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Table of Contents
Executive Summary
Conclusion10
Executive Summary
Mobile operators today confront a major evolution in their network architecture, service traffic, and
economics. The explosion of smartphones, tablets and High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) mobile
broadband traffic has driven the roll-out of Long Term Evolution (LTE) based on 3GPP standards.
While mobile operators have relied for years on IP/MPLS networks for their mobile core backbone
communications, LTE is driving a significant transformation of many mobile backhaul networks from
statically engineered ATM over SONET architectures to Layer 3 IP/MPLS networks, particularly in the
aggregation or High Radio Access Network (HRAN) layer. While the precise nature of this transformation
varies dramatically depending on the legacy network assets and services, theres no question that the
evolution to IP/MPLS requires a new approach to network Operations and Management (OAM).
An inherent OAM challenge of IP is its dynamic nature. Unlike circuit-based TDM network architectures
of the past, IP networks can continuously and automatically reroute traffic paths around link failures
and other changes in the network infrastructure. The result is an intelligent but unpredictable
network topology that can not only cause delays to sensitive voice and broadband traffic, but also
make management visibility and operational processes much more challenging. Traditional network
management tools dont provide visibility into IP network dynamics, without which it is difficult to reduce
OPEX Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as Mean Time to Detection (MTTD) and Mean Time to Repair
(MTTR). In addition, lack of insight into dynamic network behavior impedes accurate maintenance and
capacity planning, leading to costly operations errors and CAPEX waste.
Route analytics technology, which taps into the networks live routing protocol control plane to provide
real-time, network-wide insight of the operational routing topology and the traffic flowing across all
network paths and links, is a key OAM technology for LTE mobile core and backhaul IP networks. Deployed
by hundreds of telecom and mobile operators today, route analytics transforms IP/MPLS network
management processes, helping engineering and operations teams deliver optimal service performance,
speed problem resolution, strengthen change management processes, proactively uncover network
vulnerabilities, increase capacity planning efficiency and ensure network and service resilience.
Effective integration of route analytics within the LTE mobile core and backhaul IP/MPLS network OAM
portfolio can help mobile operators ensure higher service quality, leading to lower subscriber churn and
reacquisition costs while reducing IP network OPEX and CAPEX.
Figure 2: The dynamic nature of IP routing presents a mathematically daunting challenge to network
management. In the illustrated network above, there are only 4 core routers and 5 edge routers. If one assumes
that traffic only enters the network from the edges, the routed topology (combination of routed paths) can be
in any one of 55 (3,125) possible states, or 53 (125) probable states. As a network expands and the number of
interconnected routers grows, the complexity of understanding the networks behavior increases exponentially.
For relatively non-critical applications like email and web browsing, the impact of routing and traffic
changes may be slight, but for mobile voice, SMS, data services, interactive gaming, and streaming media,
which have sensitive latency requirements, the impact can be dire.
Next-generation OAM approaches are needed to manage IP network unpredictability, prevent and
mitigate the service impacts of routing and traffic changes, and lower costs.
Having this point data is critical for example, an interface or device that fails, runs out of memory or
is congested with traffic can have a direct impact on service traffic. However, the sum of all this point
data often doesnt provide the level of understanding needed to reduce detection and repair times. Just
knowing that an interface is full of traffic doesnt tell you why it is full. Where is the traffic coming from and
where is it going? Is the traffic usually on this interface, or was there a change in the network or elsewhere
that caused it to shift to this interface? If so - from where, when and for how long? Without answers to
these questions, there is no real understanding of the behavior of the network as a whole, which robs the
point data of much of its meaning.
While there are correlation algorithms for deducing certain types of network conditions, the fact of the
matter is that SNMP was never designed to explain the complexities within routed IP networks. SNMPs
key limitation is that it is too periodic polling cycles from 30 seconds to several minutes simply cannot
produce an accurate portrait of the networks routing state, with its sometimes rapid and high-volume
state changes. Even speeding up the polling cycle say, to every five seconds would still miss many
routing state changes and would generate so much management traffic overhead as to be impractical.
Whats needed is a network management approach that can complement traditional, polled, device data
collection with real-time tracking of routing protocol and traffic flow message events. Routing protocols
such as OSPF, IS-IS and BGP send event messages to notify their peers of routing changes, such as a routed
link going down, or a new routed prefix being added to the network. Likewise, routers utilizing traffic flow
technologies such as NetFlow, broadcast event messages carrying the volume of traffic in specific IP flows.
It is critical to monitor and be able to analyze these routing and traffic events in order to understand and
manage IP networks dynamic behavior.
Figure 3: Route analytics technology passively peers with, listens to and analyzes routing protocols to provide a
real-time, network-wide understanding of all IP/MPLS VPN topology changes.
Route analytics technology integrates traffic information into this live topology map by collecting flow
data (statistical information on unidirectional IP traffic streams generated by routers, such as IPFIX,
NetFlow) from key traffic ingress points such as IP edge routers and Internet and roaming peering points.
Using knowledge of the precise path that every flow takes at any time through the network, route
analytics project the traffic data onto the component links of that path (see Figure 4). The result is a highly
accurate, integrated routing and traffic map that shows the volume of class-of-service (CoS) traffic on
every link in the network. Since both routing and traffic data are generated and recorded continuously
into a database, it is possible to view the network conditions exactly as they were at a past moment in
time. In addition, since the topology is algorithmically calculated, it is possible to model routing and traffic
changes, and simulate changes in network-wide behavior.
Data
Center
Internet
Figure 4: Route analytics integrate NetFlow traffic statistics information into the IP/MPLS VPN routing topology
by mapping traffic flows onto their routed paths. The result is a real-time, integrated routing and traffic
topology.
Figure 5: Route analytics incorporate path information from transported Layer 2 VPNs (e.g. ATM, E-Line, Frame
Relay, SONET/SDH and TDM) providing tools for managing mobile backhaul resiliency and redundancy.
Rewindable Routing and Traffic History for Improved Troubleshooting: By continuously recording
the state of routing and traffic over time, route analytics technology accurately portrays the network-wide
state of all links, peerings, paths, and prefixes as well as all traffic flows at any point in time. Engineers can
rewind the network topology to pinpoint the precise MPLS VPN, RSVP-TE tunnel and routed path that
service traffic took through the network, as well as the utilization of the component links, at the time of a
problem. For example, in the case of a suboptimal VLL path from the mobile core to an eNodeB, engineers
Conclusion
This paper has established the need for insight into the dynamic behavior of LTE core and backhaul
IP transport networks, and how route analytics technology meets this need. Mobile operators that
leverage route analytics to increase the automation of IP/MPLS and Layer 2 VPN network operations and
engineering will gain a sustained competitive advantage due to the ability to deliver more reliable and
higher quality services while increasing profitability.
Packet Designs Route Explorer System combines route analytics for all IGP and BGP protocols with pathaware traffic flow analytics. In a single code base, it offers:
Real-time visibility into routing and traffic behavior plus intelligent alerts for proactive operational
monitoring and more efficient triage of service interruptions
DVR-like replay and analysis of routing events for faster troubleshooting of intermittent and hardto-find service delivery issues
Interactive simulation of configuration changes for risk-free network maintenance
Predictive analysis of new workloads for better capacity planning
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