Communication quality monitoring system, communication quality monitoring method and recording medium

A network monitoring method, performed by a computer, said method comprising:

• determining a normal monitoring route for sensing an event of a quality degradation occurrence in a quality monitor area of a network formed by a packet transfer apparatus whose packet transfer route is controlled by an external controller;
• determining one or more area locating monitoring routes for generating, when a quality degradation is sensed somewhere along the normal monitoring route, at least one area locating monitoring routes for narrowing a precise location of a communication quality degradation point along a portion of the normal monitoring route upon which the quality degradation was sensed;
• setting the normal monitoring route and the one or more area locating monitoring routes as packet transfer routes;
• measuring a communication quality by sensing a communication condition of the normal monitoring route and the one or more area locating monitoring routes;
• and
• inferring an occurrence of a quality degradation and an area of the occurrence of the quality degradation based on a result of the measuring of the communication quality,
• wherein:
• the determination of the normal monitoring route initially determines a maximum single-stroke link set of links over the quality monitor area that are connectable with a single stroke, the maximum single-stroke link set having a predetermined maximum number of links as elements;
• the maximum single-stroke link set is used as a basis for generating additional single-stroke link sets that together with the maximum single-stroke link set, serve as normal monitoring routes to completely cover the quality monitor area to search for a quality degradation in the network;
• and
• each single-stroke link set used in a monitoring route has a start point and an end point that coincide, thereby a single probe terminal serves as a single communication quality measuring unit that both sends out monitoring probes and senses for possible quality degradation events occurring in the quality monitor area of the network by receiving the monitoring probes sent out on the monitoring route.

A communication quality monitoring system, comprising:

• a plurality of nodes interconnected as a network, each node being configured to receive packets whose packet transfer route is controlled by an external controller;
• an apparatus configured to measure a communication quality of the network;
• and
• a server having a hardware processor,
• wherein the plurality of nodes includes a first node, and
• wherein the hardware processor in the server is configured:
• to execute a normal monitoring route planning processing to determine a normal monitoring route, which is a route which begins at the first node and ends at the first node and which route includes at least one other node among the plurality of nodes;
• to execute a quality degrading region monitoring route planning processing, when a communication quality degradation occurrence is detected when probe signals are transmitted on the normal monitoring route, to narrow down a region within the normal monitoring route where degradation of the communication quality occurs, the quality degrading region monitoring route planning processing then determining a region locating monitoring route intended to focus on one or more portions of the normal monitoring route to attempt to further locate precisely where the communication quality degradation occurs along the normal monitoring route, the region locating monitoring route being shorter than the normal monitoring route;
• to execute a forwarding rule configuring processing to set the normal monitoring route and, subsequently, the region locating monitoring route as packet transfer routes;
• and
• to execute a communication quality degrading region inferring processing to infer an occurrence of a quality degradation and a region of the occurrence of the quality degradation based on measurements by the apparatus for each of the normal monitoring route and the region locating monitoring route,
• wherein:
• the normal monitoring route planning processing plans normal monitoring routes for sensing quality degradation occurrences in the network by initially determining a maximum single-stroke link set of links over a quality monitor area that are connectable with a single stroke, the maximum single-stroke link set having a predetermined maximum number of links as elements;
• the normal monitoring route planning processing uses the maximum single-stroke link set as a basis for generating additional single-stroke link sets that together with the maximum single-stroke link set, serve as normal monitoring routes to completely cover the quality monitor area to search for a quality degradation in the network;
• and
• each single-stroke link set used in a monitoring route has a start point and an end point that coincide, thereby a single probe terminal serves as a single communication quality measuring unit that both sends out monitoring probes and senses for possible quality degradation events occurring in the quality monitor area of the network by receiving the monitoring probes sent out on the monitoring route.

A communication quality monitoring system, comprising:

• a plurality of nodes interconnected as a network, each node being configured to receive packets whose packet transfer route is controlled by an external controller;
• and
• a server configured with a hardware processor,
• wherein the plurality of nodes includes a first node,
• wherein the hardware processor in the server is configured:
• to execute a normal monitoring route planning processing to determine a normal monitoring route, which is a route which begins at the first node and ends at the first node and which route includes at least one other node among the plurality of nodes;
• to execute a quality degrading region monitoring route planning processing, when a communication quality degradation occurrence is detected when probe signals are transmitted on the normal monitoring route, to narrow down a region within the normal monitoring route where degradation of the communication quality occurs, the quality degrading region monitoring route planning processing then determining a region locating monitoring route intended to focus on one or more portions of the normal monitoring route to attempt to further locate precisely where the communication quality degradation occurs along the normal monitoring route, the region locating monitoring route being shorter than the normal monitoring route;
• to execute a forwarding rule configuring processing to set the normal monitoring route and, subsequently, the region locating monitoring route as packet transfer routes;
• to execute a communication quality measuring processing to measure a communication quality when probe signals are transmitted to each of the normal monitoring route and the region locating monitoring route;
• and
• to execute a communication quality degrading region inferring processing to infer an occurrence of a quality degradation and a region of the occurrence of the quality degradation based on the communication quality measuring processing of each of the normal monitoring route and the region locating monitoring route,
• wherein:
• the normal monitoring route planning processing plans normal monitoring routes for sensing quality degradation occurrences in the network by initially determining a maximum single-stroke link set of links over a quality monitor area that are connectable with a single stroke, the maximum single-stroke link set having a predetermined maximum number of links as elements;
• the normal monitoring route planning processing uses the maximum single-stroke link set as a basis for generating additional single-stroke link sets that together with the maximum single-stroke link set, serve as normal monitoring routes to completely cover the quality monitor area to search for a quality degradation in the network;
• and
• each single-stroke link set used in a monitoring route has a start point and an end point that coincide, thereby a single probe terminal serves as a single communication quality measuring unit that both sends out monitoring probes and senses for possible quality degradation events occurring in the quality monitor area of the network by receiving the monitoring probes sent out on the monitoring route.