US 10,038,601 B1Granted

Monitoring a multi-tier network fabric

AssigneeAmazon Technologies, Inc.

InventorsDavid Dale Becker, Eoin Francis Cavanagh

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Abstract

The following description is directed to monitoring a multi-tier network including a first tier of routers and a second tier of routers. In one embodiment, a method of monitoring the network comprises creating a probe packet. The probe packet can include a source address corresponding to a monitoring function, and a destination address served by a path from the first tier to the second tier of routers. The probe packet can be transmitted into the multi-tier network. A number of probe packets counted by each router of the first and second tiers of routers can be received. One or more performance metrics of the multi-tier network can be determined based, at least in part, on a sum of the number of probe packets counted by the first tier of routers and a sum of the number of probe packets counted by the second tier of routers.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A system for routing network traffic, the system comprising:

a multi-tier network including a first tier of routers connected to a second tier of routers, the multi-tier network including multiple paths between the first tier of routers and the second tier of routers, the first tier of routers and the second tier of routers being neighboring tiers, each of the routers of the first and second tiers including:
load balancing logic configured to spread packets across the multiple paths to routers of the neighboring tier;
an access control list (ACL) rule for matching probe packets having a source address field within a predetermined range;
and
a counter triggered on the ACL rule being matched;
a first processor executing probing agent software configured to transmit a probe packet including a destination address served by multiple paths from the first tier of routers to the second tier of routers and a source address field having a false source address identifying the packet as a probe packet, the false source address being within the predetermined range;
and
a second processor executing collector agent software connected to the multi-tier network and configured to:
receive a value of the counter of each router of the first and second tiers of the multi-tier network, the value of the counter corresponding to a number of probe packets counted at each router, and
determine one or more performance metrics of a particular path through the multi-tier network based, at least in part, on a sum of the number of probe packets counted at respective routers of the first tier of routers and a sum of the number of probe packets counted at respective routers of the second tier of routers.

7 more elements

A method of monitoring a multi-tier network including a first tier of routers and a second tier of routers, the method comprising:

creating, by a host computer, a probe packet comprising:
a source address field having a value corresponding to a forged source address identifying the packet as a probe packet, and
a destination address served by a path from the first tier of routers to the second tier of routers;
transmitting the probe packet from the host computer and into the multi-tier network, wherein the multi-tier network comprises multiple paths between the first tier of routers and the second tier of routers, respective routers of the first tier of routers and the second tier of routers configured to spread packets across the multiple paths between the first tier of routers and the second tier of routers;
receiving a number of probe packets counted by each router of the first tier of routers and each router of the second tier of routers;
and
determining one or more performance metrics of a particular tier of the multi-tier network based, at least in part, on a difference between a sum of the number of probe packets counted by the routers of the first tier of routers and a sum of the number of probe packets counted by the routers of the second tier of routers.

4 more elements

A computer-readable storage medium including instructions thereon for executing a method of monitoring a multi-tier network including a first tier of routers and a second tier of routers, the method comprising:

creating a group of probe packets, each probe packet comprising:
a source address field having a value representing a false source address and identifying the packet as a probe packet, the value different than a network address of a source node of the probe packet, and
a destination address corresponding to an address reachable by a router of an edge tier of the multi-tier network;
transmitting the group of probe packets into the multi-tier network, wherein the multi-tier network comprises multiple paths between the first tier of routers and the second tier of routers, respective routers of the first tier of routers and the second tier of routers configured to spread packets across the multiple paths between the first tier of routers and the second tier of routers;
waiting for the group of probe packets to traverse the multi-tier network and get dropped at the edge of the multi-tier network and then querying each router of the first tier of routers and each router of the second tier of routers for a number of probe packets counted by each router;
and
determining one or more performance metrics of a particular tier of the multi-tier network based, at least in part, on a difference between a sum of the number of probe packets counted by the routers of the first tier of routers and a sum of the number of probe packets counted by the routers of the second tier of routers.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.