Abstract: Network survivability is quantified in such a way that failure cases can be compared and ranked against each other in terms of the severity of their impact on the various performance measures associated with the network. The degradation in network performance caused by each failure is quantified based on user-defined sets of thresholds of degradation severity for each performance measure. Each failure is simulated using a model of the network, and a degradation vector is determined for each simulated failure. A comparison function is defined to map the degradation vectors into an ordered set, and this ordered set is used to create an ordered list of network failures, in order of the network degradation caused by each failure.

Abstract: The invention presented herein provides methods and compositions for the prevention and treatment of bacterial infections. The methods are based on the discovery that depletion of bioavailable iron stimulates surface motility in bacteria thus inhibiting the ability of a bacterial population to develop into a biofilm.

Abstract: The embodiments relate to modeling wireless communications in a network. In wireless communications, the nodes share one or more wireless communication channels. When a node has data to transmit, it must contend with the other nodes for access to the wireless communication channel. In the embodiments, the model is configured to simulate the throughput effects of contention including delays caused by retransmissions due to interference and collisions, listen-and-backoff, unavailability of time slots, etc. The occurrence of failed/dropped transmissions due to buffer overflows, excessive retransmission attempts, and unintended collisions are modeled as well. In addition, the embodiments may simulate the effect of mobility by the nodes and the effect of the location of the nodes relative to each other.

Abstract: Simulation models of media access control and physical layer characteristics facilitate the simulation/emulation of a variety of phenomena that affect transmissions via a wireless media. Such phenomena include media access contention delays, packet drops, and retransmissions that are generally dependent upon changes in transmitter/receiver locations. Each wireless environment is characterized by a model of the communication channel that characterizes transmission effects based on the number of competing transmitters in the environment, which is dynamically determined based on the location of each node in the environment. Additionally, the location of nodes is used to simulate the effects of ‘hidden nodes’, nodes that are unknown to a transmitting node but can interfere with the reception of transmissions at a receiving node. Each device/node model in the wireless environment preferably accesses the same model of the communication channel, thereby minimizing the amount of detail required at each device model.

Abstract: A scalable comparison structure and methodology is provided that is suitable for comparing the configuration of devices in an efficient manner. In the configuration files, section delimiters are defined to identify the sections of the files within which the select data content is located, and differences in the sections are identified based on the select data content within the section. Thereafter, comparisons and reports are based on these unique content sections. Groups of devices are optionally defined, and different sets of select data content can be compared based on these groups. The result of the comparison may be presented in multiple hierarchical forms, including an identification of which configuration files are different from each other, and an identification of the differences among the unique content in these configuration files.

Abstract: The present system includes a system, method and device for inferring connectivity between network devices across a third party network. Configuration data related to the network devices is examined and configuration data about the network is inferred. The inferred configuration data may be related to a communication protocol, network bandwidth, and the like. A model representing the network is then created to indicate inferred interfaces and connections through the external network between network devices. The representation may be rendered in various forms, such as a display or data exported to another system. Various studies may also be performed using the model, such as traffic, routing, or planning studies.

Abstract: A simulator simulates routing system protocols to build routing tables corresponding to a modeled network, and a comparator compares the routing tables in the actual network to these simulator-created routing tables. Because the modeled system represents a fault-free version of the actual system, and assuming that the modeled routing system protocols are representative of the algorithms used in the actual routers, these simulator-produced routing tables can represent steady-state routing tables that should be present in the routers of the actual network at steady state. By querying each router in the actual network for its routing table and comparing each routing table to the corresponding simulator-produced routing table, any differences from the steady state can be identified.

Abstract: The invention presented herein provides methods and compositions for the prevention and treatment of bacterial infections. The methods are based on the discovery that depletion of bioavailable iron stimulates surface motility in bacteria thus inhibiting the ability of a bacterial population to develop into a biofilm.

Abstract: A scalable comparison structure and methodology is provided that is suitable for comparing select data content in hundreds or thousands of files in an efficient manner. Section delimiters are defined to identify the sections of the files within which the select data content is located, and sets of unique sections are identified based on the select data content within the section. Thereafter, comparisons and reports are based on these unique content sections. If multiple files include a common set of data, a single unique content section is used to represent these multiple files. File groups are optionally defined, and different sets of select data content can be compared based on these file groups. The result of the comparison is presented in multiple hierarchical forms, including an identification of which files are different from each other, and an identification of the differences among the unique content segments.

Abstract: The present system includes a system, method and device for inferring connectivity between unconnected network segments. In operation, unconnected network segments are identified. Configuration data related to the unconnected network segments may be examined to facilitate inferring configuration data for an external network connected between the unconnected network segments. The inferred configuration data may be rendered, such as exported or visualized. The inferred configuration data may be related to a communication protocol and/or may be related to network bandwidth. The examined configuration data may be captured directly from one or more of the unconnected network segments and/or may be retrieved from a configuration data file, such as a network configuration model.

