Monitoring Flow Aggregates with Controllable Accuracy

In this paper, we show the feasibility of real-time flow monitoring with controllable accuracy in today’s IP networks. Our approach is based on Netflow and A-GAP. A-GAP is a protocol for continuous monitoring of network state variables, which are computed from device metrics using aggregation functions, such as SUM, AVERAGE and MAX. A-GAP is designed to achieve a given monitoring accuracy with minimal overhead. AGAP is decentralized and asynchronous to achieve robustness and scalability. The protocol incrementally computes aggregation functions inside the network and, based on a stochastic model, it dynamically configures local filters that control the overhead and accuracy. We evaluate a prototype in a testbed of 16 commercial routers and provide measurements from a scenario where the protocol continuously estimates the total number of FTP flows in the network. Local flow metrics are read out from Netflow buffers and aggregated in realtime. We evaluate the prototype for the followin...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: MMNS
• Authors: Alberto Gonzalez Prieto, Rolf Stadler
• Keywords: Aggregation Functions, MMNS 2007, Monitoring Accuracy, Multimedia, Real-time Flow Monitoring