Using BFD packets in a network tunnel environment

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions, the instructions executable by a processor of a system to cause the system to:

• request, at a first network device, a Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) session with a second network device, wherein the BFD session has a corresponding BFD session key;
• determine, by the first network device, that the BFD session is for single hop data;
• determine, by the first network device, that the BFD session is over a network tunnel from the first network device to the second network device;
• initiate the BFD session between the first and second network devices, wherein the BFD session is shared between multiple clients requesting BFD sessions on a network tunnel, but is not shared between tunneled and non-tunneled sessions between the multiple clients;
• initiate no more than one BFD session in memory for each BFD session key whenever multiple protocols are monitoring a same layer 3 network path, wherein the BFD session has a corresponding BFD session key;
• transmit, the single hop data to the second network device via the network tunnel, wherein the network tunnel traverses a multiple hop network path;
• and
• disable echo packets for the BFD session.

A system comprising:

• a session requestor to request, at a first network device, a Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) session with a second network device, wherein the BFD session has a corresponding BFD session key;
• a session determiner to determine, by the first network device, that the BFD session is for single hop data;
• a tunnel determiner to determine, by the first network device, that the BFD session is over a network tunnel from the first network device to the second network device;
• a session initiator to:
• initiate the BFD session between the first and second network devices, wherein the BFD session is shared between multiple clients requesting BFD sessions on a network tunnel, but is not shared between tunneled and non-tunneled sessions between the multiple clients and
• initiate no more than one BFD session in memory for each BFD session key whenever multiple protocols are monitoring a same layer 3 network path;
• a data transmitter to transmit, the single hop data to the second network device via the network tunnel, wherein the network tunnel traverses a multiple hop network path;
• and
• an echo disabler to disable echo packets for the BFD session.