Network Visualization and Service Monitoring
Research in a Large ISP
Stephen North
Information Visualization Research
AT&T Laboratories, Florham Park, NJ (USA)
north@research.att.com
© 2008 AT&T. All rights reserved.
Experience
Vizgems Impact
Graph visualization technology
Version 1: 300,000,000 voice call attempts/day; 1 feed
Improved readability of network diagrams
Version 2: 500,000 virtual circuits; 5 OSS feeds
Large network rendering and browsing
Version 6 - 7: supports large enterprise customers
“Graphs as maps”
50,000 Internet hosting devices
Hybrid techniques for analysis + visualization
12,000 WiFi access points
ICDN
Vizgems - managed service visualization
Enables data integration in the human interface.
Shows service configuration and status in realtime.
(planned) 50,000 managed security service routers
AT&T Domestic IP backbone, 2007-8
•
~ 800 high speed routers
Scales to hundreds of millions of events/day.
•
~ OC768 (40Gbps), OC192 (10Gbps), OC48 (2.5Gbps)
backbone link speeds
Integrates archival and online data.
•
~1500 GB/day in detailed measurement traffic (Netflow)
•
Common Backbone has ~ 18 TAP collectors,
each monitoring ~40 backbone routers
•
Busiest collectors handle a daily average of 25 Gbps of traffic
Provides point-and-click maps, charts, tables, and
network diagrams in generic web pages.
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
© 2008 AT&T. All rights reserved.
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Network visualization myths
Network visualization is about making new graphical metaphors.
Network visualization is about making it easy to access data and see
patterns.
Network visualization should contribute powerful new tools.
Visualization should contribute effective techniques to other platforms.
Network management relies heavily on comprehensive overviews for awareness of
system status and analysis of emerging problems.
Network management is organized around specific, focused tasks.
Network operators need tools for automatic anomaly detection and prediction.
Network operators need tools for anomaly understanding.
Databases and data warehouses make it possible to cope with scale in visualization.
Well….
© 2008 AT&T. All rights reserved.