Enhanced SD-WAN path quality measurement and selection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11736390-B2
Application number	US-202117544744-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 7, 2021
Priority date	Sep 29, 2020
Publication date	Aug 22, 2023
Grant date	Aug 22, 2023

Abstract

Techniques for enhanced Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) path quality measurement and selection are disclosed. In some embodiments, a system/method/computer program product for enhanced SD-WAN path quality measurement and selection includes periodically performing a network path measurement for each of a plurality of network paths at a Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) interface; updating a version if the network path measurement exceeds a threshold for one or more of the plurality of network paths; and selecting one of the plurality of network paths for a session based on the version according to an application policy.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a processor configured to:
periodically perform a network path measurement for each of a plurality of network paths at a Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) interface;
detect whether the network path measurement exceeds a threshold for one or more of the plurality of network paths and update a version that corresponds to an updated version, wherein a network path quality comparison is performed by comparing two integer values based on a comparison of two distinct versions including the updated version that is associated with path quality measurements performed at a first time and a previous version that is associated with path quality measurements performed at another time earlier than the first time, wherein the updated version is broadcast by a network path monitoring unit; and
select one of the plurality of network paths for a session based on the version according to an application policy, and in an event that there is no change of the version associated with a selected network path, then network path selection logic is bypassed to reduce consumption of computing and memory resources; and

a communication interface coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein performing the network path measurement further comprises sending probe packets from the SD-WAN interface.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one of the plurality of network paths comprises a link or a tunnel.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the threshold comprises an application-based threshold for a first application type, and wherein the session is associated with the first application type.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the network path measurement is performed for one side of a roundtrip path selection.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the application policy includes a hierarchy of preferred paths per application type.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the application policy includes a sensitivity threshold for performing network path measurements per application type.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the session is a new session.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the session is an existing session.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein selecting the network path for the session based on the version further comprises selecting the one of the plurality of network paths for the session based on a best available, top down priority, and/or a weighted session distribution.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein an SD-WAN policy includes a plurality of SD-WAN rules for a plurality of SD-WAN interfaces based on the application policy.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein an SD-WAN policy includes a plurality of SD-WAN rules for a plurality of SD-WAN interfaces based on the application policy, and wherein the processor is further configured to:
perform a match with the SD-WAN policy by determining if a network path quality profile matches an SD-WAN rule.

13. A method comprising:
periodically performing a network path measurement for each of a plurality of network paths at a Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) interface using a processor;
detect whether the network path measurement exceeds a threshold for one or more of the plurality of network paths and update a version that corresponds to an updated version, wherein a network path quality comparison is performed by comparing two integer values based on a comparison of two distinct versions including the updated version that is associated with path quality measurements performed at a first time and a previous version that is associated with path quality measurements performed at another time earlier than the first time, wherein the updated version is broadcast by a network path monitoring unit; and
selecting one of the plurality of network paths for a session based on the version according to an application policy, and in an event that there is no change of the version associated with a selected network path, then network path selection logic is bypassed to reduce consumption of computing and memory resources.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein performing the network path measurement further comprises sending probe packets from the SD-WAN interface.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the one of the plurality of network paths comprises a link or a tunnel.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the threshold comprises an application- based threshold for a first application type, and wherein the session is associated with the first application type.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein an SD-WAN policy includes a plurality of SD-WAN rules for a plurality of SD-WAN interfaces based on the application policy, further comprising:
performing a match with the SD-WAN policy by determining if a network path quality profile matches an SD-WAN rule.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising computer instructions, which when executed perform the following:
periodically performing a network path measurement for each of a plurality of network paths at a Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) interface;
detect whether the network path measurement exceeds a threshold for one or more of the plurality of network paths and update a version that corresponds to an updated version, wherein a network path quality comparison is performed by comparing two integer values based on a comparison of two distinct versions including the updated version that is associated with path quality measurements performed at a first time and a previous version that is associated with path quality measurements performed at another time earlier than the first time, wherein the updated version is broadcast by a network path monitoring unit; and
selecting one of the plurality of network paths for a session based on the version according to an application policy, and in an event that there is no change of the version associated with a selected network path, then network path selection logic is bypassed to reduce consumption of computing and memory resources.

19. The computer program product of claim 18 , wherein performing the network path measurement further comprises sending probe packets from the SD-WAN interface.

20. The computer program product of claim 18 , wherein the one of the plurality of network paths comprises a link or a tunnel.

Assignees

• Palo Alto Networks Inc

Inventors

• Cai Chunqing
• Kwan Philip
• Wang Lin
• Chang Lei
• Kumar Sameer
• Ramanath Pulikeshi
• Narayankhedkar Santosh

Classifications

• H04L45/46

  Cluster building · CPC title

• H04L45/70

  Routing based on monitoring results · CPC title

• H04L45/306 Primary

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

• H04L43/10

  Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route · CPC title

• H04L45/123 Primary

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