System and method for managing chained services in a network environment
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- setting, at a classifier node, a measurement indication within a header of a packet, wherein the measurement indication indicates to one or more service functions that the packet is a measurement and data packet;
forwarding the packet through a service chain comprising the one or more service functions;
upon determining that the measure indication within the header of the packet is set, recording measurement information for the packet as it is forwarded through the service chain;
after the packet is forwarded through the service chain, determining by evaluating the packet, that the packet failed to traverse a first service function of the service chain;
collecting the measurement information for the first service function; and
managing capacity for the service chain based, at least in part, on the measurement information.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An example method is provided in one example embodiment and may include configuring a measurement indication for a packet; forwarding the packet through a service chain comprising one or more service functions; recording measurement information for the packet as it is forwarded through the service chain; and managing capacity for the service chain based, at least in part, on the measurement information. In some cases, the method can include determining end-to-end measurement information for the service chain using the recorded measurement information. In some cases, managing capacity for the service chain can further include identifying a particular service function as a bottleneck service function for the service chain; and increasing capacity for the bottleneck service. In various instances, increasing capacity for the bottleneck service can include at least one of: instantiating additional instances of the bottleneck service; and instantiating additional instances of the service chain.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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setting, at a classifier node, a measurement indication within a header of a packet, wherein the measurement indication indicates to one or more service functions that the packet is a measurement and data packet; forwarding the packet through a service chain comprising the one or more service functions; upon determining that the measure indication within the header of the packet is set, recording measurement information for the packet as it is forwarded through the service chain; after the packet is forwarded through the service chain, determining by evaluating the packet, that the packet failed to traverse a first service function of the service chain; collecting the measurement information for the first service function; and managing capacity for the service chain based, at least in part, on the measurement information. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. One or more non-transitory tangible media encoding logic that includes instructions for execution that when executed by a processor, is operable to perform operations comprising:
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setting, at a classifier node, a measurement indication within a header of a packet, wherein the measurement indication indicates to one or more service functions that the packet is a measurement and data packet; forwarding the packet through a service chain comprising the one or more service functions; upon determining that the measure indication within the header of the packet is set, recording measurement information for the packet as it is forwarded through the service chain; after the packet is forwarded through the service chain, determining by evaluating the packet, that the packet failed to traverse a first service function of the service chain; collecting the measurement information for the first service function; and managing capacity for the service chain based, at least in part, on the measurement information. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A system comprising:
a compute node comprising at least one first memory element for storing first data and at least one first processor that executes instructions associated with the first data, wherein the compute node, when the at least one first processor executes the instructions, being configured to; set, at a classifier node, a measurement indication within a header of a packet, wherein the measurement indication indicates to one or more service functions that the packet is a measurement and data packet; forward the packet through a service chain comprising the one or more service functions; and upon determining that the measure indication within the header of the packet is set, record measurement information for the packet as it is forwarded through the service chain; after the packet is forwarded through the service chain, determining by evaluating the packet, that the packet failed to traverse a first service function of the service chain; collecting the measurement information for the first service function; and a service assurance system comprising at least one second memory element for storing second data and at least one second processor that executes instructions associated with the second data, wherein the service assurance system, when the at least one second processor executes the instructions, being configured to; manage capacity for the service chain based, at least in part, on the measurement information. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
Specification