JP2002152205A - Band confirmation method and band confirmation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a band confirmation method and a band confirmation device that can enhance the reliability of a confirmation result of an available band, suppress the load on a communication network and can be available for steady-state supervision of each available band of each customer, in a large-scale communication network containing many customers. SOLUTION: The band confirmation device accesses a band information acquisition device to measure the band, the band confirmation device receives n1-sets of measured values without transmitting additional track and regards it as successful confirmation, when measured values being a reference value B or over by number of reference values m1 are obtained in a 1st step, and the band confirmation device transmits the additional traffic with a band B2 decided by a statistic value in the 1st step, receives n2-sets of measured values and regards it as successful confirmation, when the measured values of the reference value B or over are obtained by a discrimination reference values m2 or larger in a 2nd step, and the band confirmation device transmits the additional traffic with a band B3 and receives n3-sets of measured values, and the band confirmation device regards it as successful confirmation, when the measured values of the band reference value B or larger are obtained by a discrimination reference value m3 or larger, and when the measured values of the band reference value B or larger are obtained equal to or smaller than the discrimination reference value n3, the band confirmation device is regarded as having failed in the confirmation in a 3rd step.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a band confirmation method and a band confirmation device for evaluating the performance of a communication network.
It is used for confirming with a remote measuring device that the available bandwidth in a specific ground, a user or a section is equal to or more than a specific value. Further, the present invention is used for a regular monitoring operation in which a band is simultaneously confirmed under different conditions for a plurality of confirmation targets in a large-scale communication network accommodating a large number of customers. Further, the present invention is also used in a case where a band is confirmed via a plurality of communication networks constituted by devices which are different from each other and whose time is not remotely synchronized.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A contract between a provider of a communication network and a user for guaranteeing a bandwidth for a packet passing through a specific route, a packet with a specific transmission / reception address, a packet of a specific application, and the like. Therefore, the communication network provider needs to guarantee the contracted bandwidth to the user.

[0003] Therefore, the communication network provider must sequentially confirm that the actually available bandwidth of the user satisfies the contracted quality. Several tools are still provided today as a means for remotely measuring the available bandwidth of a device to be verified. These tools can be broadly classified into two types:

Type 1: A type called active measurement. In this type, the traffic for measurement is transmitted from the measuring device to the device to be checked, and the bandwidth is calculated by measuring the data transfer rate at that time. Protocols of this type include IP (Internet Protocol)
l) In the field of networks, FTP (File Tran
sfer Protocol: File Transfer Protocol)
o (M. Mathis, http://ds.internic.net/internet-draf
ts / draft-ietf-ippm-treno-btc-03.txt, “TRenoBulk Tr
ansfer Capacity ”, draft-ietf-ippm-treno-btc-03.txt
(internet-Draft: Work in progress, revised Feb 19
99)) is known.

[0005] Type 2: A type called passive measurement. In this type, a MIB (Management Information Bass) measured and stored in a communication device (for example, a node device such as a router) existing on a path of a communication network from a device to be checked or a measuring device to a device to be checked.
e) Obtain data and calculate bandwidth.

[0006] The MIB data holds a counter value for the amount of passing packets. If the communication network is an IP network, the router SNMP (Simple Network Manager)
entProtocol) The counter value of MIB data is monitored using an agent. In addition, a probe for measurement is connected to the communication line section on the communication network path from the measuring instrument to the device to be checked, the traffic flowing in the communication line section is directly monitored, and the bandwidth is calculated from the monitoring data. You can also.

[0007]

However, there are the following problems when using a conventional tool as described above to check a band available to a user from a remote location. (1) In the case of type 1: Since measurement traffic (packets, etc.) is transmitted from the measurement device, excessive traffic occurs on the communication network path from the measurement device to the device to be checked due to the measurement traffic. Likely to be. Especially when the communication network is in a state of congestion or failure, when confirming the bandwidth to detect user complaints or failure sections, the traffic for measurement can make the congestion worse or longer. There is no denying that there is sex.

[0008] The type 1 measurement essentially measures the free band of the path to be measured. Therefore, even if the user is already transmitting or receiving traffic on the measurement target route that is higher than the band that should be already confirmed, it is concluded that the available bandwidth for the user is insufficient if the available bandwidth is small. Will be reached. In order to avoid such a problem, it is conceivable to control so that traffic other than the traffic for measurement does not flow to the measurement target path at the time of measurement,
In such a case, the user cannot use the communication network at all at the time of measurement, so there is a great disadvantage to the user, and time loss accompanying preparation and adjustment for the measurement is also large, which is not appropriate.

(2) In the case of type 2: The type 2 measurement essentially measures the used bandwidth from the amount of traffic actually flowing on the path to be measured. Therefore, even if the measured value is less than the target value, the following two types of cases can be considered as the cause. (A) Although there is a sufficient band available to the user, the traffic actually transmitted and received by the user is small. (B) The bandwidth available to the user is actually less than the target value. It cannot be determined which of these is the cause.

[0010] Further, with the conventional tools, there are the following various problems when trying to regularly monitor the usable bandwidth of a large-scale communication network accommodating a large number of customers. (A) Measurement cannot be performed simultaneously for a plurality of confirmation target devices. (B) Traffic characteristics cannot be considered for each device to be checked, and the date and time of confirmation cannot be individually determined for each device to be checked.

