Trace Feature Across the Network (Depth & Breadth)-Wise

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016269266-A1
Application number	US-201514656840-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 13, 2015
Priority date	Mar 13, 2015
Publication date	Sep 15, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A feature trace capability may be provided for features including, but not limited to, automatic quality of service (auto QoS), power over Ethernet (PoE), and fabric compatibility. A network command may be implemented with the capability to validate features across a network path or the network as a whole. The output of this network command may result in the display of details about supported features. Such a command may also result in a listing of what devices require upgrades to support any number of features of interest. Embodiments of the feature trace capability may be configured such that the query gets terminated once a final subnet (or endpoint) is reached. Alternatively, the feature trace capability may be configured such that the query gets terminated after a maximum hop count, or trace total (trace_ttl) is reached. Such a limit may prevent the continuous flooding of the network.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
receiving a feature trace query packet comprising a trace total (trace_ttl) value; replying to the feature trace query packet with information about a feature specified in the feature trace packet; decrementing the trace_ttl value; propagating the feature trace query packet to a network device if the trace_ttl value is above a minimum threshold; and dropping the feature trace query packet if the trace_ttl value has reached the minimum threshold.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the feature trace packet is implemented using Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP).

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the feature trace packet comprises one or more destination address fields set to “FF”.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the feature trace packet comprises a source IP address field set to a source IP address associated with an originator of the feature trace packet.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the feature trace packet comprises a destination User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port field set to a value that ensures that the feature trace packet is punted to software for processing.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the feature trace packet comprises a payload field set to an identifier of the feature specified in the feature trace packet.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the identifier is provided in a type-length variable (TLV) format.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the feature comprises one of automatic quality of service (auto QoS, power over Ethernet (PoE), and fabric compatibility.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the feature trace packet comprises a source MAC address field set to a source MAC address associated with a most recent propagator of the feature trace packet.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein replying to the feature trace query packet comprises transmitting a feature trace response packet with a destination address field set to an IP address associated with an originator of the feature trace packet.

11 . The method of claim 6 , wherein a feature trace response packet provides information responsive to the identifier of the feature specified in the feature trace packet.

12 . A method comprising:
generating a feature trace query packet requesting information about a first feature from a first network device; injecting the feature trace query packet at a first network device, wherein the feature trace query packet comprises one or more destination address fields set to address information associated with the first network device; and receiving a feature trace response packet from the first network device comprising information about the first feature from a first network device.

13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising: receiving feature trace response packets from each of a plurality of intermediate network devices locating between a network device responsible for generating the feature trace query packet and the first network device.

14 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising implementing software related to the first feature based on the feature trace response packet.

15 . A system comprising:
a network management station configured to inject a feature trace query packet into a network at a first network device, wherein the feature trace query packet comprises at least a trace total (trace_ttl) value; and one or more feature trace members configured to:
reply to the feature trace query packet;
decrement the trace_ttl value; and
propagate the feature trace query packet while maintaining an original source address found in the feature trace query packet.

16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein one or more feature trace members are further configured to stop propagation of the feature trace query packet if the trace_ttl value equals 0.

17 . The system of claim 15 , wherein one or more feature trace members are Layer-2 switch devices configured to not decrement the trace_ttl value prior to propagating the feature trace query packet.

18 . The system of claim 15 , wherein network management station configured to inject a feature trace query packet into a network over a Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) connection.

19 . The system of claim 15 , further comprising one or more endpoint network devices connected to an edge of the network, the one or more endpoint network devices configured to drop the feature trace query packet.

20 . The system of claim 19 , wherein one of the one or more endpoint network devices is an IP-enabled telephone.

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Hooda Sanjay Kumar
• Krishnamurthy Venkatabalakrishnan
• Patel Tushar J
• Bhat Ganesh Srinivasa

Classifications

• H04L43/04

  Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation · CPC title

• H04L43/16 Primary

  Threshold monitoring · CPC title

• H04L43/0823

  Errors, e.g. transmission errors · CPC title

• H04L41/0853 Primary

  by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information · CPC title

• H04L43/10

  Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route · CPC title