VMware, Inc.
GENERATING NETWORK FLOW PROFILES FOR COMPUTING ENTITIES

Abstract:

A method for creating a flow profile is provided. The method identifies a first plurality of flow measurements, each of which corresponding to one of a plurality of flows exchanged between a computing entity and a service during a first time period. The method, for each of a first plurality of buckets each of which has a pair of lower and upper bounds, increments a counter of the corresponding bucket for each of the plurality of flow measurements that falls within the pair of bounds of that bucket. The method generates a second plurality of buckets by merging and splitting at least some of the first plurality of buckets, identifies a second plurality of flow measurements for the computing entity during a second time period, and distributes these measurements into the second plurality of buckets. The method generate the flow profile by aggregating the first and second pluralities of buckets.