Software Tool Helps Lucent Manage Customers' Networks

Murray Hill, N.J. (May, 1999) -- When Danny Raz joined Bell Labs a little over a year ago, he didn't realize his research so soon would lead to a few million dollars in savings for Lucent.

Danny Raz (l to r), Jim Granville and Binay Sugla worked to develop an algorithm that economically manages multiple private data networks. The advance will save Lucent millions of dollars a year.

A theoretical computer scientist who had just completed a post-doctoral term at the University of California at Berkeley, Raz was asked by his supervisor Binay Sugla, who heads the Network and Services Management Research Department, to assist him in devising an algorithm to economically manage multiple private data networks.

Less than a year later, the algorithm was implemented and being deployed by Lucent's NetCare® Data Services organization, which provides remote network management services for Lucent's enterprise- and service Provider-class customers.

Relieves the customers of network management headaches

Instead of dealing with the daily rigors of staffing, tooling, and training in the latest technologies in the ever-changing arena of networks, these customers pay NetCare to manage their networks.

"It was nice to be able to contribute my research expertise to the company so quickly," said Raz recently.

This story began in 1997 when Jeff Akers, the head of NetCare asked Bill Ninke, research director for systems and software, for help in dealing with a network management issue. The biggest technical challenge for NetCare is creating a network management infrastructure that can perform these functions remotely in a scaleable, cost-effective manner for the customer.

The problem of 'address collision'

To complicate the situation, many customers, unaware of potential problems, assign the same IP address space within their private networks that other customers have also assigned. This causes potential confusion for NetCare in managing multiple networks, since IP addresses are supposed to be unique. Packets of data from various networks may end up at the wrong destinations. This is called " address collision" in the industry.

This problem has usually been addressed by a process known as network address translation (NAT), by which IP addresses from one network are assigned other IP addresses by a device inserted between the sender and the destination. The process is transparent to end-users and applications.

Outgoing data packets consist of headers identifying the IP addresses from which the packets were sent, and the rest of the information (known as payloads). When data packets from a managed network reach the device implementing NAT, the IP addresses in the headers get substituted by new IP addresses. As such, the IP addresses seen from outside the private network will be different from the actual IP addresses used. For incoming packets, the device translates the IP addresses to the correct ones.

Hunting through the payload

Managing such networks, however, poses a problem. Most available management devices use Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to retrieve address information from data packets. The information needed to manage a network effectively is buried in the payload of the data packet. Thus, it is necessary to be able to locate and translate IP address-related information in the payloads, a complicated problem.

Sugla and Brett Denison, then a NetCare engineer, approached the issue by identifying a system architecture that looked promising. But they still needed to locate and translate IP addresses contained in the payload of the SNMP packets. Raz came in at this point. He devised an algorithm that quickly hunts through the payload, finds the IP address related information and replaces it when necessary. The algorithm was incorporated into a new tool called Management Payload Address Translator, which was made into a product by a multi-unit team that included members from Research, NetCare and Lucent CIO. This solution has been enthusiastically welcomed by the NetCare business.

Consolidating network access

"NetCare currently must isolate customers with conflicting IP addresses into separate management domains, resulting in underutilization of hardware and increased complexity of administration and support," said Don Taylor of NetCare R&D. "The use of IP address translation enables us to consolidate customer access into fewer management domains, freeing up equipment and simplifying domain management."

Ninke added, "This project is an excellent example of how effective coupling can rapidly enable Bell Labs technology to solve a business problem and provide Lucent with a competitive edge in the marketplace."

"Raz's research has ensured that Lucent will have the fastest and most accurate solution available currently," said Leslie Kennedy, general manager, NetCare R&D, who foresees a savings of up to $3 million in the next three years.

Kennedy's colleague John Ramirez summed it up, "This application is certainly nice for the cost savings but more importantly helps us grow NetCare's leadership in the services business."