(C) It is not possible to determine the checking conditions for each device to be checked in consideration of the difference in quality required by the user, the quality of each section of the communication network, and the like. Confirmation of communication quality is very important for a provider providing a public communication service. In addition, some operators have concluded a contract (Service Level Agreement: SLA) with users to promise to maintain a certain level of communication quality, and penalize the contract user if the communication quality deteriorates. We provide services that pay penalties. Therefore, it is very important to improve the reliability of the measurement result of the available bandwidth.

According to the present invention, the reliability of the result of confirming the available bandwidth is increased, the load on the communication network is reduced, and the available bandwidth of each customer is constantly set in a large-scale communication network accommodating a large number of customers. It is an object of the present invention to provide a bandwidth confirmation method and a bandwidth confirmation device that can be used when monitoring is performed.

[0013]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, the size of an actually usable band of a device to be confirmed connected to a specific section on a communication network is arranged at a location different from that of the device to be confirmed. A bandwidth confirmation method for confirming with a confirmation device that is connected to the specific section and accesses a predetermined band information acquisition device that relays or monitors information that is input / output to / from the confirmation target device. Measuring the band on the communication path of the device, and as a first step, measuring the size of the band currently used for the device to be confirmed by a first measurement number n1 at a first time interval Δt1, The first
The n1 band measurement values obtained in the step are referred to as band reference values B.
If the number of band measurement values equal to or greater than the band reference value B is equal to or greater than the first determination reference value m1, the confirmation is considered to be successful,
When the number of band measurement values equal to or larger than the band reference value B is smaller than the first determination reference value m1, the process proceeds to the next second step, and the second
As a step, an additional traffic band B2 is determined based on a statistical value obtained by performing predetermined statistical processing on the n1 band measurement values of the first step, and the additional traffic band B2 is transmitted to the confirmation target device. Sending additional traffic, and in the state where the additional traffic is being sent, measures the size of the band currently used for the device to be checked by a second number of times n2 at a second time interval Δt2, N2 obtained by the measurement in the second step
The band measurement values are compared with the band reference value B, and if the number of band measurement values equal to or greater than the band reference value B is equal to or greater than the second determination reference value m2, it is considered that the confirmation is successful, and When the number of band measurement values is less than the second determination reference value m2, the process proceeds to the next third step. As a third step, additional traffic of the band B3 that is equal to or more than the band reference value B is directed to the confirmation target device. At the third time interval Δt3.
Are measured by the number of times n3, and the n3 band measurement values obtained by the measurement in the third step are compared with the band reference value B, and the number of band measurement values equal to or larger than the band reference value B is equal to the third. If the judgment value is equal to or more than the judgment reference value m3, the confirmation is regarded as successful, and the number of band measurement values equal to or more than the band reference value B is equal to the third judgment reference value m
If the number is less than 3, the confirmation is regarded as unsuccessful.

[0014] When the band confirmation method of claim 1 is carried out,
If it is determined in the first step that the confirmation is successful, no additional traffic for measurement is output, so that no extra load is imposed on the communication network. In the first step, when most of the available bandwidth of the user is actually used at a high ratio, the available bandwidth of the user can be confirmed.

When the process proceeds to the second step, the additional traffic band B2 is determined using the statistical value of the measured value obtained in the first step, and is transmitted to the communication network for measurement. Additional traffic can be minimized. In the second step, if the traffic actually transmitted / received by the user is smaller than the available bandwidth, the additional traffic is sent to increase the total traffic, and whether or not the bandwidth available to the user is sufficient Can be confirmed. In this case, the additional traffic band B2 is determined by using the statistical value of the measurement value obtained in the first step, so that the additional traffic is transmitted to an actually vacant band, and the user actually The bandwidth used is not limited by the additional traffic.

Further, when the process proceeds to the third step, additional traffic of the band B3 which is equal to or larger than the band reference value B is sent out for measurement, so that the band available to the user is only the band reference value B. It can be surely checked whether or not. Therefore, the reliability of band confirmation can be improved. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the bandwidth confirmation method of the first aspect, identification information of the bandwidth information acquisition device used for bandwidth measurement, the bandwidth reference value B, a first time interval Δt1, and a first number of measurements n1. , A first determination reference value m1, a second time interval Δt
2, the second measurement number n2, the second determination reference value m2, the third
Is stored for each of the plurality of devices to be checked, and the parameter is switched for each device to be checked to check the bandwidth. Is performed.

In the second aspect, information necessary for band confirmation is held independently for each device to be confirmed.
For multiple devices with different traffic characteristics,
Band confirmation can be performed simultaneously using different parameters.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the bandwidth confirmation method according to the second aspect, information on a designated time of the band confirmation is held for each device to be confirmed as a band confirmation schedule, and a plurality of confirmation targets are stored in accordance with the retained designated time. It is characterized in that the band check of the device is started at independent times. In claim 3, based on a pre-registered schedule,
Band confirmation can be performed at independent times for a plurality of confirmation target devices.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the band confirmation method according to the third aspect, the start time of the program is detected, and the detected start time is compared with each designated time of the band confirmation. If there is, immediately check the bandwidth,
If the start time is earlier than the designated time, the band check is performed after the elapse of the waiting time according to the difference between the two.

According to the fourth aspect, even when the program is started at a time different from the designated time of each device to be confirmed, the band confirmation can be started according to the designated time. According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the bandwidth confirmation method of the second aspect, the device information related to the device to be confirmed and the confirmation parameter information related to the band confirmation are held as independent files, and the confirmation is included in the device information. It is characterized by including parameter identification information for identifying a record or file of parameter information.

