Method and system for implementing ethernet OAM in a software-defined networking (SDN) system

1. A method implemented in a network element coupled to a software-defined networking (SDN) system, wherein the SDN system contains a plurality of network elements processing traffic flows and a SDN controller managing the plurality of network elements, the method comprising:

adding an entry to a flow table of the network element, wherein the entry is a flow table entry associated with an operation, administration, and management (OAM) traffic flow for an Open System Interconnect (OSI) layer 2 (L2) service;

adding an entry to a group table of the network element, wherein the entry is a group table entry to be selected upon receiving a packet matching the flow table entry, wherein the group table entry includes action buckets to cause the packet to be sent to a plurality of ports, including a loopback port for the packet to be looped back to the flow table at a predetermined interval;

receiving, from the SDN controller, the packet directing to the group table entry; and

sending the packet to the ports of the network element according to the group table entry, wherein the packet is to be looped back through the loopback port to the flow table of the network element periodically at the predetermined interval.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

sending a notification to the SDN controller upon determining that the packet fails to be looped back within a first timeout interval.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a request from the SDN controller to terminate the OAM traffic flow for the OSI L2 service; and

removing the flow table entry associated with the OAM traffic flow.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the packet is delayed through a traffic shaper in looping back to the flow table at the predetermined interval.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the loopback port is a physical port wired to loop back to the network element.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the loopback port is a logical port with emulated loopback functions.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the packet is received at another network element, wherein the other network element identifies the packet is in the OAM traffic flow for the OSI L2 service, and wherein the other network element determines whether the packet is received within a second timeout interval.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the other network element sends a notification to the SDN controller upon determining the packet is not received within the second timeout interval.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the other network element receives another packet, wherein the other network element identifies the other packet associated with an unknown traffic flow, and wherein the other network element sends a notification to the SDN controller to obtain information to add a corresponding flow table entry.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network element and SDN controller operate within compliance of an OpenFlow standard, wherein the packet from the SDN controller is a PACKET_OUT message.

11. A network element coupled to a software-defined networking (SDN) system, wherein the SDN system contains a plurality of network elements processing traffic flows and a SDN controller managing the plurality of network elements, the network element comprising:

a processor and a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium coupled to the processor, the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium containing an Ethernet operation, administration, and management (OAM) module executable by the processor, wherein the network element is operative to:

add an entry to a flow table of the network element, wherein the entry is a flow table entry associated with an operation, administration, and management (OAM) traffic flow for an Open System Interconnect (OSI) layer 2 (L2) service,

add an entry to a group table of the network element, wherein the entry is a group table entry to be selected upon receiving a packet matching the flow table entry, wherein the group table entry includes action buckets to cause the packet to be sent to a plurality of ports, including a loopback port for the packet to be looped back to the flow table at a predetermined interval,

receive, from the SDN controller, the packet directing to the group table entry, and

send the packet to the plurality of ports of the network element according to the group table entry, wherein the packet is to be looped back through the loopback port to the flow table of the network element periodically at the predetermined interval.

12. The network element of claim 11 , wherein the network element is further operative to:

send a notification to the SDN controller upon the determination of the packet failing to be looped back within a first timeout interval.

13. The network element of claim 11 , wherein the network element is further operative to:

receive a request from the SDN controller to terminate the OAM traffic flow for the OSI L2 service, and

remove the flow table entry associated with the OAM traffic flow.

14. The network element of claim 11 , wherein the packet is to be delayed through a traffic shaper in looping back to the flow table at the predetermined interval.

15. The network element of claim 11 , the loopback port is a physical port wired to loop back to the network element.

16. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations in a network element coupled to a software-defined networking (SDN) system, wherein the SDN system contains a plurality of network elements processing traffic flows and a SDN controller managing the plurality of network elements, the operations comprising:

adding an entry to a flow table of the network element, wherein the entry is a flow table entry associated with an operation, administration, and management (OAM) traffic flow for an Open System Interconnect (OSI) layer 2 (L2) service;

adding an entry to a group table of the network element, wherein the entry is a group table entry to be selected upon receiving a packet matching the flow table entry, wherein the group table entry includes action buckets to cause the packet to be sent to a plurality of ports, including a loopback port for the packet to be looped back to the flow table at a predetermined interval;

receiving, from the SDN controller, the packet directing to the group table entry; and

sending the packet to the plurality of ports of the network element according to the group table entry, wherein the packet is to be looped back through the loopback port to the flow table of the network element periodically at the predetermined interval.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:

sending a notification to the SDN controller upon determining that the packet fails to be looped back within a first timeout interval.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a request from the SDN controller to terminate the OAM traffic flow for the OSI L2 service; and

removing the flow table entry associated with the OAM traffic flow.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the loopback port is a logical port with emulated loopback functions.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the network element and SDN controller operate within compliance of an OpenFlow standard, wherein the packet from the SDN controller is a PACKET_OUT message.