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WO2008016860A2 - Organisation, affichage, et/ou manipulation de données de trafic de réseau - Google Patents

Organisation, affichage, et/ou manipulation de données de trafic de réseau Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2008016860A2
WO2008016860A2 PCT/US2007/074678 US2007074678W WO2008016860A2 WO 2008016860 A2 WO2008016860 A2 WO 2008016860A2 US 2007074678 W US2007074678 W US 2007074678W WO 2008016860 A2 WO2008016860 A2 WO 2008016860A2
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Prior art keywords
network
activity
network objects
display
activity characteristic
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PCT/US2007/074678
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English (en)
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WO2008016860A3 (fr
WO2008016860A9 (fr
Inventor
Alain Cohen
David Manowitz
Yevgeny Gurevich
Edward A. Sykes
Shobana Narayanaswamy
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Individual
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Individual
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Publication of WO2008016860A2 publication Critical patent/WO2008016860A2/fr
Publication of WO2008016860A3 publication Critical patent/WO2008016860A3/fr
Publication of WO2008016860A9 publication Critical patent/WO2008016860A9/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Ceased legal-status Critical Current

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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F11/00—Error detection; Error correction; Monitoring
    • G06F11/30—Monitoring
    • G06F11/32—Monitoring with visual or acoustical indication of the functioning of the machine
    • G06F11/324—Display of status information
    • G06F11/328—Computer systems status display

Definitions

  • the present system relates to the field of network activity visualization and particularly relates to a visualization tool that enables selection and/or manipulation of static and/or dynamically depicted network objects in a simplified manner.
  • a network is composed of a set of network objects, each with some associated behavior and properties.
  • Activity on a network may be viewed based on static or dynamic network object data.
  • static visualization network activity is monitored and data related to that activity may be stored in a file.
  • the data may relate to high level characteristics of the network activity, such as load and overall capacity and/or may relate to lower level characteristics such as node capacity, packet size, data type, etc.
  • dynamic visualization similar data may be provided as in the static visualization but the data is taken as live snapshots of current network activity are updated in a periodic manner (e.g., multiple times a second, minute, etc.). Further, a single snapshot of data from a dynamic visualization may be saved in a file for later analysis.
  • the data from the static and/or dynamic visualization may be utilized to determine desired network manipulations, such as redirection of traffic to alleviate traffic bottlenecks, etc.
  • desired network manipulations such as redirection of traffic to alleviate traffic bottlenecks, etc.
  • the tools utilized for visualizing network activity are different than the tools utilized for network manipulations. Accordingly, the user must visualize and analyze network activity in one tool/environment and then manipulate network characteristics in another tool/environment. After network manipulation, the user must then analyze network data captured (statically) or pertaining to (dynamic) a time after the manipulation to verify whether the network manipulation had a desired effect.
  • there is limited support for visualizing aggregate information about the activity data in a useful manner For example, in prior network modeling/visualization systems, there may be hundreds, thousands or more application demands and traffic flows within a network.
  • the present system includes a system, method and device for analyzing network activity by displaying in a first portion of a display, network objects according to an activity characteristic, receiving a selection of one or more of the network objects, and displaying in a second portion of the display, a further activity characteristic of the selected network objects according to a first criteria.
  • the display of the network objects may be altered according to second criteria, which may include filtering criteria that removes network objects displayed in the first portion. Further details of the selected network objects may be displayed in a third portion of the display.
  • An activity characteristic may be changed according to second criteria.
  • the activity characteristic may be changed by selecting one of the displayed network objects, such as by right-clicking, and selecting the second criteria from a resulting pop-up menu.
  • the selected network objects may be displayed according to the changed activity characteristic.
  • Receiving the selection of one or more of the network objects may include receiving a selection of a plurality of network objects.
  • a graphical user interface GUI
  • the network objects may be represented as folders provided as dynamic objects.
  • the folders may be presented in a hierarchy, wherein the hierarchy represents a hierarchy of the activity characteristics of the network.
  • the network objects may represent end-points of the activity characteristic.
  • the plurality of network objects may be displayed in buckets of network objects, for example as groupings of activity characteristics.
