Visualization of packet tracing operation results

• US 10,200,306 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2017
• Issued: 02/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nicira Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Nhu, Alexander, Jegarajan, Brighton Vino, Sik, Jian Shen, Golla, Venkata Ranganath Babu, Sonawane, Shivraj Shahajirao
• Primary Examiner(s): Qureshi, Afsar M
• Application Number:
  US15/588,746
• Publication Number:
  US 20180262447A1
• Time in Patent Office: 638 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/20 Support for services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/555 Error detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/323 in the physical layer [OSI layer 1]

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a method that receives a request for information regarding a path between endpoints of a logical network. The method provides, for display, a visualization of the path including (i) a set of logical network components between the endpoints and (ii) a set of physical network components that implement the logical network components. The physical network components and the logical network components are aligned in the display. In some embodiments, the method receives data regarding a packet tracing operation between the endpoints. The method generates a display including (i) a visualization of the path between the endpoints of the logical network and (ii) a representation of the received data regarding the packet tracing operation, with the packet tracing operation data is visually linked to the components of the path.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving data regarding a packet tracing operation between endpoints of a logical network;

generating a display comprising (i) a visualization of a path between the endpoints of the logical network and (ii) a representation of the received data regarding the packet tracing operation, wherein the path visualization comprises a set of components and the representation of the packet tracing operation data is visually linked to the components of the path.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the received packet tracing operation data comprises a set of messages generated by physical network components located between the endpoints.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the received messages identify actions taken to process a tracing packet sent from a first endpoint to the second endpoint.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the actions identified by the received messages comprise at least one of receipt of the tracing packet for a logical network component, logical forwarding according to a logical network component, application of a distributed firewall rule, physical forwarding by the physical network component from which the message is received, dropping the tracing packet, and delivery of the tracing packet to an endpoint.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the display of the representation of the received data comprises a list of the received messages, wherein the representation of each message identifies a type of message and the physical network component that generated the message.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the representation of each of a subset of the messages further identifies a logical network component to which the message relates.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein selection of a particular data item in the packet tracing operation data representation causes highlighting in the path visualization of a set of network components to which the particular data item relates.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the set of network components to which the particular data item relates comprises (i) a physical network component that generated the particular data item and (ii) a logical network component to which the particular data item relates.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the physical network component comprises a physical host machine with a forwarding element that implements the logical network component.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein selection of a particular component in the path visualization causes highlighting in the packet tracing operation data representation of a set of data items related to the particular component.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the particular component is one of (i) a logical network component to which the set of data items relate and (ii) a physical network component that generated the set of data items.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the path visualization comprises (i) a set of logical network components between the endpoints and (ii) a set of physical network components that implement the logical network components for packets sent between the endpoints.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the physical network components and the network components are aligned in the display.

14. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program for execution by at least one processing unit, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

receiving data regarding a packet tracing operation between endpoints of a logical network;

generating a display comprising (i) a visualization of a path between the endpoints of the logical network and (ii) a representation of the received data regarding the packet tracing operation, wherein the path visualization comprises a set of components and the representation of the packet tracing operation data is visually linked to the components of the path.

15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14, wherein the received packet tracing operation data comprises a set of messages generated by physical network components located between the endpoints.

16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 15, wherein the received messages identify actions taken to process a tracing packet sent from a first endpoint to the second endpoint, wherein the actions identified by the received messages comprise at least one of receipt of the tracing packet for a logical network component, logical forwarding according to a logical network component, application of a distributed firewall rule, physical forwarding by the physical network component from which the message is received, dropping the tracing packet, delivery of the tracing packet to an endpoint.

17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 15, wherein the display of the representation of the received data comprises a list of the received messages, wherein the representation of each message identifies a type of message and the physical network component that generated the message.

18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 17, wherein the representation of each of a subset of the messages further identifies a logical network component to which the message relates.

19. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14, wherein selection of a particular data item in the packet tracing operation data representation causes highlighting in the path visualization of a set of network components to which the particular data item relates.

20. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 19, wherein the set of network components to which the particular data item relates comprises (i) a physical network component that generated the particular data item and (ii) a logical network component to which the particular data item relates.

21. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14, wherein selection of a particular component in the path visualization causes highlighting in the packet tracing operation data representation of a set of data items related to the particular component, wherein the particular component is one of (i) a logical network component to which the set of data items relate and (ii) a physical network component that generated the set of data items.

22. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 14, wherein the path visualization comprises (i) a set of logical network components between the endpoints and (ii) a set of physical network components that implement the logical network components for packets sent between the endpoints, wherein the physical network components and the logical network components are aligned in the display.