# US 10,771,322 B2 · Testing and delivering verification of network configurations

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- Number: US 10,771,322 B2
- Document ID: US10771322B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/807,107
- Filed: 2017-11-08
- Published: 2019-02-07
- Granted: 2020-09-08
- Earliest claimed: 2017-08-02
- Assignees: International Business Machines Corporation
- Applicants: International Business Machines Corporation
- Inventors: Louie A. Dickens; Rodolfo Lopez; Julio A. Maldonado; Juan G. Rivera; Pedro V. Torres
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10771322B2

## CPC

- H04L 41/40: using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
- G06F 11/008: {Reliability or availability analysis}
- H04L 41/069: using logs of notifications; Post-processing of notifications
- H04L 41/145: {involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network}
- H04L 41/147: for predicting network behaviour
- H04L 43/20: the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV
- H04L 43/50: Testing arrangements
- G06F 11/3006: {where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems (multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50)}
- G06F 11/3051: {Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the configuration of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring the presence of processing resources, peripherals, I/O links, software programs (verification or detection of system hardware configuration G06F11/2247)}
- H04L 41/0654: using network fault recovery (ring fault isolation or reconfiguration in loop networks without recovery actions by a network management system H04L12/437)
- H04L 41/0836: {to enhance reliability, e.g. reduce downtime}
- H04L 43/04: Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
- H04L 43/045: for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)

## Abstract

Methods to perform an operation comprising receiving an indication of a type and a target of a fault to inject in a network, the network comprising a plurality of devices and a plurality of network elements, generating at least a first predicted network map depicting a predicted configuration of the plurality of devices and network elements subsequent to injecting the fault in the network, injecting the fault at the target in the network, generating an actual network map depicting an actual configuration of the plurality of devices and network elements, identifying, based on a comparison of the first predicted network map and the actual network map, at least one difference in the predicted and actual configurations, and outputting for display an indication of the identified at least one difference.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method comprising:
receiving an indication of a type and a target of a fault to inject in a network, wherein the network comprises a plurality of devices and a plurality of network elements, and wherein the type of the fault comprises flooding one or more of the plurality of network elements with garbage data by transmitting data that is not properly formatted;
generating at least a first predicted network map depicting a predicted configuration of the plurality of devices and the plurality of network elements subsequent to injecting the fault in the network;
injecting the fault at the target in the network, wherein injecting the fault at the target in the network comprises transmitting one or more control signals to the target in the network;
determining an amount of time that has elapsed since the garbage data was transmitted;
upon determining that the determined amount of time exceeds a predefined amount of time, generating an actual network map depicting an actual configuration of the plurality of devices and the plurality of network elements;
identifying, based on a comparison of the first predicted network map and the actual network map, at least one difference in the predicted and actual configurations; and
outputting for display an indication of the identified at least one difference.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
prior to receiving the indication:
determining a current state of the plurality of devices and the plurality of network elements prior to injecting the fault in the network;
generating a current network map depicting a current configuration of the network, based on the current state of the plurality of devices and the plurality of network elements prior to injecting the fault in the network; and
outputting the current network map depicting the current configuration of the plurality of devices and network elements prior to injecting the fault in the network.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, the method further comprising:
generating a plurality of predicted network maps depicting predicted configurations of the plurality of devices and the plurality of network elements subsequent to injecting the fault in the network; and
for each respective predicted network map of the plurality of predicted network maps:
identifying, based on a respective comparison of the respective predicted network map and the actual network map, at least one difference; and
outputting for display a graphical representation of the identified at least one difference, wherein the graphical representation of the at least one difference comprises highlighting the at least one difference on the display.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the target comprises at least one of: (i) a first device of the plurality of devices, and (ii) a first network element of the plurality of network elements, wherein the type of the fault comprises one or more of: (i) enabling a network port, (ii) disabling a network port.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one difference comprises a first network route in the actual configuration of the plurality of devices and network elements not matching an optimal network route in the first predicted network map.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5, further comprising:
identifying a set of actions configured to modify the first network route to match the optimal network route; and
executing each actions in the set of actions to modify the first network route to match the optimal network route.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the network comprises a software defined network (SDN), wherein an indication of the fault is received via a SDN protocol that supports transmission of the type and the target of the fault, wherein a SDN controller injects the fault at the target in the network.