Determining Feasibility Of A Network Service Using A Ring Analysis
AssigneeLevel 3 Communications, LLC
InventorWilliam Thomas Sella
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A mesh network (such as a mesh Ethernet network) is subdivided into rings. For each ring, a network utilization is assessed in both the clockwise and counter-clockwise directions around the ring. A user requests a particular network service. The network rings that would be utilized by the network service are determined. A maximum utilization of all the network rings utilized by the network service in both clockwise and counter-clockwise directions is determined. The determined maximum utilization is used to determine the feasibility of provisioning the requested network service.
Claims18
A computer-implemented method for evaluating utilization of a mesh network including a plurality of switching devices, comprising:
- (a) monitoring, on a computing device, utilization of bidirectional links connecting the plurality of switching devices;
- (b) for both directions of each of the links, determining, on the computing device, a predicted utilization of the link in the direction based on the utilization of the link monitored in (a);
- for each of a plurality of rings in the mesh network:
- (c) determining, on the computing device, a clockwise maximum of the predicted utilizations of the links in the ring in the clockwise direction of the ring;
- (d) determining, on the computing device, a counterclockwise maximum of the predicted utilizations of the links in the ring in the counterclockwise direction of the ring;
- and
- (e) determining, on the computing device, a predicted utilization of the ring based on the clockwise maximum and the counterclockwise maximum.
A system for evaluating utilization of a mesh network including a plurality of switching devices, comprising:
- a computing device;
- a monitor module, implemented on the computing device, that monitors the utilization of bidirectional links connecting the plurality of switching devices;
- a link predictor module, implemented on the computing device, that, for both directions of each of the links, determines a predicted utilization of the link in the direction based on the monitored utilization of the link;
- and
- an ring evaluator module, implemented on the computing device, that, for each of a plurality of rings in the mesh network, (i) determines a clockwise maximum of the predicted utilizations of the links in the ring in the clockwise direction of the ring in previous time cycles, (ii) determines a counterclockwise maximum of the predicted utilizations of the links in the ring in the counterclockwise direction of the ring in previous time cycles, and (iii) determines a predicted utilization of the ring based on the clockwise maximum and the counterclockwise maximum;
- and (iv) determines a predicted utilization for the ring.
A program storage device tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by at least one machine to perform a method for evaluating utilization of a mesh network including a plurality of switching devices, the method comprising:
- (a) monitoring utilization of bidirectional links connecting the plurality of switching devices;
- (b) for both directions of each of the links, determining a predicted availability of the link in the direction based on the utilization of the link monitored in (a);
- for each of a plurality of rings in the mesh network:
- (c) determining a clockwise minimum of the predicted availability of the links in the ring in the clockwise direction of the ring in previous time cycles;
- (d) determining a counterclockwise minimum of the predicted availability of the links in the ring in the counterclockwise direction of the ring in previous time cycles;
- and
- (e) determining a predicted availability of the ring based on the clockwise and counterclockwise minimums.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.