Media Trace Proxy Server for Third-Party Network Diagnostics
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current troubleshooting utilities for media streams in IP communication, such as traceroute and pathping, are limited in their ability to provide performance measurements across networks with multiple vendors or legacy routers, and are often blocked by network address translation devices and firewalls, making it difficult to monitor sophisticated performance metrics in third-party devices.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a media trace proxy server within the provider network that performs a route discovery process, collects performance statistics from incompatible network devices, and forwards this data to customer edge devices, enabling hop-by-hop performance reporting even across devices not directly compatible with the customer's diagnostic utilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If sophisticated performance utilities are used to obtain detailed performance measurements, then measurement precision is improved, but device compatibility and ease of operation deteriorate because these utilities are proprietary and blocked by firewalls and NAT devices
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a network device that acts as an intermediary between the customer network device and the provider network devices. This intermediary performs route discovery processes and collects performance statistics from provider network devices that are not directly accessible to the customer device, thereby enabling sophisticated performance measurements while maintaining compatibility with third-party devices and bypassing firewall/NAT restrictions
2Measurement precision
If proprietary performance utilities are deployed on routers, then measurement precision is improved, but ease of manufacture and adaptability worsen because networks with multiple vendors or legacy routers cannot be monitored
Solution Approach 1:
The network device serves as a mediator that collects performance statistics from provider network devices using standardized protocols rather than proprietary utilities. This approach allows the system to obtain detailed performance measurements without requiring deployment of vendor-specific software on routers, thereby enabling monitoring across multi-vendor and legacy network environments
Solution Approach 2:
The network device is designed to perform multiple functions including route discovery, performance statistics collection, and data forwarding to customer devices. This universal approach allows a single device to handle performance monitoring across diverse network environments without requiring specialized proprietary utilities on each router
Data Source
AI summary
In one implementation, performance statistics for a provider network are compiled and delivered outside of the provider network. The provider network includes a media trace proxy server that receives a media trace query for a media stream of a customer edge network device. The media trace proxy server initiates a route discovery process on the provider network in response to the request or in response to at least one network device in the provider network being nonresponsive to similar types of media trace queries. The media trace proxy server collects performance statistics from the at least one network device and forwards the performance statistics of the at least one network device to the customer edge network device. The performance statistics may include only those statistics authorized by a subscription level or administrative region of the customer edge network device.