U.S. patent application number 14/494697 was filed with the patent office on 2016-12-22 for method and device for evaluating the system assets of a communication network.
The applicant listed for this patent is Jeremy Lynn Littlejohn, Gregory Evans Watts. Invention is credited to Jeremy Lynn Littlejohn, Gregory Evans Watts.
Application Number | 20160373319 14/494697 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 57588594 |
Filed Date | 2016-12-22 |
United States Patent
Application |
20160373319 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Littlejohn; Jeremy Lynn ; et
al. |
December 22, 2016 |
METHOD AND DEVICE FOR EVALUATING THE SYSTEM ASSETS OF A
COMMUNICATION NETWORK
Abstract
There is provided a method a method for evaluating the system
assets of a network that includes the steps of identifying system
assets of the network and applying a heuristic that focuses on
specific attributes of the communications relationships between the
system assets of a network.
Inventors: |
Littlejohn; Jeremy Lynn;
(Fairview, NC) ; Watts; Gregory Evans;
(Nottingham, NH) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Littlejohn; Jeremy Lynn
Watts; Gregory Evans |
Fairview
Nottingham |
NC
NH |
US
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
57588594 |
Appl. No.: |
14/494697 |
Filed: |
September 24, 2014 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 41/0853 20130101;
H04L 41/12 20130101; H04L 67/02 20130101; H04L 61/6022 20130101;
H04L 41/5058 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04L 12/24 20060101
H04L012/24; H04L 29/08 20060101 H04L029/08; H04L 12/26 20060101
H04L012/26 |
Claims
1. A method for evaluating the system assets of a network, the
method comprising: a.) identifying system assets of the network,
the system assets including either one or both (1) network devices
and (2) entity applications, the network devices being devices that
are operable to distribute communication signals that transit to
and between these network devices with each network device having a
transit relationship with a communication signal in that the
network device may originate a communication signal and/or receive
a communication signal and the entity applications being
applications that direct distributions of communication signals to
and between several of the system assets; and b.) with regard to
the identified network devices, applying a reference group
heuristic to determine if an identified network device is in the
reference group, wherein an identified network device is deemed to
be in the reference group if the respective identified network
device has a non-intermediated communication relationship with two
or more other network devices.
2. The method according to claim 1, and further comprising
assessing data about a reference group relative to a selection of
migration scenarios each of which is a scenario wherein some or all
of the functions performed by some or all of the system assets
would instead be performed externally of the network.
3. The method according to claim 2 and further comprising
generating a migration consideration set comprised of cost
information units that each include cost information about one of
the migration scenarios.
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the migration
consideration set includes a plurality of cloud service providers
who are deemed capable of performing a network computing task in
lieu of the task being performed by the network and further
comprising the step of identifying, with respect to those cloud
service providers in the set, a price qualified roster each member
of which is a cloud service provider (a) whose price for performing
the task complies with a price acceptability criteria or (b) that
has a respective price proposal associated therewith reflecting a
price for engaging the cloud service provider to perform the task
in lieu of the task being performed by the network, the step of
identifying a price qualified roster including evaluating selected
operational relationships between system assets of the network to
determine the scope and extent of computing services that would
need to be provided by each cloud service provider in the
availability set in the event that the respective cloud service
provider were to perform the network computing task in lieu of the
task being performed by the network, and displaying the information
about each cloud service provider and its pricing via a user
interface.
5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the step of identifying
a price qualified roster includes determining the dependencies
between those respective assets of the network that would be
involved in handling the network computing task if the network
computing task is not migrated to a cloud service provider and
generating a respective price proposal for each cloud service
provider that takes into account the necessary computing resources
of the cloud service provider that need to be engaged to handle
such computing work of these respective system assets of the
network.
6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the step of at least
one of communicating information via a user interface about the
price qualified roster or initiating the performance of the task by
an alternative task performer in the price qualified roster
includes communicating information about each alternative task
performer in the price qualified roster and its respective price
proposal that reflects a price for engaging the alternative task
performer to perform the task in lieu of the task being performed
by the network.
7. The method according to claim 6, wherein designating a
collection of assets of the network as the given set of assets
includes identifying a group of computing operations that are to be
considered as suitable to be performed by an alternative task
performer in lieu of being performed by the network and evaluating
the assets of the network according to an evaluation criteria to
determine if each such evaluated asset would be needed in the event
that the network were to perform the identified group of computing
operations.
8. The method according to claim 7, wherein evaluating the assets
of the network according to an evaluation criteria includes
determining the existence of a dependency between an individual
asset and another individual asset, wherein a dependency is deemed
to exist if the cumulative computing operations performed by the
given set of assets of the network could not be performed if the
individual asset were not part of the given set of assets.
9. The method according to claim 3, wherein the availability set
includes at least two alternative task performers and the step of
identifying a price qualified set includes determining the
respective price proposal of each alternative task performer of the
availability set in compliance with a uniformly applied price work
up protocol that is applied to all alternative task performers in
the availability set.
10. The method according to claim 5, wherein the step of at least
one of communicating information via a user interface about the
price qualified set or initiating the performance of the task by an
alternative task performer in the price qualified set includes
displaying information about the price qualified set.