According to the fifth aspect, different confirmation parameter information can be used for each device to be confirmed. Further, one piece of confirmation parameter information can be shared by a plurality of confirmation target devices belonging to the same group, for example. According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the bandwidth confirmation method of the second aspect, information on a timeout value and a maximum number of retries is stored as a parameter for each of the devices to be confirmed.
If the waiting time after requesting information when acquiring information from the bandwidth information acquisition device reaches the timeout value, retry the information request, and the number of retries is the maximum number of retries. If it exceeds, the retry is terminated.

According to the present invention, when the acquisition of the information on the band fails, the retry can be performed. Further, in consideration of the traffic on the communication path, etc., it is possible to assign a different appropriate value to the confirmation target device for the timeout value and the maximum number of retries. Claim 7
In the bandwidth confirmation method according to claim 6, when retrying the information request to the bandwidth information acquisition device, the information is taken into consideration by considering a parent-child relationship between a plurality of processes activated by the bandwidth confirmation program. The process is automatically stopped when the process fails to acquire the file.

The program executed for checking the bandwidth activates various processes such as a process for acquiring information simultaneously or in parallel. If there is a process for which information acquisition has failed, the operation of the original program or the like may be abnormal if the process continues to operate forever. When retrying the request for information, it is considered that there is a process that failed to obtain the information. In such a case, according to claim 7, a process in which information acquisition has failed is automatically stopped. Therefore, it is possible to prevent an abnormality in the operation of the program from occurring.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the bandwidth confirmation method according to the first aspect, a time at which an information request is sent to the bandwidth information acquiring device and information from the bandwidth information acquiring device are received as a response to the request. The time at which the band information acquisition device transmits information is estimated based on the time. The size of the band can be specified by the amount of information and time. When the band is determined based on the information measured by the band information acquisition device, the time measured by the band information acquisition device is important. However, the band confirmation device and the band information acquisition device are asynchronous. If the band confirmation device is located at a position distant from the band information acquisition device, the band confirmation device is affected by the transmission delay time between the two. The time measured by the acquisition device is different from the time when the band confirmation device receives the information.

[0025] According to the present invention, the bandwidth information obtaining apparatus uses a time at which an information request is sent to the bandwidth information obtaining apparatus and a time at which information from the bandwidth information obtaining apparatus is received as a response to the request. Estimates the time at which it sent the information. Therefore, the size of the band can be accurately detected even when the band confirmation device is located at a position distant from the band information acquisition device.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the band confirmation method according to the first aspect, adjacent measurement values are compared with each other for a plurality of measurement values sequentially acquired with respect to the band, and a subsequent measurement value is smaller than a preceding measurement value. In this case, the subsequent measurement value is replaced with a predetermined dummy value, and when a dummy value is assigned to the measurement value, the information is excluded from the determination target.

Since the measured value obtained by the band information acquisition device is a cumulative value, it gradually increases due to the occurrence of traffic. However, when an abnormality occurs or an overflow occurs, a measured value appearing later may be smaller than a previous measured value. According to the ninth aspect, when such an abnormality occurs, the abnormal measurement value can be excluded from the determination target by replacing a subsequent measurement value with a dummy value.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the bandwidth confirmation method of the first aspect, when transmitting the additional traffic, the packet transmission of the additional traffic is performed based on a designated packet size and a size of a band allocated to the additional traffic. An interval is obtained, and the additional traffic is transmitted according to the obtained packet transmission interval. Claim 1
In the case of 0, since the packet transmission interval of the additional traffic is determined according to the specified packet size, it is possible to transmit the additional traffic of the specified packet size.

[0029] A band checking device for checking the size of the actually usable band of the device to be checked connected to a specific section on the communication network at a place different from the device to be checked. Information acquisition that accesses a predetermined band information acquisition device that is connected to the specific section and relays or monitors information input to and output from the confirmation target device and measures a band on a communication path of the confirmation target device Means and at least information on the identification information of the bandwidth information acquisition device used for bandwidth measurement, a reference value of the bandwidth, a time interval for acquiring the bandwidth information, the number of times the bandwidth information is acquired, and a designated time for starting the bandwidth check And a schedule information holding unit for holding a check for each of the plurality of check target devices according to the information held in the schedule information holding unit. Characterized by providing a bandwidth check control means for automatically carrying out.

[0030] By using the band checking device according to the eleventh aspect, it is possible to automatically check the band for each of the plurality of checking target devices according to a predetermined schedule. According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the bandwidth checking device of the eleventh aspect, the schedule information holding unit holds the information of the timeout value and the maximum number of retries for each of the devices to be checked as parameters, and obtains information from the band information obtaining device. When the waiting time after requesting the information reaches the timeout value, the information request is retried.If the number of retries exceeds the maximum number of retries, the retry is performed. It is characterized in that retry control means for ending is provided.

In the twelfth aspect, for each of the plurality of devices to be confirmed, retry control can be performed under predetermined conditions when acquiring information for bandwidth confirmation. According to a thirteenth aspect, in the bandwidth confirmation device of the eleventh aspect, when retrying the information request to the bandwidth information acquisition device, a parent-child relationship between a plurality of processes activated by the bandwidth confirmation program is considered. A failure process stop control means for automatically stopping a process in which information acquisition has failed.

According to the thirteenth aspect, it is possible to automatically stop a process for which information acquisition has failed, thereby preventing an abnormality in the operation of the program. Claim 14
12. The band checking device according to claim 11, wherein the band is determined based on a time at which an information request is transmitted to the band information acquiring device and a time at which information from the band information acquiring device is received in response to the request. A time estimating means for estimating a time at which the information acquisition device transmits information is provided.