  • the first criteria may be merged activity criteria based on common activity characteristics.
  • Network activity that is not mapped to one of the plurality of network objects may be displayed for enabling mapping of the network activity to one of the network objects.
  • the further activity characteristic may be selected to correspond to a given period of time.
  • the further activity characteristic may be a historical activity characteristic.
  • a future activity characteristic may be forecasted based on the historical activity characteristic. Forecasting the future activity characteristic may include selecting a method of the forecast calculation. Forecasting the future activity characteristic may include selecting a time period of the forecast.
  • the activity characteristic may be based on whether the network object supports a network service.
  • the activity characteristic may be based on whether the network object meets a service level criterion.
  • the further activity characteristic may be a simulated activity characteristic.
  • the selected network objects may be grouped based on the selected network object's tolerance to a network activity problem, as well as sources, destinations, ports, communication protocols, bits per second, and packets per second of the selected network objects.
  • FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present system, wherein a GUI is provided having a navigation pane and one or more visualization panes;
  • FIG. 2 illustrates a navigation pane including a pop-up edit menu as may be provided by a selection within the navigation pane in accordance with an embodiment of the present system
  • FIG. 3 shows a GUI of a visualization pane wherein a "Show Unmapped Traffic" check-box is checked in accordance with an embodiment of the present system
  • FIG. 4 shows a GUI including illustrative visualization panes in accordance with an embodiment of the present system
  • FIG. 5 shows a GUI for an exemplary manipulation menu item that may be integrated, for example, into a right-click menu item to enable users to predict what future activity volumes may exist based on existing activity provided in the network data in accordance with an embodiment of the present system;
  • FIG. 6 shows a process flow diagram in accordance with an embodiment of the present system
  • FIG. 7 shows a device in accordance with an embodiment of the present system.
  • GUI graphical user interface
  • the GUI may be provided by an application running on a computer.
  • the visual environment is displayed by the computer on a display device and a user is typically provided with an input device to influence events or images depicted on the display.
  • GUI's present visual images which describe various visual metaphors of an operating system, an application, etc., that may be implemented on the computer.
  • the user typically moves a user-controlled object, such as a cursor or pointer, across a computer screen and onto other displayed objects or screen regions, and then inputs a command to execute a given selection or operation.
  • a user-controlled object such as a cursor or pointer
  • Other applications or visual environments also may provide user-controlled objects such as a cursor for selection and manipulation of depicted objects in either of a two-dimensional or three-dimensional space.
  • the user interaction with and manipulation of the computer environment is achieved using any of a variety of types of human-computer interface devices that are connected to the computer controlling the displayed environment.
  • a common interface device for GUI's is a mouse, trackball, keyboard, etc.
  • a mouse may be moved by a user in a planar workspace to move an object such as a cursor on a two-dimensional display screen in a direct mapping between the position of the user manipulation and the position of the cursor.
  • This is typically known as position control, where the motion of the object directly correlates to motion of the user manipulation.
  • GUI for interaction within a network activity visualization to enable a user to navigate, view, analyze, create, and edit network activity, such as network traffic.
  • network activity visualization to enable a user to navigate, view, analyze, create, and edit network activity, such as network traffic.
  • users are enabled to make use of network activity visualizations and to manipulate the activity, such as network traffic, in more flexible ways than previously possible.
  • the present system's user interface in one embodiment further provides a central window that enables the user to navigate, view, analyze, create, and edit network activity.
  • the present system may provide one (1) or more, such as three (3) sets of interface portions, for example that may be implemented as plug-in program portions, referred to for simplicity as plug-ins, including arrangement/filtering, visualization, and manipulation.
  • each visualization may be implemented as separate programming portions.
  • a plug-in may be a hardware and/or software module that adds a specific feature or service to a larger system, such as a network traffic collection system, network modeling system, etc.
  • one or more of the components of the present system may simply plug in to an existing system.
  • One or more of the portions of the present system may enable developers to extend the behavior of the prior systems to accommodate new requirements.
  • one or more of the portions of the present system may operate as stand-alone elements (e.g., tool(s)) importing and/or exporting activity data from any source to enable operation in accordance with the present system.
  • FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of the present system, wherein a GUI 100 is provided having a navigation pane 110 and one or more visualization panes 120, 130, 140.
  • the GUI 100 may provide an environment for visualizing and/or manipulating network activity.
  • the GUI may provide different panes that are directed to different portions of the visualization and/or manipulation process.
  • the GUI may present a typical UI including a windowing environment and as such, may include menu items, pull-down menu items, etc., such as menu items 112, 122, 132, 142, that are provided in a form that is typical of those provided in a windowing environment, such as may be represented within a WindowsTM Operating System GUI as provided by Microsoft Corporation.
  • the objects and panes of the GUI 100 may be navigated utilizing a user input device, such as a mouse, trackball and/or other suitable user input. Further, the user input may be utilized for making selections within the GUI 100 such as by selection of menu items, radio buttons and other common interaction paradigms as understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art.
  • the term "activity" as utilized herein is intended to include any activity type related to a network object, including traffic, delays, collisions, housekeeping processes, communication protocol, bits per second, packets per second and any other operations and/or characterizations of a network object.
  • the term activity may include network object characteristics such as source of traffic, destination of traffic, nodes, ports, etc.
  • the activity may be provided from either or both of static (e.g., historical) and dynamic (e.g., live) data collected regarding the network activity.
  • the navigation pane may be utilized to view, organize, select, and edit network objects and activity characteristics related thereto, such as objects 144A, 114B, 114C that have associated activity characteristics.
  • network objects may be represented as folders and may be displayed hierarchically in a tree-view. As may be readily appreciated, other network topologies may be similarly represented in the navigation pane 110.
  • the network objects are arranged in the navigation pane 110 (e.g., hierarchically) according to characteristics of activity related to the objects.
  • the network objects may be traffic elements.
  • the traffic elements may be arranged in the navigation pane 110 according to characteristics of the traffic.
  • An "Arrange by:" menu item 112 may be utilized to determine criteria for the view provided in the navigation pane 110. For example, selection of the menu item 112 as shown in FIG. 1, arranges the network objects according to:
  • the network objects depicted within the GUI in accordance with the present system may be depicted dynamically based on the selection criteria.
  • the depicted objects are not static objects in that a change in selection criteria and/or a change in the underlying characteristics associated with the object, such as may be provided by a change in live characteristic data, may result in a change in the depicted object and/or activity characteristic(s).
  • a change in a Source->Destination relationship for network objects, from either of a static source that is updated or from live data may result in a change in the visualization provided in the visualization pane 110.
  • a settings dialogue box may be utilized for setting the network topology depiction, such as a default depiction (e.g., hierarchical network depiction), as well as other settings of the visualization as may be readily appreciated.
  • Objects in the tree-view may be expanded and/or collapsed to reveal more or less details related to the network objects.
  • a check-box 116A may be utilized to indicate that further details related to the object are available within an expanded view.
  • the checkbox 116A may be utilized to provide the expanded view by manipulation of a cursor over the checkbox and performance of a selection activity, such as a left mouse-click as may be readily appreciated.
  • Selection of a minus-box 116B may be utilized to collapse the expanded view.
  • the user may select one or more network objects that are related to the activity of interest, such as end-points of the activity.
  • a find selection menu 118 provided in the navigation pane 110 may expand the hierarchical view to a suitable level to reveal a network object that is added to the find selection menu 118. In one embodiment, a network object that is added to the find selection menu 118, may also be automatically selected.
  • the activity related to that network object may also be selected and be provided within one or more visualization panes 120, 130, 140.
  • end-to-end traffic may be provided on flows and baseline loads may be provided on network links, connections, and paths.
  • FIG. 2 illustrates a navigation pane 210 including a pop-up edit menu 250 as may be provided by a selection, such as a right-click, within the navigation pane 210.
  • a selection such as a right-click
  • the user may edit activity for one or more selected network objects. For example, by selection of a menu item 252, the user may add additional traffic volume to a selected network object.
  • the user may edit parameters that affect activity for one or more network objects and thereafter, collect further activity data for analysis and/or further manipulations.