11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the step of providing
an availability set includes deeming a set of assets less than the
total assets of the network to be a first collection of assets of
the network, deeming another set of assets less than the total
assets of the network and comprising different a different set of
assets than the first collection of assets of the network to be a
second collection of assets of the network, and iteratively deeming
the resolution flexible task to be the cumulative computing
operations that have been performed by the first collection of
assets of the network, designating the first collection of assets
of the network to be the given set of assets of the network in
accomplishing tasks within the network and generating a price
qualified set based upon the first collection of assets of the
network being designated as the given set of assets of the network,
and deeming the resolution flexible task to be the cumulative
computing operations that have been performed by the second
collection of assets of the network, designating the second
collection of assets of the network to be the given set of assets
of the network in accomplishing tasks within the network, and
generating a price qualified set based upon the second collection
of assets of the network being designated as the given set of
assets of the network, and providing information on the price
qualified sets generated respectively based upon the first
collection of assets of the network and based upon the second
collection of assets of the network.
12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the step of providing
information on the price qualified sets generated respectively
based upon the first collection of assets of the network and based
upon the second collection of assets of the network includes
communicating a hierarchal listing of alternative task performers
with the hierarchy being based upon a predetermined user preference
criteria.
13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the step of
communicating a hierarchal listing of alternative task performers
includes communicating the hierarchal listing in a manner which
gives preference in the hierarchal listing among the enumerated
alternative task performers to those alternative task performers
who meet a sponsorship criteria.
14. A tangible computer-readable medium for storing instructions
for controlling a computing device to generate an output, the
instructions controlling the computing device to perform steps
comprising: a.) identifying system assets of the network, the
system assets including either one or both (1) network devices and
(2) entity applications, the network devices being devices that are
operable to distribute communication signals that transit to and
between these network devices with each network device having a
transit relationship with a communication signal in that the
network device may originate a communication signal and/or receive
a communication signal and the entity applications being
applications that direct distributions of communication signals to
and between several of the system assets; and b.) with regard to
the identified network devices, applying a reference group
heuristic to determine if an identified network device is in the
reference group, wherein an identified network device is deemed to
be in the reference group if the respective identified network
device has a non-intermediated communication relationship with two
or more other network devices.
15. The tangible computer-readable medium according to claim 14,
wherein the step of accessing an availability set includes
accessing data concerning a collection of system assets of the
network that have been designated as the given set of assets and
deeming the resolution flexible task to be the cumulative computing
operations that have been performed by the given set of assets of
the network in accomplishing tasks within the network.
16. The tangible computer-readable medium according to claim 15,
wherein each alternative task performer of the availability set is
a cloud computing resource.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] According to US Published Patent Application No. 2012166317
to Karnick et al, asset management systems are an important part of
the management of the computer systems of a large enterprise. These
systems provide an enterprise with the ability to manage
configuration changes, providing better control over the computer
software and hardware assets of the enterprise.
[0002] In a large enterprise, when an asset management product is
initially deployed, a large number of assets such as server,
desktop, and laptop computers must first be enrolled or registered
with the product as managed entities. Depending on the capabilities
of the asset management system, the registration of assets may be
done manually or may be automated using a discovery tool, which may
include software that automatically discovers physical and virtual
assets.
[0003] The assets managed by such asset management systems are
typically grouped into logical groups that may be managed
collectively, reducing the complexity and costs of managing those
grouped assets. However, according to US Published Patent
Application No. 2012166317 to Karnick et al, creating logical
groups of these IT (information technology) assets remains a manual
task. Administrators may create and populate groups with individual
IT assets based on some organization-specific criteria. In some
asset management systems, administrations may define groups that
are automatically populated based on rules involving IT asset
attributes. In either case, some administrator is responsible for
defining the groups or rules manually. In large enterprises, group
definition is a hard task for individual administrators, and is
likely to result in false positives (an IT asset incorrectly being
assigned to a group) and false negatives (an IT asset incorrectly
being omitted from a group). Even where groups are automatically
populated, the correctness of those groups remains dependent on
discovering and updating the right metadata or configuration
data.
[0004] In addition, according to US Published Patent Application
No. 2012166317 to Karnick et al, administrators typically create
groups using simple criteria of which they are aware, e.g.,
operating system (OS) type or physical location. Other possible
groupings, which may be more useful in some scenarios, may not be
created because the administrator is unable to determine the proper
criteria for defining the group. For example, the administrator may
not be aware of which attributes are key to similarity among assets
of a given type or there may not be any simple expression involving
IT asset attributes that can be used to define a desired group.
When IT asset management systems managed hundreds of IT assets,
these manual groupings, while onerous, may have been feasible.
However, notes US Published Patent Application No. 2012166317 to
Karnick et al, where such systems may be managing tens of thousands
of IT assets, manual grouping is at best very difficult, and often
infeasible with any degree of accuracy and, according to US
Published Patent Application No. 2012166317 to Karnick et al, IT
asset management systems have frequently produced suboptimal
groups.
[0005] However, beyond the challenges of producing more optimal
groups of IT assets to facilitate management of IT resources, there
is the challenge of producing meaningful information for
administrators to effectively manage the IT resources. Even a
relatively coherent, highly logical sorting out of IT assets into
groups or classifications can still result in an unwieldy density
of information that hinders, rather than facilitates, the
management tasks of an administrator. Thus, the need still exists
for a method for evaluating the IT assets of a network or networks
that provides meaningful information in a readily accessible manner
or an easily digestible manner to be used by an IT administrator or
another person acting as a network operator and involved in network
planning and management.
[0006] US Published Patent Application No. 2011/0246376 to
Devakondra et al points out that network data processing systems
are used for a variety of different purposes and come in a number
of different forms. Several types of network data processing
systems are commonly used by companies and other organizations and
may include, for example, local area networks, wide area networks,
virtual private networks, and other suitable types of networks. In
addition to such networks that may be maintained by the network
operator itself, cloud services are available and the users of this
type of network data processing systems neither own nor manage the
physical infrastructure.