In the fourteenth aspect of the present invention, a bandwidth information acquisition device is utilized by using a time at which an information request is sent to the bandwidth information acquisition device and a time at which information from the bandwidth information acquisition device is received as a response to the request. Estimates the time at which it sent the information. Therefore, the size of the band can be accurately detected even when the band confirmation device is located at a position distant from the band information acquisition device.

[0034]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of a band confirmation method and a band confirmation device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. This form corresponds to all claims. FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the operation of the band checking device.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing details of the bandwidth information acquisition process. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the content of the processing of the band information acquisition unit. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the contents of the retry control. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an assumed system. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the band confirmation device. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the device information file and the parameter information file.

In this embodiment, the first step of claim 1
The second step and the third step are respectively a band confirmation first step S18 and a band confirmation second step S1 in FIG.
9 and the third band confirmation step S20. Also,
The bandwidth information acquisition device according to claim 11 is mounted on a router (for example, router 5) or a device to be confirmed on a specific section shown in FIG. 5, or is mounted on a network monitoring device placed independently of the specific section. You. The information acquisition unit, the schedule information holding unit, and the band confirmation control unit according to claim 11, respectively include a band information acquisition unit 132, a schedule unit 12, and a determination unit 131.
Corresponding to

The retry control means of claim 12, the failed process stop control means of claim 13, and the time estimating means of claim 14 comprise a retry control section 1322, a failed process stop section 1323, and a measurement time estimation section 1325, respectively.
Corresponding to In this embodiment, it is assumed that a band is confirmed using a system as shown in FIG. 5 as an example. In this example, a band check device 1, a check target device 3, and a router 5 are connected to a communication network 2. Band check device 1
Has a function for confirming a band that can be used by the confirmation target device 3. The communication network 2 is an IP here.
Assumes a network.

Also, in the example of FIG.
Although only the band confirmation device 1 is shown, the band confirmation device 1 can confirm the band of each of various devices connectable to the communication network 2 simultaneously or in parallel. In the example of FIG. 5, the router 5 that exists as a relay node on the communication path of the device 3 to be checked constantly monitors the amount of traffic passing through each device 3 to be checked. Therefore, the band confirmation device 1
Access to the router 5, the confirmation target device 3
From the router 5 according to the amount of traffic passing through the router 5.

When a specific traffic is required for the bandwidth measurement of the device 3 to be checked, the bandwidth checking device 1 sends out additional traffic 7 to the communication path toward the device 3 to be checked. The hardware of the band checking device 1 can be realized by, for example, a general-purpose personal computer. In order to realize the present invention, it is necessary to execute a special band check program and realize the functions as shown in FIG.

The functions on the band confirmation device 1 include an input / output unit 11, a schedule unit 12, and a parent process 13, as shown in FIG. The schedule unit 12 includes a device information file 121 and a parameter information file 12.
2 and a measurement start time determination unit 123. By the input from the input / output unit 11, the contents of the device information file 121 and the parameter information file 122 can be rewritten.

The device information file 121 holds information on each device (3) whose band is to be confirmed. Further, the parameter information file 122 holds various parameter information used in the band confirmation processing. The configurations of the device information file 121 and the parameter information file 122 are as shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 7, in the device information file 121, records corresponding to each of a plurality of devices (3) to be subjected to band confirmation are recorded.

Each record of the device information file 121 contains the following information. Confirmation target device ID (J) Band information acquisition destination device ID (K) Start time (Ts) Confirmation target band (band reference value: B) Parameter designation information In addition, a plurality of files exist as the parameter information file 122. . One record is recorded in each file. The contents of the record include the following information.

The bandwidth information acquisition interval (Δt) in the first step
1) Band information acquisition number of the first step (n1) Band judgment pass number of the first step (judgment reference value: m1) Band information acquisition interval of the second step (Δt2) Band information acquisition number of the second step (n2) Number of pass of band determination in the second step (judgment reference value: m2) Band information acquisition interval of the third step (Δt3) Number of band information acquisition in the third step (n3) Number of pass of band judgment in the third step (judgment reference value: m3) Additional traffic bandwidth in the third step (B3) Packet size of additional traffic (H) Maximum number of retries when bandwidth information acquisition fails (Rmax) Timeout value when bandwidth information acquisition fails (Tmax) Measurement time estimation coefficient (α) The parameter designation information in the device information file 121 is a file name for specifying one file of the parameter information file 122. . According to the file name recorded as the parameter designation information, the content of the parameter used in the band confirmation is determined. For this reason, band confirmation can be performed for a plurality of confirmation target devices 3 using different parameters, and a file in which the same parameter is recorded can be shared by the plurality of confirmation target devices 3.

When performing band confirmation using the band confirmation device 1 shown in FIG. 5, the contents of the device information file 121 and the parameter information file 122 are first determined by input from the input / output unit 11 (FIG. 1). S11 and S12) are required. The measurement start time determination unit 123 in FIG. 6 activates the parent process 13 to check the bandwidth of each check target device 3 according to the schedule for each device recorded in the device information file 121. Actually, the measurement start time determination unit 123
Starts each parent process 13 by the processing of steps S13 to S17 shown in FIG.

