Diagnostic Agents for Virtual Connection Metrics
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Solution Overview
Problem
Provider networks face challenges in efficiently providing diagnostic metrics for virtual connections over physical connections, as handling diagnostic requests burdens the network traffic control components, especially when dealing with multiple virtual connections and isolated virtual networks.
Innovation Solution
Implementing diagnostic agents within the provider network to automatically collect and report diagnostic metrics for virtual connections, allowing end-to-end measurements and reducing the burden on provider network routers by communicating diagnostic requests and responses over virtual connections, which can be configured for both public and private virtual connections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If diagnostic requests are handled by provider network traffic control components, then diagnostic metrics can be provided for virtual connections, but the network traffic control components become overwhelmed and performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces diagnostic agents as intermediary components deployed within the provider network to collect diagnostic metrics. These agents act as mediators between the virtual connections and the traffic control components, gathering performance data locally and reducing the burden on network routers while enabling comprehensive diagnostic coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The diagnostic agents perform self-service by autonomously collecting, storing, and processing diagnostic metrics for virtual connections. This self-service capability eliminates the need for traffic control components to handle all diagnostic requests directly, allowing the network to maintain accurate performance monitoring without overwhelming its core routing functions.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple virtual connections are supported over a single physical connection, then connection flexibility and utilization improve, but diagnostic request handling complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the diagnostic function by deploying separate diagnostic agents for each virtual connection or connection group. This segmentation allows independent diagnostic collection for multiple virtual connections without requiring the traffic control components to process all diagnostic requests centrally, thereby reducing overall system complexity while maintaining flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
Diagnostic agents serve as intermediaries that manage the complexity of multiple virtual connections by locally processing diagnostic metrics for each connection. This intermediary layer abstracts the complexity from the traffic control components, enabling the system to handle multiple virtual connections efficiently without increasing core network complexity.
3Productivity
If diagnostic agents are deployed within the provider network, then diagnostic metric collection efficiency improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The diagnostic agents are designed as multi-functional components that can be deployed across different network locations and connection types. These universal agents perform multiple functions including metric collection, local processing, and data transmission, which simplifies the overall architecture by using a single deployable component rather than requiring specialized equipment at each location.
Data Source
AI summary
A provider network may collect diagnostic metrics for virtual connections implemented over physical connections to resources in the provider network. Diagnostic metric collection may be enabled via an interface for the provider network. In response to receiving a request to enable diagnostic metric collection for a particular virtual connection, a diagnostic agent within the provider network may begin sending diagnostic request messages to a client-side endpoint via the particular virtual connection. Responses to the request messages may be received back at the diagnostic agent. The diagnostic responses may then be used to generate diagnostic metrics for the particular virtual connection, which may be provided through the provider network interface.