[0007] According to US Published Patent Application Number
2011/0270968 to Salsburg et al, the term "cloud computing"
generally refers to a model that makes computing resources
available over a network as services. There are many factors to
consider before an organization moves a computing workload to a
public or private cloud. For example, according to US Published
Patent Application Number 2011/0270968 to Salsburg et al, there is
a need to validate business applications (workloads) in terms of
technical portability and business requirements/compliance so that
the workloads can be deployed into a cloud without considerable
customization. Conventionally, according to US Published Patent
Application Number 2011/0270968 to Salsburg et al, this validation
is accomplished using a manual, time consuming process for workload
identification, workload classification, and cloud provider
assessment to find the `best-fit` for business workload
hosting.
[0008] Organizations that employ more traditional types of network
data processing systems may contemplate whether to change over from
their more traditional network environment to a cloud network
environment. In view of the fact that the particular cloud services
offered by each cloud service provider or vendor will have
different features, benefits, service operating requirements, and
costs, it would be advantageous for a network operator to have
access to tools that can help guide a decision to migrate computing
tasks to a cloud. Moreover, it would be advantageous if such tools
for a guiding a network operator could equip the network operator
to have an accurate picture of the computing resources in its own
network that will or can be replaced by the cloud computing
resources. Furthermore, network operators can make better informed
decisions about purchasing cloud services if they can get pricing
information about potential cloud service providers and,
especially, pricing information about the scope of computing
resources that tasks could be taken over in a cloud service
arrangement.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] One object of the present invention is to provide a method
for evaluating the system assets of a network and, particularly, a
method for evaluating "critical interfaces" of the system assets of
the network.
[0010] A further object of the present invention is to provide a
tangible computer-readable medium for storing instructions for
controlling a computing device to generate an output, the
instructions controlling the computing device to perform steps
including the steps of identifying system assets of the network and
applying a heuristic that focuses on specific attributes of the
communications relationships between the system assets of a
network.
[0011] In connection with further details of the step of
identifying system assets of the network, the system assets to be
evaluated can include only network devices, only entity
applications or both network devices and entity applications. In
connection with further details of the step of applying a reference
group heuristic, this step may involve applying a reference group
heuristic to determine if an identified network device is in the
reference group, wherein an identified network device is deemed to
be in the reference group if the identified network device has a
non-intermediated communication relationship with two or more other
network devices.
[0012] According to optional features of the method of the present
invention, the method may further include the step of assessing
data relating to the reference group relative to a selection of
migration scenarios each of which is a scenario wherein some or all
of the functions performed by some or all of the system assets
would instead be performed externally of the network. Furthermore,
the method may optionally include generating a migration
consideration set comprised of cost information units that each
include cost information about one of the migration scenarios.
[0013] Other aspects, embodiments and advantages of the present
invention will become apparent from the following detailed
description which, taken in conjunction with the accompanying
drawings, illustrate the principles of the invention by way of
example.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of
the present invention, as well as the invention itself, will be
more fully understood from the following description of various
embodiments when read together with the accompanying drawings, in
which:
[0015] FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of one possible sequence
of steps that may be performed to implement the critical interface
evaluating method of the present invention;
[0016] FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary network
about which the method of the present invention can provide can
provide rapidly understandable and pertinent information for use by
the network operator in making decisions about migrating computing
tasks to an alternative task performer such as a private cloud
computing resource or a public cloud computing resource;
[0017] FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a portion of the network shown
in FIG. 2;
[0018] FIG. 4 is a schematic view of one exemplary subnetwork of
the network shown in FIG. 2.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION
[0019] In accordance with the present invention, there is provided
a method for evaluating the system assets of a network and,
particularly, a method for evaluating "critical interfaces" of the
system assets of the network. Reference is had to FIG. 1, which is
a schematic illustration of one possible sequence of steps that may
be performed to implement the critical interface evaluating method
of the present invention, and the following description of the
critical interface evaluating method and an arrangement for
implementing the method on a computer. The critical interface
evaluating method, which is hereinafter referred to as the critical
interface evaluating method 310, can provide a network operator
with tools to guide decisions about managing, adjusting, growing,
or altering an IT arrangement and can provide the network operator
with tools for considering and implementing a migration of
computing tasks to an alternative task performer such as a private
cloud computing resource or a public cloud computing resource and
tools for automatically effecting the migration of selected
computing tasks to an alternative task performer.
[0020] The term "critical interfaces" as used herein means those
system assets that receive and transmit communications--thus,
broadly speaking, "interfaces"--about which it is "critical" that A
network operator can monitor in the event that the network operator
wants to receive an easily digested, winnowed down yet accurate
understanding of the health of the IT system. The "interfaces"
identified to the network operator as "critical interfaces" may or
may not be more essential to the network than other interfaces of
the network. Instead, the "criticality" implied by the term
"critical interfaces" relates to the value and significance that
information about such "critical interfaces" contribute to
simplifying and resolving the tasks of monitoring the health of the
network and, additionally, planning and implementing the growth or
reconfiguration of the network. "Cloud computing" refers to the
accessing of computing resources and data via a network
infrastructure, such as the Internet. The computing resources and
data storage may be provided by linked data centers of the
"cloud,"--i.e., a "cloud" network. Each of the data centers may
include a plurality of servers that provide computing resources, as
well as data storage and retrieval capabilities. As used herein,
"cloud service providers" refers to the owners or operators of the
data centers that operate the "cloud" networks
[0021] With reference now to FIG. 2, which is a perspective
schematic view of a network, the critical interface evaluating
method 310 will be described in further detail including how the
critical interface evaluating method 310 can be performed to
evaluate the representative network shown in FIG. 2. As seen in
FIG. 2, a representative or exemplary network 220 is to be
understood as representing any information technology or "IT"
arrangement operable to store, manipulate, and present information
to the network operator. As seen in FIG. 2, the exemplary network
220 can comprise components enabling the network to operate as a
local area network, a wide area network such as the Internet,
and/or a wireless network operable to receive a wireless signal
from a transmitter 222. The computers comprised by the network 220
may include desktop computers 224, lap-top computers 226, hand-held
computers 228 (including wireless devices such as wireless personal
digital assistants (PDA) or mobile phones), or any other type of
computational arrangement of hardware and/or software. The several
computers may be connected to the network 220 via a server 230. It
should be noted that any other type of hardware or software may be
included in the system and be considered a component thereof.
