Dynamic management of network flows

A network flow management system, comprising:

• a plurality of flow network elements, each of the flow network elements including:
• an authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) client module to receive, from a AAA server, observation profiles associated with subscribers and to program observation points associated with the subscribers based on the observation profiles,
• an observation and metering module coupled with the AAA module, the observation and metering module to observe network flows based on the programmed observation points, and
• an exporting module coupled with the observation and metering module, the exporting module to transmit network flow records corresponding to the observed network flows to a collector;
• the collector coupled with the plurality of flow network elements, the collector including
• a collecting module and a policy client module,
• the collecting module to receive the transmitted flow records and organize the received network flow records, and
• the policy client module coupled with the collecting module, the policy client module to create policy actions based on the organized network flow records and a plurality of policy definitions, and to transmit those policy actions to a policy server, wherein each policy action includes an indication of which one of the plurality of flow network elements and which subscriber the policy action is for;
• a combined AAA and policy server, the combined AAA and policy server coupled with the collector and the plurality of flow network elements, the combined AAA and policy server including a AAA server and a policy server, the policy server including a plurality of network flow policies, the combined AAA and policy server to perform the following:
• assign network flow policies to the plurality of flow network elements based on the received policy actions, and
• transmit the assigned network flow policies to the flow network elements as indicated by the policy actions;
• and
• wherein each flow network element that receives a network flow policy is to install that network flow policy, wherein the installed network flow policies modify network parameters of subscribers.

A method for a network flow management system including one or more flow network elements, a collector coupled with the one or more network elements, a policy client coupled with the collector, a policy server coupled with the policy client, and an Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) server coupled with the policy server and the one or more flow network elements, the method comprising:

• each of the one or more flow network elements terminating a plurality of subscribers, each flow network element, performing the following:
• receiving, from the AAA server, a plurality of observation profiles each associated with a subscriber terminated on that flow network element and each indicating network flow monitoring parameters for a subscriber,
• programming a plurality of observation points according to the received observation profiles,
• monitoring network flows at the programmed observation points, and exporting flow records corresponding with the monitored network flows to the collector;
• the collector organizing those network flow records by flow network element and subscriber;
• the policy client correlating the organized flow records against a plurality of policy definitions to determine whether the network flows of the subscribers violate any policy rules and one or more actions to take for each violation, wherein responsive to determining that a network flow of a subscriber has violated a policy rule, transmitting one or more policy actions to a policy server for that subscriber, each transmitted policy action including an indication of which one of the one or more flow network elements and which subscriber the policy action is for;
• the policy server to assign network flow policies for the subscribers based on the policy actions received from the policy client, wherein each network flow policy will modify network parameters of a subscriber;
• the AAA server to transmit the assigned network flow policies to the one or more flow network elements;
• and
• the one or more flow network elements installing the network flow policies.