Title :
Improving dependability of network configuration through policy classification
Author :
Lee, Sihyung ; Wong, Tina ; Kim, Hyong S.
Author_Institution :
Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA
Abstract :
As a network evolves over time, multiple operators modify its configuration, without fully considering what has previously been done. Similar policies are defined more than once, and policies that become obsolete after a transition are left in the configuration. As a result, the network configuration becomes complicated and disorganized, escalating maintenance costs and operator faults. We present a method called NetPiler, which groups common policies by discovering a set of shared features and which uses the groupings for the configuration instead of using each individual policy. Such an approach removes redundancies and simplifies the configuration while preserving the intended behavior of the configuration. We apply NetPiler to the routing policy configurations from four different networks, and reduce more than 50% of BGP communities and the related commands. In addition, we show that the reduced community definitions are sufficient to satisfy changes as the network evolves over nearly two years.
Keywords :
computer network management; computer networks; telecommunication network routing; NetPiler; network configuration; policy classification; routing policy configurations; shared features set; Companies; Computer errors; Computer network management; Computer networks; Costs; Degradation; Processor scheduling; Redundancy; Resource management; Routing;
Conference_Titel :
Dependable Systems and Networks With FTCS and DCC, 2008. DSN 2008. IEEE International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Anchorage, AK
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-2397-2
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4244-2398-9
DOI :
10.1109/DSN.2008.4630098