[0022] The critical interface evaluating method 310 can be deployed
to evaluate the system assets of any network that can broadly be
considered to be a communications network in that the network
routes and handles communication signals and such a network can be
configured as a wireless network or a wired network, or a
combination wireless and wired network. In the context of the
network being configured as a computer network, the network can
include an entirely hardware inventory of assets, an entirely
software inventory of assets, or an inventory of software and
hardware assets. As is well known, a computer network may be a
virtual network in that a hardware asset hosts a plurality of
virtual machines (VMs), each virtual machine operating as a stand
alone computer and providing a characteristic computer device
function such as a server function or a storage function. The host
hardware asset typically includes a management entity, often called
"hypervisor," that controls and manages different virtual
machines
[0023] As seen in FIG. 3, which is a schematic view of a portion of
the network, the network 220 may include a virtualization
capability that is implemented in a known manner via an emulated
hardware environment. A hypervisor 820 is operatively connected
with hardware exemplarily designated as a device group 830 so that
virtualization of the device group 830 is provided without an
operating system. The hypervisor 820 controls access to the device
group 830 to a plurality of users 840. The device group 830 can
include, for example, a storage device 832 and a processor 834 and
these devices are herein designated as a type of system assets of
the network called "network resources." The term "network
resources" as used herein refers to devices that are operable to
distribute communication signals that transit to and between these
network resources with each network resource having a transit
relationship with a communication signal in that the network
resource may originate a communication signal and/or receive a
communication signal. Also, the system assets of the network
additionally include "entity applications" which are applications
that direct distributions of communication signals to and between
several of the system assets. Thus, the hypervisor 820 and the
devices of the device group 830 may be fully or partially
controlled by entity applications. With virtualization, a device
can host a number of virtual machines via virtualization with each
virtual machine functioning as a stand alone computer and offering
any number of classic device functions such as server, storage, and
other device functions.
[0024] The critical interface evaluating method 310 is configured
for use with a network which, as schematically shown in FIG. 2, is
designated as the in-place network 220 and which is to be
understood as representing any communication network, information
technology network or "IT" arrangement operable to store,
manipulate, and present information to the network operator. As
seen in FIG. 2, the in-place network 220 can comprise components
enabling the network to operate as a local area network, a wide
area network such as the Internet, and/or a wireless network
operable to receive a wireless signal from a transmitter 222. The
computers comprised by the network 220 may include desktop
computers 224, lap-top computers 226, hand-held computers 228
(including wireless devices such as wireless personal digital
assistants (PDA) or mobile phones), or any other type of
computational arrangement of hardware and/or software. The several
computers may be connected to the in-place network 220 via a server
230. It should be noted that any other type of hardware or software
may be included in the system and be considered a component
thereof.
[0025] The in-place network 220 schematically illustrated in FIG. 2
includes network devices that are operable to distribute
communication signals that transit to and between these network
devices. Each network device has a transit relationship with a
communication signal in that the network device may originate a
communication signal and/or receive a communication signal.
Communication signals can be in any form as is known in the art,
including, as an example of a non-binary information signal,
wireless radio wave signals or, as an example, of a binary
information signal, "packets", which is intended to mean the
discrete collection of information typically referred to by this
term with respect to signals handled by computer hardware devices.
The handling of a packet by a network is typically governed by a
set of rules that defines its structure and the service it
provides. As an example, the World Wide Web has a standard protocol
referred to as the Hyper Text Transport Protocol (HTTP) and this
standard protocol dictates how packets are constructed, how data is
presented to web servers, and how these web servers return data to
client web browsers. Any application that transmits data over a
computer network uses one or more protocols. There are typically
numerous protocols in use between computers on a network.
[0026] The network devices of the in-place network 220 are shown,
solely for the sake of illustration, as including hardware assets
in the form of routers, switches, servers operable to run
Windows.TM. brand software, workstations operable to run
Windows.TM. brand software, Linux/Unix servers, hosts operable to
run VMware.TM. software, terminals, hubs, branches, intersections,
and bridges.
[0027] The in-place network 220 includes entity applications that
direct discrete distributions of communication signals between
several network devices. An "entity application" is a term used in
this specification to refer to any form of application run on a
network and may include a group of software assets that operate
cooperatively with each other to provide a processing function or
may include a single software asset, proprietary to the entity
operating the network or bought or leased by the entity, that
provides a processing function. An "entity application" may include
commercially available applications such as, for example,
Windows.TM. brand software, Linux.TM. software, or VMware.TM.
software, any form of freeware or shareware, or any form of custom
software proprietary to, or licensed by, the network operator.
