Network Configuration Management via Path Analysis

Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional routing devices face inefficiencies due to large amounts of redundant, lenient, or unused routing decisions, leading to increased complexity, memory demands, and decreased performance in managing network traffic paths.

Innovation Solution

A network configuration management service that analyzes formal specifications to identify and remediate suboptimal configuration settings, such as redundant or unused routing rules, by determining the impact of modifications on possible communication paths without sending packets, and iteratively optimizing the configuration settings to reduce complexity while preserving desired communication paths.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If routing devices maintain comprehensive routing rules to cover all possible network paths, then network coverage and reliability are improved, but device complexity and memory demands increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvenetwork coverageVSAvoidrouting rule complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and removes redundant, lenient, and unused routing decisions from the routing table. By analyzing which routing rules are actually needed to maintain desired network paths and removing unnecessary ones, the system reduces routing rule complexity while preserving essential network coverage and reliability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The system discards redundant and unused routing decisions that no longer serve a purpose in the current network configuration. By continuously analyzing network paths and identifying which routing rules are obsolete, the system recovers memory resources and reduces complexity while maintaining the necessary routing functionality.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #34Discarding and recovering

2Reliability

If routing devices maintain comprehensive routing rules to cover all possible network paths, then network coverage and reliability are improved, but processing performance decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvenetwork coverageVSAvoidrouting processing performance

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and removes redundant, lenient, and unused routing decisions from the routing table. By analyzing which routing rules are actually needed to maintain desired network paths and removing unnecessary ones, the system reduces routing rule complexity while preserving essential network coverage and reliability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The system discards redundant and unused routing decisions that no longer serve a purpose in the current network configuration. By continuously analyzing network paths and identifying which routing rules are obsolete, the system recovers memory resources and reduces complexity while maintaining the necessary routing functionality.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #34Discarding and recovering

3Adaptability or versatility

If routing devices maintain lenient routing rules to allow more traffic, then network flexibility is improved, but security and precision of routing control worsen

Engineering Contradiction:

Improverouting flexibilityVSAvoidrouting control precision

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent analyzes routing rules to identify lenient rules that are more permissive than necessary. By adjusting the parameters of these rules to match the actual precision requirements of network paths, the system maintains necessary flexibility while improving routing control precision and security.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

Solution Approach 2:

The patent extracts and removes redundant, lenient, and unused routing decisions from the routing table. By analyzing which routing rules are actually needed to maintain desired network paths and removing unnecessary ones, the system reduces routing rule complexity while preserving essential network coverage and reliability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentUS11245614B1Managing network configuration through network path analysis

Publication Date: 2022.02.08 AMAZON TECH INC

AI summary

Features are disclosed for managing routing rules stored by a routing device and used to manage network traffic in a network. A computing device can receive multiple routing rules corresponding to multiple routing devices in the network. The computing device can use a formal specification and a snapshot to generate a model of the network. The computing device may use the model in order to statically determine the set of possible paths without causing the transmission of data between a routing device and a destination. the computing device may compare the identified routing rules and the possible paths in order to determine excess routing rules. The computing device may remove the excess routing rules from the routing rules for each routing device such that each routing device routes subsequent network traffic based on the updated routing rules.