Hi/fn Inc.

Apptitude, Inc.

Joseph R Maixner

Russell S Dietz

Andrew A Koppenhaver

James F Torgerson

Armin Amrhein

Haig A Sarkissian

William H Bares

A monitor for and a method of examining packets passing through a connection point on a computer network. Each packets conforms to one or more protocols. The method includes receiving a packet from a packet acquisition device and performing one or more parsing/extraction operations on the packet to create a parser record comprising a function of selected portions of the packet. The parsing/extraction operations depend on one or more of the protocols to which the packet conforms. The method further includes looking up a flow-entry database containing flow-entries for previously encountered conversational flows. The lookup uses the selected packet portions and determining if the packet is of an existing flow. If the packet is of an existing flow, the method classifies the packet as belonging to the found existing flow, and if the packet is of a new flow, the method stores a new flow-entry for the new flow in the flow-entry database, including identifying information for future packets to be identified with the new flow-entry. For the packet of an existing flow, the method updates the flow-entry of the existing flow. Such updating may include storing one or more statistical measures. Any stage of a flow, state is maintained, and the method performs any state processing for an identified state to further the process of identifying the flow. The method thus examines each and every packet passing through the connection point in real time until the application program associated with the conversational flow is determined.

Method and apparatus for monitoring traffic in a network

A method of and monitor apparatus for analyzing a flow of packets passing through a connection point on a computer network. The method includes receiving a packet from a packet acquisition device, and looking up a flow-entry database containing flow-entries for previously encountered conversational flows. The looking up to determine if the received packet is of an existing flow. Each and every packet is processed. If the packet is of an existing flow, the method updates the flow-entry of the existing flow, including storing one or more statistical measures kept in the flow-entry. If the packet is of a new flow, the method stores a new flow-entry for the new flow in the flow-entry database, including storing one or more statistical measures kept in the flow-entry. The statistical measures are used to determine metrics related to the flow. The metrics may be base metrics from which quality of service metrics are determined, or may be the quality of service metrics.

Re-using information from data transactions for maintaining statistics in network monitoring

Growing community of inventors

Aptos, CA, United States of America

Joseph R Maixner