Network simulation and analysis using operational forwarding data

Abstract

A hybrid approach to populating forwarding tables in a virtual network obtains forwarding data both by simulating routing protocol behavior in the virtual network to build forwarding tables, and by importing operational forwarding data from corresponding physical nodes in a physical network. The use of operational forwarding data improves the fidelity of the simulation by closely conforming forwarding behavior in the simulation to that which occurs in the physical network.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of network analysis, comprising:
 providing a virtual network environment comprising virtual network nodes and simulated links between the virtual nodes, at least some of the virtual network nodes representing physical network nodes in a physical network;   obtaining operational forwarding data from one or more of the physical network nodes, the operational forwarding data mapping datagram destination addresses to next-hop network addresses and thus specifying how datagrams are routed through the physical network;   applying the operational forwarding data to corresponding virtual network nodes; and   
       for one or more virtual network nodes, computing forwarding data by simulating routing protocol behavior in the virtual network environment. 
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising simulating traffic flow in the virtual network environment. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising performing traffic and capacity analysis based on the simulated traffic flow. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  further comprising simulating traffic flow having different Quality of Service (QoS) constraints in the virtual network environment and performing traffic and capacity analyses for the different QoS constraints. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3  further comprising simulating traffic flow having different burst characteristics in the virtual network environment and performing traffic and capacity analyses for the different burst characteristics. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising performing security analysis based on the simulated traffic flow. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the security analysis checks for traffic that pass through the network and traffic that is blocked by security policies. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising generating a graphical representation of the virtual network. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising accepting a selection of a virtual node, and graphically indicating how traffic from any device in the network reaches the selected node. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising reporting the forwarding data. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  wherein reporting the forwarding data comprises reporting whether proper default routes appear in the forwarding tables of devices for which forwarding data is computed. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising applying one or more organizational policies to the virtual network and reporting conformance to the policies in the simulated traffic flow. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  wherein a policy avoids multiple next hops to a destination to avoid asymmetric routing. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  wherein obtaining operational forwarding data from one or more physical network nodes comprises extracting a forwarding table from each physical network node by a shell command. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1  wherein obtaining operational forwarding data from one or more physical network nodes comprises issuing a command to a physical network node to export the forwarding table. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1  wherein obtaining operational forwarding data from one or more physical network nodes comprises issuing a command to a physical network node to export all forwarding data and analyzing the forwarding data to obtain a forwarding table. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising filtering the operational forwarding data to remove data irrelevant to a simulation. 
     
     
         18 . A non-transitory computer readable medium including one or more computer programs operative to cause a computer to perform network analysis, the computer programs operative to cause the computer to perform the steps of:
 providing a virtual network environment comprising virtual network nodes and simulated links between the virtual nodes, at least some of the virtual network nodes representing physical network nodes in a physical network;   obtaining operational forwarding data from one or more of the physical network nodes, the operational forwarding data mapping datagram destination addresses to next-hop network addresses and thus specifying how datagrams are routed through the physical network;   applying the operational forwarding data to corresponding virtual network nodes; and   for one or more virtual network nodes, computing forwarding data by simulating routing protocol behavior in the virtual network environment.   
     
     
         19 . The computer readable medium of  claim 18  wherein the computer programs are further operative to cause the computer to perform the step of simulating traffic flow in the virtual network environment. 
     
     
         20 . The computer readable medium of  claim 19  wherein the computer programs are further operative to cause the computer to perform traffic and capacity analysis based on the simulated traffic flow. 
     
     
         21 . The computer readable medium of  claim 19  wherein the computer programs are further operative to cause the computer to perform security analysis based on the simulated traffic flow. 
     
     
         22 . The computer readable medium of  claim 19  wherein the computer programs are further operative to cause the computer to generate a graphical representation of the virtual network. 
     
     
         23 . The computer readable medium of  claim 19  wherein the computer programs are further operative to cause the computer to apply one or more organizational policies to the virtual network and report conformance to the policies in the simulated traffic flow.