System and method for determining segment and link bandwidth capacities

Abstract

A method for determining bandwidth capacity of a test segment by sending one or more short packet bursts or streams from unique source smart nodes (SNs) over a link, which has the test segment, to one or more destination SNs. Selected source SNs send packet bursts or streams to other selected SNs at precise times so that the packet bursts or streams traverse the test segment simultaneously. Analyses of the traffic flow patterns at the destination SNs, including byte count measurements and time stamps, are used to determine the bandwidth capacity of the test segment.

1 . A method for determining segment bandwidth capacity of a test segment in a network by a central server, the method comprising: 
 transmitting a packet burst start time for a plurality of packet bursts from the central server to a plurality of source nodes where the plurality of source nodes are to transmit one of the plurality of packet bursts, each of the plurality of packet bursts traveling through the test segment;    receiving time stamps for a first packet and a last packet received from a plurality of destination nodes, each of the plurality of destination nodes receiving a designated one of the plurality of packet bursts transmitted from the plurality of source nodes;    storing a number of bytes received at each of the plurality of destination nodes from the designated one of the plurality of packet bursts; and    calculating a flow rate for the designated one of the plurality of packet bursts at each of the plurality of destination nodesand adding the flow rate for each of the designated one of the plurality of packet bursts to generate a total flow rate for the test segment.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , further including transmitting a policy to each of the plurality of source nodes, wherein the policy includes the packet burst start time and a rate of transmission for the packet burst for each of the plurality of source nodes before the transmission of the plurality of packet bursts from the plurality of source nodes.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the policy also includes a number of packets in the packet burst and the packet size.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , further including the central server transmitting a monitoring policy to the plurality of source nodes and the plurality of destination nodes to identify which flows to monitor based on source and destination IP addresses and port numbers.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein packets in the plurality of packet bursts is marked as high priority in the IP header TOS field.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the burst length for a packet burst for a source node of the plurality of source nodes is determined by adding the clock offset between network devices and the latency between a source node and the test segment and dividing this by a maximum desired percentage error in the test segment bandwidth measurement.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , further including the central server identifying a plurality of source nodes having links to the plurality of destination nodes that commonly share the test segment to the tested.  
   
   
       8 . A program code storage device, comprising: 
 a computer-readable storage medium; and    computer-readable program code, stored on the computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable program code having instructions, which when executed, cause a server to:    transmit a packet burst start time for a plurality of packet bursts from the server to a plurality of source nodes where the plurality of source nodes are to transmit one of the plurality of packet bursts, each of the plurality of packet bursts all traveling through the test segment;    receive time stamps for a first packet and a last packet received from a plurality of destination nodes, each of the plurality of destination nodes receiving a designated one of the plurality of packet bursts transmitted from the plurality of source nodes;    count a number of bytes received at each of the plurality of destination nodes from the designated one of the plurality of packet bursts; and    calculate a flow rate for the designated one of the plurality of packet bursts at each of the plurality of destination nodes and add the flow rate for each of the designated one of the plurality of packet bursts to generate a total flow rate for the test segment.    
   
   
       9 . The program code storage device of  claim 8 , including instructions which when executed cause the server to transmit a polity to each of the plurality of source nodes, wherein the policy includes the packet burst start time and a rate of transmission for the packet burst for each of the plurality of source nodes before the transmission of the plurality of packet bursts from the source nodes.  
   
   
       10 . The program code storage device of  claim 9 , wherein the policy also includes a number of packets in the packet burst and the packet size.  
   
   
       11 . The program code storage device of  claim 8 , including instructions which when executed cause the server to transmit a monitoring policy to the plurality of source nodes and the plurality of destination nodes to identify which flows to monitor based on source and destination IP addresses and port numbers.  
   
   
       12 . The program code storage device of  claim 8 , including instructions which when executed cause the sever to identify a plurality of source nodes having links to the plurality of destination nodes that commonly share the test segment to the tested.  
   
   
       13 . The network system for determining bandwidth capacity of a test segment in a network, comprising: 
 a plurality of links interconnecting nodes residing on the edge of the network, each of the links commonly sharing the test segment;    a plurality of source nodes that send a plurality of packet bursts to travel through the plurality of links, each link of the plurality of links including the test segment, each of the plurality of packet bursts being sent at a specific start time to attempt to coordinate the plurality of packet profiles to arrive at the test segment at a first time;    a central server, remote to each of the plurality of source nodes, to command the plurality of source nodes to send each of the plurality of packet bursts at the specific start time; and    a plurality of destination nodes to receive the plurality of packet bursts, wherein each of the packet bursts includes a plurality of packets.    
   
   
       14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the plurality of destination nodes makes byte count measurements for the received packet profiles and measures time stamps for the received packet profiles.  
   
   
       15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the plurality of destination nodes each calculate a flow rate due to each of the plurality of packet bursts.  
   
   
       16 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the central server adds up the flow rates from each of the plurality of destination nodes to calculate the test segment bandwidth capacity.  
   
   
       17 . A method for determining bandwidth capacity of a test segment in a time synchronized network, comprising: 
 sending a plurality of packet bursts from a plurality of source nodes to a plurality of destination nodes via a plurality of links, each link of the plurality of links including the test segment, and each of the plurality of source nodes receiving a start time from a central server at which to start the sending of the plurality of packet bursts to attempt to cause the plurality of packet bursts to arrive at the test segment at the first time; and    receiving, at the plurality of destination nodes, a designated packet burst of the plurality of packet bursts, the plurality of packet bursts including a plurality of packets;    calculating a first time stamp and a second time stamp for the received designated packet burst at each of a plurality destination nodes;    measuring a number of bytes received at each of the plurality of destination nodes;    calculating the bandwidth capacity of the test segment by first calculating a flow at each of the plurality of destination nodes using the first time stamp, the second time stamp, and the number of bytes received, and by adding the flow for each of the plurality of destination nodes to calculate the bandwidth capacity.    
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 17 , further including transmitting, by the central server, a monitoring policy to the plurality of source nodes and the plurality of destination nodes to identify which flows to monitor based on source and destination IP addresses and port numbers.  
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 17 , further including transmitting, by the central server, a policy to each of the plurality of source nodes, wherein the policy includes the packet burst start time and a rate of transmission for the packet burst for each of the plurality of source nodes.  
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the policy also includes a number of packets in the packet burst and the packet size.  
   
   
       21 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the burst length for a packet burst for a source node of the plurality of source nodes is determined by adding the clock offset between network devices and a latency between a source node and the test segment and dividing this by a maximum desired percentage error in the test segment bandwidth measurement.