Network traffic manager server for providing policy-based recommendations to clients

Claim 2

A network traffic manager (server) for providing policy-based recommendations to application programs (clients) capable of generating network traffic, the server comprising: (a) an interface for receiving requests from the clients, each request associated with a proposed generation of network traffic by one of the clients, each request comprising at least one required parameter that describes type of network traffic that the requesting client proposes to generate and also comprising at least one optional parameter that inquires as to whether said proposed generation should be postponed and automatically initiated by the requesting client at a future time if at all; (b) means for forming a recommendation relating to whether the requesting client should generate the proposed network traffic, the recommendation based on one or more policies that include the required and optional parameters received from the requesting client, said recommendation including indication as to whether or not said proposed generation should take place, and if said indication indicates that said proposed generation should not take place, then said recommendation also includes a further indication as to whether said proposed generation should take place at said future time; and (c) means for providing the recommendation to the requesting client.

Claim 3

A network traffic manager (server) for providing policy-based recommendations to application programs (clients), each client occasionally generating network traffic, the server comprising: (a) an interface for receiving requests from the clients, each request associated with a proposed generation of network traffic by one of the clients, each request comprising at least one required parameter that describes the proposed generation of network traffic by the requesting client; (b) means for storing a set of policies, each policy comprising: (i) at least one selection criterion and (ii) associated control information; and (c) a policy selector responsive to each request for: (i) selecting one policy from the set of policies, the policy selection based on the at least one required parameter received from the requesting client and the at least one selection criterion of the selected policy; (ii) forming, according to the control information associated with the selected policy, a recommendation as to whether network traffic should be generated; and (iii) providing the recommendation to the requesting client; wherein each said request also includes a further recommendation request from the requesting client to the server that if the recommendation provided to the requesting client at step (c)(iii) indicates that network traffic should not be generated, said server should automatically inform the requesting client at a future time via a further recommendation when said network traffic should be generated said further recommendation causing said requesting client to automatically initiate network traffic previously queued at said requesting client.

Claim 4

A network traffic manager (server) for providing policy-based recommendations to application programs (clients), each client occasionally generating network traffic, the server comprising: (a) an interface for receiving requests from the clients, each request associated with a proposed generation of network traffic by one of the clients, each request comprising at least one required parameter that describes the proposed generation of network traffic by the requesting client; (b) means for storing a set of policies, each policy comprising: (i) at least one selection criterion and (ii) associated control information; and (c) a policy selector responsive to each request for: (i) selecting one policy from the set of policies, the policy selection based on the at least one required parameter received from the requesting client and the at least one selection criterion of the selected policy; (ii) forming, according to the control information associated with the selected policy, a recommendation as to whether network traffic should be generated; and (iii) providing the recommendation to the requesting client; wherein each said request also includes a further recommendation request from the requesting client to the server that if the recommendation provided to the requesting client at step (c)(iii) indicates that network traffic should not be generated, said server should automatically inform the requesting client at a future time via a further recommendation when said network traffic should be generated said further recommendation causing said requesting client to automatically initiate network traffic previously queued at said requesting client.

Claim 5

The server defined in claim 2, wherein: (i) the interface for receiving requests from the clients comprises means for receiving one or more optional parameters with each request from a requesting client; (ii) the policy selector calculates, according to the control information associated with the selected policy, a value for each optional parameter received from the requesting client; and (iii) the policy selector sends each calculated value for each optional parameter to the requesting client.

Claim 6

The server defined in claim 2, further comprising means for detecting an event and, responsive to the event, for sending to at least one of the requesting clients a recommendation that network traffic should be generated.

Claim 7

The server defined in claim 4, wherein the network traffic is carried over network links and wherein the event is a change in status of at least one of the network links.

Claim 8

The server defined in claim 5, wherein the change in status is a startup of the at least one of the network links.

Claim 9

The server defined in claim 4, wherein: (i) the server further comprises a counter, the policy selector incrementing the counter when the policy selector provides a recommendation that one of the requesting clients should not generate network traffic and (ii) wherein the event occurs when the counter exceeds a predetermined value.

Claim 10

The server defined in claim 2, further comprising a policy editor for altering one of the policies in the means for storing a set of policies.

Claim 11

The server defined in claim 2, wherein the control information associated with at least one policy comprises at least one formula.

Claim 12

The server defined in claim 2, wherein the control information associated with at least one policy comprises machine-code instructions.

Claim 13

The server defined in claim 2, wherein the control information associated with at least one policy comprises byte-code instructions.

Claim 14

The server defined in claim 2, wherein the control information associated with at least one policy comprises object-code instructions.

Claim 15

The server defined in claim 2, wherein the control information associated with at least one policy comprises source-code instructions.

Claim 16

The server defined in claim 2, wherein the means for storing a set of policies comprises a table.

Claim 17

The server defined in claim 2, wherein the means for storing a set of policies comprises a textual entry in a database.

Claim 18

The server defined in claim 2, wherein the means for storing a set of policies comprises a distributed, hierarchical database.

Claim 19

The server defined in claim 16, wherein the distributed, hierarchical database is NetWare Directory Services (NDS).

Claim 20

The server defined in claim 2, wherein the means for storing a set of policies comprises an expression tree.

Claim 21

The server defined in claim 2, wherein the interface for receiving requests is a application programming interface (API).

Claim 22

The server defined in claim 2, wherein the at least one required parameter received from the requesting client comprises: (i) a type of network traffic the requesting client proposes to generate and (ii) a destination address to which the requesting client proposes to send the network traffic.

