Network Configuration Difference Analysis via Semantic Entity Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Network managers face challenges in identifying and analyzing configuration changes across complex networks, as conventional methods are inefficient and fail to provide a complete picture of overall effects, especially when changes involve multiple network entities, leading to time-consuming and frustrating problem diagnosis.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that performs contextual and semantic analysis of network models to facilitate entity mapping and difference analysis, using refine and match handler pairs specific to network entities, and a difference handler to process these pairings, providing a meaningful interpretation of configuration changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional text-based file-compare programs are used to compare network models, then all differences are identified, but it is difficult to distinguish among similar network entities to provide appropriate one-to-one mapping and to differentiate between significant and insignificant changes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary system comprising refine handlers, match handlers, and difference handlers that mediate between the raw network models and the comparison process. These handlers process and annotate network entities with contextual information, enabling accurate mapping and differentiation of changes without requiring direct complex comparison of all entities.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical text-based file-compare approach with an automated semantic analysis system that uses contextual understanding and entity recognition. This substitution enables the system to automatically distinguish between similar network entities, establish appropriate mappings, and differentiate significant functional changes from insignificant descriptive changes.
2Loss of information
If a complete network model comparison is performed manually or via automated tools, then all configuration changes are captured, but the process is time-consuming and frustrating, especially for large networks with hundreds of pages of description
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the network model comparison process into distinct handler components (refine handlers, match handlers, difference handlers) that process different aspects of the comparison independently. This segmentation enables parallel processing and automated analysis of large network models, dramatically reducing diagnosis time while maintaining complete capture of configuration changes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary actions by pre-processing network models through refinement and matching handlers that annotate entities with contextual information before the actual difference analysis. This preliminary structuring and indexing of data enables rapid comparison and retrieval of changes, reducing the time required for complete configuration change analysis.
3Loss of information
If all differences in network configuration are identified without contextual analysis, then comprehensive change detection is achieved, but the cause of changes is obscured by multiple unrelated changes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces difference handlers as intermediary components that analyze and interpret the output of match handlers. These handlers provide contextual analysis of detected changes, identifying patterns and relationships that reveal the underlying causes of configuration changes, thereby making cause identification feasible even when multiple changes are present.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where the analysis results from difference handlers are used to refine and focus subsequent analysis. The system uses the detected changes and their contextual relationships to guide further investigation, highlighting the most significant changes and their likely causes, thereby reducing the difficulty of identifying change origins.
Data Source
AI summary
A contextual and semantic analysis of network entities facilitates a mapping and comparison of the entities between network models. The system includes a plurality of refine handler and match handler pairs that use rules that are specific to the type of network entities being analyzed. The refine handler analyzes the network model to identify the entities for which its rules apply, and the match handler processes these identified entities to establish a pairing between corresponding entities in each model. A sequence of refine-match processes are applied to the network models, typically in accordance with a hierarchy of rules until each entity is identified as a matched, added, or removed entity. A difference handler processes the identified pairings to provide a difference analysis that facilitates a meaningful interpretation of the configuration changes, and a user interface provides an interactive environment to view the differences from different perspectives.