IP Library › Granted Patent US 9,992,056
Granted Patent B2
US 9,992,056 · App. 15/148,864 · Granted Jun 5, 2018

Triggered in-band operations, administration, and maintenance in a network environment

Inventors: David D. Ward (Los Gatos, CA); Carlos M. Pignataro (Raleigh, NC); Frank Brockners (Köln, DE); Shwetha Subray Bhandari (Bangalore, IN)
Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc.
H04L41/0631H04L12/4633H04L12/4641H04L12/56H04L41/04H04L41/0677H04L43/024H04L43/04H04L45/50H04L69/22H04L41/0686H04L43/087H04L43/0811H04L43/0817H04L43/0829H04L43/0852H04L43/0876H04L43/10H04L2012/5625
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,992,056
App. No.
15/148,864
Granted
Jun 5, 2018
Kind
B2
Abstract

Embodiments of the disclosure pertain to activating in-band OAM based on a triggering event. Aspects of the embodiments are directed to receiving a first notification indicating a problem in a network; triggering a data-collection feature on one or more nodes in the network for subsequent packets that traverse the one or more nodes; evaluating a subsequent packet that includes data augmented by the data collection feature; and determining the problem in the network based on the data augmented to the subsequent packet.

Claims (40)

1. A method comprising:

receiving a first notification indicating that a first packet has failed a service plane verification in a network;

triggering a data-collection feature on one or more nodes in the network for subsequent packets that traverse the one or more nodes, wherein the data-collection feature includes a packet tracing feature applied to a second, subsequent packet, the data-collection feature augmenting the second packet with data that includes source and destination information corresponding to source and destination information of the first packet;

receiving a second notification indicating the second packet failed the service plane verification in the network, wherein the second notification includes packet trace information related to the second packet traversing at least one of the one or more nodes in the network, wherein the packet trace information includes a failure condition that caused the second packet to fail the service plane verification;

evaluating the second packet that includes the data augmented by the data collection feature; and

identifying a cause for the first packet to fail the service plane verification, the identifying based on the failure condition included in the packet trace information associated with the second packet.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first notification is received from a node in the network or from a source external to the network.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the node comprises a service node comprising an in-band operation, administration, and maintenance (OAM) node.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein triggering a data-collection feature on one or more nodes in the network for subsequent packets that traverse the one or more nodes comprises causing data to be augmented to a subset of the subsequent packets, and

wherein the method further comprises evaluating the subset of the subsequent packets.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the triggering a data-collection feature on one or more nodes in the network for subsequent packets that traverse the one or more nodes comprises triggering a data-collection feature to augment packets carrying data traffic with metadata about the one or more nodes or network paths traveled by the subsequent packets.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the triggering a data-collection feature on one or more nodes in the network for subsequent packets that traverse the one or more nodes comprises triggering a data collection feature on a subsequent packet that comprises probe data tagged with an in-band operation, administration, and maintenance (iOAM) tag.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the iOAM tag is transported using one of an IPv6 or VxLAN-GPE header.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the iOAM tag comprises one or more of delay related data, packet loss data, telemetry data, packet routing information, service function information, or bandwidth related data.

9. A network element comprising a hardware processor configured to:

receive a first notification indicating that a first packet has failed a service plane verification in a network;

trigger a data-collection feature on one or more nodes in the network for subsequent packets that traverse the one or more nodes, wherein the data-collection feature includes a packet tracing feature applied to a second, subsequent packet, the data-collection feature augmenting the second packet with data that includes source and destination information corresponding to source and destination information of the first packet;

receive a second notification indicating the second packet failed the service plane verification in the network, wherein the second notification includes packet trace information related to the second packet traversing at least one of the one or more nodes in the network, wherein the packet trace information includes a failure condition that caused the second packet to fail the service plane verification;

evaluate the second packet that includes the data augmented by the data collection feature; and

identify a cause for the first packet to fail the service plane verification, the identifying based on the failure condition included in the packet trace information associated with the second packet.

10. The network element of claim 9 , wherein the first notification is received from a service node in the network or from a source external to the network.

11. The network element of claim 10 , wherein the service node comprises an in-band operation, administration, and maintenance (OAM) node.

12. The network element of claim 9 , wherein the hardware processor is further configured to:

augment data of a subset of subsequent packets that traverse the one or more nodes; and

evaluate the subset of the subsequent packets.

13. The network element of claim 9 , wherein the hardware processor is configured to trigger the data-collection feature on the one or more nodes in the network for subsequent packets that traverse the one or more nodes by triggering the data-collection feature to augment packets carrying data traffic with metadata about the one or more nodes or network paths traveled by the subsequent packets.

14. The network element of claim 9 , wherein the hardware processor is further configured to trigger a data-collection feature on one or more nodes in the network for subsequent packets that traverse the one or more nodes by triggering the data-collection feature on a subsequent packet that comprises probe data tagged with an in-band operation, administration, and maintenance (iOAM) tag.

15. The network element of claim 14 , wherein the iOAM tag comprises one or more of delay related data, packet loss data, telemetry data, packet routing information, service function information, or bandwidth related data.

16. A computer-readable non-transitory medium comprising one or more instructions for augmenting metadata of a network service header, that when executed on a processor configure the processor to:

receive a first notification indicating that a first packet has failed a service plane verification in a network;

trigger a data-collection feature on one or more nodes in the network for subsequent packets that traverse the one or more nodes, wherein the data-collection feature includes a packet tracing feature applied to a second, subsequent packet, the data-collection feature augmenting the second packet with data that includes source and destination information corresponding to source and destination information of the first packet;

receive a second notification indicating the second packet failed the service plane verification in the network, wherein the second notification includes packet trace information related to the second packet traversing at least one of the one or more nodes in the network, wherein the packet trace information includes a failure condition that caused the second packet to fail the service plane verification;

evaluate the second packet that includes the data augmented by the data collection feature; and

identify a cause for the first packet to fail the service plane verification, the identifying based on the failure condition included in the packet trace information associated with the second packet.

17. The computer-readable non-transitory medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions further configure the processor to:

augment data of a subset of subsequent packets that traverse the one or more nodes; and

evaluate the subset of the subsequent packets.

18. The computer-readable non-transitory medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions further configure the processor to trigger the data-collection feature on the one or more nodes in the network for subsequent packets that traverse the one or more nodes by triggering the data-collection feature to augment packets carrying data traffic with metadata about the one or more nodes or network paths traveled by the subsequent packets.

19. The computer-readable non-transitory medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions further configure the processor to trigger a data-collection feature on one or more nodes in the network for subsequent packets that traverse the one or more nodes by triggering the data-collection feature on a subsequent packet that comprises probe data tagged with an in-band operation, administration, and maintenance (iOAM) tag.

20. The computer-readable non-transitory medium of claim 19 , wherein the iOAM tag comprises one or more of delay related data, packet loss data, telemetry data, packet routing information, service function information, or bandwidth related data.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 6, 2016
From: WARD, DAVID D.; PIGNATARO, CARLOS M.; BROCKNERS, FRANK; BHANDARI, SHWETHA SUBRAY
To: CISCO TECHNOLOGY, INC.
Reel/Frame 038490/0108 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 62244095 · Oct 20, 2015
Related Publication 20170111209A1 · Apr 20, 2017