Passive Performance Measurement for Inline Service Chaining

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016149784-A1
Application number	US-201414549373-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 20, 2014
Priority date	Nov 20, 2014
Publication date	May 26, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method is implemented by a computing device to monitor the performance of packet processing in an in-line service chain. The computing device is in communication with a plurality of network devices forming a software defined network (SDN) and the in-line service chain. The SDN includes a controller implemented by the computing device to configure the plurality of network devices. The plurality of devices includes a set of switches monitoring packets traversing the in-line service chain including at least one service.

First claim

1 . A method implemented by a computing device to monitor the performance of packet processing in an in-line service chain, the computing device in communication with a plurality of network devices forming a software defined network (SDN) and the in-line service chain, the SDN including a controller implemented by the computing device to configure the plurality of network devices, the plurality of devices including a set of switches monitoring packets traversing the in-line service chain including at least one service, the method comprising the steps of:
checking whether a packet was lost after traversing the at least one service; adding to a switch packet loss tally where the packet was lost; adding to a switch packet delay tally where the packet was not lost; sorting a list of the set of switches according to corresponding switch packet loss tally to generate a sorted loss list; sorting a list of the set of switches according to corresponding switch delay tally to generate a sorted delay list; and sorting a list of the set of switch according to an order in the sorted loss list and the sorted delay list.

2 . The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising the step of:
checking whether a switch in the sorted loss list is enabled to induce delay or to stop a data flow; and moving the switch to the end of the sorted loss list where the switch is enabled.

3 . The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising the step of:
checking whether a switch in the sorted delay list is enabled to induce delay for a data flow; and moving the switch to the end of the sorted delay list where the switch is enabled.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein packet loss and delay are tallied for each service in the plurality of service.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein packet loss and delay are tallied for each measurement of packet delay or loss across a given service.

6 . A computing device to monitor the performance of packet processing in an in-line service chain, the computing device in communication with a plurality of network devices forming a software defined network (SDN) and the in-line service chain, the SDN including a controller implemented by the computing device to configure the plurality of network devices, the plurality of devices including a set of switches monitoring packets traversing the in-line service chain including at least one service, the computing device comprising:
a non-transitory machine readable medium to store a monitoring module; and a processor communicatively coupled to the non-transitory machine readable medium, the processor configured to execute the monitoring module, the monitoring module configured to check whether a packet was lost after traversing the at least one service, to add to a switch packet loss tally where the packet was lost, to add to a switch packet delay tally where the packet was not lost, to sort a list of the set of switches according to corresponding switch packet loss tally to generate a sorted loss list, to sort a list of the set of switches according to corresponding switch delay tally to generate a sorted delay list, and to sort a list of the set of switch according to an order in the sorted loss list and the sorted delay list.

7 . The computing device of claim 6 , the monitoring module further configured to check whether a switch in the sorted loss list is enabled to induce delay or to stop a data flow, and to move the switch to the end of the sorted loss list where the switch is enabled.

8 . The computing device of claim 6 , the monitoring module further configured to check whether to check whether a switch in the sorted delay list is enabled to induce delay for a data flow, and to move the switch to the end of the sorted delay list where the switch is enabled.

9 . The computing device of claim 6 , wherein packet loss and delay are tallied for each service in the plurality of service.

10 . The computing device of claim 6 , wherein packet loss and delay are tallied for each measurement of packet delay or loss across a given service.

11 . A computing device implementing a plurality of virtual machines for implementing network function virtualization (NFV), wherein a virtual machine from the plurality of virtual machines is configured to monitor the performance of packet processing in an in-line service chain, the computing device in communication with a plurality of network devices forming a software defined network (SDN) and the in-line service chain, the SDN including a controller implemented by the computing device to configure the plurality of network devices, the plurality of devices including a set of switches monitoring packets traversing the in-line service chain including at least one service, the computing device comprising:
a non-transitory machine readable medium to store a monitoring module; and a processor communicatively coupled to the non-transitory machine readable medium, the processor configured to execute the virtual machine, the virtual machine to implement the monitoring module, the monitoring module configured to check whether a packet was lost after traversing the at least one service, to add to a switch packet loss tally where the packet was lost, to add to a switch packet delay tally where the packet was not lost, to sort a list of the set of switches according to corresponding switch packet loss tally to generate a sorted loss list, to sort a list of the set of switches according to corresponding switch delay tally to generate a sorted delay list, and to sort a list of the set of switch according to an order in the sorted loss list and the sorted delay list.

12 . The computing device of claim 11 , the monitoring module further configured to check whether a switch in the sorted loss list is enabled to induce delay or to stop a data flow, and to move the switch to the end of the sorted loss list where the switch is enabled.

13 . The computing device of claim 11 , the monitoring module further configured to check whether to check whether a switch in the sorted delay list is enabled to induce delay for a data flow, and to move the switch to the end of the sorted delay list where the switch is enabled.

14 . The computing device of claim 11 , wherein packet loss and delay are tallied for each service in the plurality of service.

15 . The computing device of claim 11 , wherein packet loss and delay are tallied for each measurement of packet delay or loss across a given service.

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Zhang Ying
• Halpern Joel

Classifications

• H04L43/065 Primary

  related to network devices · CPC title

• H04L43/0835

  One way packet loss · CPC title

• H04L43/0829 Primary

  Packet loss · CPC title

• H04L43/062

  related to network traffic · CPC title

• H04L43/0852

  Delays · CPC title