  • a dynamic visualization utilizing live (current) activity data, an effect of network manipulations may be viewed directly within one or more of the visualization panes 120, 130, 140.
  • a further menu may be provided by selection of the menu element 254.
  • the menu element 254 is a "Feature in Showcase” menu element that may provide further details of the selected network object in a separate visualization (e.g., a separate window). For example, selection of the "Feature in a Showcase" menu item may provide for further details related to the selected network object to be captured and/or visualized in the separate visualization.
  • Illustrative edit menu 250 options may include a "Set Traffic Start Times” edit option to specify a calendar start time for activity (e.g., traffic) on selected objects; a "Forecast Traffic” edit option to discern future activity by forecasting trends in current network activity and to, for example, append new traffic to the current traffic or selected network objects, or to overwrite current traffic; a "Roll Up Traffic Data” edit option to roll data up into groups of data, such as data buckets (e.g., equal sized buckets, buckets based on ranges of a given network characteristic, etc.) based on activity profile attributes (e.g., range of collection times, range of packet activity levels, range of number of packet collisions, etc.) of selected objects to reduce system resources required to run simulation studies which may also reduce data granularity available for visualization; a "Merge Flows" edit option to combine selected
  • the navigation pane may also be utilized for visualization of other network activity, such as unmapped traffic.
  • FIG. 3 shows a GUI 300 wherein a "Show Unmapped Traffic" check-box 360 is checked.
  • the unmapped traffic GUI 300 enables users to see activity that was not mapped to network endpoints in the network activity data.
  • the user may view flows individually or by endpoint address, and may manually assign one or both endpoints to network objects in the network activity data. In doing so, the user may effectively "bind" the element of traffic data (such as an end-to-end flow) to existing elements in the network topology provided in the navigation pane which may become the "source” and "destination” network elements associated with the traffic element.
  • FIG. 4 shows a GUI 400 including illustrative visualization panes 420, 430,
  • a selection within the navigation pane may be a selection of two or more network objects.
  • the activity characteristics depicted in one or more of the visualization panes 420, 430, 440 may represent a sum of the two or more network objects.
  • one of the visualization panes may represent a sum of activities for the selected network objects, such as a sum of network traffic, collisions, etc.
  • One or more of the visualization panes may be provided with a pull-down menu, such as pull-down menus 422, 432, 442, with options for viewing different types of information related to one or more selected network objects.
  • options that may be provided within one or more of the visualizations panes 422, 432, 442 may include a "Network Domain” option to provide a network topology visualization within a respective visualization pane; a "Network Showcase” option to provide a visualization for emphasizing particular areas of interest; a "Statistics Summary” option to provide summary statistics about the activity on one or more selected network objects; a “Total Bits/Packets Per Second” option to provide traffic volume on one or more selected objects; a “Top N Talkers by Volume” option to visualize source/sink nodes that send or receive the most traffic; and a "ToS/Port Breakdown” option which may provide a pie chart showing a breakdown of traffic by Type of Service (ToS) or port number.
  • ToS Type of Service
  • further parameters may be set related to one or more of the options provided within the visualization panes 420, 430, 440. For example, to specify a number ("N") of ports within a visualization with the "Top N Talkers by Volume” option selected, the user may set a parameter to specify the number "N”.
  • an external file approach for related data may be provided to enable a user to customize the manipulation and/or visualization for a particular user, system, application, etc.
  • visualization and/or editing procedures may be registered by means of a file describing the title, function name and library of required and optional procedures.
  • the required procedure(s) e.g., an "arrange callback”
  • a location structure may be created which describes the location of the element in the hierarchy of the network elements provided in the navigation pane.
  • Optional procedures may be utilized for initialization and/or destruction of any stateful data structures that assist the arrange callback in producing the visualization.
  • Visualization procedures may be described by a "visualize" element.
  • Visualization procedures may be made available from the pull-down menus (e.g., pull-down menus 422, 432, 442) in the one or more visualization areas 420, 430, 440.
  • a "title” attribute may specify text that appears in the pull-down menu item (e.g., "Statistics Summary”).
