Network function virtualization (NFV) multi-protocol virtual probe control

A Network Function Virtualization (NFV) data communication system to control a virtual probe, the NFV data communication system comprises:

• an NFV Management and Orchestration (MANO) computer system configured to receive first protocol data correlated to first header separation instructions and transfer the first header separation instructions and the first correlated protocol data to a control agent in the virtual probe in an NFV Infrastructure (NFVI), wherein the header separation instructions comprise data offsets from a header boundary that indicate the header data to retrieve;
• the NFV MANO computer system configured to receive second protocol data correlated to second header separation instructions and transfer the second header separation instructions and the second correlated protocol data to the control agent in the virtual probe in the NFVI;
• the control agent circuitry in the virtual probe configured to receive the first header separation instructions with the first correlated protocol data and the second separation instructions with the second correlated protocol data and load each the first header separation instructions with the first correlated protocol data and the second separation instructions with the second correlated protocol data into a probe data structure;
• a packet-processing engine circuitry in the virtual probe configured to receive a first data packet from an NFV switching system, identify first protocol data for the first data packet, use the probe data structure with the first protocol data to yield the first header separation instructions, retrieve first header data from the first data packet based on the first header separation instructions, and transfer the first retrieved header data based on the first header separation instructions;
• and
• the packet-processing engine circuitry in the virtual probe configured to receive a second data packet from the NFV switching system, identify second protocol data for the second data packet, use the probe data structure with the second protocol data to yield the second header separation instructions, retrieve second header data from the second data packet based on the second header separation instructions, and transfer the second retrieved header data based on the second header separation instructions.