Remote port mirroring

• US 9,246,703 B2
• Filed: 03/09/2011
• Issued: 01/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Yu, Shunjia, Koganti, Phanidhar, Terry, John Michael, Chatwani, Dilip
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ghafoerkhan, Faiyazkhan
• Application Number:
  US13/044,326
• Publication Number:
  US 20110299532A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,784 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/93 which locates resources of other pieces of information, e.g. URL [Uniform Resource Locator]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4675 Dynamic sharing of VLAN information amongst network nodes configuration of the network or of network elements H04L41/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/18 Protocol analysers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/208 Port mirroring

Abstract

A switch that facilitates remote port mirroring is described. The switch can include an encapsulation mechanism and a forwarding mechanism. The encapsulation mechanism can be configured to encapsulate a copy of a first packet in a second packet, thereby preserving header information (e.g., a VLAN identifier and/or a TRILL header) of the first packet. The forwarding mechanism can be configured to forward the first packet using header information of the first packet, and forward the second packet using header information of the second packet. The second packet can be received at a destination switch which extracts the first packet from the second packet, and sends the first packet on a port which is coupled to a network analyzer.

Claims

1. A switch, comprising:

encapsulation circuitry configured to encapsulate a first packet in a second packet and a copy of the first packet in a third packet, wherein the second packet and the third packet are based on a same encapsulation protocol; and

forwarding circuitry configured to;

determine an output port for the second packet using header information of the second packet, wherein destination information of the second packet corresponds to destination information of the first packet, and

determine an output port for the third packet using header information of the third packet, wherein destination information of the third packet is based on port mirroring.

2. The switch of claim 1, wherein the second packet is a unicast packet.

3. The switch of claim 2, wherein the third packet is a multicast packet.

4. The switch of claim 1, wherein the encapsulation protocol is TRILL (Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links) protocol.

5. The switch of claim 1, wherein while encapsulating the first packet in the second packet and the copy of the first packet in the third packet, the encapsulation circuitry is configured to preserve header information of the first packet and the copy of the first packet.

6. The switch of claim 5, wherein the header information of the first packet includes a VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) identifier.

7. The switch of claim 1, wherein the encapsulation circuitry is further configured to encapsulate a copy of the second packet in a fourth packet, wherein the second packet and the fourth packet are based on the same encapsulation protocol.

8. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the system to perform a method, the method comprising;

encapsulating of a first packet in a second packet and a copy of the first packet in a third packet, wherein the second packet and the third packet are based on a same encapsulation protocol;

determining an output port for the second packet using header information of the second packet, wherein destination information of the second packet corresponds to destination information of the first packet, and

determining an output port for the third packet using header information of the third packet, wherein destination information of the third packet is based on port mirroring.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the second packet is a unicast packet.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the third packet is a multicast packet.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the encapsulation protocol is TRILL (Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links) protocol.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein encapsulating the first packet in the second packet and the copy of the first packet in the third packet, comprises preserving header information of the first packet.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the header information of the first packet includes a VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) identifier.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises encapsulating a copy of the second packet in a fourth packet, wherein the second packet and the fourth packet are based on the same encapsulation protocol.

15. A network, comprising:

a first source switch, a first destination switch, and a second destination switch;

wherein the first source switch is configured to;

encapsulate a first packet in a second packet and a copy of the first packet in a third packet, wherein the second packet and the third packet are based on a same encapsulation protocol

determine an output port corresponding to the first destination switch for the second packet, wherein destination information of the second packet corresponds to destination information of the first packet, and

determine an output port for corresponding to the second destination switch for the third packet, wherein destination information of the third packet is based on port mirroring; and

wherein the second destination switch is configured to;

identify the -third packet,

extract the copy of the first packet from the third packet, and

determine an output port which is coupled to a network analyzer for the copy of the first packet.

16. The network of claim 15, wherein the second packet is a unicast packet.

17. The network of claim 16, wherein the destination information of the third packet includes a multicast address associated with a multicast group that includes the network analyzer.

18. The network of claim 15, wherein the encapsulation protocol is TRILL (Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links) protocol.

19. The network of claim 15, wherein while encapsulating the first packet in the second packet and the copy of the first packet in the third packet, the first source switch is configured to preserve header information of the first packet.

20. The network of claim 19, wherein the header information of the first packet includes a VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) identifier.

21. The network of claim 15, wherein the first source switch is further configured to encapsulate a copy of the first packet in a fourth packet, wherein the second packet and the fourth packet are based on the same encapsulation protocol.

22. A method, comprising:

encapsulating a first packet in a second packet and a copy of the first packet in a third packet, wherein the second packet and the third packet are based on a same encapsulation protocol;

determining an output port for the second packet using header information of the second packet, wherein destination information of the second packet corresponds to destination information of the first packet; and

determining an output port for the third packet using header information of the third packet, wherein destination information of the third packet is based on port mirroring.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the second packet is a unicast packet.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the third packet is a multicast packet.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein encapsulation protocol is TRILL (Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links) protocol.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein encapsulating the first packet in the second packet and the copy of the first packet in the third packet comprises preserving header information of the first packet.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the header information of the first packet includes a VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) identifier.

28. The method of claim 22, further comprising encapsulating a copy of the second packet in a fourth packet, wherein the second packet and the fourth packet are based on the same encapsulation protocol.