In step S13, the start time Ts assigned to the corresponding device 3 (J) is read from the corresponding record in the device information file 121. In the next step S14, the waiting time Tw is determined based on the start time Ts and the program start time T0 of the measurement start time determination unit 123. If the waiting time Tw is 0 or more, the process proceeds from step S15 to S16, and waits for the waiting time Tw before proceeding to step S17. That is, when the designated start time Ts comes, the process proceeds to step S17. If the waiting time Tw is a negative value, the process immediately proceeds from step S15 to S17. In step S17, the bandwidth information acquisition process for the confirmation target device 3 (J) specified in the schedule, that is, the parent process 13 is started.

When the parent process 13 is started,
The content of the parameter information file 122 corresponding to the parameter designation information of the device information file 121 is the parent process 1
3 is taken over. Each parent process 13 activates various child processes as needed. As shown in FIG. 6, the child process activated by the parent process 13 includes a determination unit 131, a bandwidth information acquisition unit 132, and a transmission load calculation unit 13.
3 and a load transmission unit 134. The child processes activated by the bandwidth information acquisition unit 132 include a bandwidth information acquisition command transmission unit 1321, a retry control unit 1322, a failed process stop unit 1323, an abnormal value removal unit 1324, and a measurement time estimation unit 1325. Further, as a child process activated by the load transmission unit 134, there is an additional packet transmission specification adjustment unit 1341.

The operation of each parent process 13 is briefly described as steps S18 to S22 in FIG. That is, first, a band confirmation first step (S18) is executed. If it is determined that the available bandwidth of the device 3 (J) to be checked satisfies the target quality, the process proceeds to S2
In step 1, “Confirmation OK” is output to the input / output unit 11. If it is not confirmed that the target quality is satisfied in the first band check step (S18), the second band check step (S1) is performed.
9) is executed. Here, when it is determined that the available bandwidth of the device 3 (J) to be checked satisfies the target quality, “OK” is output to the input / output unit 11 in S21.

If the target quality cannot be confirmed in the second step (S19), a third step (S20) is performed. Here, when it is determined that the available bandwidth of the device 3 (J) to be checked satisfies the target quality, “OK” is output to the input / output unit 11 in S21.

If it is not confirmed that the target quality is satisfied in the third step (S20) of confirming the band, "confirmation NG" is output to the input / output unit 11 in S22. FIG. 2 shows the specific contents of the first step of confirming the band, the second step of confirming the band, and the third step of confirming the band. In the band confirmation first step, first, the determination unit 131 instructs the band information acquisition unit 132 to acquire the band information n1 times (the value of the designated parameter). Band information acquisition unit 132
Although the details of the operation will be described later, the bandwidth information acquisition unit 132 acquires the bandwidth information according to the instruction and inputs it to the determination unit 131.

The determination section 131 makes a determination on the band information input from the band information acquisition section 132. That is,
The number of times C1 in which the value of the band information has become equal to or more than the reference value (confirmation target band B) is detected (S34). If the value of C1 is equal to or more than m1 (the value of the designated parameter), it is regarded as "confirmation OK". In that case, the information of "confirmation OK" is output to the input / output unit 11, and the parent process 13 for the corresponding confirmation target device 3 (J) is terminated.

If it is not confirmed in S35 that the available bandwidth of the device to be confirmed 3 (J) satisfies the target quality, the process proceeds to the second bandwidth confirmation second step. Bandwidth confirmation 2
In the step, first, the band confirmation device 1
First, the transmission load calculation unit 133 is instructed to transmit the additional traffic 7 to the communication path (J). The processing of S41 to S43 is executed according to this instruction. The contents of these processes will be described later.

With the additional traffic 7 appearing on the communication path of the device 3 (J) to be confirmed, the determination unit 131 instructs the bandwidth information acquisition unit 132 to acquire bandwidth information n times (S44). According to this instruction, the bandwidth information acquisition unit 13
2 acquires band information and inputs it to the determination unit 131 (S45, S46).

The determination section 131 makes a determination on the band information input from the band information acquisition section 132. That is,
The number of times C2 in which the value of the band information becomes equal to or more than the reference value (confirmation target band B) is detected (S47), and if the value of C2 is equal to or more than m2 (the value of the designated parameter), it is regarded as "confirmation OK" ( S48). In this case, the information of “confirmation OK” is output to the input / output unit 11 and the corresponding confirmation target device 3
The parent process 13 for (J) is terminated.

If it is not determined in S48 that the available bandwidth of the device 3 (J) to be verified satisfies the target quality, the process proceeds to the third bandwidth confirmation third step. Bandwidth check 3
In the step, first, the band confirmation device 1
First, the transmission load calculation unit 133 is instructed to transmit the additional traffic 7 of the band B3 (B3> B) specified by the parameter to the communication path (J). The processing of S51 to S53 is executed according to this instruction.

With the additional traffic 7 appearing on the communication path of the device 3 (J) to be checked, the determination unit 131 instructs the bandwidth information acquisition unit 132 to acquire bandwidth information n3 times (S54). According to this instruction, the bandwidth information acquisition unit 13
2 acquires band information and inputs it to the determination unit 131 (S55, S56). The determination unit 131 makes a determination on the band information input from the band information acquisition unit 132. That is, the number of times C3 at which the value of the band information becomes equal to or more than the reference value (confirmation target band B) is detected (S57), and the value of C3 is set to m3.
If the value is equal to or greater than the value of the specified parameter,
K ”(S58). In that case, the information of "confirmation OK" is output to the input / output unit 11, and the parent process 13 for the corresponding confirmation target device 3 (J) is terminated.

