Apparatus and method for evaluation network traffic performance

United States Patent m

Lewis et al.

[54] APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR EVALUATION NETWORK TRAFFIC PERFORMANCE

[75] Inventors: Lundy Lewis, Mason; Utpal Datta. Bedford, both of N.H.

[73] Assignee: Cabletron Systems, Inc., Rochester, N.H.

[21] Appl. No.: 382,294 [22] Filed: Feb. 1, 1995

[51] IntCL6 G06F 9/455

[52] U.S. CI 395/260.11; 395/500; 364/DIG. 1;

364/264.3; 364/284; 364/284.4

[58] Field of Search 395/200.11, 500;

364/550

[56] References Cited

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5,375,070 12/1994 Hershey et al 364/550

5,412,753 5/1995 Alston et al 395/12

5,440,719 8/1995 Hanes et al 395/500

5,542,047 7/1996 Armstrong 395/200.11

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US005706436A [ii] Patent Number: 5,706,436 [45] Date of Patent: Jan. 6, 1998

5,572,674 11/1996 Ernst 395/200.11

FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS

0 496 061 A2 7/1992 European Pat. Off. . 0 621 734 A2 10/1994 European Pat. Off. .

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Haraszti et al„ "Plasma—An Integrated Tool For ATM Network Operation." ISS '95 World Telecommunications Congress, vol. 1, pp. 314-318 (Apr. 23-28. 1995, Berlin). Awerbuch et al., "Sparse Partitions." 31st Annual Symposium On Foundations Of Computer Science, vol. 2, pp. 503-513 (Oct 22-24, 1990, St Louis, MO). Bouloutas et al., "Some Graph Partitioning Problems And Algorithms Related To Routing In Large Computer Networks," The 9th International Conference On Distributed Systems, pp. 362-370 (Jun. 5-9. 1989, Newport Beach, CA).

Primary Examiner—Mehmet B. GeckH

Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Wolf. Greenfield & Sacks. PC.

[57] ABSTRACT

Traffic on a communications network is evaluated based on intra-subnet and inter-subnet traffic volumes. Values indicative of such volumes and of the overall network balance are displayed, along with alternative node topologies which may be evaluated and displayed The overall network performance is based on equalizing intra-subnet traffic volume and minimizing inter-subnet traffic volume.

26 Claims, 7 Drawing Sheets