[0028] The critical interface evaluating method 310 includes the
step of identifying system assets of the network, wherein the
system assets to be evaluated can include only network devices,
only entity applications or both network devices and entity
applications. In this context, the network devices are devices that
are operable to distribute communication signals that transit to
and between themselves and other network devices with each network
device having a transit relationship with a communication signal in
that the network device may originate a communication signal and/or
receive a communication signal and the entity applications are
applications that direct distributions of communication signals to
and between several of the system assets. The critical interface
evaluating method 310 also includes, with regard to the network
devices that have thus been identified, the step of applying a
reference group heuristic to determine if an identified network
device is in the reference group, wherein an identified network
device is deemed to be in the reference group if the identified
network device has a non-intermediated communication relationship
with two or more other network devices.
[0029] The present invention capitalizes on the unobvious insight
that meaningful information about a network can be gathered and
subsequently presented in a readily accessible manner or an easily
digestible manner by employing a heuristic that focuses on specific
attributes of the communications relationships between the system
assets of a network, wherein the occurrence of such specific
attributes among some of the communications relationships between
system assets but not others is not purposely driven by a goal of
satisfying the heuristic but, instead, happens due to other
factors. In other words, the method of the present invention makes
use of the presence or absence of a characteristic (i.e., specific
attributes of the communications relationships between the system
assets of the network) that the network possesses by a happenstance
that is not related to facilitating the selection or grouping of
certain system assets apart from the remainder of the system
assets.
[0030] One example of a specific attribute of the communications
relationships between the system assets of the network that is
suitable for use in connection with the method of the present
invention is the attribute that each network resource, which, as
defined herein, is a device or a piece of physical hardware, has an
address that is referenced to establish communication between the
device or piece physical hardware and another device or piece of
physical hardware. An example of such an address is a MAC address.
A MAC address, or Media Access Control address, is a 48- or 64-bit
address associated with a network adapter, the network adapter
being a device which connects a computer or device to the network.
In effect, a MAC address is a unique code permanently assigned to a
specific item of network hardware, such as a network device. An IP
address, on the other hand, is an address associated with software.
A MAC address is sometimes referred to as a hardware address, a
physical address, or a burned-in address.
[0031] In view of the fact, then, that all or substantially all, of
the devices of a network have a MAC address, it can be readily
understood that creating an inventory or a topology representation
of all of the devices of a network having a MAC address merely
provides an unfocussed view to A network operator of the health or
capacity of a network. Information about the operation, location,
or interconnections of many of the thus inventoried network devices
may be largely irrelevant or meaningless with regard to an attempt
to accurately assess the health or capacity of the network. So it
can be understood that there exists no obvious reason to take into
account the MAC addresses of a network in attempting to more
accurately assess the health or capacity of the network.
[0032] However, the present invention relies upon the serendipitous
discovery that certain aspects of the MAC addresses of a network
can, in fact, be taken into account in order to yield a useful
overview of the health or capacity of the network while optimally
minimizing the density of information that needs to be evaluated.
To this end, in accordance with the method of the present
invention, the present invention takes into account certain aspects
of the MAC addresses of a network in connection with the degree to
which a respective network device has a particular communication
relationship to a predetermined number or count of other network
devices. In connection with one aspect of the present invention,
the method of the present invention evaluates whether a respective
network device has a particular communication relationship to a
predetermined number or count of other network devices, wherein the
relevant communication relationship is the degree and manner in
which the respective network device has a "non-intermediated
communication relationship" with a predetermined number or count of
other network devices. A "non-intermediated communication
relationship" is herein defined as a communication link between the
respective network device and another network device in which (a)
there is no other network device that is operationally intermediate
the respective network device and the respective other network
device or (b) there is another network device that is operationally
intermediate network device does not have a MAC address.
[0033] In connection with further details of this one aspect of the
present invention, the method of the present invention evaluates
the circumstance of whether a respective network device has a
non-intermediated communication relationship to a predetermined
number or count of other network devices, wherein the predetermined
number or count of other network devices is two or more other
network devices. In connection with still further details of this
one aspect of the present invention, the critical interface
evaluating method 310 evaluates whether a respective network device
has a non-intermediated communication relationship to a
predetermined number or count of other network devices, wherein the
predetermined number or count of other network devices is three or
more other network devices.
[0034] As noted, the critical interface evaluating method 310
includes the step of identifying system assets of the network and
the step of applying a reference group heuristic. In the context of
making use of MAC addresses in an advantageous manner to evaluate a
network, the step of the method of applying a reference group
heuristic could include, for example, structuring the reference
group heuristic so that an identified network device is deemed to
be in the reference group if the identified network device itself
has a MAC address and, additionally, has a non-intermediated
communication relationship with two or more other network devices
that themselves each have a MAC address.
[0035] Referring further to FIG. 1, it is to be understood that the
steps of the critical interface evaluating method 310 can be
performed, within the scope of the present invention, in a batch
manner, wherein some, but not all, of the system assets are
identified to form a first subset of identified system assets and
then this subset of system assets is evaluated via the step of
applying the reference group heuristic, with further subsets of
system assets being identified and evaluated in series or in
parallel. Alternatively, the steps of the critical interface
evaluating method 310 can be performed, within the scope of the
present invention, in a single cohort manner, wherein all of the
system assets are identified to foam a set of identified system
assets and then these system assets are evaluated via the step of
applying the reference group heuristic. As seen in FIG. 1, the
critical interface evaluating method 310 includes a step 520 of
includes identifying system assets of the network, the system
assets including one or both: (1) network devices that are operable
to distribute communication signals that transit to and between
these network devices with each network device having a transit
relationship with a communication signal in that the network device
may originate a communication signal and/or receive a communication
signal and (2) entity applications that direct distributions of
communication signals between several network devices. For the sake
of illustration, network devices are schematically shown in FIG. 1
in the form of a server 622, a shared uplink 624, a switch 626, and
a router 628 and entity applications are schematically shown in
FIG. 1 as a virtualization application 630, an accounting
application 632, and a spreadsheet application 634.