If it is not confirmed in S58 that the available bandwidth of the device 3 (J) to be confirmed satisfies the target quality, the determination unit 131 outputs the information of "confirmation NG" in the next S58 to the input / output unit. 11 and terminates the parent process 13 for the corresponding device 3 (J).

Next, the contents of the processing of the band information acquisition unit 132 will be described with reference to FIG. Band information acquisition unit 13
2 is the confirmation target device 3 according to the instruction of the determination unit 131.
The measurement of the information on the band used in (J) is repeated a specified number of times (N). Actually, a node device such as the router 5 specified by the band information acquisition destination ID (K) of the device information file 121 is accessed, and the confirmation target device 3 is accessed.
The measured value of the used band on the communication path used by (J) is acquired from the node device (K).

The number of measurements N is n in the case of S31 in FIG.
It is n2 in the case of S44 and n3 in the case of S54. In S61 of FIG. 3, initialization is performed. Further, the subsequent processing of S62 to S69 is repeated (N + 1) times. In S62, the bandwidth information acquisition command sending unit 1321
Start The bandwidth information acquisition command sending unit 1321
In the next step S63, a command for collecting accumulated information is transmitted to the node device (K) from which the bandwidth information is acquired.

In the following, the L-th processing will be described. However, L = 1 to N + 1. Here, the transmission time of the collection command is CT (L). Further, the measured value acquired by the band information acquiring unit 132 from the node device (K) is represented by D (L),
The time when D (L) was acquired by the bandwidth information acquisition unit 132 is DT
(L). Also, the bandwidth information acquisition command sending unit 132
When 1 transmits a collection command of accumulated information to the node device (K), the retry control unit 1322 is activated, and the retry control in S64 is performed. The contents of the retry control are shown in FIG.

In steps S82 and S89 of FIG. 4, the node device (K) from which the bandwidth information is to be acquired within the time of the timeout value Tmax specified in the parameter information file 122.
If no information is received from, it is considered a timeout. If a timeout is detected in S82, the bandwidth information acquisition command sending unit 1321 is activated again, and a collection command of the accumulated information is transmitted to the node device (K) of the bandwidth information acquisition destination (S86). Also, CT (L) is changed to the current time.

Further, the failed process stopping unit 1323 is started (S84). The failed process stop unit 1323 checks the parent-child relationship of the process, detects a failed process that was started by the previous bandwidth information acquisition command sending unit 1321 and waits for the bandwidth information from the node device (K), and stops the failed process. Let it. Also, the retry control unit 1322
Compares the number of continuous retry operations (the count value in S83) with the maximum number of retry times Rmax specified in the parameter information file 122 in S90 to identify whether or not information acquisition has failed. When the information acquisition has failed, the determination unit 131 is notified that the information acquisition has failed. In this case, the determination unit 131 sends “information acquisition NG” to the input / output unit 11 (S91), and terminates the parent process 13 for the confirmation target device 3 (J).

Before reaching the maximum number of retries Rmax, S
When the bandwidth information is received from the node device (K) in 81 or S88, the retry control ends and the process returns to the process in FIG. Then, the band information acquisition command sending unit 1321 is repeatedly started, and the acquisition of information is continued until L = (N + 1). However, CT (L + 1) is defined as DT (L) + Δt. Δt is Δt1 in the first band acquisition step, Δt2 in the second band acquisition step,
In the case of the band acquisition third step, it is Δt3.

[CT (L), D (L), DT (L): L = 1 to N + obtained by the processes of S62 to S69 in FIG.
The measurement result of [1] is transferred to the abnormal value removing unit 1324. The abnormal value removing unit 1324 compares the measured values D (L) and D (L + 1) adjacent to each other and identifies the presence or absence of an abnormal value (S70). That is, since the bandwidth information measured by the node device (K) is an accumulated value of the traffic volume passing through a specific communication path, the measured value D (L) usually gradually increases. However, when an overflow or abnormality occurs, the measured value D (L) detected later is compared with the measured value D (L) detected later.
(L + 1) may be smaller.

Therefore, when the state of (D (L)> D (L + 1)) is detected, S is used to indicate that an abnormality has been detected.
At 72, a predetermined dummy value is assigned to the difference DD (L) of the L-th measurement value. In this case, the L-th measurement value is excluded from the evaluation. If no abnormality is detected, S71
The measured value D (L + 1) that appeared later and the measured value D that appeared earlier
(L) (the traffic that appeared in the meantime) by the difference DD
(L).

The processing from S70 to S73 in FIG.
To N + 1). The input of the measurement time estimation unit 1325 is [DD
(L): L = 1 to N] and [CT (L), DT (L): L = 1
To N + 1] is sent from the abnormal value removing unit 1324. The measurement time estimation unit 1325 estimates an acquisition time of each measurement value D (L) in the node device (K). The band checking device 1 can know time information inside itself, but cannot directly know the information acquisition time in the node device (K) which is asynchronous with the time information.

Therefore, in this example, the measurement time estimation unit 132
5 available information [CT (L), DT (L): L = 1 to N]
+1], the acquisition time [GT (L): L = 1 to N + 1] in the node device (K) is estimated. here,
The transmission delay time in the direction from the band confirmation device 1 to the node device (K) and the transmission delay time in the reverse direction are [1:
[alpha]], the acquisition time [GT (L): L = 1 to N + 1] is estimated.

That is, (α × CT (L) + (1−α) × D
T (L)) is estimated as the acquisition time GT (L) in the node device (K) (S74). Based on this acquisition time GT (L), the measured value BB (L) of the L-th band is obtained by the following equation (S75).

BB (L) = DD (L) / (GT (L + 1) −GT (L)) However, when the measured value DD (L) is the dummy value,
A dummy value is also assigned to the measured value BB (L) of the band (S7).
6). The processing of S74 to S77 in FIG. 3 is repeated N times. The resulting N band measurements BB (1-N)
Is transmitted from the measurement time estimation unit 1325 to the determination unit 131.

In S34, S47 and S57 in FIG. 2, the measured values BB (1 to BB (1 to 1) obtained in S75 and S76 in FIG.
N) is compared with a reference value B. In S34, N = n1, in S47, N = n2, and in S57, N = n3. Next, the operation of the transmission load calculator 133 will be described. In S41 of the second band confirmation step, the band B2 of the additional traffic 7 is determined based on the statistical values of the measured values BB (1 to N) obtained in the first band confirmation step.

In the example shown in FIG. 2, the maximum value of B-BB (L) is obtained as a statistical value, which is determined as the band B2 of the additional traffic 7. However, “B-BB (L)” is (B> BB
Calculate only in case of (L)). The transmission load calculator 133 calculates
The calculated value of the band B2 is transmitted to the load transmitting unit 134. Additional packet transmission specification adjustment unit 1 of load transmission unit 134
341 determines the transmission packet interval PT of the additional traffic 7 (S42). In the example of FIG. 2, the transmission packet interval PT is determined based on the bandwidth B2 determined in S41 and the packet size H specified in the parameter information file 122.
Is determined.

The load transmitting unit 134 transmits the additional traffic 7 having the packet size H to the communication path from the band check device 1 to the check target device 3 (J) at a certain time interval PT. Also, in S51 of the third step of band confirmation in FIG.
B3 specified in the parameter information file 122 is allocated as the bandwidth of the additional traffic 7. In the next S52, the transmission packet interval PT is determined based on the band B3 and the packet size H.

The configuration of the device information file 121 and the parameter information file 122 shown in this embodiment, the calculation method of the acquisition time GT (L) in the bandwidth information acquisition destination device (K), the calculation method of the transmission packet interval PT, etc. Can be changed as needed. Also, for example, it is used as the band B2 in the band confirmation second step (B-
As the statistical value of (BB (L)), another statistical value such as an average value can be used instead of the maximum value.

[0072]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to send unnecessary packets as a load more than necessary for confirming the bandwidth. Therefore, as in the case of using FTP or Treno, the network resources of the user are reduced. Do not take away more than necessary. Further, in the present invention, a plurality of objects to be checked are simultaneously measured to check a band, a measurement is performed for each object to be checked in consideration of traffic characteristics, a date and time to be checked are set, quality required by a user and communication network. Since it is possible to measure for each check target in consideration of the quality distribution value for each section and set check conditions, etc., routine monitoring of the available bandwidth of a large-scale communication network accommodating many customers It can be used when performing.

It is important for a provider providing a public communication service to check the communication quality. Also, some operators conclude a contract (SLA) with users to promise to maintain a certain level of communication quality, and pay penalties such as penalties to contract users if the communication quality deteriorates. We also provide services. The present invention makes it possible to ensure high reliability of the measurement and confirmation results required in such a case.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a band confirmation device.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating details of bandwidth information acquisition processing.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the content of a process performed by a band information acquisition unit.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the contents of retry control.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an assumed system.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the band checking device.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a device information file and a parameter information file.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Band check device 2 Communication network 3 Device to be checked 4 Band 5 Router 6 Used band information 7 Additional traffic 11 I / O unit 12 Schedule unit 121 Device information file 122 Parameter information file 123 Measurement start time determination unit 13 Parent process 131 Judgment unit 132 Band information acquisition unit 1321 Band information acquisition command transmission unit 1322 Retry control unit 1323 Failed process stop unit 1324 Abnormal value removal unit 1325 Measurement time estimation unit 133 Transmission load calculation unit 134 Load transmission unit 1341 Additional packet transmission specification adjustment unit

Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Takumi Kimura 2-3-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Hirohisa Taniguchi 2-3-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Date F-term (reference) in this telegraph and telephone company 5K030 GA14 HA08 HC01 JA10 KA01 KA05 KA07 LC08 LC09 MA04 MB09 MC03 MC08 5K035 AA03 BB03 BB04 DD01 EE25 FF01 GG01 GG13 JJ04 KK01

