Per-Application Network Metrics Aggregation for Issue Diagnosis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing communication systems struggle to diagnose and resolve issues with specific applications due to the difficulty in correlating network performance metrics to individual applications, especially in complex networks like data center networks and software-defined wide area networks, where traffic contains data for numerous services and applications.
Innovation Solution
A network analysis device that aggregates and correlates network performance metrics on a per-application basis by associating network flows with application services using host resource information, IPFIX metrics, and other data to provide detailed insights into application performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If network performance metrics are collected for multiple applications, then comprehensive network analysis capability is improved, but difficulty in correlating metrics to individual applications increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments network performance metrics by application identifier, organizing the complex data into distinct, manageable groups. Each application's metrics are separated and tagged with its identifier, enabling comprehensive monitoring of multiple applications while maintaining clear associations between metrics and their respective applications. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by allowing quantity increase without proportionally increasing correlation difficulty.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism that collects network performance metrics and associates them with application identifiers before presenting them for analysis. This intermediary layer simplifies the correlation process by pre-establishing the relationship between metrics and applications, making it easier to track performance even as the number of monitored applications increases.
2Loss of information
If network traffic is monitored without application-level association, then network visibility is improved, but ability to diagnose application-specific issues deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments network traffic data by application identifier, maintaining comprehensive network visibility while organizing the data into application-specific groups. This segmentation enables operators to see overall network traffic patterns while also being able to drill down into application-specific issues, thus resolving the contradiction between general visibility and specific diagnosis capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a new dimension to network monitoring by introducing application identifiers as an additional classification layer. Instead of monitoring traffic only at the network level, the system now operates at multiple dimensions: network level for overall visibility and application level for specific issue diagnosis. This dimensional expansion allows both requirements to be satisfied simultaneously.
3Measurement precision
If per-application metrics aggregation is implemented, then application performance analysis capability is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal metrics aggregation mechanism that handles multiple applications through a single standardized process. The system uses a common data structure and processing logic that works for all applications, regardless of their specific characteristics. This universality enables precise per-application analysis while avoiding the need for separate complex systems for each application, thus resolving the contradiction between measurement precision and system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A network traffic analysis device may be configured to receive network performance metrics data for network traffic flows. The network traffic analysis device may further be configured to receive application information for an application indicative of a subset of the network traffic flows belonging to the application and to aggregate the network performance metrics data for the subset of the network traffic flows to obtain aggregated network performance metrics data for the application. By analyzing network performance metrics data in this aggregated manner, the network traffic analysis device can provide further insights into patterns of network issues experienced by the application and/or by one or more services of the application.