Performance measurement in a segment routing network

1 . A method of generating and transmitting a probing packet for determining in-situ performance in a segment routing (SR) network, comprising:

receiving a packet at a SR network node having an IPV6 packet header;

generating the probing packet to include the IPV6 packet header, a segment routing header (SRH) extension header, and a user datagram protocol (UDP) header structure and UDP data payload portion wherein the SRH extension header includes a flag bit to identify the packet as a probing packet;

wherein the UDP payload portion includes an office administration and management (OAM) header and an in-situ operations, administration and management (IOAM) data structure; and

transmitting the probing packet to a next segment node in the SR network.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein

an IP header of the received packet includes a source address field and a destination address field, wherein

a source address is an address of a SR source node and a destination address is an address of a SR segment endpoint node.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the probing packet originates at the source address of a SR source node and terminates at the destination address of a SR endpoint node at an end of a SR path.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the SRH extension header lists SR segment endpoint nodes for which the probing packet will measure and collect data.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the UDP header further includes a source port field used as a sequence number to track the probing packet on a SR path.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the UDP header further includes a destination port field to define a payload type.

7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising modifying, by the SR node, a value of the destination port field to define the payload type.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the OAM header is one of an in-situ operations, administration and management (IOAM) header, an IOAM edge-to-edge (E2E) header, an IOAM DEX header or a telemetry header as defined by the value of the destination port field.

9 . The method of claim 1 wherein the SRH extension header comprises a flag field identifying the packet as a probing packet.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising

matching a value of the destination port field to a value of a destination port of the SR node, and

parsing, by the SR node, the UDP header and the OAM header to add data to a node data list when a flag field is set to indicate the packet is the probing packet and the value of the destination port field matches the value of the destination port of the SR node.

11 . A segment routing node for generating and transmitting a probing packet for determining in-situ performance in a segment routing (SR) network, comprising:

a non-transitory memory storage comprising instructions; and

one or more processors in communication with the memory, wherein the one or more processors cause the segment routing node to execute the instructions to:

receive a packet having an IPV6 packet header;

generate the probing packet to include the IPV6 packet header, a segment routing header (SRH) extension header wherein the SRH extension header includes a flag bit to identify the packet as a probing packet, and a user datagram protocol (UDP) header structure and UDP data payload portion;

wherein the UDP payload portion includes an office administration and management (OAM) header and an in-situ operations, administration and management (IOAM) data structure; and

transmitting the probing packet to a next segment node in the SR network.

12 . The segment routing node of claim 11 , wherein

an IP header of the received packet includes a source address field and a destination address field, wherein

a source address is an address of a SR source node and a destination address is an address of a SR segment endpoint node.

13 . The segment routing node of claim 12 , wherein the probing packet originates at the source address of a SR source node and terminates at the destination address of a SR endpoint node at an end of a SR path.

14 . The segment routing node of claim 11 , wherein the SRH extension header lists SR segment endpoint nodes for which the probing packet will measure and collect data.

15 . The segment routing node of claim 11 , wherein the UDP header further includes a source port field used as a sequence number to track the probing packet on a SR path.

16 . The segment routing node of claim 11 , wherein the UDP header further includes a destination port field to define a payload type.

17 . The segment routing node of claim 16 , wherein the one or more processors further cause the segment routing node to execute the instructions to modify a value of the destination port field to define the payload type.

18 . The segment routing node of claim 11 , wherein the SRH extension header comprises a flag field identifying the packet as a probing packet.

19 . The segment routing node of claim 13 , wherein the one or more processors further cause the segment routing node to execute the instructions to:

match a value of a destination port field to a value of a destination port of the SR node, and

parse the UDP header and the OAM header to add data to a node data list when a flag field is set to indicate the packet is the probing packet and the value of the destination port field matches the value of the destination port of the SR node.

20 . A non-transitory computing-readable medium storing computer instructions for generating and transmitting a probing packet for determining in-situ performance in a segment routing (SR) network, that when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

receiving a packet at a SR network node having an IPV6 packet header;

generating the probing packet to include the IPV6 packet header, a segment routing header (SRH) extension header wherein the SRH extension header includes a flag bit to identify the packet as a probing packet, and a UDP header structure and a user datagram protocol (UDP) data payload portion wherein the UDP payload portion includes an office administration and management (OAM) header and an in-situ operations, administration and management (IOAM) data structure; and

transmitting the probing packet to a next segment node in the SR network.