Network flow information collection method and apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9973400-B2
Application number	US-201715442544-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 24, 2017
Priority date	Aug 25, 2014
Publication date	May 15, 2018
Grant date	May 15, 2018

Abstract

A network flow information collection method and apparatus. A switching device receives a data packet, and collects network flow information of the data packet according to all flow entries when the data packet passes from an ingress port to an egress port in the switching device. All flow entries when a same network flow data packet passes from the ingress port to the egress port in the switching device are the same, and all flow entries when different network flow data packets pass from the ingress port to the egress port in the switching device are different. That is, all the flow entries passed from the ingress port to the egress port can uniquely identify one network flow. Therefore, each piece of the network flow information forwarded by the switching device can be accurately collected, improving accuracy of collecting network flow information by the switching device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A network flow information collection method, comprising:
receiving, by a switching device, a data packet;
obtaining, by the switching device, identifiers of all flow entries when the data packet passes from an ingress port to an egress port in the switching device;
generating, by the switching device, a network flow identifier of the data packet by sequentially arranging the identifiers of all the flow entries; and
updating, by the switching device, network flow information corresponding to the network flow identifier.

2. The method according to claim 1 , before updating, by the switching device, network flow information corresponding to the network flow identifier, further comprising:
establishing storage space for storing the network flow identifier and the network flow information corresponding to the network flow identifier.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein updating, by the switching device, network flow information corresponding to the network flow identifier comprises:
searching, by the switching device, whether the storage space stores the network flow identifier of the data packet; and
updating the network flow information corresponding to the network flow identifier when the storage space stores the network flow identifier of the data packet.

4. The method according to claim 3 , further comprising:
adding the network flow identifier to the storage space when the storage space does not store the network flow identifier of the data packet; and
updating the network flow information corresponding to the network flow identifier.

5. A network flow information collection method, comprising:
receiving, by a switching device, a data packet;
generating, by the switching device, a network flow identifier of the data packet according to all flow entries when the data packet passes from an ingress port to an egress port in the switching device;
updating, by the switching device, network flow information corresponding to the network flow identifier;
receiving, by the switching device, a network flow information query request sent by a controller, wherein the request comprises a match field;
generating, by the switching device, a to-be-queried network flow identifier according to the match field;
obtaining, by the switching device, network flow information corresponding to the to-be-queried network flow identifier; and
sending, by the switching device, the network flow information corresponding to the to-be-queried network flow identifier to the controller.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the network flow information comprises at least one of the following information:
a quantity of data packets of the network flow forwarded by the switching device;
a size of a data packet of the network flow forwarded by the switching device;
an average size of the data packets of the network flow forwarded by the switching device;
an interval at which the switching device forwards the data packets of the network flow;
a rate of forwarding the network flow by the switching device; or
bandwidth occupied by the switching device to forward the network flow.

7. A network flow information collection apparatus, comprising:
a memory; and
a processor coupled to the memory and configured to:
receive a data packet,
obtain identifiers of all flow entries when the data packet passes from an ingress port to an egress port in a switching device,
generate a network flow identifier of the data packet by sequentially arranging the identifiers of all the flow entries, and
update network flow information corresponding to the network flow identifier.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the processor is configured to establish storage space for storing the network flow identifier and the network flow information corresponding to the network flow identifier.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
search whether the storage space stores the network flow identifier of the data packet; and
update the network flow information corresponding to the network flow identifier when the storage space stores the network flow identifier of the data packet.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
add the network flow identifier to the storage space when the storage space does not store the network flow identifier of the data packet; and
update the network flow information corresponding to the network flow identifier.

11. A network flow information collection apparatus, comprising:
a memory; and
a processor coupled to the memory and configured to:
receive a data packet,
generate a network flow identifier of the data packet according to all flow entries when the data packet passes from an ingress port to an egress port in a switching device, and update network flow information corresponding to the network flow identifier,
check whether flow table space stores a flow entry that matches the data packet,
send the data packet to a controller when the flow table space does not store the flow entry that matches the data packet to enable the controller to generate, according to the data packet, the flow entry that matches the data packet, and
receive the flow entry that matches the data packet and that is sent by the controller.

12. A network flow information collection apparatus, comprising:
a memory; and
a processor coupled to the memory and configured to:
receive a data packet,
generate a network flow identifier of the data packet according to all flow entries when the data packet passes from an ingress port to an egress port in a switching device, and update network flow information corresponding to the network flow identifier,
receive a network flow information query request sent by a controller, wherein the request comprises a match field,
generate a to-be-queried network flow identifier according to the match field,
obtain network flow information corresponding to the to-be-queried network flow identifier, and
send the network flow information corresponding to the to-be-queried network flow identifier to the controller.

13. The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive a network flow information query request sent by the controller, wherein the request comprises a match field;
generate a to-be-queried network flow identifier according to the match field;
obtain network flow infatuation corresponding to the to-be-queried network flow identifier; and
send the network flow information corresponding to the to-be-queried network flow identifier to the controller.

14. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the network flow information comprises at least one of the following information:
a quantity of data packets of the network flow forwarded by the switching device;
a size of a data packet of the network flow forwarded by the switching device;
an average size of the data packets of the network flow forwarded by the switching device;
an interval at which the switching device forwards the data packets of the network flow;
a rate of forwarding the network flow by the switching device; or
bandwidth occupied by the switching device to forward the network flow.

15. A network flow information collection apparatus, wherein the network flow information collection apparatus is a switching device, the switching device comprising:
a processor;
a memory;
a communications interface; and
a bus;
wherein the processor, the memory, and the communications interface communicate using the bu

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Su Jinzhao
• Wang Jiao

Classifications

• H04L69/22

  Parsing or analysis of headers · CPC title

• H04L43/04 Primary

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

• H04L47/2483

  involving identification of individual flows · CPC title

• H04L47/2441

  relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ] · CPC title

• H04L45/38

  Flow based routing · CPC title