METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TOPOLOGY AND PATH VERIFICATION IN NETWORKS
First Claim
1. A method for use with a pre-determined subset of network flows for a communication network, wherein the network comprises a control plane, a forwarding plane, and one or more controllers, the method comprising:
- installing forwarding rules on the forwarding elements for identification of network information, wherein the forwarding rules are grouped into one or more separate control flows, where each of the one or more control flows makes a closed loop walk through at least a portion of the network according to the forwarding rules of said each control flow;
injecting traffic for one or more control flows onto the forwarding plane; and
identifying the network information based on results of injecting the traffic.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus are disclosed herein for topology and/or path verification in networks. In one embodiment, a method is disclosed for use with a pre-determined subset of network flows for a communication network, where the network comprises a control plane, a forwarding plane, and one or more controllers. The method comprises installing forwarding rules on the forwarding elements for identification of network information, wherein the forwarding rules are grouped into one or more separate control flows, where each of the one or more control flows makes a closed loop walk through at least a portion of the network according to the forwarding rules of said each control flow, injecting traffic for one or more control flows onto the forwarding plane, and identifying the network information based on results of injecting the traffic.
133 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method for use with a pre-determined subset of network flows for a communication network, wherein the network comprises a control plane, a forwarding plane, and one or more controllers, the method comprising:
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installing forwarding rules on the forwarding elements for identification of network information, wherein the forwarding rules are grouped into one or more separate control flows, where each of the one or more control flows makes a closed loop walk through at least a portion of the network according to the forwarding rules of said each control flow; injecting traffic for one or more control flows onto the forwarding plane; and identifying the network information based on results of injecting the traffic. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A communication network comprising:
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a network topology of a plurality of nodes that include a control plane, a forwarding plane comprising forwarding elements, and one or more controllers, wherein the forwarding elements have forwarding rules for identification of network information, wherein the forwarding rules are grouped into one or more separate control flows, where each of the one or more control flows makes a closed loop walk through at least a portion of the network according to the forwarding rules of said each control flow; at least one of the controllers operable to inject traffic for one or more control flows onto the forwarding plane and identify the network information based on results of injecting the traffic. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method for locating link failures in a network topology, the method comprising:
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installing a loopback rule on a node in a logical link topology; performing a binary search on the logical link topology, wherein performing the binary search by selecting a node on the logical ring, sending a control packet in a first direction through the ring, bouncing back the control packet at the selected node into a second direction through the ring, where the second direction is reverse the first direction, and receiving the control packet at the controller via a loopback rule installed prior to sending the control packet.
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25. A method of locating link failures in a network topology having a plurality of nodes, the method comprising:
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specifying a bounce back point in the network for each of a plurality of control packets; sending the plurality of control packets from one or more points on a constructed logical ring representing the network; and making a link failure detection decision based on whether successfully receiving the plurality of control packets.
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Specification