Port monitoring system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10153986-B2
Application number	US-201514751494-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 26, 2015
Priority date	Jun 26, 2015
Publication date	Dec 11, 2018
Grant date	Dec 11, 2018

Abstract

A port monitoring system includes a first extending device. The first extending device includes a monitored port and a networking port. The first extending device is configured to detect a first packet at the monitored port and, in response, generate a mirrored packet. Then the first extending device adds a monitoring identifier to the mirrored packet and forwards the mirrored packet through the networking port. The port monitoring system also includes a networking device that is coupled to the first extending device. The networking device is configured to receive the mirrored packet from the first extending device and determine that the mirrored packet is associated with a monitoring port using the monitoring identifier provided by the mirrored packet. The networking device then forwards the mirrored packet to the monitoring port.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A port monitoring system, comprising:
a logical networking device that includes a virtual port and that is provided by:
a first physical extending device that includes a physical networking port and a physical monitored port that is associated with the virtual port, wherein the first extending device is configured to:
detect, at the physical monitored port, a first packet that is received from the virtual port;
generate, in response to detecting the first packet, a mirrored packet;
add a monitoring identifier that is associated with a first physical monitoring port to the mirrored packet; and
forward the mirrored packet through the physical networking port; and

a physical networking device that is coupled to the first physical extending device and that controls the logical networking device and views the physical monitored ort on the first physical extending device as the virtual port included on the logical networking device, and wherein the physical networking device is configured to:
receive the mirrored packet from the first physical extending device;
determine the first physical monitoring port for the mirrored packet using the monitoring identifier; and
forward the mirrored packet to the first physical monitoring port.

2. The port monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the physical networking device is configured to:
remove the monitoring identifier from the mirrored packet before forwarding the mirrored packet to the first physical monitoring port.

3. The port monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the physical networking device is configured to:
receive the monitoring association that defines the physical monitored port and the first physical monitoring port and, in response, allocate the monitoring identifier to the monitoring association, wherein the first physical extending device is configured to receive the monitoring identifier from the physical networking device.

4. The port monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the first extending device is configured to:
detect, at the physical monitored port, a second packet that is addressed to the virtual port;
generate, in response to detecting the first packet, a second mirrored packet;
add a second monitoring identifier that is associated with a first physical monitoring port to the second mirrored packet; and
forward the second mirrored packet through the physical networking port.

5. The port monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the logical networking device further comprises:
a second physical extending device that is coupled to the physical networking device, wherein the first physical monitoring port is included on the second physical extending device.

6. The port monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring identifier is provided in an extended channel identifier (ECID) packet field in the mirrored packet.

7. The port monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring identifier is associated with a second physical monitoring port, and wherein the physical networking device is configured to:
determine the second physical monitoring port for the mirrored packet using the monitoring identifier; and
forward the mirrored packet to the second physical monitoring port.

8. An information handling system (IHS), comprising:
a first physical extending device port that is configured to couple to a physical extending device;
a processing system coupled to the first physical extending device port;
a memory system coupled to the processing system and including instructions that, when executed by the processing system, cause the processing system to provide a controlling engine that configured to:
control a logical networking device that is provided, at least in part, by a first physical extending device that is coupled to the first physical extending device port, wherein the first physical extending device includes a physical monitored port that is viewed as a virtual port on the logical networking device by the controlling engine;
receive, from the first physical extending device through the first physical extending device port, a mirrored packet that was sent by the first physical extending device in response to a packet that was detected at the physical monitored port and that includes a monitoring identifier that is associated with a first physical monitoring port, wherein the packet that was detected at the physical monitored port was received from the virtual port;
determine the first physical monitoring port for the mirrored packet using the monitoring identifier; and
forward the mirrored packet to the first physical monitoring port.

9. The IHS of claim 8 , wherein the controlling engine is configured to:
receive a monitoring association that defines the physical monitored port on the first physical extending device and the first physical monitoring port and, in response, allocate the monitoring identifier to the monitoring association; and
send the monitoring identifier to the first physical extending device.

10. The IHS of claim 8 , further comprising:
a second physical extending device port that is configured to couple to a physical extending device, wherein the controlling engine is configured to forward the mirrored packet to the first physical monitoring port that is included on a second physical extending device that is coupled to the second physical extending device port.

11. The IHS of claim 8 , wherein the monitoring identifier is provided in an extended channel identifier (ECID) packet field in the mirrored packet.

12. The IHS of claim 8 , wherein the
the monitoring identifier is associates with a second physical monitoring port, and wherein the controlling engine is configured to:
determine the second physical monitoring port for the mirrored packet using the monitoring identifier; and
forward the mirrored packet to the second physical monitoring port.

13. A method for monitoring ports, comprising:
receiving, by a physical networking device that controls a logical networking device from a first physical extending device that provides at least a portion of the logical networking device and that includes a physical monitored port that is viewed as a virtual port on the logical networking device by the physical networking device, a mirrored packet that was sent in response to a packet that was detected by the first physical extending device at the physical monitored port and that includes a monitoring identifier that is associated with a monitoring port, wherein the packet that was detected by the first physical extending device at the physical monitored port was received from the virtual port;
determining, by the physical networking device, the monitoring port for the mirrored packet using the monitoring identifier; and
forwarding, by the networking device, the mirrored packet to the monitoring port.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
receiving, by the physical networking device, the monitoring association that defines the physical monitored port on the first physical extending device and the monitoring port, and, in response, allocating the monitoring identifier to the monitoring association; and
sending, by the physical networking device, the monitoring identifier to the first physical extending device.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
removing, by the physical networking device, the monitoring identifier from the mirrored packet before forwarding the mirrored packet to the monitoring port.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the monitoring port is included on a second physical extending device that is

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Sivasankar Ravikumar
• Jayaraman Ashwin Kumar
• Murthy Shree
• Narayanan Kannan
• Krishnamurthy Karthik

Classifications

• H04L49/208 Primary

  Port mirroring · CPC title

• H04L43/12

  Network monitoring probes · CPC title