  • a "library” attribute may specify a library where the procedures may be found.
  • Visualization procedures may also have a "return” attribute to specify what type of data may be returned by the pull-down menu item.
  • Illustrative possible return attributes may include "custom", "graph”, and/or "table” attributes.
  • a "custom” visualization attribute may also specify resources and/or controls to configure a corresponding visualization.
  • Visualization procedures provided by the pull-down menu items may have an "update” function, which may also have an optional "type” attribute.
  • the type attribute may either be set to "manual” or "automatic".
  • the update function may be set to "manual".
  • the visualization area for this function may be provided with an "Update" radio button that a user may press for the update function to be called, thereby updating the visualization provided in the visualization pane.
  • the value of the type attribute is set to "automatic", such as by user selection of an "automatic” option, then the update function may be called any time the selection set changes or may be called periodically.
  • a manipulation and/or action procedure may be registered as a right-click menu item in the topology provided in the navigation pane.
  • Right-click menu items may be specified by "action” elements.
  • a "title” attribute may specify text that appears in the right-click menu.
  • a "library” attribute may specify a library where procedures related to the menu item may be found.
  • the function that is performed (e.g., called) when the menu item is selected may be given by a "select" element.
  • the GUI provided in accordance with the present system may be customized, enhanced, etc., by a user to meet particular needs of the user.
  • a "Feature in Showcase" menu item may provide an interface and workflow for selecting a subset of network objects. This menu item/tool, may be provided to further aid the user in visualizing and manipulating activity of interest.
  • the menu item may be provided as a plug-in to enable a selection of individual network objects or groups of network objects provided in the visualization pane such that endpoints of the activity (e.g., source/destination network objects) may be featured in a special showcase window along with activity of the network objects.
  • FIG. 5 shows a GUI 500 for an exemplary manipulation menu item that may be integrated, for example, into a right-click menu item to enable users to predict what future activity volumes may exist based on existing (e.g., statically or dynamically acquired) activity provided in the network data.
  • the traffic selected in the GUI 500 may be analyzed during a baseline period 560.
  • a forecasting method may be selected in a "Forecast Calculation Method" menu selection 562 (e.g., linear regression, percentage traffic growth, etc.) to enable a future traffic computation to span a time defined by a "Forecast Period” 564.
  • An arrange-by menu-item e.g., see FIG. 1, menu 112
  • the menu item may utilize a service model definition to determine which activity elements (e.g., traffic flows) support a service. Copending U.S.
  • arrangements and/or network objects may be provided (e.g., visualized and or manipulated) rooted at services that are supported by the arrangement and/or network objects.
  • child elements of the services may be visualized with the traffic flows that support the service.
  • an arrangement of group flows may be based on a success or failure in meeting service level criteria (e.g., delay, hop count, jitter, etc.) such that those traffic flows which meet service criteria are placed in a group distinct from the traffic which fails its associated service level criteria.
  • a "time window" menu item may incorporate a graphical control element for the user to specify a starting and ending time range. By specifying the time window, the user may effectively perform a global filtering operation such that the set of activity available for visualization and/or manipulation provided in the navigation and/or visualization panes is filtered to only the activity occurring (e.g., having measured volume levels) within the specified time range.
  • visualizations that report on activity volumes/levels may be limited to operate on only the activity volumes recorded for the user-specified time period. For example, for a visualization showing aggregate bits per second over time for a selected set of activity, filtering based on a time interval may cause a visualization (e.g., a graph) to only display the activity of the selected network objects, services, etc., for the time range selected, thereby omitting any display of activity outside of the provided time window.
  • a visualization e.g., a graph
  • network performance data such as Quality of Service (QoS), etc.
  • QoS Quality of Service
  • the performance data may be collected directly from a network.
  • polling using Simple Interface Management Protocol (SNMP) may be utilized for router interface Management Interface Base (MIB) data (e.g., utilization, loss, errors, etc.) along a path the activity takes.
  • MIB router interface Management Interface Base
  • active performance measurement data may be associated with current traffic demands.
  • traffic visualized within a visualization pane may represent aggregate pair traffic, such as within a given city, network portion, etc.
