System and method for user optimized application dependency mapping

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016359678-A1
Application number	US-201615140365-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 27, 2016
Priority date	Jun 5, 2015
Publication date	Dec 8, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

This disclosure generally relate to a method and system for mapping application dependency information. The present technology relates techniques that enable user-adjustable application dependency mapping of a network system. By collecting internal network data using various sensors in conjunction with external user inputs, the present technology can provide optimized application dependency mapping using user inputs.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
receiving network data using a plurality of sensors associated with a plurality of nodes of a network; generating, based at least in part on the network data, a first application dependency map of an application executing in the network, the first dependency map representing an application network topology; receiving, via a user interface, an adjustment to an input parameter of the network; generating a second application dependency map of the application, the second dependency map representing an updated network topology; and displaying at least a portion of the second application dependency map.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the application network topology is operable to identify at least one of a plurality of communication paths between the plurality of nodes, a plurality of ports operable to communicate between the plurality of nodes, and a plurality of processes executing on the plurality of nodes.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the adjustment comprises at least one of defining a period of time for generating the second application dependency map.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the adjustment comprises selecting one or more nodes for generating the second application dependency map.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the adjustment comprises uploading side information for generating the second application dependency map.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the adjustment comprises selecting a specified clustering granularity.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the adjustment comprises editing at least one of a name, a parameter or a node membership status of a cluster of nodes.

8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
receiving a user approval of one or more node membership statuses; and preventing changes to the one or more node member statuses while generating the second application dependency map.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the first application dependency map comprises determining a first clustering of the plurality of nodes, and generating the second application dependency map comprises determining a second clustering of the plurality of nodes.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, based at least in part on the network data, at least one network policy for the network; and storing the at least one network policy in a policy table.

11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a respective similarity score for each of the plurality of nodes, the respective similarity score indicating a similarity level among the plurality of nodes; and displaying the respective similarity score on the user interface.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
generating, based at least in part on the similarity level of the respective similarity score, a clustering of the plurality of nodes to determine one or more node clusters.

13 . A system comprising:
one or more processors; and memory including instructions that, upon being executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to: receive network data using a plurality of sensors associated with a plurality of nodes of a network, the plurality of sensors including at least a first sensor of a physical switch, a second sensor of a hypervisor associated with the physical switch, and a third sensor of a virtual machine associated with the hypervisor; generate, based at least in part on the network data, a first clustering of the plurality of nodes; receive, via a user interface, an adjustment to an input parameter of the network; generate a second clustering of the plurality of nodes based at least in part on the adjustment; and display at least a portion of data related to the second clustering.

14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the first clustering of the plurality of nodes comprises generating a first application dependency mapping representing an application network topology, and the second clustering of the plurality of nodes comprises generating a second application dependency mapping representing an updated application network topology.

15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the application network topology is operable to identify at least one of a plurality of communication paths between the plurality of nodes, a plurality of ports operable to communicate between the plurality of nodes, and a plurality of processes executing on the plurality of nodes.

16 . The system of claim 13 , further comprising:
determine, based at least in part on the network data, at least one network policy for the network; and storing the at least one network policy in a policy table.

17 . The system of claim 13 , further comprising:
determine a respective similarity score for each of the plurality of nodes, the respective similarity score indicating a similarity level among the plurality of nodes; and display the respective similarity score on the user interface.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein generate the first clustering of the plurality of nodes is based at least in part on the respective similarity score and generate the second clustering of the plurality of nodes is based at least in part on updated respective similarity score.

19 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions that, upon being executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
receive network data using a plurality of sensors associated with a plurality of nodes of a network; generate, based at least in part on the network data, a first application dependency map of an application executing in the network, the first dependency map representing an application network topology; receive, via a user interface, an adjustment to an input parameter of the network; generate a second application dependency map of the application, the second dependency map representing an updated network topology; and display at least a portion of the second application dependency map.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the instructions upon being executed further cause the processor to:
determine a respective similarity score for each of the plurality of nodes, the respective similarity score indicating a similarity level among the plurality of nodes; display the respective similarity score on the user interface; and generate, based at least in part on the similarity level of the respective similarity score, a clustering of the plurality of nodes to determine one or more node clusters.

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Madani Omid
• Parandehgheibi Ali
• Yadav Navindra
• Jeyakumar Vimalkumar
• Scheib Ellen Christine
• Alizadeh Attar Mohammadreza

Classifications

• G06T11/26

  Drawing of charts or graphs · CPC title

• H04W72/54

  based on quality criteria · CPC title

• H04L41/0894

  Policy-based network configuration management · CPC title

• H04L63/145

  the attack involving the propagation of malware through the network, e.g. viruses, trojans or worms · CPC title

• G06F21/552

  involving long-term monitoring or reporting · CPC title