DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN CONNECTIVITY VERIFICATION AVAILABILITY AND FORWARDING PROTOCOL FUNCTIONALITY IN A COMPUTER NETWORK
First Claim
1. A method, comprising:
- determining an inability to establish a connectivity verification protocol session from a local network device to a remote network device;
sending at least one connectivity verification protocol echo message from the local network device to the remote network device, the echo message destined to be returned to the local network device and forwarded using a forwarding protocol;
in response to receiving the echo message at the local network device, determining that the forwarding protocol is functioning between the local and remote network devices; and
in response to not receiving the echo message at the local network device, determining that the forwarding protocol is not functioning between the local and remote network devices.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In one embodiment, a local network device may determine an inability to establish a connectivity verification protocol (e.g., Bidirectional Forwarding Detection, “BFD”) session to a remote network device, such as from unreturned control messages. In response, the local network device may send at least one connectivity verification protocol echo message to the remote network device destined to be returned to the local network device and forwarded using a forwarding protocol. In response to receiving or not receiving the echo message, the local network device may thus determine whether the forwarding protocol is functioning between the local and remote network devices. In this manner, the local network device may determine whether an inability to establish a connectivity verification protocol session is due to an inability to forward packets between the devices, or due to the connectivity verification protocol not working (or not being configured) on the remote network device.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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determining an inability to establish a connectivity verification protocol session from a local network device to a remote network device; sending at least one connectivity verification protocol echo message from the local network device to the remote network device, the echo message destined to be returned to the local network device and forwarded using a forwarding protocol; in response to receiving the echo message at the local network device, determining that the forwarding protocol is functioning between the local and remote network devices; and in response to not receiving the echo message at the local network device, determining that the forwarding protocol is not functioning between the local and remote network devices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. An apparatus, comprising:
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one or more network interfaces adapted to communicate with a remote network device; one or more processors coupled to the network interfaces and adapted to execute one or more processes; and a memory adapted to store a connectivity verification protocol process executable by each processor, the process when executed operable to;
i) determine an inability to establish a connectivity verification protocol session with a remote network device;
ii) send at least one connectivity verification protocol echo message to the remote network device, the echo message destined to be returned to the apparatus and forwarded using a forwarding protocol;
iii) determine that the forwarding protocol is functioning between the apparatus and the remote network device in response to receiving the echo message at the apparatus; and
iv) determine that the forwarding protocol is not functioning between the apparatus and the remote network device in response to not receiving the echo message at the apparatus. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. An apparatus, comprising:
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means for determining an inability to establish a connectivity verification protocol session from a local network device to a remote network device; means for sending at least one connectivity verification protocol echo message from the local network device to the remote network device, the echo message destined to be returned to the local network device and forwarded using a forwarding protocol; means for determining that the forwarding protocol is functioning between the local and remote network devices in response to receiving the echo message at the local network device; and means for determining that the forwarding protocol is not functioning between the local and remote network devices in response to not receiving the echo message at the local network device.
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Specification