Network congestion analysis
View Patent ↗Application messages are segregated into message paths, and the delays of the transmitted packets associated with each message path are independently analyzed to distinguish propagation, bandwidth, congestion, and protocol delays. To further distinguish the congestion delays, all of the paths of the application messages are assessed to identify delays induced by the application, including self-congestion delay, corresponding to pre-congestion delays caused by attempting to send data from a source device faster than the bandwidth of the channel allows, and cross-congestion delay, corresponding to post-congestion delays caused by varying delays beyond a bottleneck link in the channel. The remaining congestion delay is identified as network congestion delay, corresponding to delays caused by network devices other than the source device. After identifying each of the components of delay, the effect of each component on the overall delay is determined to identify where improvements can best be made.
1. A method of determining delay components of an application sequence comprising:
partitioning, on a network analysis system, the application sequence into a plurality of message paths,
identifying, by the network analysis system, a set of packets corresponding to each message path, each packet having an associated set of packet delay components,
determining, by the network analysis system, a set of message delay components corresponding to each message path, based on the sets of packet delay components associated with the message path,
wherein
the set of packet delay components includes a packet bandwidth delay, and
determining the set of message delay components includes:
determining one or more occurrences of message bandwidth delay, based on occurrences of packet bandwidth delay in one or more of the sets of packet delay components associated with the message path, and
determining one or more occurrences of message congestion delay, based on an absence of occurrences of packet bandwidth delay in one or more of the sets of packet delay components associated with the message path.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the set of message delay components includes determining one or more occurrences of message self-congestion delay, based on a concurrent occurrence of message bandwidth delay in at least two message paths, and the method includes adjusting the set of message delay components corresponding to at least one of the at least two message paths based on the one or more occurrences of message self-congestion delay.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein determining the set of message delay components includes determining one or more occurrences of message cross-congestion delay, based on a concurrent occurrence of message bandwidth delay in at least two message paths, and the method includes adjusting the set of message delay components corresponding to at least one of the at least two message paths based on the one or more occurrences of message cross-congestion delay.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of packet delay components includes a packet congestion delay, and determining the set of message delay components includes determining one or more occurrences of message protocol delay, based on an absence of occurrences of packet congestion delay and packet bandwidth delay associated with the message path.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the set of message delay components includes determining one or more occurrences of message latency delay, based on a distance associated with the message path.
6. The method of claim 1 , including determining the associated set of packet delay components for each packet based on a size of each packet and a minimum bandwidth associated with the corresponding message path.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining the associated set of packet delay components for each packet is also based on a distance traveled by the packet.
8. The method of claim 1 , including displaying one or more of the sets of message delay components associated with one or more of the message paths.
9. The method of claim 1 , including:
modifying one or more components of the determined sets of message delay components to produce a set of modified message delay components for each message path,
adjusting a time of occurrence of the modified message delay components in each message path,
determining one or more occurrences of message self-congestion delay, based on a concurrent occurrence of message bandwidth delay of the modified message delay components in at least two message paths,
adjusting the set of modified message delay components corresponding to at least one of the at least two message paths based on the one or more occurrences of message self-congestion delay, and
identifying one or more differences between the sets of message delay components and the sets of modified delay components.
10. The method of claim 9 , including displaying one or more of the sets of modified message delay components associated with one or more of the message paths.
11. A method of determining delay components of an application sequence, comprising:
partitioning, by a network analysis system, the application sequence into one or more message paths;
identifying, by the network analysis system, a set of packets corresponding to each message path; and
for each message path:
for each packet in the message path:
identifying a time of occurrence of a total packet delay associated with the packet,
identifying a packet latency delay and a packet bandwidth delay within the total packet delay, and
identifying a packet congestion delay within the total packet delay, corresponding to a difference between the total packet delay and a sum of the packet latency delay and the packet bandwidth delay; and
for each time period in the application sequence:
identifying each of the total packet delays in the message path occurring at this time period,
if any of the total packet delays include a packet bandwidth delay occurring at this time period, identify this time period as including a message bandwidth delay, and
if none of the total packet delays include a packet bandwidth delay occurring at this time period, and any of the total packet delays include a packet congestion delay occurring at this time period, identify this time period as including a message congestion delay, and
providing, by the network analysis system, a report based on one or more of the identified message congestion delays.
