If you’ve ever spent any time online, you’ve probably uttered some variation of this: “What’s happening with my internet!?” Whether or not you’re technically proficient, your first step toward fixing your network problem is always the same: Shout your frustration into the void.
If you’re a networking professional, you might then open Wireshark and manually search for the culprit — and maybe even find a solution. However, if you don’t have a networking background, you’ll probably have to call customer support and schedule a technician to come over and solve the problem. But that route can be expensive and time-consuming. Is there a reliable way to fix networking problems that pop up while also avoiding the cost of customer support, all while providing a great experience for the user?
The Response From the Void
The solution to this hair-pulling is a CableLabs prototype called NetLLM — your home networking assistant. Powered by a large language model (LLM) that lives on your home router, NetLLM looks at your network activity and any other relevant information (e.g., configuration files, records of past incidents, network metrics such as signal strength and channel noise). Then, it explains the problem in greater detail and attempts to fix it.
Your entire interaction with this automated network assistant could be a one-off response, or it could develop into a conversation in which you and NetLLM discuss the problem and try to address it — all in plain English.
If the issue cannot be resolved, NetLLM will at least add some transparency to the errors and make them less cryptic by explaining them in less technical terms (“Ohhhh, that’s what a DNS error is”). You can also choose to record the interaction so that you can send that information to customer support when you call in, thus providing the important context about the network conditions that caused the problem and what steps have been taken already.
Networking as a Language
The key to NetLLM is that it treats network communication as its own language.
Like any other language, each networking protocol has its own system of syntax and semantics. However, unlike the syntax of human languages, networking syntax is much more structured; the packets themselves and the packet sequences are organized in a very specific way that provides semantic meaning. Thinking of computer communication as a language is the key to using an LLM to decipher problems in a network — just as an LLM can be used to explain and interpret a conversation between humans.
It’s important to note that the real power of NetLLM isn’t the chat interface it uses to converse with users but rather the network LLM it uses for the problem diagnosis itself. The training will be performed with a curated dataset of question-and-answer pairs about network traffic from a wide variety of sources, including Internet of Things (IoT) devices, various network attacks and regular traffic.
Network Configuration and Management
In addition to being trained to recognize and understand network traffic, NetLLM has also been trained to manage and configure a network. For a home user, network management entails updating network settings to fix user issues (e.g., manipulating firewalls, resetting DNS, remedying jittery video calls). So, if any of the problems found in the diagnostic step are the result of configuration issues, NetLLM will attempt to fix those.
A user can also request a network configuration change such as changing a password or creating a guest network in simple English without needing to pull up the router’s configuration user interface (UI).
Future Development
Where do we go from here? In addition to being a reactive tool that a user can utilize manually to seek network assistance, the goal is for NetLLM to be a proactive feature and run as a daemon in the background, monitoring your network both for optimizations and security threats.
This is the ultimate in customer service: solving problems before the customer is even aware of them!
Your IT Buddy
This automated network assistant has the potential to be a one-stop shop for everything happening in your home network and the wider internet, all while protecting you from potential problems. With its diagnosis, configuration, and management capabilities, NetLLM gives you full insight into your network and allows for easy configuration — all in understandable English.
Even if you are a networking professional and have the skills to fix problems on your own, NetLLM can save you time. From advanced features such as setting up firewalls and fixing problematic video calls, to more everyday functionality such as managing passwords and monitoring your network, this CableLabs tool makes network troubleshooting and management as easy as asking a very talented IT friend for help.