Methods of and systems for remote outbound control

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a system for and a method of selecting a combination of resources for transmitting data from a remote site to a destination site. The method comprises generating a list of combinations of resources at a regional site and transmitting the list to the remote site. Data is transmitted from the remote site to the regional site using each combination of resources and statistics for each transmission are stored. Metrics, based on the application at hand, are computed for each set of statistics corresponding to each transmission, and a preferred combination of resources is selected at the regional site based on the metrics. The regional site then transmits to the remote site information corresponding to the preferred combination of resources. The remote site is then configured to transmit data to the destination site using the selected combination of resources. Resources include links with a specified bandwidth, VPN and GRE tunnels, and routers configured to perform MPLS switching, type-of-service routing, and source routing.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of the co-pending U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60 / 609,062, filed on Sep. 9, 2004, and titled “METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR REMOTE OUTBOUND CONTROL, SECURITY STRAWMAN,” which is hereby incorporated by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention is related to network routing systems. More specifically, this invention is related to systems for and methods of determining combinations of resources for routing data over wide area networks such as the Internet. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Most Internet routing systems are configured to ensure that routes are optimized for performance, such as speed, cost, load, and the performance of the applications that use them. These routing devices measure the performance along particular routes and then select the route with the best performance. [0004] In prior art systems, the performance of a route is determined by transmitting data be...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0005] In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, a logical path is selected to transmit data from a remote site to a destination site. During a measurement process to determine this logical path, data is transmitted from the remote site to a regional site where measurements are controlled. At this regional site, a list of combinations of resources for transmitting data from the remote site to the destination site is generated. At the regional site, statistics are determined for transmitting data from the remote site to the regional site using each combination of resources from the list. Using these statistics, a combination of resources is selected for transmitting data from the source site to the destination site. By controlling performance measurements and the selection of network resources from a regional location, performance data is able to be determined quickly and to be coordinated. Moreover, network information is able to be updated quickly, since it need not be propagated to remote sites individually. Other benefits will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

[0013] In accordance with the present invention, selection criteria can be tailored to fit the application at hand. For example, selection criteria include, but are not limited to, ensuring security, minimizing transmission costs, maximizing speed, and any combination of these, such as a weighted combination of maximizing speed and minimizing transmission costs.

Problems solved by technology

These approximations often do not reflect the true performance of the route from the remote host to the central location.

Accordingly, these systems are often difficult to configure and thus are inefficient in determining optimal routes based on performance.

In addition, the duplication of systems to monitor and direct communication to each of many remote sites is expensive in terms of capital and, potentially, performance.

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