12. The method of claim 11 , including adjusting a time of occurrence of one or more packet bandwidth delays based on a concurrent time of occurrence of packet bandwidth delays among two or more conflicting packets.
13. The method of claim 12 , including identifying an ending time period corresponding to the packet latency delay of a last packet associated with an application message in the application sequence, and identifying the ending time period as including a message latency delay.
14. The method of claim 13 , including identifying an interim time period between the ending time period and a start of a corresponding reply message in the application sequence, and identifying the interim time period as including a message processing delay.
15. The method of claim 14 , including identifying each time period in the application sequence that has not been identified as including message congestion delay, message bandwidth delay, message latency delay, and message processing delay as including a message protocol delay.
16. The method of claim 12 , including identifying a message time period associated with one or more messages of the application sequence, and identifying time periods in the message time period that have not been identified as including message congestion delay or message bandwidth delay as including a message protocol delay.
17. The method of claim 12 , wherein adjusting the time of occurrence includes identifying a time interval corresponding to the adjusting as including an application induced congestion delay.
18. The method of claim 17 , including identifying a concurrent period of occurrence of message bandwidth delay in a first message path and message congestion delay in one or more other message paths, and identifying the concurrent period in the one or more other message paths as also including application induced congestion delay.
19. The method of claim 18 , including identifying each time period that includes a message congestion delay and does not include a message induced congestion delay as including a network congestion delay.
20. The method of claim 11 , including identifying a concurrent period of occurrence of message bandwidth delay in a first message path and message congestion delay in one or more other message paths, and identifying the concurrent period in the one or more other message paths as including application induced congestion delay.
21. The method of claim 20 , including identifying each time period that includes a message congestion delay and does not include a message induced congestion delay as including a network congestion delay.
22. A method of determining one or more effects of modifying delays in an application sequence, comprising:
identifying, by a network analysis system, a first sequence of message delay components in each message path of the application sequence, the message delay components including at least a network congestion delay, a self congestion delay, and a message bandwidth delay;
modifying, by the network analysis system, one or more of the message delay components in the first sequence of each message path and correspondingly adjusting a time of occurrence of the message delay components to provide a contiguous second sequence of message delay components in each message path;
determining, by the network analysis system, occurrences of self congestion delay in the second sequence of message delay components in each message path and correspondingly adjusting a time of occurrence of the message delay components to provide a contiguous third sequence of message delay components in each message path based on the occurrences of self congestion delay; and
identifying, by the network analysis system, one or more differences between the first sequence of message delay components and the second sequence of message delay components of at least one message path.
23. The method of claim 22 , wherein modifying the one or more message delay components in the first sequence includes automatically removing occurrences of self congestion delay.
24. The method of claim 22 , wherein the message delay components also include a message latency delay and a message protocol.
25. The method of claim 24 , wherein the message delay components also include a message processing delay.
26. The method of claim 22 , wherein each message in each message path of the application sequence includes one or more packets, each packet having associated occurrences of packet bandwidth delay and packet congestion delay; and determining occurrences of self congestion delay includes determining periods of concurrent occurrences of packet bandwidth delay in a first message path and packet congestion delay in one or more second message paths.
27. A computer program stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium that, when executed, causes a processor to effect a process comprising:
partitioning an application sequence into a plurality of message paths,
identifying a set of packets corresponding to each message path, each packet having an associated set of packet delay components,
determining a set of message delay components corresponding to each message path, based on the sets of packet delay components associated with the message path,
wherein
the set of packet delay components includes a packet bandwidth delay, and
determining the set of message delay components includes:
determining one or more occurrences of message bandwidth delay, based on occurrences of packet bandwidth delay in one or more of the sets of packet delay components associated with the message path, and
determining one or more occurrences of message congestion delay, based on an absence of occurrences of packet bandwidth delay in one or more of the sets of packet delay components associated with the message path.
28. The program of claim 27 , wherein determining the set of message delay components includes determining one or more occurrences of message self-congestion delay, based on a concurrent occurrence of message bandwidth delay in at least two message paths, and the process includes adjusting the set of message delay components corresponding to at least one of the at least two message paths based on the one or more occurrences of message self-congestion delay.
29. The program of claim 28 , wherein determining the set of message delay components includes determining one or more occurrences of message cross-congestion delay, based on a concurrent occurrence of message bandwidth delay in at least two message paths, and the process includes adjusting the set of message delay components corresponding to at least one of the at least two message paths based on the one or more occurrences of message cross-congestion delay.