[0036] The set of identified system assets created via the step 520
can be stored in any suitable storage format and can be optionally
displayed or not displayed in human-readable format. Moreover, the
inventory collection may be created via any suitable inventory
collection approach including, for example, via network discovery
techniques capable of discovering system assets in an existing
network, via reference to a previously-generated inventory
collection, or via estimates of the presence or absence of the
system assets of the network. Known techniques such as SMNP
inventory collection can be used.
[0037] The critical interface evaluating method 310 further
includes a step 530 of applying a reference group heuristic to
determine if an identified network device is in the reference
group, wherein an identified network device is deemed to be in the
reference group if the identified network device has a
non-intermediated communication relationship with two or more other
network devices. As can be appreciated, the critical interface
evaluating method 310 can advantageously provide insights into the
performance of the in-place network 220 and these performance
insights can be leveraged to assist the operator of the in-place
network 220 to make information technology (IT) management
decisions such as, for example, decisions relating to replacing or
upgrading system assets and including decisions about replacing
some or all of the functionality of system assets via migration of
selected network functions to a location external of the
network--i.e., migration to a public or private cloud. As an
example of the feature of performing the critical interface
evaluating method 310 to assist in a cloud migration decision,
further reference is had to FIG. 1, wherein it can be seen that the
critical interface evaluating method 310 may optionally include a
step 530 of assessing the data relative to a selection of migration
scenarios each of which is a scenario wherein some or all of the
functions performed by some or all of the system assets were
instead to be performed at a location external to the network.
Furthermore, as an example of the value to a network operator of
performing the step 540 of assessing data about the reference group
or reference groups relative to a selection of migration scenarios,
it can be further seen in FIG. 1 that the critical interface
evaluating method 310 can also optionally include a step 540 of
generating a migration consideration set comprised of cost
information units that each include cost information about one of
the migration scenarios.
[0038] In connection with the step 530 of assessing the traffic
analytics data relative to a selection of migration scenarios and
the step 540 of generating a migration consideration set comprised
of cost information units, the migration consideration set may
optionally include a plurality of cloud service providers who are
deemed capable of performing a network computing task in lieu of
the task being performed by the network and may further comprise a
price qualified roster each member of which is a cloud service
provider: (a) whose price for performing the task complies with a
price acceptability criteria or (b) that has a respective price
proposal associated therewith reflecting a price for engaging the
cloud service provider to perform the task in lieu of the task
being performed by the network. Moreover, this price qualified
roster can be displayed in a format suitable for the network
operator to, at the least, have a display of each alternative task
performer in the price qualified set and its respective price
proposal that reflects a price for engaging the alternative task
performer to perform the task in lieu of the task being performed
by the network. It is to be understood that the term "display" is
used in a broad sense and encompasses all forms of communication in
visual, aural, and tactile format and including both human-and
machine-interface variations.
[0039] Reference is now had to FIG. 4, which is a schematic view of
one exemplary subnetwork of the network, in connection with a
description of the performance of the critical interface evaluating
method 310 to evaluate the network 220. As seen in FIG. 4, a
subnetwork 710 of the network 220 includes a router 720 that is
operationally connection to a VMWare ESX server of the network,
designated as SERV-10, which is a virtualization technology
hardware item. The VMWare ESX server SERV-10 of the network is not
comprised in the subnetwork 710. The VMWare ESX server SERV-10 is
connected to other network devices (not shown) via a plurality of
outer communication links OUTER-10 shown in broken lines.
[0040] The router 720 of the subnetwork 710 is a network device of
the network and is operationally connected to a number of other
network devices via ports 722 integrally formed in the router. For
the sake of simplicity of illustration, each port 722 is shown as
capable of handling a communication input from a single network
device. The communication input from each such respective single
network device to a given port 722 is transmitted via a cable 724.
Each cable 724 is secured to a respective port 722 and also secured
to a respective single network device.
[0041] The network devices to which the cables 724 are connected
comprise a stand-alone computer terminal 730 (which may be a CRT, a
telephony device, a laptop computer, etc.), a modem 732 having a
computer terminal 740 operatively connected to it (the computer
terminal 740 itself is not directly connected to the router 720), a
printer 734, a workstation 736, and an access port 738. In addition
to its connection with the router 720, the access port 738 is
connected to five other network devices 742 (shown in broken lines)
via a plurality of further cables 744.
[0042] The router 720, the stand-alone computer terminal 730, the
modem 732, the thereto connected computer terminal 740, the printer
734, the workstation 736, and the access port 738 each have a MAC
address. An execution or performance of the step of the critical
interface evaluating method 310 would yield an identification of
the router 720, the stand-alone computer terminal 730, the modem
732, the thereto connected computer terminal 740, the printer 734,
the workstation 736, and the access port 738 as well as an
identification of those entity applications associated with these
network devices. The identification of these system assets can be
effected in any suitable manner including, for example, known
approaches for developing an inventory of network devices such as
"pinging" feedback approaches, approaches for referencing a
pre-existing network device inventory listing, and approaches for
inferring the presence of network devices based upon network
traffic analysis. The identification step can make use of any known
network discovery approaches such as, for example, monitoring and
assessment of network packets transmitted through the network.
