Policy based automatic flow collection discovery
View Patent ↗In some aspects, the disclosure is directed to methods and systems for automatically identifying a set of communications flows in a network environment, and grouping the identified set into a flow collection for management and monitoring. The system may dynamically maintaining the group membership, without requiring manual analysis and grouping. As a result, manual grouping of flows may be avoided, avoiding this complex, tedious, and error prone task, and allowing easier and more efficient administration and management.
1. A method for management of communications flows, comprising:
identifying, by a management device from a plurality of devices, a first subset of devices associated with a given criteria;
determining, by the management device via monitoring of a first plurality of communications flows between the first subset of devices and one or more initiator endpoints, a subset of initiator endpoints that communicate with the identified first subset of devices;
adding, by the management device, each flow between the subset of initiator endpoints and the first subset of devices to a flow classification group;
identifying, by the management device via monitoring of a second plurality of communications flows between the subset of initiator endpoints and the plurality of devices, a second subset of devices that are targets of the communications flows from the initiator endpoints;
adding, by the management device, each flow between the subset of initiator endpoints and the second subset of devices to the flow classification group; and
applying, by the management device, a processing policy to each flow of the flow classification group.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first subset of devices and second subset of devices comprise storage devices.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein applying the processing policy further comprises providing the processing policy to a network device deployed as an intermediary between a first initiator endpoint of the subset of initiator endpoints and a device of the first or second subset of devices.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the criteria comprises an application name, a logical unit number (LUN), a server name, or a zone name.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving the criteria, by the management device, via a user interface.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the criteria comprises a search expression received via the user interface; and further comprising identifying devices matching the search expression, by the management device, from criteria of devices identified in a database of the management device.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
subsequently identifying a new flow between one of the subset of initiator endpoints and one of the first subset of devices or second subset of devices; and
responsive to the identification of the new flow, adding the new flow to the flow classification group.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
subsequently determining that a flow between one of the subset of initiator endpoints and one of the first subset of devices or second subset of devices has terminated; and
responsive to the determination that the flow has been terminated, removing the terminated flow from the flow classification group.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the subset of initiator endpoints that communicate with the identified first subset of devices further comprises extracting, from a log generated by the management device via monitoring of the first plurality of communications flows, a subset of flows having the first subset of devices as endpoints, the log identifying each endpoint of a flow.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein monitoring of the first plurality of communications flows and generation of the log are performed prior to identifying the first subset of devices associated with the given criteria.
11. A system for management of communications flows, comprising:
a management device in communication with a plurality of devices, the management device comprising a processor configured to:
identifying, from the plurality of devices, a first subset of devices associated with a given criteria,
determine, via monitoring of a first plurality of communications flows between the first subset of devices and one or more initiator endpoints, a subset of initiator endpoints that communicate with the identified first subset of devices,
add each flow between the subset of initiator endpoints and the first subset of devices to a flow classification group,
identify, via monitoring of a second plurality of communications flows between the subset of initiator endpoints and the plurality of devices, a second subset of devices that are targets of the communications flows from the initiator endpoints,
add each flow between the subset of initiator endpoints and the second subset of devices to the flow classification group, and
apply a processing policy to each flow of the flow classification group.
12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the first subset of devices and second subset of devices comprise storage devices.
13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the management device is further configured to provide the processing policy to a network device deployed as an intermediary between a first initiator endpoint of the subset of initiator endpoints and a device of the first or second subset of devices.
14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the criteria comprises an application name, a logical unit number (LUN), a server name, or a zone name.
15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the management device is further configured to receive the criteria via a user interface.
16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the criteria comprises a search expression received via the user interface and wherein the management device is further configured to identify devices matching the search expression, by the management device, from criteria of devices identified in a database of the management device.
17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the management device is further configured to:
subsequently identify a new flow between one of the subset of initiator endpoints and one of the first subset of devices or second subset of devices; and
responsive to the identification of the new flow, add the new flow to the flow classification group.
18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the management device is further configured to:
subsequently determine that a flow between one of the subset of initiator endpoints and one of the first subset of devices or second subset of devices has terminated; and
responsive to the determination that the flow has been terminated, remove the terminated flow from the flow classification group.
19. The system of claim 15 , wherein the management device is further configured to extract, from a log generated by the management device via monitoring of the first plurality of communications flows, a subset of flows having the first subset of devices as endpoints, the log identifying each endpoint of a flow.
20. The system of claim 19 , wherein monitoring of the first plurality of communications flows and generation of the log are performed prior to identifying the first subset of devices associated with the given criteria.