Control theory is an area of engineering and applied mathematics dealing with the behavior and control of dynamic systems. Many of the concepts can usefully be applied to network visibility and control.
The diagram shows the basic elements of a feedback controller. When controlling a network, the network would be the "System", the "Sensor" takes observations of the system (sFlow) and converts them into an estimate of the current network state (link utilizations, traffic flows etc.). The measured network state is compared to a Reference (usage policies, thresholds etc.) and any deviations from the desired behavior is used to trigger a control action (blocking a port, setting a rate limit etc.), changing the behavior of the network and restoring service levels.
Control theory has concepts of stability, observability, controllability and robustness that are very general and worth thinking about in the context of network management:
In describing the responsiveness requirement, the author states, "Slow responding measurements can not only affect the quality of control but can actually make the feedback loop unstable." sFlow's timely reporting of link utilization data and packet samples provides the responsive visibility into network traffic needed to make the information actionable. While flow-based measurements provide useful usage data for traffic accounting and reporting, they are by their nature less responsive than sFlow and less useful for control.
The diagram shows the basic elements of a feedback controller. When controlling a network, the network would be the "System", the "Sensor" takes observations of the system (sFlow) and converts them into an estimate of the current network state (link utilizations, traffic flows etc.). The measured network state is compared to a Reference (usage policies, thresholds etc.) and any deviations from the desired behavior is used to trigger a control action (blocking a port, setting a rate limit etc.), changing the behavior of the network and restoring service levels.
Control theory has concepts of stability, observability, controllability and robustness that are very general and worth thinking about in the context of network management:
- Stability is a way of describing how well behaved a system is. If you make a small change and the system's behavior oscillates wildly then it isn't stable (routing instability and congestion are examples of instability in a network setting).
- Observability is a way of saying, "You can't control what you can't see." If you don't incorporate traffic measurement into the network design (by specifying switches with built-in traffic monitoring) then traffic will not be observable. Every device needs to have built-in traffic monitoring if you want to ensure that the whole network is observable.
- Controllability is something that should be considered when designing the network; deploying managed switches in each layer of the network with appropriate control capabilities (e.g. access control lists, rate-limiting, priorities etc.) ensures controllability.
- Robustness is a measure of how resilient the control system is. The managed network should degrade gracefully during unexpected situations (failures, DoS, Slashdot etc.).
In describing the responsiveness requirement, the author states, "Slow responding measurements can not only affect the quality of control but can actually make the feedback loop unstable." sFlow's timely reporting of link utilization data and packet samples provides the responsive visibility into network traffic needed to make the information actionable. While flow-based measurements provide useful usage data for traffic accounting and reporting, they are by their nature less responsive than sFlow and less useful for control.
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