Measuring performance of a network using mirrored probe packets
First Claim
1. A method for measuring performance of a network, the method comprising:
- providing an innermost probe packet, the innermost probe packet having an innermost destination address;
generating a first probe packet, the first probe packet including;
a first destination address that identifies a first network component in the network; and
the innermost probe packet, which is encapsulated in the first probe packet through at least one layer of encapsulation;
sending the first probe packet to the first network component of the network based at least on the first destination address associated with the first probe packet;
at the first network component, generating first mirrored information, the first mirrored information comprising a copy of at least some content of the first probe packet;
providing the first mirrored information to a collection and analysis (CA) system;
decapsulating the first probe packet to produce a second probe packet, the second probe packet including a second destination address; and
sending the second probe packet to a second network component that is associated with the second destination address.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Functionality is described herein for measuring the performance of a network. The functionality operates by generating a probe packet and injecting the probe packet into the network. The probe packet is configured, using one or more layers of encapsulation, to target a particular network component of interest in the network, or to target a particular collection of network components in the network. A switch to which the probe packet is addressed operates by: (a) generating mirrored information that is associated with the probe packet; (b) decapsulating the probe packet (with respect to its outermost encapsulation) to produce a new probe packet; and (c) passing the new probe packet to a downstream network component, in accordance with a destination address associated with the new probe packet. The functionality uses the mirrored information that has been collected in the above manner to detect various anomalies in the network.
120 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for measuring performance of a network, the method comprising:
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providing an innermost probe packet, the innermost probe packet having an innermost destination address; generating a first probe packet, the first probe packet including; a first destination address that identifies a first network component in the network; and the innermost probe packet, which is encapsulated in the first probe packet through at least one layer of encapsulation; sending the first probe packet to the first network component of the network based at least on the first destination address associated with the first probe packet; at the first network component, generating first mirrored information, the first mirrored information comprising a copy of at least some content of the first probe packet; providing the first mirrored information to a collection and analysis (CA) system; decapsulating the first probe packet to produce a second probe packet, the second probe packet including a second destination address; and sending the second probe packet to a second network component that is associated with the second destination address. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 21)
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15. One or more computing devices comprising:
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logic configured to produce a first probe packet that includes; a first destination address that identifies a first network component in a network; an innermost probe packet directly or indirectly encapsulated in the first probe packet, the innermost probe packet specifying an innermost destination address; and status information to indicate that the first probe packet is to be mirrored by the first network component by copying at least some information from the first probe packet into a mirrored packet; and logic configured to send the first probe packet to the first network component of the network. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
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18. A hardware switch comprising:
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a receiving component configured to receive a packet, the received packet having a destination address that identifies the hardware switch logic configured to determine whether the received packet is a probe packet; a mirroring component configured to; when the received packet is determined to be a probe packet; generate mirrored information comprising a copy of at least some content of the probe packet; and provide the mirrored information to a collection and analysis (CA) system; a decapsulation component configured to decapsulate the probe packet to produce another packet, which is encapsulated in the probe packet, and which specifies another destination address; and a sending component configured to send the another packet to the another destination address. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification