Egress Traffic Disambiguation via Context Metadata
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for determining the source location of network traffic requests in complex tenant networks are inaccurate due to the use of source IP addresses, which do not account for regional data centers and third-party processing, making it difficult to aggregate metrics and improve user experience.
Innovation Solution
A system that uses client components to generate location information, including authentication and LAN context metadata, which is inserted into requests to disambiguate the source location, allowing the recipient service to accurately identify the source within the tenant computing system architecture.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If source IP address is used to identify request origin location, then the method is simple to implement, but the accuracy of source location identification deteriorates in complex tenant networks with regional data centers and third-party processing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism (metadata embedding and processing system) between the requestor and the analytics system. This intermediary adds location metadata to requests and processes it to determine accurate source locations, resolving the contradiction by maintaining implementation simplicity while improving identification accuracy through an intermediate processing layer.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary action by embedding location metadata into requests before they reach the analytics system. This pre-processing step ensures that location information is already prepared and attached to requests, eliminating the need for complex real-time analysis while maintaining high accuracy in source location identification.
2Adaptability or versatility
If source IP address is used as the key for location identification, then the approach works for simple network topologies, but it fails to accurately identify source locations in complex tenant networks with multiple regional data centers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a single-dimension approach (using only IP address) to a multi-dimensional approach by incorporating multiple metadata fields (tenant ID, region, data center, subnet). This dimensional expansion allows the system to accurately identify source locations in complex multi-tenant networks while maintaining compatibility with simpler topologies through the same framework.
3Measurement precision
If complex metadata including authentication context and LAN subnetwork information is added to requests, then source location identification accuracy improves, but the complexity of request processing increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the location identification process into distinct components: metadata embedding, metadata extraction, and location determination. Each component handles a specific aspect of the process, which reduces overall system complexity while maintaining high identification accuracy. The segmentation allows each module to be independently optimized and managed.
Data Source
AI summary
An egress traffic disambiguation system receives a request with source egress location metadata identifying the source egress location. The source egress location can include authentication context data and local area subnetwork identifying metadata. The egress traffic disambiguation system disambiguates the source location of the request and provides the source location to a traffic data aggregation system which aggregates the request to the identified source location.