An Architecture for Inter-Domain Troubleshooting

  • Authors:
  • David G. Thaler;Chinya V. Ravishankar

  • Affiliations:
  • Microsoft Corporation. E-mail: dthaler@microsoft.com;Computer Science and Engineering Department, University of California-Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521. E-mail: ravi@cs.vcr.edu

  • Venue:
  • Journal of Network and Systems Management
  • Year:
  • 2004

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Abstract

In this paper, we explore the constraints of a new problem: that of coordinating network troubleshooting among peer administrative domains and untrusted observers. Our approach permits any entity to report problems, whether it is a Network Operations Center (NOC), end-user, or application. Our goals are to define the inter-domain coordination problem clearly, and to develop an architecture which allows observers to report problems and receive timely feedback, regardless of their own locations and identities. By automating this process, we also relieve human bottlenecks at help desks and NOCs whenever possible. We present a troubleshooting approach for coordinating problem diagnosis, and describe Global Distributed Troubleshooting (GDT), a distributed protocol which realizes this approach. We show through simulation that GDT scales well as the number of observers and problems grows.