Estimation system, addition apparatus, estimation method, addition method, estimation program and addition program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11882015-B2
Application number	US-201917624036-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 1, 2019
Priority date	Jul 1, 2019
Publication date	Jan 23, 2024
Grant date	Jan 23, 2024

Abstract

In an estimation system 100 including an addition device 1 and an estimation device 3, the addition device 1 includes a storage section 11 which stores address information of each interface of one of at least two network devices connected to each other, and a transmission section 16 which transmits, at different times, a PING packet which is output to the other network device and is then returned to the one of the network devices to each interface of the one of the network devices by using the address information of the interface read from the storage section, and the estimation device 3 includes an estimation section 34 which compares, for each time, time-series data of a data amount of each interface of the one of the network devices which includes a data amount of the PING packet and time-series data of a data amount of each interface of the other network device which includes the data amount of the PING packet, and calculates a combination of the interfaces of which the data amounts at each time match each other.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An estimation system for determining a topology between a plurality of interfaces of a first network device of at least two network devices and a plurality of interfaces of a set of second network devices of the at least two network devices that are connected to each other, comprising:
an addition device comprising:
a storage configured to:
store address information of (i) the plurality of interfaces of the first network device and (ii) the plurality of interfaces of the second network device,

a processor configured to:
determine that the first network device is to be a destination of a plurality of packets to be transmitted from the at least two network devices based on the first network device being a server-side network device and the second network device being a client-side network device, and
generate the plurality of packets, wherein each of the plurality of packets has a different data amount, and

a transmitter configured to:
transmit the plurality of packets to the plurality of interfaces of the first network device, respectively, at different times, by using address information of the plurality of interfaces read from the storage, such that each interface of the plurality of interfaces receives at least one of the plurality of packets;

the first network device comprising:
at least one transmitter configured to:
receive the plurality of packets and output each of the plurality of packets using the interface that received the packet toward the second network device using the plurality of interfaces, and
receive responses for each of the plurality of packets and forward the plurality of responses to a collection device;

the set of second network devices comprising:
at least one transmitter configured to:
receive the plurality of packets from the first network device and responding using a same one of the plurality of interfaces of the set of second devices;

the collection device, comprising:
at least one processor configured to:
store data of the plurality of responses, and

a transmitter configured to:
transmit the stored data to an estimation device; and

an estimation device comprising:
one or more processors configured to:
based on the stored data, for each individual packet of the plurality of packets:
compare data amounts of each interface of the first network device that includes a data amount of the individual packet and a data amount of each interface of the set of second network device that includes tha data amount of the individual packet, and
calculate, based on the comparison, a combination of the interfaces of the first network device and the set of second network devices that includes the data amount of the packet to determine connection relationships between the interfaces.

2. The estimation system according to claim 1 , wherein calculating the combination of the interfaces includes determining the topology based on the determined connection relationships.

3. The estimation system according to claim 2 , wherein the one or more processors of the estimation device are configured to output the determined topology to a printer and display the topology on a screen.

4. An estimation method performed by an addition device having a storage, a processor, and a transmitter, a first network device having at least one transmitter, a set of second network devices having at least one transmitter, a collection device having at least one processor and a transmitter, and an estimation device comprising one or more computers for determining a topology between a plurality of interfaces of a first network device of at least two network devices and a plurality of interfaces of the set of second network devices of the at least two network devices that are connected to each other, wherein:
the addition device performs:
storing, in the storage, address information of i) the plurality of interfaces of the first network device and (ii) the plurality of interfaces of the second network device,
determining, by the processor, that the first network device is to be a destination of a plurality of packets to be transmitted from the at least two network devices based on the first network device being a server-side network device and the second network device being a client-side network device,
generating, by the processor the plurality of packets, wherein each of the plurality of packets has a different data amount, and
transmitting, by the transmitter, the plurality of packets to the plurality of interfaces of the first network device, respectively, at different times, by using address information of the plurality of interfaces read from the storage, such that each interface of the plurality of interfaces receives at least one of the plurality of packets,

the first network device performs:
receiving, by the at least one transmitter, the plurality of packets and outputting each of the plurality of packets using the interface that received the packet toward the second network device using the plurality of interfaces, and
receiving, by the at least one transmitter, responses for each of the plurality of packets and forward the plurality of responses to a collection device,

the set of second network device performs:
receiving, by the at least one transmitter, the plurality of packets from the first network device and responding using a same one of the plurality of interfaces of the set of second devices,

the collection device performs:
storing, by the at least one processor, data of the plurality of responses, and
transmitting, by the transmitter, the stored data to the estimation device,

the estimation device performs:
based on the stored data, for each individual packet of the plurality of packets:
comparing data amounts of each interface of the first network device that includes a data amount of the individual packet and a data amount of each interface of the set of second network device that includes the data amount of the individual packet, and
calculating, based on the comparison a combination of interfaces of the first network device and the set of second network devices that includes the data amount of the packet to determine connection relationships between the interfaces.

5. The estimation method according to claim 4 , wherein calculating the combination of the interfaces includes determining the topology based on the determined connection relationships.

6. The estimation method according to claim 5 , further comprising outputting the determined topology to a printer and displaying the topology on a screen.

7. A non-transitory recording medium storing an estimation program for determining a topology between a plurality of interfaces of a first network device of at least two network devices and a plurality of interfaces of a set of second network devices of the at least two network devices that are connected to each other, wherein execution of the program causes one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
storing, in a storage, address information of i) the plurality of interfaces of the first network device and (ii) the plurality of interfaces of the second network device;
determining that the first network device is to be a destination of a plurality of packets to be transmitted from the at least two network devices based on the first network device being a server-side network device and the second network device being a client-side network device;
generating the plurality of packets, wherein each of the plurality of packets has a different data amount;
transmitting the plurality of packets to the plurality of interfaces of the first network device, respectively, at different times, by using address information of the plurality of interfaces read from the storage,

Assignees

• Nippon Telegraph & Telephone

Inventors

• Nakamura Mizuto
• Seki Toshihiko
• Tanji Naoyuki

Classifications

• H04L41/12

  Discovery or management of network topologies · CPC title

• H04L43/10 Primary

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

• H04L43/0852

  Delays · CPC title