Claim 23

A network traffic manager (server) for providing policy-based recommendations to application programs (clients), the clients occasionally generating network traffic, the server comprising: (a) an interface for receiving requests from the clients, each request associated with a proposed generation of network traffic by one of the clients, each request comprising at least one required parameter that describes the proposed generation of network traffic by the requesting client and also comprising a further parameter that inquires as to whether said proposed generation should be postponed and automatically commenced by said requesting client at a future time, if at all; (b) means for storing a set of policies, each policy comprising: (i) at least one selection criterion and (ii) an associated recommendation as to whether network traffic should be generated and if said network traffic should not be generated, whether said network traffic should take place at said future time; and (c) a policy selector responsive to each request, for: (i) selecting one policy from the set of policies, the policy selection based on at least the at least one required parameter received from the requesting client and the at least one selection criterion of the selected policy; and (ii) providing the recommendation associated with the selected policy to the requesting client.

Claim 24

A network traffic manager (server) for providing policy-based recommendations to application programs (clients), the clients occasionally generating network traffic, the server comprising: (a) an interface for receiving requests from the clients, each request associated with a proposed generation of network traffic by one of the clients, each request comprising at least one required parameter that describes the proposed generation of network traffic by the requesting client and also comprising a further parameter that inquires as to whether said proposed generation should be postponed and automatically commenced by said requesting client at a future time, if at all; (b) means for storing a set of policies, each policy comprising: (i) at least one selection criterion and (ii) an associated recommendation as to whether network traffic should be generated and if said network traffic should not be generated, whether said network traffic should take place at said future time; and (c) a policy selector responsive to each request, for: (i) selecting one policy from the set of policies, the policy selection based on at least the at least one required parameter received from the requesting client and the at least one selection criterion of the selected policy; and (ii) providing the recommendation associated with the selected policy to the requesting client.

Claim 25

A network traffic manager (server) for providing policy-based recommendations to application programs (clients), the clients occasionally generating network traffic, the server comprising: (a) an interface for receiving requests from the clients, each request associated with a proposed generation of network traffic by one of the clients, each request comprising at least one required parameter that describes the proposed generation of network traffic by the requesting client; (b) means for calculating a cost of the proposed generation of network traffic, the calculation based on a policy that includes the at least one required parameter received from the requesting client; and (c) a recommendation generator responsive to each request, for: (i) comparing the calculated cost with a predetermined value; (ii) when the calculated cost is less than the predetermined value, providing the requesting client a recommendation that the proposed network traffic should be generated; and (iii) when the calculated cost is greater than the predetermined value, providing the requesting client a recommendation that the proposed network traffic should not be generated at present time, but that said proposed network traffic should be automatically queued at said present time and initiated by said requesting client at a future time specified in the recommendation.

Claim 26

A network traffic manager (server) for providing policy-based recommendations to application programs (clients), the clients occasionally generating network traffic, the server comprising: (a) an interface for receiving requests from the clients, each request associated with a proposed generation of network traffic by one of the clients, each request comprising at least one required parameter that describes the proposed generation of network traffic by the requesting client; (b) means for calculating a cost of the proposed generation of network traffic, the calculation based on a policy that includes the at least one required parameter received from the requesting client; and (c) a recommendation generator responsive to each request, for: (i) comparing the calculated cost with a predetermined value; (ii) when the calculated cost is less than the predetermined value, providing the requesting client a recommendation that the proposed network traffic should be generated; and (iii) when the calculated cost is greater than the predetermined value, providing the requesting client a recommendation that the proposed network traffic should not be generated at present time, but that said proposed network traffic should be automatically queued at said present time and initiated by said requesting client at a future time specified in the recommendation.

Claim 27

The server defined in claim 22, wherein the predetermined value depends on at least a portion of the at least one required parameter received from the requesting client.

Claim 28

The server defined in claim 23, wherein the at least one required parameter received from the requesting client comprises: (i) a type of network traffic the requesting client proposes to generate and (ii) a destination address to which the requesting client proposes to send the network traffic.

Claim 31

The method of claim 25, wherein said step of sending includes the step of sending one or more optional parameters with said request; and wherein said step of receiving includes the step of receiving, with each recommendation, a calculated value for each optional parameter sent with the corresponding request.

Claim 32

The method of claim 26, further comprising the step of selecting whether to generate associated proposed network traffic in response to said recommendation.

Claim 33

The method of claim 26, further comprising the step of utilizing at least one of the calculated values to select said future time at which to generate the associated proposed network traffic.

Claim 34

The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of receiving recommendations from the network traffic manager in response to an event detected by the network traffic manager, wherein said recommendation indicates whether the node should generate the proposed network traffic.

Claim 35

The method of claim 29, wherein said step for receiving recommendations from the network traffic manager in response to an event detected by the network traffic manager is associated with a link start up.

Claim 36

The method of claim 25 wherein said at least one required parameter comprises information indicative of: a type of proposed network traffic to be generated; and a destination address to which the proposed network traffic is to be sent.

Claim 37

The method of claim 26 wherein said step of sending a request includes a step of performing an application programming interface (API) call to an API associated with the network traffic manager.

Claim 42

The method of claim 34, wherein said step of forming said initial recommendation further comprises the steps of: comparing said request against a predefined set of policies; and setting said initial recommendation in response to comparing said request against said predefined set of policies.