  • a data insertion device such as a Brix probe
  • the data may be generated by modeling the network and simulating aspects of performance.
  • a visualization provided in an embodiment in accordance with the present system may associate individual network objects and characteristics, such as traffic objects (e.g., flows), with its relevant performance data.
  • This visualization enables activities, such as network traffic, to be grouped by performance categories (e.g., group by traffic by differing ranges of performance, group all demands that experienced a performance problem on a particular network device or interface, etc.).
  • the present system may represent activity data that has been read or imported from one or more of static data sources and live data sources, such as a live data feed.
  • the data source may update one or more portions of the data utilized for providing the present visualizations, periodically in any defined period (e.g., every 60 seconds, every 5 minutes, every 15 minutes, etc.). These updates may be provided as a portion of an activity of a system having other tasks, such as tasks not related to visualizations and/or manipulations in accordance with the present or may represent a task of a dedicated system.
  • the updates may be requested by a portion of the present system, such as through a plug-in module, or may be forwarded as a result of a task relegated to a further system.
  • the present system may recompute statistics, arrange-by membership, and/or update visualizations or portions thereof.
  • a dynamically updating interface may be provided, such as by a plug-in, as new activity data arrives.
  • An aging mechanism may be employed to roll off or age out (e.g., expunge, decrease relevance, filter) older activity data.
  • activity data may be filtered to avoid having an effect on a presentation of data to maintain activity data memory usage at a substantially constant level.
  • activity data may be expunged, filtered, etc., based on a user and/or system determinable event, such as based on a determination that the activity data represents an infrequent event and therefore may be of little interest for analysis.
  • activity data related to an infrequent application deployment may be of little interest when performing analysis and/or manipulations related to day-to-day network activities.
  • all activity data related to other than the user and/or system determinable event e.g., the infrequent event
  • activity data related to the infrequent application deployment may be of interest when performing analysis and/or manipulations related to the infrequent application deployment.
  • the present system may provide a capability to limit (e.g., filter) activity related to a given range of time (e.g., minutes, hours, etc.) during which the activity data should apply (e.g. only forecast based on business hour network activities).
  • the present system may also incorporate and/or provide periodic (e.g. seasonal) analysis for focused visualizations including forecasts.
  • the present system may provide additional visualization and/or manipulation options, such as a smart aggregation by port, organize traffic by known ports, etc.
  • a manipulation in accordance with the present system may enable reconciling loads and flow data through network routing manipulations.
  • a de-duplicating of flow data (activity) may be provided based on routing knowledge.
  • network activity may be visualized and/or manipulated by dragging and dropping a set of elements from one folder to another.
  • batch or macro operations for performing an action on each of the selected folders may be visualized and/or manipulated instead of an aggregate of all the folders provided in a visualization.
  • the visualizations and/or manipulations provided in accordance with the present system may be available as part of a modeling environment that includes a routing engine. Accordingly, the present system may utilize network activity data related to a hop-by -hop route of each network object (e.g., such as traffic flow) or virtual network objects (e.g., connections) such as provided by Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS), Label Switched Paths (LSPs), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Permanent Virtual Circuit (PVC), etc. Accordingly, it may be natural for users of the present system to address questions and/or provide manipulations regarding individual activities, such as traffic flows, that may embed routing computations.
  • MPLS Multi-protocol Label Switching
  • LSPs Label Switched Paths
  • ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode
  • PVC Permanent Virtual Circuit
  • One workflow of this type that may be enabled by the present system is a reasoning provided from a known network issue to identify traffic demands that are affected by it.
  • the present system may provide a visualization of network problems of various types, such as over-utilized links, excessive loss on a link, etc.
  • the present system may group flows, activities, etc., affected by these problems, characterize the nature of those flows (e.g., which ones are sensitive to the problem and which ones may be more tolerant of the problem), and/or provide some indication of a magnitude of the problem. Conversely, flows, activities, etc., not affected by these problems may be visualized. For example, in a case wherein a traffic demand is known to have a performance problem, such as determined from performance measurements taken directly from a network, or as determined by a user of the network such as provided in a trouble report, the present system may be utilized to enable a visualized walk of the route of the traffic flow (computed by the routing model). For example, performance data already collected along that path may be examined (e.g., router interface MIB data) or selectively turned on in an attempt to diagnose where the activity (e.g., traffic flow) is experiencing a problem.
