:
a risk-tolerance level indicating an allowable measure of risk associated with a predefined group of network devices;
a disallowed-operational list indicating at least one of security vulnerabilities or software bugs that are disallowed in the predefined group of network devices;
a preferred-operational list indicating a set of features that are preferred to be associated with the predefined group of network devices.

9. A method comprising:
identifying a first group of network devices in a first device network that share a common functional attribute, wherein individual ones of the first group of network devices are running first software;
identifying a second group of network devices in a second device network that share the common functional attribute, wherein individual ones of the second group of network devices are running the first software;
receiving, from a first user account and via a first user device, input data defining first operational preferences associated with the first group of network devices;
receiving, from a second user account and via a second user device, input data defining second operational preferences associated with the second group of network devices;
collecting operational data that indicates a first current operating condition associated with the first group of network devices and a second current operating condition associated with the second group of network devices running the first software;
determining, based at least in part on the first current operating condition, a first risk metric indicating a first measure of risk associated with the first group of network devices running the first software;
determining, based at

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Nucci Antonio
• Beverley Martin
• Ebtekar Ali

Classifications

• G06F8/65 Primary

  Updates (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57) · CPC title

• H04L67/306

  User profiles · CPC title

• H04Q9/02

  Automatically-operated arrangements · CPC title

• G06F16/252

  between a Database Management System and a front-end application · CPC title

• H04Q2209/40

  using a wireless architecture · CPC title