System, apparatus, procedure, and computer program product for planning and simulating an internet protocol network

A system for evaluating a network, the system comprising:

• at least one apparatus arranged to:
• obtain, for each link in the network, packet information from each packet transmitted via the link, wherein the packet information includes:
• a packet ID identifying the packet, a source node ID identifying a source node of the packet, a destination node ID identifying a destination node of the packet, and a bandwidth at which the packet is communicated through the link;
• aggregate the packet information obtained from each packet transmitted via the links in the network to form aggregated packet information;
• execute a correlation algorithm of:
• (i) tracing, based on the aggregated packet information, a traffic flow for each packet through the network, wherein the traffic flow is a path by which the packet travels from the source node to the destination node through the network and includes one or more links, and
• (ii) logging, for each traffic flow, traffic flow information including a bandwidth of the traffic flow in each of the one or more of the links in the path;
• and
• determine an aggregate bandwidth utilization for each link in the network, wherein the aggregate bandwidth utilization for each link is a sum of the bandwidths of the traffic flows in the link.

An apparatus for planning and/or simulating an Internet Protocol (IP) network, the apparatus comprising:

• at least one communication interface arranged to:
• (i) interface with a network that includes nodes and links, with each link connecting two of the nodes, and
• (ii) obtain, for each link in the network, packet information from each packet transmitted via the link, wherein the packet information includes:
• a packet ID identifying the packet, a source node ID identifying a source node of the packet, a destination node ID identifying a destination node of the packet, and a bandwidth at which the packet is communicated through the link;
• and
• at least one processor arranged to:
• aggregate the packet information obtained from each packet transmitted via each link in the network to form aggregated packet information;
• and
• execute a correlation algorithm of:
• (i) tracing, based on the aggregated packet information, a traffic flow for each packet through the network, wherein the traffic flow is a path by which the packet travels from the source node to the destination node through the network and includes one or more links, and
• (ii) logging, for each traffic flow, traffic flow information including a bandwidth of the traffic flow in each of the one or more of the links in the path, and
• determine an aggregate bandwidth utilization for each link in the network, wherein the aggregate bandwidth utilization for each link is a sum of bandwidths of the traffic flows in the link.

A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions, the sequences of instructions comprising instructions, when, executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to:

• obtain, for each link in a network that includes nodes and links with each link connecting two of the nodes, packet information from each packet transmitted via the link, wherein the packet information includes:
• a packet ID identifying the packet, a source node ID identifying a source node of the packet, a destination node ID identifying a destination node of the packet, and a bandwidth at which the packet is communicated through the link;
• aggregate the packet information obtained from each packet transmitted via the links in the network to form aggregated packet information;
• execute a correlation algorithm of:
• (i) tracing, based on the aggregated packet information, a traffic flow for each packet through the network, wherein the traffic flow is a path by which the packet travels from the source node to the destination node through the network and includes one or more links, and
• (ii) logging, for each traffic flow, traffic flow information including a bandwidth of the traffic flow in each of the one or more of the links in the path;
• and
• determine an aggregate bandwidth utilization for each link in the network, wherein the aggregate bandwidth utilization for each link is a sum of the bandwidths of the traffic flows in the link.