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A method according to claim 1, wherein whether the size of an actually usable band in a specific section from a specific node connected on the communication network to the device to be checked is equal to or larger than a band reference value is different from the specific section. A band confirmation method for confirming with a band confirmation device arranged at a place, wherein the method is connected to the specific section and accesses a predetermined band information acquisition device that relays or monitors information input / output to / from the confirmation target device. And measuring the band on the communication path of the device to be checked as a first step. The first step is to measure the size of the band currently used for the device to be checked at a first time interval Δt1 n1 is measured, and the n1 band measurement values obtained in the first step are compared with a band reference value B, and the number of band measurement values equal to or greater than the band reference value B is equal to or greater than a first determination reference value m1. If it is And considers the number of the band reference value B or more band measurements first
If it is less than the determination reference value m1, the process proceeds to the next second step. As a second step, additional traffic is performed based on a statistical value obtained by performing predetermined statistical processing on the n1 band measurement values in the first step. While determining the band B2, the additional traffic of the additional traffic band B2 is transmitted to the device to be confirmed, and the band currently used for the device to be confirmed is transmitted while the additional traffic is being transmitted. The magnitude is measured at the second time interval Δt2 and the second number of measurements n
2, the n2 band measurement values obtained by the measurement in the second step are compared with a band reference value B, and the number of band measurement values equal to or larger than the band reference value B is determined as a second judgment reference value m2. If the number is equal to or more than the band reference value B and the number of band measurement values equal to or larger than the band reference value B is less than the second determination reference value m2, the process proceeds to the next third step. Band B3 above value B
Is sent to the device to be confirmed,
The size of the band currently used for the device to be confirmed is measured by a third time interval Δt3 for a third number of measurements n3, and the n3 band measurement values obtained by the measurement in the third step are measured. If the number of band measurement values equal to or greater than the band reference value B is equal to or greater than the third determination reference value m3 as compared with the band reference value B, the confirmation is regarded as successful, and the number of band measurement values equal to or greater than the band reference value B is determined. Is less than the third determination criterion value m3, it is considered that the verification is unsuccessful. 2. The bandwidth confirmation method according to claim 1, wherein the identification information of the bandwidth information acquisition device used for bandwidth measurement, the bandwidth reference value B, the first time interval Δt1,
First measurement number n1, first determination reference value m1, second time interval Δt2, second measurement number n2, second determination reference value m2, third time interval Δt3, third measurement number n3 And a parameter including information on a third determination criterion value m3 is held for each of the plurality of devices to be checked, and the parameter is switched for each device to be checked to check the band. 3. The band confirmation method according to claim 2, wherein information on a designated time of the band confirmation is retained for each confirmation target device as a band confirmation schedule, and the bandwidth of a plurality of confirmation target devices is kept in accordance with the retained designated time. A band confirmation method characterized by starting confirmation at independent times. 4. The bandwidth check method according to claim 3, wherein a start time of the program is detected, and the detected start time is compared with each designated time of the band check. A bandwidth confirmation method that immediately executes a bandwidth confirmation, and executes a bandwidth confirmation after a waiting time corresponding to a difference between the two if the activation time is earlier than a designated time. 5. The bandwidth confirmation method according to claim 2, wherein device information relating to the device to be confirmed and confirmation parameter information relating to the bandwidth confirmation are held as independent files, and the confirmation is included in the device information. A band confirmation method characterized by including parameter identification information for identifying a record or a file of parameter information. 6. The bandwidth confirmation method according to claim 2, wherein information of a timeout value and a maximum number of retries are held as parameters for each of the confirmation target devices, and information is acquired when information is acquired from the bandwidth information acquisition device. When the waiting time after the request reaches the timeout value, the information request is retried, and when the number of retries exceeds the maximum number of retries, the retry is terminated. Band check method. 7. The bandwidth confirmation method according to claim 6, wherein when retrying the information request to the bandwidth information acquisition device, a parent-child relationship between a plurality of processes started by the bandwidth confirmation program is considered. And automatically stopping a process for which information acquisition has failed. 8. The bandwidth confirmation method according to claim 1, wherein a time at which an information request is transmitted to the bandwidth information acquisition device and a time at which information from the bandwidth information acquisition device is received as a response to the request. A method of estimating a time at which the band information acquisition device transmits information based on the band information. 9. The band checking method according to claim 1, wherein adjacent measured values are compared for a plurality of measured values sequentially acquired for the band, and when a subsequent measured value is smaller than a preceding measured value, A method of replacing a subsequent measurement value with a predetermined dummy value, and excluding the information from a determination target when a dummy value is assigned to the measurement value. 10. The bandwidth check method according to claim 1, wherein, when the additional traffic is transmitted, a packet transmission interval of the additional traffic is obtained based on a designated packet size and a size of a band allocated to the additional traffic. Transmitting the additional traffic according to the determined packet transmission interval. 11. A band checking device for checking the size of an actually available band of a device to be checked connected to a specific section on a communication network at a place different from the device to be checked, An information acquisition unit that accesses a predetermined band information acquisition device that is connected to the specific section and relays or monitors information input to and output from the confirmation target device and measures a band on a communication path of the confirmation target device; The identification information of at least the bandwidth information acquisition device used for the bandwidth measurement, the reference value of the bandwidth, the time interval for acquiring the bandwidth information, the number of times the bandwidth information is acquired, and the information of the designated time for starting the bandwidth confirmation are to be confirmed. Schedule information holding means for each device, and automatically confirming a band for each of the plurality of devices to be checked in accordance with the information held in the schedule information holding means. And a band confirmation control means to be implemented. 12. The band checking device according to claim 11,
The schedule information holding unit holds the information of the timeout value and the maximum number of retries as a parameter for each of the check target devices, and the waiting time after requesting the information when acquiring information from the band information acquisition device is the waiting time. Retry control means for retrying a request for information when a timeout value is reached, and terminating the retry when the number of retries exceeds the maximum number of retries; Confirmation device. 13. The band check device according to claim 11,
When retrying the information request to the bandwidth information acquisition device, automatically take care of the process that failed to acquire the information in consideration of the parent-child relationship between multiple processes started by the bandwidth confirmation program. A bandwidth confirmation device provided with a failed process stop control means for performing the process. 14. The band checking device according to claim 11,
The time at which the band information acquisition device transmits information based on the time at which the information request was sent to the band information acquisition device and the time at which information was received from the band information acquisition device in response to the request. A time estimating means for estimating the frequency band.