  • a performance problem such as determined from performance measurements taken directly from a network, or as determined by a user of the network such as provided in a
  • FIG. 6 shows a process flow diagram 600 in accordance with an embodiment of the present system. The process in accordance with the present system starts during act 610. Data related to network activity is acquired during act 620.
  • the depiction of the network topology within a navigation pane is set during act 630.
  • the depiction of the network topology (e.g., network objects) may be provided in any suitable visualization including a hierarchical visualization, a cloud visualization, etc.
  • a hierarchical visualization may be provided as a default network visualization upon startup, however, the default startup visualization may be user configurable through setting of a corresponding attribute.
  • the network objects may be depicted (e.g., arranged) in the topology according to activity characteristics associated with the network objects.
  • the system may prompt the user for a desired startup visualization including a hierarchy of activity characteristics for visualizing the network objects.
  • act 640 the user may alter the depiction of the network objects including searching for desired network objects, deleting unwanted network objects, editing network object operating characteristics, etc.
  • act 650 it is determined whether the user desires further modifications to the network visualization or changes to network activity (e.g., operating) characteristics. In a case wherein further modifications are desired, new network activity data may be optionally acquired during act 620 and acts 630, 640, 650 may be repeated as desired. In a case wherein no further modifications are desired, the process ends during act 660. [0049] Activity data visualized and/or manipulated in accordance with the present system may be exported from the present system to a separate system for further visualizations and/or manipulations.
  • the present system may create a data file that is exported to the separate system for operations in accordance with the separate system, such as for analysis by the separate system.
  • manipulations to network objects and/or activity characteristics associated with the network objects may be exported to a system that controls management and/or manipulation of the network such that manipulations performed within the GUI of the present system, may be implemented.
  • data, manipulations of data, etc. may be exported to or imported from the separate system.
  • FIG. 7 shows a device 700 that may provide visualization and/or manipulations in accordance with an embodiment of the present system.
  • the device has a processor 710 operationally coupled to a memory 720, a display 730 and a user input device 770.
  • the memory 720 may be any type of device for storing programming application data, such as visualization and/or manipulation data as well as other data, such as performance data, etc.
  • the programming application data and other data are received by the processor 710 for configuring the processor 710 to perform operation acts in accordance with the present system.
  • the operation acts include controlling the display 730 to display content such as the GUIs 100, 200, 300, 400, 500.
  • the user input 770 may include a keyboard, mouse, trackball or other devices, including touch sensitive displays, which may be stand alone or be a part of a system, such as part of a personal computer, personal digital assistant, or other display device for communicating with the processor 710 via any type of link, such as a wired or wireless link.
  • the user input device 770 is operable for interacting with the processor 710 including interaction within a paradigm of a GUI, visualization and/or manipulation of network topology, activities, parameters, application attributes and/or other elements of the present system.
  • the processor 710, memory 720, display 730 and/or user input device 770 may all or partly be a portion of a computer system or other device.
  • the methods of the present system are particularly suited to be carried out by a computer software program, such program containing modules and/or plug-ins corresponding to one or more of the individual steps or acts described and/or envisioned by the present system.
  • a computer software program such program containing modules and/or plug-ins corresponding to one or more of the individual steps or acts described and/or envisioned by the present system.
  • Such program and/or program portions may of course be embodied in a computer- readable medium, such as an integrated chip, a peripheral device or memory, such as the memory 720 and/or other memory coupled to the processor 710.
  • the computer-readable medium and/or memory 720 may be any recordable medium (e.g., RAM, ROM, removable memory, CD-ROM, hard drives, DVD, floppy disks or memory cards) or may be a transmission medium (e.g., a network comprising fiber-optics, the world-wide web, cables, or a wireless channel using time-division multiple access, code- division multiple access, or other radio-frequency channel). Any medium known or developed that may store and/or transmit information suitable for use with a computer system may be used as the computer-readable medium and/or memory 720.
