Remote reachability checks in a distributed tunnel fabric

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a switch, a first control message and a second control message from an operations, administration, and management (OAM) platform, wherein a respective control message of the first and second control messages comprises a type-length-value (TLV) data structure, wherein the TLV data structure includes TLV-encoded data;

based on identifying, in the first control message from the OAM platform, a first TLV data structure associated with validation:

determining a validating plane for the first control message based on a value of the first TLV data structure; and

validating the first control message at the validating plane;

based on identifying, in the second control message from the OAM platform, a second TLV data structure comprising a plurality of fields, wherein the plurality of fields include parameter fields containing a plurality of parameters corresponding to a request in the second control message:

determining, based on information in a further field of the plurality of fields in the second TLV data structure, a subset of active parameters from the plurality of parameters, wherein the information in the further field in the second TLV data structure comprises a first indicator identifying a first parameter of the plurality of parameters as active, and a second indicator identifying a second parameter of the plurality of parameters as inactive, the first parameter being part of the subset of active parameters; and

processing the request in the second control message based on the subset of active parameters, wherein the request in the second control message includes a validation request for the plurality of parameters, and wherein processing the request comprises generating, for the OAM platform, a response indicating a validation of the subset of active parameters.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information in the further field comprises a bitmap comprising a plurality of bits, wherein a respective bit of the bitmap indicates whether a corresponding parameter of the plurality of parameters is active, and wherein the first indicator comprises a first bit of the bitmap, and the second indicator comprises a second bit of the bitmap.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the switch comprises a tunnel endpoint of a virtual private network (VPN) tunnel, and wherein the second control message includes a ping message for checking reachability information over the VPN tunnel to the switch.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising identifying a sub-TLV data structure type in the second TLV data structure, wherein the sub-TLV data structure type corresponds to a type of the ping message for the VPN tunnel and is associated with the plurality of parameters.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the validating plane for the first control message based on the value of the first TLV data structure comprises selecting from among a data plane to perform the validating or a control plane to perform the validating.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

validating, in response to the request in the second control message, a data plane of the switch.

7. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

determining, based on the information in the further field in the second TLV data structure, a subset of inactive parameters of the plurality of parameters.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the validating plane for the first control message comprises selecting both a data plane and a control plane of the switch to perform the validating.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the subset of inactive parameters are treated as wildcard values by the switch.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed cause a switch to:

receive, at the switch, a first control message and a second control message from an operations, administration and management (OAM) platform, wherein a respective control message of the first and second control messages comprises a type-length-value (TLV) data structure, wherein the TLV data structure includes TLV-encoded data;

based on identifying, in the first control message from the OAM platform, a first TLV data structure associated with validation:

determine a validating plane of the switch for the first control message based on a value of the first TLV data structure; and

validate the first control message at the validating plane;

based on identifying, in the second control message from the OAM platform, a second TLV data structure comprising a plurality of fields, wherein the plurality of fields include parameter fields containing a plurality of parameters corresponding to a request in the second control message:

determine, based on information in a further field of the plurality of fields in the second TLV data structure, a subset of active parameters from the plurality of parameters, wherein the information in the further field in the second TLV data structure comprises a first indicator identifying a first parameter of the plurality of parameters as active, and a second indicator identifying a second parameter of the plurality of parameters as inactive, the first parameter being part of the subset of active parameters; and

process the request in the second control message based on the subset of active parameters, wherein the request in the second control message includes a validation request for the plurality of parameters, and wherein processing the request comprises generating, for the OAM platform, a response indicating a validation of the subset of active parameters.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the information in the further field comprises a bitmap comprising a plurality of bits, wherein a respective bit of the bitmap indicates whether a corresponding parameter of the plurality of parameters is active, and wherein the first indicator comprises a first bit of the bitmap, and the second indicator comprises a second bit of the bitmap.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the switch comprises a tunnel endpoint of a virtual private network (VPN) tunnel, and wherein the second control message includes a ping message for checking reachability information over the VPN tunnel to the switch.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the instructions when executed cause the switch to:

identify a sub-TLV data structure type in the second TLV data structure, wherein the sub-TLV data structure type corresponds to a type of the ping message for the VPN tunnel and is associated with the plurality of parameters.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the determining of the validating plane for the first control message based on the value of the first TLV data structure comprises selecting from among a data plane of the switch to perform the validating or a control plane of the switch to perform the validating.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions when executed cause the switch to:

validate, in response to the request in the second control message, a data plane of the switch.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions when executed cause the switch to:

determine, based on the information in the further field in the second TLV data structure, a subset of inactive parameters of the plurality of parameters.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the determining of the validating plane for the first control message comprises selecting both a data plane and a control plane of the switch to perform the validating.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the subset of inactive parameters are treated as wildcard values.

19. A switch comprising:

a processor;

a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions executable on the processor to:

receive a first control message and a second control message from an operations, administration, and management (OAM) platform, wherein a respective control message of the first and second control messages comprises a type-length-value (TLV) data structure, wherein the TLV data structure includes TLV-encoded data;

based on identifying, in the first control message from the OAM platform, a first TLV data structure associated with validation:

determine a validating plane of the switch for the first control message based on a value of the first TLV data structure; and

validate the first control message at the validating plane; and

based on identifying, in the second control message from the OAM platform, a second TLV data structure comprising a plurality of fields, wherein the plurality of fields include parameter fields containing a plurality of parameters corresponding to a request in the second control message:

determine, based on information in a further field of the plurality of fields in the second TLV data structure, a subset of active parameters from the plurality of parameters, wherein the information in the further field in the second TLV data structure comprises a first indicator identifying a first parameter of the plurality of parameters as active, and a second indicator identifying a second parameter of the plurality of parameters as inactive, the first parameter being part of the subset of active parameters; and

process the request in the second control message based on the subset of active parameters, wherein the request in the second control message includes a validation request for the plurality of parameters, and wherein processing the request comprises generating, for the OAM platform, a response indicating a validation of the subset of active parameters.