Cisco Technology, Inc.

John H Jannotti

James O'Toole

The invention is directed to techniques for managing a network of nodes by automatically configuring the arrangement of nodes in the network. A network manager in a node selects a group of nodes and compares network metrics for each node in the group, such as a bottleneck bandwidth measurement from each node to a root node of the network. The network manager selects a target node using the network metrics. Optionally, the network manager can select a new group of nodes using the target node, compare network metrics for the new group, and optionally select a new target node. If the node is a newly connecting node to the network, the network manager can repeat this process of selecting new groups until establishing a relationship with a target node that is not a root node (e.g., with performance that is the same, or about the same, as the root node), because the goal is not to overload the root node with too many relationships. If the node is a node with an established relationship to the network that is trying to reconnect to a new target node, the network manager can repeat the process of selecting new groups until establishing a relationship with a new target node that provides improved performance than the previous target node, but is, preferably, not the root node.

Methods and apparatus for managing the arrangement of nodes in a network

The invention is directed to techniques for managing data distribution in a network. A source or root node distributes data (e.g., video data) throughout a network of nodes by distributing data from parent to child through a tree of nodes. The nodes distribute the data through the network concurrently in a real-time manner, but retain copies of the data in nonvolatile data storage on each node. Thus, the data remains accessible on each node so that the data is available after the real-time distribution of the data. After the real-time distribution of the data, a new node can attach to any of the nodes currently in the network as a child of that node, and then the new node can request a copy of the data from the data storage of that parent node.

Methods and apparatus for managing data distribution in a network

The invention is directed to techniques for maintaining a map of node relationships for a network of nodes (e.g., network of computers). In one example, the map of node relationships represents relationships overlaying and typically different from the network of physical connections among the nodes. Each child node periodically checks in with its parent nodes, and the parent nodes can thus determine when a child node has terminated a relationship with the parent or created a new relationship with a new parent. Changes in relationships propagate upward through the network of nodes so that each node maintains a map of the relationships among the descendants of that node. A root node receives the propagated change relationship information and maintains a map of the entire network and valid pathways through the network. The root node can use the map when responding to a request from a client to receive services from a node in the network and redirects the client to attach to a node in the network that has a valid path to the root node. The root node can then broadcast data (e.g. a stream of video data) throughout the network, which is received by all the clients attached to nodes in the network.

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Cambridge, MA, United States of America

John H Jannotti