Network data stream tracer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10868747-B2
Application number	US-202016743978-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 15, 2020
Priority date	Jan 28, 2016
Publication date	Dec 15, 2020
Grant date	Dec 15, 2020

Abstract

Various embodiments of a network element comprising a control plane including stream tracer logic are described herein. The network element additionally includes a data plane coupled to the control plane, where the data plane includes forwarding logic to forward a unit of network data from an ingress interface to an egress interface. The stream tracer logic can be configured to cause marking logic to mark selected units of network data for to be counted by counting logic and to cause the counting logic to count marked units of network data. The stream tracer logic can determine whether units of network data are dropped within the forwarding logic via comparison of an ingress count of the marked units of network data with an egress count of the marked units of network data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A network device comprising:
a first processing device to forward units of network data from an ingress interface to an egress interface; and
logic circuitry to:
mark the units of network data for counting;
count the marked units of network data at ingress and egress points of first and second detection regions within the first processing device;
generate an ingress count and an egress count for the first detection region; and
detect whether units of network data are dropped within the first detection region based on a count of the marked units of network data.

2. The network device of claim 1 wherein the first and second detection regions are selected from the group consisting of: at least a portion of a forwarding engine pipeline, and at least a portion of a switching fabric.

3. The network device of claim 1 wherein the first and second detection regions are overlapping.

4. The network device of claim 3 wherein the first and second detection regions overlap spatially, temporally, or spatially and temporally.

5. The network device of claim 3 wherein:
the first and second detection regions spatially overlap;
the first detection region comprises a group of forwarding engines of the network device; and
the second detection region comprises a switching fabric of the network device.

6. The network device of claim 3 wherein:
units of network data traversing the first detection region are marked by the logic circuitry with a first mark;
units of network data traversing the second detection region are marked by the logic circuitry with a second mark; and
the first and second marks are used by the logic circuitry during overlapping time periods.

7. The network device of claim 1 wherein the logic is to further:
generate an ingress count and an egress count for the second detection region; and
detect whether units of network data are dropped within the second detection region based on a count of the marked units of network data.

8. The network device of claim 1 wherein a control plane of the network device comprises circuitry of the logic circuitry to detect whether the units of network data are dropped.

9. The network device of claim 8 wherein a data plane of the network device comprises circuitry of the logic circuitry to mark the units of network data, count the marked units, and generate the ingress and egress counts.

10. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations to determining whether network data is dropped within a detection region of a network device, the operations comprising:
marking the units of network data for counting;
counting the marked units of network data at ingress and egress points of first and second detection regions within the network device;
generating an ingress count and an egress count for the first detection region; and
detecting whether units of network data are dropped within the first detection region based on a count of the marked units of network data.

11. The medium of claim 10 wherein the first and second detection regions are overlapping.

12. The medium of claim 11 wherein the first and second detection regions overlap spatially, temporally, or spatially and temporally.

13. The medium of claim 11 , wherein:
the first and second detection regions spatially overlap;
the first detection region comprises a group of forwarding engines of the network device; and
the second detection region comprises a switching fabric of the network device.

14. The medium of claim 11 wherein:
marking the units of network data for counting comprises:
marking units of network data traversing the first detection region with a first mark; and
marking units of network data traversing the second detection region with a second mark; and

the first and second marks are used during overlapping time periods.

15. The medium of claim 10 wherein the operations further comprise:
generating an ingress count and an egress count for the second detection region; and
detecting whether units of network data are dropped within the second detection region based on a count of the marked units of network data.

16. The medium of claim 10 wherein the first and second detection regions are selected from the group consisting of: at least a portion of a forwarding engine pipeline, and at least a portion of a switching fabric.

17. A method of determining whether network data is dropped within a detection region of a network element, the method comprising:
marking the units of network data for counting;
counting the marked units of network data at ingress and egress points of first and second detection regions within the first processing device;
generating an ingress count and an egress count for the first detection region; and
detecting whether units of network data are dropped within the first detection region based on a count of the marked units of network data.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the first and second detection regions are overlapping.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the first and second detection regions overlap spatially, temporally, or spatially and temporally.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein:
the first and second detection regions spatially overlap;
the first detection region comprises a group of forwarding engines of the network device; and
the second detection region comprises a switching fabric of the network device.

21. The method of claim 18 wherein:
marking the units of network data for counting comprises:
marking units of network data traversing the first detection region with a first mark; and
marking units of network data traversing the second detection region with a second mark; and

the first and second marks are used during overlapping time periods.

22. The method of claim 17 further comprising:
generating an ingress count and an egress count for the second detection region; and
detecting whether units of network data are dropped within the second detection region based on a count of the marked units of network data.

23. The method of claim 17 wherein the first and second detection regions are selected from the group consisting of: at least a portion of a forwarding engine pipeline, and at least a portion of a switching fabric.

Assignees

• Arista Networks Inc

Inventors

• Holbrook Hugh
• Labonte Francois
• Duda Kenneth

Classifications

• H04L43/0876 Primary

  Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level · CPC title

• H04L43/0835

  One way packet loss · CPC title