Abstract: Network survivability is quantified in such a way that failure cases can be compared and ranked against each other in terms of the severity of their impact on the various performance measures associated with the network. The degradation in network performance caused by each failure is quantified based on user-defined sets of thresholds of degradation severity for each performance measure. Each failure is simulated using a model of the network, and a degradation vector is determined for each simulated failure. A comparison function is defined to map the degradation vectors into an ordered set, and this ordered set is used to create an ordered list of network failures, in order of the network degradation caused by each failure.

Abstract: A simulator simulates routing system protocols to build routing tables corresponding to a modeled network, and a comparator compares the routing tables in the actual network to these simulator-created routing tables. Because the modeled system represents a fault-free version of the actual system, and assuming that the modeled routing system protocols are representative of the algorithms used in the actual routers, these simulator-produced routing tables will represent the ‘ideal’ routing tables that should be present in the routers of the actual network. By querying each router in the actual network for its routing table and comparing each routing table to the corresponding simulator-produced routing table, any differences from the ‘ideal’ can be identified.

Abstract: A network configuration is processed to identify each policy and the criteria associated with each policy. The criteria of the policies are processed to identify a non-overlapping set of ranges of the criteria parameter, each range being associated with a particular policy or set of policies. In a preferred embodiment, the criteria include the protocol, the source and destination IP addresses, and the source and destination ports, and a default range is defined for each criteria parameter.

Abstract: First-order effects of hypothesized fault conditions are determined by propagating discrete test packets between select nodes and noting the change of path, if any, taken by the test packet under each condition relative to the fault-free path. Tools are provided to create classes of node pairs of interest, and test packets are created only for select classes. The network is analyzed to identify fault conditions that are likely to impact system performance, and only these fault conditions are simulated. By providing a methodology for selecting classes of node pairs to test, and prioritizing the faults to simulate, a first-order survivability analysis of large networks can be performed efficiently and effectively. The efficiency of this technique is also enhanced by providing test packets that are representative of a wide range of possible source-destination combinations, and by evaluating only the source-destination combinations that may be directly affected by each fault condition.

Abstract: Devices and methods for modeling and analysis of services provided over a common network include a processor configured to track services connected to the common network through nodes and links; run service models associated with the services under selected conditions, the selected conditions including failure and repair of one of the nodes or links; and propose corrective action and/or change of network resources of the common network to minimize impact of the failure. The processor may also run Network models. The models may be executed successively or simultaneously, and outputs of one model may be used as input to other models, including any necessary conversions for compatibility.

Abstract: In a network simulation system, a compiler is provided to support incremental updates to the configuration data associated with the modeled network. Each incremental change is identified and logged, to facilitate configuration management and select roll-backs to prior configurations. Because each update is processed and managed individually, and integrated automatically into the overall system configuration, the overhead associated with keeping a configuration database up-to-date is substantially reduced, thereby increasing the likelihood that all configuration changes will be reflected in the modeled network. In a preferred embodiment, the same data is used to incrementally update the configuration model and to execute the change in the actual system, thereby further reducing the overhead and assuring a correspondence between the modeled network and the actual network.

Abstract: A routing validation method and system identifies routers that are likely to be the cause of differences in forwarding tables associated with two versions of a network. Each destination sub-network prefix is processed to identify all the routers that exhibit differences in their forwarding table for this prefix. Each router exhibiting a difference is assessed to determine whether the difference may have been propagated to this router from another router. If the difference could not have been propagated from another router, this router is identified as a potential source of the observed difference. By eliminating routers that could have received the effects of the differences from another router, the task of identifying the root cause of the observed differences is substantially reduced in complexity.

Abstract: A transmission channel allocation scheme for a multi-hop wireless network takes into account the priority of users, particular application requirements, applicable contractual requirements, and other factors. The channel allocation scheme determines which nodes can share a common channel for transmission without interference, and distinguishes between resources that must be dedicated to each node based on the requirements associated with each node, and the resources that are dynamically provided to each node, based on the current traffic demand. Additionally, resources that are not required to satisfy explicit requests are allocated among the nodes, thereby allowing nodes to sometimes avoid the delays associated with the access request process.

Abstract: First-order effects of hypothesized fault conditions are determined by propagating discrete test packets between select nodes and noting the change of path, if any, taken by the test packet under each condition relative to the fault-free path. Tools are provided to create classes of node pairs of interest, and test packets are created only for select classes. The network is analyzed to identify fault conditions that are likely to impact system performance, and only these fault conditions are simulated. By providing a methodology for selecting classes of node pairs to test, and prioritizing the faults to simulate, a first-order survivability analysis of large networks can be performed efficiently and effectively. The efficiency of this technique is also enhanced by providing test packets that are representative of a wide range of possible source-destination combinations, and by evaluating only the source-destination combinations that may be directly affected by each fault condition.

Abstract: A scalable comparison structure and methodology is provided that is suitable for comparing select data content in hundreds or thousands of files in an efficient manner. Section delimiters are defined to identify the sections of the files within which the select data content is located, and sets of unique sections are identified based on the select data content within the section. Thereafter, comparisons and reports are based on these unique content sections. If multiple files include a common set of data, a single unique content section is used to represent these multiple files. File groups are optionally defined, and different sets of select data content can be compared based on these file groups. The result of the comparison is presented in multiple hierarchical forms, including an identification of which files are different from each other, and an identification of the differences among the unique content segments.