Learning stable representations of devices for clustering-based device classification systems

An apparatus, comprising:

• one or more network interfaces to communicate with a network;
• a processor coupled to the network interfaces and configured to execute one or more processes;
• and
• a memory configured to store a process executable by the processor, the process when executed configured to:
• obtain telemetry data captured by one or more intermediate network nodes for a plurality of devices in a network;
• repeatedly assign the devices to device clusters by applying clustering to the obtained telemetry data;
• determine a measure of stability loss associated with the cluster assignments, wherein the measure of stability loss is based in part on whether a device is repeatedly assigned to the same device cluster;
• determine, based on the measure of stability loss, that the cluster assignments have stabilized;
• and
• obtain device type labels for the device clusters, after determining that the cluster assignments have stabilized when a number or percentage of devices repeatedly assigned to the same device cluster exceeds a threshold during the assigning of the devices to the device clusters.

A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing program instructions that cause a device classification service to execute a process comprising:

• obtaining, by the device classification service, telemetry data captured by one or more intermediate network nodes for a plurality of devices in a network;
• repeatedly assigning, by the device classification service, the devices to device clusters by applying clustering to the obtained telemetry data;
• determining, by the device classification service, a measure of stability loss associated with the cluster assignments, wherein the measure of stability loss is based in part on whether a device is repeatedly assigned to the same device cluster;
• determining, by the device classification service and based on the measure of stability loss, that the cluster assignments have stabilized;
• and
• obtaining, by the device classification service, device type labels for the device clusters, after determining that the cluster assignments have stabilized when a number or percentage of devices repeatedly assigned to the same device cluster exceeds a threshold during the assigning of the devices to the device clusters.