Techniques for facilitating port mirroring in virtual networks

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computer system from a user, port mirroring configuration information for enabling port mirroring within a network, the port mirroring configuration information including an identity of a port to be mirrored and an address of a traffic receiver intended to receive traffic mirrored from the port;

powering-on, by the computer system, a virtual machine within the network in response to receiving the port mirroring configuration information, the virtual machine executing an instance of a virtual bridge; and

transmitting, by the computer system, one or more configuration commands to the virtual bridge, the one or more configuration commands causing the virtual bridge to perform port mirroring in accordance with the port mirroring configuration information received from the user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the network is a virtual network.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the virtual network is a virtual private cloud (VPC) operated by a cloud service provider, and wherein the user is a customer using the VPC.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the user does not have privileges for modifying hardware configurations of network elements in the network.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the traffic receiver resides locally within the network.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the traffic receiver resides within a remote network.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the port mirroring configuration information further includes tunnel configuration information for tunneling the mirrored traffic to the traffic receiver in the remote network.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the tunnel configuration information includes a tunnel source interface and a tunneling protocol.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more configuration commands cause the virtual bridge to:

establish a mirror port;

tap network traffic received at the port to be mirrored; and

send out the tapped network traffic on the mirror port to the traffic receiver.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the one or more configuration commands further cause the virtual bridge to:

configure a tunnel on the mirror port; and

encapsulate the tapped network traffic according to a tunneling protocol prior to sending out the tapped network traffic on the mirror port.

11. The method of claim 1 where the computer system is a software-defined networking (SDN) controller, and wherein the receiving, the powering-on, and transmitting are performed via an SDN application running on the SDN controller.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising saving the port mirroring configuration information as a port mirroring profile for later reuse by the user.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting the one or more configuration commands to a virtual router within the network, the one or more configuration commands causing the virtual router to perform port mirroring in accordance with the port mirroring configuration information received from the user.

14. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon program code executable by a computer system, the program code causing the computer system to:

receive, from a user, port mirroring configuration information for enabling port mirroring within a network, the port mirroring configuration information including an identity of a port to be mirrored and an address of a traffic receiver intended to receive traffic mirrored from the port;

power-on a virtual machine within the network in response to receiving the port mirroring configuration information, the virtual machine executing an instance of a virtual bridge; and

transmit one or more configuration commands to the virtual bridge, the one or more configuration commands causing the virtual bridge to perform port mirroring in accordance with the port mirroring configuration information received from the user.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein the traffic receiver resides within a remote network, and wherein the port mirroring configuration information further includes tunnel configuration information for tunneling the mirrored traffic to the traffic receiver in the remote network.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein the computer system is a software-defined networking (SDN) controller, and wherein the receiving, the powering-on, and transmitting are performed via an SDN application running on the SDN controller.

17. A computer system comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon program code that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to:

receive, from a user, port mirroring configuration information for enabling port mirroring within a network, the port mirroring configuration information including an identity of a port to be mirrored and an address of a traffic receiver intended to receive traffic mirrored from the port;

power-on a virtual machine within the network in response to receiving the port mirroring configuration information, the virtual machine executing an instance of a virtual bridge; and

transmit one or more configuration commands to the virtual bridge, the one or more configuration commands causing the virtual bridge to perform port mirroring in accordance with the port mirroring configuration information received from the user.

18. The computer system of claim 17 wherein the traffic receiver resides within a remote network, and wherein the port mirroring configuration information further includes tunnel configuration information for tunneling the mirrored traffic to the traffic receiver in the remote network.

19. The computer system of claim 17 wherein the computer system is a software-defined networking (SDN) controller, and wherein the receiving, the powering-on, and transmitting are performed via an SDN application running on the SDN controller.