Apparatus and method to use PTP timestamps for two-way delay and delay variation measurement in IP networks

A network device configured to establish a two-way active measurement protocol (TWAMP) test session that supports use of a Network Time Protocol (NTP) timestamp format and a Precision Time Protocol Version 2 (PTPv2) timestamp format, the network device configured to act as a control-client that communicates with a server to establish a TWAMP test session between a session-sender and a session-reflector, the network device comprising:

• a non-transitory machine readable medium to store an extended active network performance measurement protocol component;
• and
• a processor communicatively coupled to the non-transitory machine readable medium, the processor configured to execute the extended active network performance measurement protocol component, the extended active network performance measurement protocol component configured to:
• open a transmission control protocol (TCP) connection to the server,
• receive a server greeting message from the server, wherein the server greeting message includes an indication of whether the session-reflector is capable of setting timestamps in the NTP timestamp format and an indication of whether the session-reflector is capable of setting timestamps in the PTPv2 timestamp format, wherein the session-reflector supports multiple timestamp format extensions to TWAMP, and wherein the multiple timestamp format extensions to TWAMP include NTP timestamp format extension and PTPv2 timestamp format extension,
• check whether the session-reflector supports the multiple timestamp format extensions to TWAMP,
• send an extended set-up-response message to the server in response to determining that the session-reflector supports the multiple timestamp format extensions to TWAMP, wherein the extended set-up-response message includes an indication of a timestamp format that the session-reflector can set and the session-sender can interpret, and
• receive a server-start message from the server.

A computing device implementing a plurality of virtual machines for implementing network function virtualization (NFV), wherein a virtual machine from the plurality of virtual machines is configured to establish a two-way active measurement protocol (TWAMP) test session that supports use of a Network Time Protocol (NTP) timestamp format and a Precision Time Protocol Version 2 (PTPv2) timestamp format, the virtual machine configured to implement functionality that causes the computing device to act as a control-client that communicates with a server to establish a TWAMP test session between a session-sender and a session-reflector, the computing device comprising:

• a storage medium having stored therein an extended active network performance measurement protocol component;
• and
• a processor communicatively coupled to the storage medium, the processor configured to execute the virtual machine, where the virtual machine is configured to implement the extended active network performance measurement protocol component, wherein the extended active network performance measurement protocol component is configured to:
• open a transmission control protocol (TCP) connection to the server,
• receive a server greeting message from the server, wherein the server greeting message includes an indication of whether the session-reflector is capable of setting timestamps in the NTP timestamp format and an indication of whether the session-reflector is capable of setting timestamps in the PTPv2 timestamp format, wherein the session-reflector supports multiple timestamp format extensions to TWAMP, and wherein the multiple timestamp format extensions to TWAMP include NTP timestamp format extension and PTPv2 timestamp format extension,
• check whether the session-reflector supports the multiple timestamp format extensions to TWAMP,
• send an extended set-up-response message to the server in response to determining that the session-reflector supports the multiple timestamp format extensions to TWAMP, wherein the extended set-up-response message includes an indication of a timestamp format that the session-reflector can set and the session-sender can interpret, and
• receive a server-start message from the server.

A non-transitory machine readable storage medium having stored therein instructions to be executed by a network device to establish a two-way active measurement protocol (TWAMP) test session that supports use of a Network Time Protocol (NTP) timestamp format and a Precision Time Protocol Version 2 (PTPv2) timestamp format, the network device to act as a control-client that communicates with a server to establish a TWAMP test session between a session-sender and a session-reflector, the instructions when executed by the network device cause the network device to perform a set of operations comprising:

• opening a transmission control protocol (TCP) connection to the server;
• receiving a server greeting message from the server, wherein the server greeting message includes an indication of whether the session-reflector is capable of setting timestamps in the NTP timestamp format and an indication of whether the session-reflector is capable of setting timestamps in the PTPv2 timestamp format, wherein the session-reflector supports multiple timestamp format extensions to TWAMP, and wherein the multiple timestamp format extensions to TWAMP include NTP timestamp format extension and PTPv2 timestamp format extension;
• checking whether the session-reflector supports the multiple timestamp format extensions to TWAMP;
• sending an extended set-up-response message to the server in response to determining that the session-reflector supports the multiple timestamp format extensions to TWAMP, wherein the extended set-up-response message includes an indication of a timestamp format that the session-reflector can set and the session-sender can interpret;
• and
• receiving a server-start message from the server.