  • any medium known or developed that may store and/or transmit information suitable for use with a computer system may be used as the computer-readable medium and/or memory 720.
  • the computer-readable medium, the memory 720, and/or any other memories may be long-term, short-term, or a combination of long-term and short-term memories. These memories configure processor 710 to implement the GUIs, methods, operational acts, and functions disclosed herein.
  • the memories may be distributed or local and the processor 710, where additional processors may be provided, may also be distributed or may be singular.
  • the memories may be implemented as electrical, magnetic or optical memory, or any combination of these or other types of storage devices.
  • the term "memory" should be construed broadly enough to encompass any information able to be read from or written to an address in the addressable space accessible by a processor. With this definition, information available on a network is still within the memory 720, for instance, because the processor 710 may retrieve the information from the network for operation in accordance with the present system.
  • the processor 710 is capable of providing control signals and/or performing operations in response to input signals from the user input device 770 and executing instructions stored in the memory 720.
  • the processor 710 may be an application-specific and/or general-use integrated circuit(s). Further, the processor 710 may be a dedicated processor for performing in accordance with the present system and/or may be a general- purpose processor wherein only one of many functions operates for performing in accordance with the present system.
  • the processor 710 may operate utilizing a program portion, multiple program segments, plug-ins, etc. and/or may be a hardware device utilizing a dedicated or multi-purpose integrated circuit.
  • any of the disclosed elements may be comprised of hardware portions (e.g., including discrete and integrated electronic circuitry), software portions (e.g., computer programming), and any combination thereof; hardware portions may be comprised of one or both of analog and digital portions; any of the disclosed devices or portions thereof may be combined together or separated into further portions unless specifically stated otherwise; no specific sequence of acts or steps is intended to be required unless specifically indicated; and the term "plurality of an element includes two or more of the claimed element, and does not imply any particular range of number of elements; that is, a plurality of elements may be as few as two elements, and may include an immeasurable number of elements.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
  • Computing Systems (AREA)
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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Data Exchanges In Wide-Area Networks (AREA)
  • User Interface Of Digital Computer (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne un système pour analyser une activité de réseau par affichage, dans une première partie d'un dispositif d'affichage, d'objets de réseau conformément à une caractéristique d'activité, pour la réception d'une sélection d'un ou de plusieurs des objets de réseau, et l'affichage, dans une seconde partie du dispositif d'affichage, d'une autre caractéristique d'activité des objets de réseau sélectionnés conformément à au moins un premier critère. L'affichage des objets de réseau peut être modifié conformément à un second critère qui peut comprendre un critère de filtrage qui élimine des objets de réseau affichés dans la première partie. Les résultats de l'affichage modifié peuvent être affichés dans une troisième partie du dispositif d'affichage fournissant des détails supplémentaires des objets de réseau sélectionnés. La sélection de l'objet de réseau peut être une sélection d'une pluralité d'objets et la caractéristique d'activité affichée peut être une somme des caractéristiques d'activité d'objets de réseau sélectionnés.
PCT/US2007/074678 2006-08-01 2007-07-29 Organisation, affichage, et/ou manipulation de données de trafic de réseau Ceased WO2008016860A2 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

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US82102006P 2006-08-01 2006-08-01
US60/821,020 2006-08-01

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WO2008016860A2 true WO2008016860A2 (fr) 2008-02-07
WO2008016860A3 WO2008016860A3 (fr) 2008-04-03
WO2008016860A9 WO2008016860A9 (fr) 2008-07-24

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5774667A (en) * 1996-03-27 1998-06-30 Bay Networks, Inc. Method and apparatus for managing parameter settings for multiple network devices
US5764913A (en) * 1996-04-05 1998-06-09 Microsoft Corporation Computer network status monitoring system
US6046742A (en) * 1997-05-13 2000-04-04 Micron Electronics, Inc. Display of system information
US6854035B2 (en) * 2001-10-05 2005-02-08 International Business Machines Corporation Storage area network methods and apparatus for display and management of a hierarchical file system extension policy

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