Alternatively or additionally, the selected network discovery
approach can monitor, for example, Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) or any other suitable network
protocol activity on the network.
[0043] Following the execution or performance of the step of the
critical interface evaluating method 310 of identifying system
assets of the network, a user can then execute or perform the
further step of the critical interface evaluating method 310 of
applying a reference group heuristic and this step could yield the
following results. For the sake of illustration, it is specified
that the reference group heuristic dictates that an identified
network device is deemed to be in the reference group if the
identified network device itself has a MAC address and,
additionally, has a non-intermediated communication relationship
with two or more other network devices that themselves each have a
MAC address. The application of the reference group heuristic in
this manner to the identified network devices of the subnetwork
(comprising the stand-alone computer terminal 730, the modem 732,
the thereto connected computer terminal 740, the printer 734, and
the workstation 736) would result in a determination that the
stand-alone computer terminal 730 does not satisfy the reference
group heuristic for the reason that this network device does not
have a non-intermediated communication relationship with two or
more other network devices that themselves each have a MAC address.
Additionally, the application of the reference group heuristic
would lead to a similar determination with respect to the printer
734 and the workstation 736--namely, neither of these two
identified network devices satisfy the reference group heuristic
for the reason that neither one of these network devices have a
non-intermediated communication relationship with two or more other
network devices that themselves each have a MAC address.
Furthermore, with regard to the modem 732, although this network
device has a non-intermediated communication relationship with
another network device that itself has a MAC address (e.g., the
computer terminal 740), this single non-intermediated communication
relationship with one other network device does not satisfy the
reference group heuristic--i.e., a single non-intermediated
communication relationship with one other network device does not
satisfy the requirement of the reference group heuristic of "a
non-intermediated communication relationship with two or more other
network devices that themselves each have a MAC address."
[0044] With regard to the access port 738, in the event that the
access port is in a non-intermediated communication relationship
with at least two of the network devices connected to the further
cables 740, whereupon a determination will be made that the access
port 738 satisfies the reference group heuristic for the reason
that this access port does, in fact, have a non-intermediated
communication relationship with two or more other network devices
that themselves each have a MAC address (the other network devices
742). For purposes of the example, it is assumed that the access
port 738 is in a non-intermediated communication relationship with
all five of the respective network devices 742 connected to the
further cables 744 and so the step of applying a reference group
heuristic yields the determination that the access port 738
satisfies the reference group heuristic for the reason that this
access port does, in fact, have a non-intermediated communication
relationship with two or more other network devices that themselves
each have a MAC address.
[0045] An evaluation report can be created in the form of a visual
symbolic representation of system assets including the network
devices that are members of the reference group, as determined via
the method of the present invention. The evaluation reports can be
created to be presented in addition to the visual symbolic
representation of the subnetwork. Additionally, the visual symbolic
representation of system assets can be populated with other
information that may be of use to an administrator including visual
symbolic representations of entity applications as well as textual
or visual information about the IT configuration of the network
including routing tables or port assignments, for example. The
types of network devices that may typically be members of the
reference group may include, for example, servers, routers,
infrastructure uplinks, and shared uplinks.
[0046] A network operator may view the evaluation report via a
terminal or a workstation, each of which may deploy a number of
graphical user interfaces to display pictorials, graphs, or other
visual elements that facilitate comprehension and readability of
the evaluation report. Additionally, data comprised in the
evaluation report, including the catalog of suggested references
groups, may be communicated to other resources of the network such
as servers or storage resources such as databases.
[0047] The evaluation report can also be edited or supplemented by
a network operator and formatted for downstream presentation to
others such as, for example, other decision makers involved in
overseeing and managing the network. Such downstream presentations
can be in form of dashboard presentations and include visual cues
such as, for example, color coded tabs or hyperlink tabs for
indicating access to, for example, more details about a particular
critical interface. Additionally, the evaluation report can be
archived with past and future evaluation reports and dashboard
presentations can be generated with reference to such archives to
reveal, for example, trends or repeated variances from desired
performance goals.
[0048] With reference again to FIG. 1, it can be seen that the
critical interface evaluating method 310 can include additional
steps to produce useful IT management or IT build out tools for a
network operator. As an example, the critical interface evaluating
method 310 can include additional steps that lead to the creation
of a first set of system assets of a reference group 640 and a
second set of system assets of a reference group 642, with each set
of system assets of a reference group being a reference group of
critical interfaces determined for a respective subnetwork of the
network 220. The first set of system assets of a reference group
640 and the second set of system assets of a reference group 642
can be analyzed independently or in comparison to one another for
the purpose, for example, of evaluating various migration scenarios
and the content or a summary of this analysis can be presented to a
network operator in a report 644. The report 644 can be displayed,
if desired, on a graphical user interface 646 and/or can be
presented in any suitable human readable form.
[0049] As can be appreciated, the critical interface evaluating
method 310 can advantageously provide insights into the performance
of the in-place network 220 and these performance insights can be
leveraged to assist the operator of the in-place network 220 to
make information technology (IT) management decisions such as, for
example, decisions relating to replacing or upgrading system assets
and including decisions about replacing some or all of the
functionality of system assets via migration of selected network
functions to a location external of the network--i.e., migration to
a public or private cloud. For example, the critical interface
evaluating method 310 can yield information that can assist in a
cloud migration decision, including generating a selection of
migration scenarios each of which is a scenario wherein some or all
of the functions performed by some or all of the system assets were
instead to be performed at a location external to the network.
