Patent ID: 7929440
Filing Date: 2011-04-19
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of capacity planning in a network, the method comprising: assigning to each packet of data on the network a class of service from among a plurality of classes of service; assigning to each of the plurality of classes of service a grade of service for each of a plurality of network conditions; calculating a class bandwidth for each of the plurality of classes of service under each of the plurality of network conditions by multiplying an expected load for each of the plurality of classes of service under each of the plurality of network conditions by the associated grade of service for each of the plurality of classes of service under each of the plurality of network conditions; calculating a first network condition bandwidth for each of the plurality of network conditions by adding together the class bandwidths for each of the plurality of classes of service under each of the plurality of network conditions; determining a first network demand by determining the largest first network condition bandwidth, wherein determining the first network demand further comprises multiplying the largest network condition bandwidth by a growth factor; predicting a first network capacity based upon the first network demand, wherein predicting the first network capacity is performed for each of a plurality of links in the network; in response to predicting the first network capacity for each of the plurality of links, determining for a particular link of the plurality of links if the first predicted network capacity of the particular link is greater than the actual capacity of the particular link; in response to determining that the first predicted network capacity of the particular link is greater than the actual capacity of the particular link, upgrading the particular link such that the actual capacity of the particular link is greater than the first predicted network capacity of the particular link; before upgrading the particular link, calculating a second network condition bandwidth under each of the plurality of network conditions by: determining a second network demand by determining the largest second network condition bandwidth; predicting a second network capacity based upon the second network demand; in response to predicting the second network capacity for each of the plurality of links, determining for the particular link of the plurality of links if the second predicted network capacity of the particular link is greater than the actual capacity of the particular link; and in response to determining that the second predicted network capacity of the particular link is greater than the actual capacity of the particular link, upgrading the articular link such that the actual capacity of the particular link is greater than the second predicted network capacity of the particular link.