30. The program of claim 27 , wherein the set of packet delay components includes a packet congestion delay, and determining the set of message delay components includes determining one or more occurrences of message protocol delay, based on an absence of occurrences of packet congestion delay and packet bandwidth delay associated with the message path.
31. The program of claim 27 , wherein the process includes displaying one or more of the sets of message delay components associated with one or more of the message paths.
32. The program of claim 27 , wherein the process includes:
modifying one or more components of the determined sets of message delay components to produce a set of modified message delay components for each message path,
adjusting a time of occurrence of the modified message delay components in each message path,
determining one or more occurrences of message self-congestion delay, based on a concurrent occurrence of message bandwidth delay of the modified message delay components in at least two message paths,
adjusting the set of modified message delay components corresponding to at least one of the at least two message paths based on the one or more occurrences of message self-congestion delay,
identifying one or more differences between the sets of message delay components and the sets of modified delay components, and
displaying one or more of the sets of modified message delay components associated with one or more of the message paths.
33. The program of claim 27 , wherein determining the one or more occurrences of message bandwidth delay and message congestion delay includes:
for each message path:
for each packet in the message path:
identifying a time of occurrence of a total packet delay associated with the packet,
identifying a packet latency delay and a packet bandwidth delay within the total packet delay, and
identifying a packet congestion delay within the total packet delay, corresponding to a difference between the total packet delay and a sum of the packet latency delay and the packet bandwidth delay; and
for each time period in the application sequence:
identifying each of the total packet delays in the message path occurring at this time period,
if any of the total packet delays include a packet bandwidth delay occurring at this time period, identify this time period as including a message bandwidth delay, and
if none of the total packet delays include a packet bandwidth delay occurring at this time period, and any of the total packet delays include a packet congestion delay occurring at this time period, identify this time period as including a message congestion delay.
34. The program of claim 33 , wherein the process includes adjusting a time of occurrence of one or more packet bandwidth delays based on a concurrent time of occurrence of packet bandwidth delays among two or more conflicting packets.
35. The program of claim 34 , wherein the process includes:
identifying an ending time period corresponding to the packet latency delay of a last packet associated with an application message in the application sequence, and
identifying the ending time period as including a message latency delay,
identifying an interim time period between the ending time period and a start of a corresponding reply message in the application sequence, and
identifying the interim time period as including a message processing delay, and
identifying each time period in the application sequence that has not been identified as including message congestion delay, message bandwidth delay, message latency delay, and message processing delay as including a message protocol delay.
36. The program of claim 33 , wherein the process includes:
identifying a message time period associated with one or more messages of the application sequence, and
identifying time periods in the message time period that have not been identified as including message congestion delay or message bandwidth delay as including a message protocol delay.
37. The program of claim 33 , wherein the process includes:
identifying a concurrent period of occurrence of message bandwidth delay in a first message path and message congestion delay in one or more other message paths, and
identifying the concurrent period in the one or more other message paths as including application induced congestion delay, and
identifying each time period that includes a message congestion delay and does not include a message induced congestion delay as including a network congestion delay.
38. A computer program stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium that, when executed, causes a processor to determine one or more effects of modifying delays in an application sequence by effecting a process comprising:
identifying a first sequence of message delay components in each message path of the application sequence, the message delay components including at least a network congestion delay, a self congestion delay, and a message bandwidth delay;
modifying one or more of the message delay components in the first sequence of each message path and correspondingly adjusting a time of occurrence of the message delay components to provide a contiguous second sequence of message delay components in each message path;
determining occurrences of self congestion delay in the second sequence of message delay components in each message path and correspondingly adjusting a time of occurrence of the message delay components to provide a contiguous third sequence of message delay components in each message path based on the occurrences of self congestion delay; and
identifying one or more differences between the first sequence of message delay components and the second sequence of message delay components of at least one message path.
39. The program of claim 38 , wherein modifying the one or more message delay components in the first sequence includes automatically removing occurrences of self congestion delay.
40. The program of claim 38 , wherein each message in each message path of the application sequence includes one or more packets, each packet having associated occurrences of packet bandwidth delay and packet congestion delay; and determining occurrences of self congestion delay includes determining periods of concurrent occurrences of packet bandwidth delay in a first message path and packet congestion delay in one or more second message paths.