Additionally, the critical interface evaluating method 310 can
yield information that can assist in a cloud migration decision
that includes generating a migration consideration set comprised of
cost information units that each include cost information about one
of the migration scenarios.
[0050] The present invention contemplates that, in a given
scenario, a network operator may choose to engage a third party to
apply the method of the present invention to evaluate a network. In
such a scenario, the third party may deploy a user interface to
produce a price qualified roster accessible to a network operator,
wherein the price qualified roster displays the offerings of
various "alternative task performers" (i.e., cloud service
providers) with regard to the migration scenario of interest. A
dashboard platform can be provided for displaying information about
the price qualified rosters obtained via the method of the present
invention and such a display can provide an intentionally ordered
presentation of the alternative task performers in the price
qualified roster with such presentation being communicated visually
and/or aurally to the network operator. The intentionally ordered
presentation of the alternative task performer or performers in the
price qualified roster may be arranged, for example, so as to
provide the network operator with a hierarchal listing of the
alternative task performer or performers in the price qualified
roster. As another example, the alternative task performer or
performers in the price qualified roster may be so arranged, for
example, so as to provide the network operator with a hierarchal
listing of the alternative task performer or performers in the
price qualified roster based upon directing the network operator to
preferred resources that can help resolve metrics issues or
capitalize upon identified opportunities. Further in this
connection, the preferred resources can be comprised of vendors who
have a particular capability such as, for example, cloud service
providers having a particular capability, or vendors who are given
preference relative to other vendors based upon a sponsorship
criteria (i.e., "sponsoring" vendors are given a preferential
showing in the display provided by the dashboard platform 470 as
opposed to "non-sponsoring" vendors).
[0051] In accordance with one variant for displaying the price
qualified roster, with particular application in the context of
cloud service providers who agree to be "sponsoring" cloud service
providers, cloud service providers may create and manage their
listings through a user interface that permits the creation of one
or more listing formats, the selection of details to associate with
the listings, and an insert template that governs how and in which
situations a listing will be displayed to a network operator. The
cloud service provider may enter additional pieces of information
and functionality pertaining to each listing. The cloud service
provider may choose that a given listing be targeted only a
discrete group of network operators, such as those meeting a set of
customer demographics. Cloud service providers may set the specific
price at which they are willing to offer their cloud services such
as, for example, a single price or a price range for a "computing
unit." If desired, cloud service providers may have the ability to
be apprised of the price offerings of other cloud service providers
in order, for example, to ensure that their listing appears in a
desired position or to optimize the "click-through" response or
contact response of the listing.
[0052] The method of the present invention can be executed manually
but is preferably executed via a tangible computer-readable medium
for controlling a computing device to generate an output. This
tangible computer-readable medium may be connected (e.g.,
networked) to other machines in a Local Area Network (LAN), an
intranet, an extranet, or the Internet. The tangible
computer-readable medium may operate in the capacity of a server or
a client machine in a client-server network environment, or as a
peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network
environment. The tangible computer-readable medium may be a
personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a
Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a web
appliance, a server, a network router, switch or bridge, or any
machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or
otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine.
Further, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term
"machine" shall also be taken to include any collection of machines
(e.g., computers) that individually or jointly execute a set (or
multiple sets) of instructions to execute the steps of the method
of the present invention.
[0053] An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a
self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result. The
steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical
quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take
the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored,
transferred, combined, compared and otherwise manipulated by a
computer system. It will be convenient at times, principally for
reasons of common usage, to refer to the above-referenced signals
as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers or
the like. It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these
and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate
physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to
these quantities.
[0054] Unless specifically stated otherwise, it will be appreciated
that throughout the description of the present invention, use of
terms such as "processing", "computing", "calculating",
"determining", "displaying" or the like, refer to the action and
processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing
device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as
physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's
registers and memories into other data similarly represented as
physical quantities within the computer system memories or
registers or other such information storage, transmission or
display devices. Further, various embodiments of the present
invention may be implemented with the aid of computer-implemented
processes or methods (a.k.a. programs or routines) that may be
rendered in any computer language including, without limitation,
C#, C/C++, Fortran, COBOL, PASCAL, assembly language, markup
languages (e.g., HTML, SGML, XML, VoXML), and the like, as well as
object-oriented environments such as the Java object-oriented
environment and the like. In general, however, all of the
aforementioned terms as used herein are meant to encompass any
series of logical steps performed in a sequence to accomplish a
given purpose.
[0055] The present invention can be implemented with an apparatus
to perform the operations described herein. This apparatus may be
specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise
a general-purpose computer, selectively activated or reconfigured
by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer
program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, such
as, but not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks,
optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic-optical disks, read-only
memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMS), EPROMs, EEPROMs,
magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable for
storing electronic instructions, and each coupled to a computer
system bus.
[0056] The algorithms and processes presented herein are not
inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus.
Various general-purpose systems may be used with programs in
accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to
construct more specialized apparatus to perform the required
method. For example, any of the methods according to the present
invention can be implemented in hard-wired circuitry, by
programming a general-purpose processor or by any combination of
hardware and software.
[0057] One of ordinary skill in the art will immediately appreciate
that the invention can be practiced with computer system
configurations of any type, including hand-held devices,
multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable
consumer electronics, DSP devices, network PCs, minicomputers,
mainframe computers, personal computers, and the like. The
invention can also be practiced in distributed computing
environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices
that are linked through a communications network.
* * * * *