Application session-specific network topology generation for troubleshooting the application session

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11968075-B2
Application number	US-202217935704-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 27, 2022
Priority date	Jan 14, 2022
Publication date	Apr 23, 2024
Grant date	Apr 23, 2024

Abstract

A network management system (NMS) is described that provides a granular troubleshooting workflow at an application session level using an application session-specific topology from a client device to a cloud-based application server. During an application session of a cloud-based application, a client device running the application exchanges data through one or more access point (AP) devices, one or more switches at a wired network edge, and one or more network nodes, e.g., switches, routers, and/or gateway devices, to reach a cloud-based application server. For a particular application session, the NMS generates a topology based on network data received from a subset of network devices, e.g., client devices, AP devices, switches, routers, and/or gateways, that were involved in the particular application session over a duration of the particular application session. In this way, the NMS enables backward-looking troubleshooting of the particular application session.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A network management system comprising:
a memory storing network data received from a plurality of network devices configured to provide client-to-cloud connectivity in a network between one or more client devices and one or more cloud-based application environments; and
one or more processors coupled to the memory and configured to:
receive a query identifying an application session of an application for a client device, wherein the client device comprises one of the plurality of network devices, wherein the application is hosted in a cloud-based environment of the one or more cloud-based application environments, wherein the application session includes application flows between a subset of network devices from the plurality of network devices over a duration of the application session, and wherein the subset of network devices includes one or more of access point devices, switches, routers, gateway devices, or service provider servers used to transmit traffic between the client device and the cloud-based environment of the application;
retrieve entity information and connectivity information for the application session from a temporal graph database, wherein the entity information represents the subset of network devices involved with the application session over the duration of the application session and is stored as nodes of the temporal graph database, wherein the connectivity information represents connections between the subset of network devices over the duration of the application session and is stored as edges of the temporal graph database, and wherein the temporal graph database represents a history of at least a portion of the network at application session-level granularity over a time period that includes the duration of the application session;
generate an application session-specific topology for the application session based on the entity information and the connectivity information for the application session, wherein the application session-specific topology comprises a historical view of the subset of network devices and connections between the subset of network devices over the duration of the application session;
identify at least one connectivity issue within the subset of network devices during the application session based at least on the network data received from the subset of network devices during the application session; and
generate data representative of a user interface for presentation on an administrator device, the user interface including a visualization of the application session-specific topology over the duration of the application session including an indication of the at least one connectivity issue.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to perform root cause analysis to determine a root cause of the at least one connectivity issue within the subset of network devices during the application session.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to analyze the network data received from the subset of network devices during the application session to identify one or more third-party application servers, third-party service provider servers, or third-party network devices involved with the application session over a duration of the application session.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to retrieve insights data from a third-party monitoring vendor for the one or more third-party application servers, third-party service provider servers, or third-party network devices.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
correlate application flow data from multiple application flows of the application session; and
determine the subset of network devices, from the plurality of network devices, involved with the application session over the duration of the application session based on the application flow data of the application session,
wherein the one or more processors are configured to retrieve the entity information and the connectivity information for the application session from the temporal graph database based on the determined subset of network devices.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
extract the entity information and the connectivity information from telemetry data within the network data received from the subset of network devices over the duration of the application session; and
update the temporal graph database with the entity information and the connectivity information for the application session.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein to generate data representative of the user interface, the one or more processors are configured to generate an icon representative of at least one network device within the application session-specific topology having the indication of the at least one connectivity issue over the duration of the application session, wherein the indication of the at least one connectivity issue comprises at least one of a color, a shape, or a symbol.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to, in response to receipt of user input selecting the icon representative of the network device having the indication of the at least one connectivity issue, generate data representative of a troubleshooting user interface for presentation on the administrator device, the troubleshooting user interface including at least one indication of a root cause of the at least one connectivity issue at the network device.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to generate data representative of a conversational assistant user interface comprising a platform configured to receive the query identifying the application session, present the application session-specific topology, and receive user input interacting with the application session-specific topology.

10. A method comprising:
receiving, by a network management system, a query identifying an application session of an application for a client device, wherein the client device comprises one of a plurality of network devices configured to provide client-to-cloud connectivity in a network between one or more client devices and one or more cloud-based application environments, wherein the application is hosted in a cloud-based environment of the one or more cloud-based application environments, wherein the application session includes application flows between a subset of network devices from the plurality of network devices over a duration of the application session, and wherein the subset of network devices includes one or more of access point devices, switches, routers, gateway devices, or service provider servers used to transmit traffic between the client device and the cloud-based environment of the application;
retrieving, by the network management system, entity information and connectivity information for the application session from a temporal graph database, wherein the entity information represents the subset of network devices involved with the application session over the duration of the application session and is stored as nodes of the temporal graph database, wherein the connectivity information represents connections between the subset of network devices over the duration of the application session and is stored as edges of the temporal graph database, and wherein the temporal graph database represents a history of at least a portion of the network at application session-level granularity over a time period that includes the duration of the application session;
generating, by the network management system, an application sess

Assignees

• Juniper Networks Inc

Inventors

• Wang Jisheng
• Wu Xiaoying
• Siddalingappa-Vitalapur Yedunandan
• Shamsundar Abhiram Madhugiri
• Friday Robert J
• Matta Sudheer
• Sankhavaram Sunalini
• Shah Kush
• Frei Randall
• Hajela Sujai
• Thomas Jacob

Classifications

• H04L41/064 Primary

  involving time analysis · CPC title

• H04L41/0627

  by acting on the notification or alarm source · CPC title

• H04L41/12

  Discovery or management of network topologies · CPC title

• H04L41/22 Primary

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

• H04L43/0811

  by checking connectivity · CPC title