2.6.

2 Telecom Traffic Engineering (C-DoT)

Introduction
With exponential growth in data and multimedia
traffic, communication
networks worldwide are migrating to the more
efficient IP/MPLS over DWDM
networks. The combination of IP/MPLS and DWDM
transport network technologies
provide a compelling choice for meeting the exploding
network traffic
demands. IP/MPLS over DWDM network retain the
advantages of simultaneous
hosting of multiple virtual network topologies and also
are able to support
the upcoming Network Function Virtualization (NFV)
architectures efficiently.
Problem Statement
Similar to contemporary Virtual Private Networks
(VPNs), service providers
overlay virtual network topologies over physical optical
transport topologies by
connecting IP/MPLS routers through virtual links in
order to organize traffic
in their multi-layer IP/MPLS networks efficiently. These
virtual links may
in turn be directly mapped to coloured wavelengths in
the underlying optical
networks. Traffic forecasting in such networks is
generally based on static IP/MPLS
topologies. In static topologies, virtual links are usually
overprovisioned
to cater for deviations from the forecasted traffic, thus
leading to inefficient use
of networks resources and increase in cost of
ownership.
In order to cater to overflow traffic once the pre-
defined ’utilization threshold’
of an existing link is exceeded, virtual network
topologies are adapted by
creating additional virtual links and/or deleting some
existing ones. However,
such techniques are suitable for networks with
deterministic traffic patterns like
traditional voice networks. The proliferation of new
types of high bandwidth
services like content delivery, video distribution, data
centre interconnection
etc. cause not only changes capacity demand in
existing virtual links, but more
importantly they cause intra-day variations in direction
of the network traffic.
Additionally, with the advent of Software Defined
Networking (SDN) and Network
Function Virtualization (NFV) the traffic patterns in
networks are becoming
increasingly on-demand and dynamic. Predictability
traffic patterns
and therefore the reconfiguration of virtual network
topologies at the network
and transport levels become too complex for manual
reconfiguration. Alternate
network resource optimization mechanisms based on
Linear Programming, not
dependent on human intervention, need to be evolved
for the contemporary and
future communication networks.
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Proposed Solution Traffic data records the time and
duration of a communication.
Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) is a methodology for
examining this
data to determine the detailed shape of the
communication streams, the identities
of the communicating end points, and what can be
established about
their location in the network. The data may be sketchy
or incomplete. Simply
knowing what typical communication patterns look like
can be used to infer
information about a particular observed
communication.
The proposed solution is to use traffic analysis to
develop algorithmic automation
techniques for dynamic reconfiguration of virtual
network topologies. Because
most of many basic and fundamental optimization
problems on communication
networks are categorized into linear programming
problems, this proposal
focuses on using Linear Programming techniques for
determining optimal
virtual network topologies based on statistical traffic
flows. When network
operators or service providers design and control their
networks in practical
environments, in most cases they first formulate an
optimization problem that
corresponds to the desired communication networks
with required parameters,
and then they solve the problem by running linear
programming solvers on computing
systems. Such techniques are a refinement over the
prevalent approach
of context free adaptation of virtual link capacities
based on bandwidth alone.
They do so by also taking into account end-to-end
monitoring of a multitude of
source-destination traffic parameters using deep
packet inspection at the network
edge.
The techniques evolved through this proposal are then
proposed to be embodied
as a software system that works as follows. Traffic
monitoring data is collected at
regular intervals using network probes built into
IP/MPLS edge routers. Every
edge router in the network collects sets of data
samples to all other destination
routers in the network. These source-destination
sample sets are continuously
collected and stored as time series data in a common
large distributed data
repository. The time series is periodically retrieved for
each source-destination
pair by a software module which summarizes the
collected data into modelled
data representing traffic pattern between that origin
destination pair for the current
period. Summarized data over a large number of
previous time periods is
retrieved by another prediction software module
which uses machine learning
techniques to generate source-destination traffic
matrix for the next time period.
The newly generated traffic matrix becomes input to
an analysis software module
which uses sophisticated mathematical algorithms
involving combination of
statistics, graph theory, neural networks, linear
programming etc. to decide
whether the current virtual network topology needs to
be changed and how.
Depending on results of the analysis module,
actionable information is derived
which is used to automatically reprogram virtual link
topology at the IP/MPLS
and/or the wavelength level depending on granularity
of the refinement required
between an origin-destination pair.
58
Figure 2 illustrates a broad overview of the proposed
approach.
Main Optimization
Algorithm MPPLAB
Output Analysis/ Control/
Reconfiguration Variables
DWDM control
IP/ MPLS Control
Input generation for
Main Algorithm
Prediction/ Stat Module
Data Models
Data Mining
Probe Probe Probe
IP/MPLS Network Layer
DWDM Optical Layer
Virtual Links
Figure .2: Overview of the proposed approach
Network traffic sampling can additionally be used for
analysing multiple security
use cases such as detection of suspicious activity to
investigation of activity that
might be an incident, to post breach forensics.
Consequently, implementing and
embedding software that understands normal traffic
patterns and operations to
detect and investigate abnormal ones using network
traffic analysis can be used
in building secure routers. Such secure routers have
the capability to enhance
network security much beyond the aggregate security
achievable by secure links
alone in the network.
Project Deliverables
• Prototype Network Traffic Analysis and Virtual
Topology Reconfiguration
Application coupled to MPPLAB
59
• Network Probes for traffic collection & classification
• Test Bed at C-DOT for proving the above
reconfiguration application
Project Timelines
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
SN Activity# Quarter! 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11
12
1.0
Development of Network
Traffic Analysis (NTA)
Application
1.1 Study of Application approaches
1.2 Requirement specification for application
1.3 Model & Algorithm creation
1.4 Coding and Testing of Application
1.5
Phase 1 demonstration of traffic
analysis application on standard
compute servers
1.6 Algorithms optimization & code
parallelization for scalability
1.7
Phase 2 demonstration of traffic
analysis application on scaled
computing systems
2.0 Development of Network
Probes
2.1 Identification of changes in indigenous
routers
2.2 Requirement specification for
software probes
2.3 Probe software development
2.4 Testing of probes
2.5 Collection of sample data
2.6 Testing with Phase 1 traffic analysis
application
2.7 Testing with Phase 2 traffic analysis
application
3.0 System Proving on Test Bed
3.1 NKN connectivity setup
3.2 Load Tester Development
3.3 Production of Routers
3.4 Production of DWDM systems
3.5 Test Bed creation
3.6
Application testing with IP/MPLS
Routers and DWDM systems
60
3.7 Demonstration of test bed
Conclusion A new approach to automate the
reconfiguration of network
topologies for IP/MPLS over DWDM networks is
proposed. The proposal envisages
creating an embodiment of the concept in a test bed to
be set up at
C-DOT which closely models the behaviour of real
packet networks.
The project involves development of network probes,
novel optimization algorithms
and analysis software which will be demonstrated in
the testbed as a
unified system. The outcome of this research program
will be a set of prototype
deliverables. On successful completion, the prototype
deliverables will be
evolved by C-DOT into a commercial grade product(s)
which will be usable
for optimizing private, service provider, public and
strategic networks in the
country.