Impact-Aware Subscription Enforcement in Distributed Network Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing network devices in distributed systems face challenges in managing network traffic and enforcing subscription limits, particularly when control planes are compromised, leading to potential security vulnerabilities and misalignment with desired service goals.
Innovation Solution
A management controller operates independently from the data and control planes to enforce subscription limits by selecting appropriate enforcement actions that either update or circumvent the control plane, ensuring alignment with subscription goals while minimizing impact on critical services.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the control plane is used to enforce subscription limits, then the enforcement can be integrated with existing control mechanisms, but the system becomes vulnerable to security compromises and misalignment with service goals
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the network device into three independent planes: management plane, control plane, and data plane. The management controller operates independently in the management plane to enforce subscription limits, separating the enforcement function from the control plane to eliminate security vulnerabilities while maintaining integration benefits.
Solution Approach 2:
The management controller acts as an intermediary between the subscription limit requirements and the network device operations. It receives subscription limit information, determines appropriate enforcement actions, and implements them without relying on the control plane, thus providing secure enforcement while maintaining system integration.
2Reliability
If enforcement actions are taken to update the control plane, then subscription limits can be enforced, but critical services may be impacted
Solution Approach 1:
The management controller performs localized impact assessments by identifying dependencies of specific services on network data unit processing. It selectively applies enforcement actions only where necessary and minimizes impact on critical services by considering service dependencies before implementing enforcement.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts enforcement actions based on real-time service dependencies and impact assessments. The management controller can modify enforcement strategies to balance subscription limit compliance with service continuity, adapting to changing system conditions rather than applying fixed enforcement rules.
3Reliability
If the management controller operates independently from data and control planes, then security is improved and subscription limits are reliably enforced, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The management controller is designed as a multi-functional component that handles subscription limit enforcement, service dependency identification, impact assessment, and enforcement action determination. By consolidating these functions in a single independent controller, the patent reduces overall system complexity compared to having separate mechanisms for each function.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for managing the operation of a deployment are provided. The deployment may be managed in accordance with a subscription model. The subscription model may use subscriptions to define the extent and limits on use of services provided by the deployment. The subscription services and limits may be enforced by management controllers of network devices of the deployment. The management controllers may operate independently from control planes and data planes of the network devices. If a plane is suspected of being compromised, the management controllers may take action to confirm the suspicions. If confirmed, then remedial activity may be initiated to address the compromised control plane. The remedial activity may be selected based on levels of impact on different services that utilize the network devices.