System and Method for Service Assurance in IP Networks

Abstract

A system and method for providing service assurance in a data network is provided. Resource control points are positioned throughout a data network, such as an IP data network. The resource control points obtain network topology information and correlates that information with information associated with a particular service session. The resource control points utilize the correlated information to generate quality service records and to provide status information regarding the network topology and particular sessions. The information collected by the resource control points may also be utilized to provide reports regarding resource management for services within the data network, the path used by the session across the data network, fault information for the session in the context of the network topology and congestion information as concerns the resources in the data network used by the session.

1 . A communications network comprising:
 a plurality of network elements, each network element configured to route traffic through the respective network element, each network element being communicatively coupled to at least one other network element; and   a plurality of resource control points, each resource control point maintaining routing information for one or more of the network elements, the plurality of resource control points being independent from routing traffic through the communications network, each of the plurality of resource control points being configured to communicate with other resource control points to determine a path taken by traffic sent from a first device to a second device.   
     
     
         2 . The communications network of  claim 1 , wherein the communications network is an IP network. 
     
     
         3 . The communications network of  claim 1 , further comprising a signaling session device communicatively coupled to one or more of the plurality of resource control points. 
     
     
         4 . The communications network of  claim 3 , wherein the signaling session device comprises a softswitch. 
     
     
         5 . The communications network of  claim 3 , wherein at least one of the resource control points is configured to passively monitor traffic from the signaling session device for a call setup request. 
     
     
         6 . The communications network of  claim 3 , wherein the signaling session device is configured to transmit to a first resource control point a call setup request and the first resource control point is configured to receive the call setup request. 
     
     
         7 . The communications network of  claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of network domains, each network domain being serviced by a single resource control point. 
     
     
         8 . The communications network of  claim 1 , wherein a first resource control point of the plurality of resource control points is configured to receive a call setup request. 
     
     
         9 . The communications network of  claim 1 , further comprising a resource control point manager communicatively coupled to the plurality of the resource control points, the resource control point manager configured to retrieve session information from one or more of the resource control points in response to receiving a query request. 
     
     
         10 . A resource control point in an IP communications network, the resource control point comprising:
 a first communications port configured to communicate to at least one other resource control point to track sessions across a network;   a second communications port configured to communicate to a plurality of network elements to obtain routing and topology information;   a third communications port configured to communicate with a session signaling device to obtain session creation/removal information;   a fourth communications port to obtain configuration information from routers through a management network attached to the routers; and   a processor configured to obtain the routing and topology information of the plurality of network elements from the plurality of network elements via the second communications port, router configuration via the fourth port, and session information via the third port.   
     
     
         11 . The resource control point of  claim 10 , wherein the routing and network element topology information includes link names, static route information, MPLS tunnel endpoint information, secondary IP addresses, MPLS traffic engineering routing configuration, routing distance policy, route redistribution policy, VLAN tag information, and OSPF routing information, and MPLS hop information. 
     
     
         12 . The resource control point of  claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to transmit a call setup request to another resource control point via the first communications port. 
     
     
         13 . The resource control point of  claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to passively monitor traffic from a session signaling device for a call setup request. 
     
     
         14 . The resource control point of  claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to receive a call setup request. 
     
     
         15 . A communications network comprising:
 a plurality of resource control points, each resource control point maintaining routing information for one or more network elements, the plurality of resource control points being independent from routing traffic through the communications network, one or more of the resource control points communicatively coupled to another of the plurality of resource control points to obtain session information.   
     
     
         16 . The communications network of  claim 15 , further comprising a signaling session device communicatively coupled to one or more of the plurality of resource control points. 
     
     
         17 . The communications network of  claim 16 , wherein at least one of the resource control points is configured to passively monitor traffic from the signaling session device for a call setup request. 
     
     
         18 . The communications network of  claim 16 , wherein the signaling session device is configured to transmit to a first resource control point a call setup request and the first resource control point is configured to receive the call setup request. 
     
     
         19 . The communications network of  claim 15 , further comprising a plurality of network domains, each network domain being serviced by a single resource control point. 
     
     
         20 . The communications network of  claim 15 , wherein a first resource control point of the plurality of resource control points is configured to receive a call setup request.