Network verification systems and methods

A method for verifying a change to a network, comprising:

• receiving a network change to be implemented on the network, the network change affecting transfer of data packets through the network;
• receiving a network verification test;
• identifying test parameters from the network verification test, the test parameters including one or more invariants, wherein the one or more invariants include a condition for the transfer of the data packets through the network, and wherein the network verification test tests the transfer of the data packets and identifies network elements used by the data packets affected by the network change;
• generating a symbolic packet using an equivalence class for a plurality of data packets, the equivalence class correlating the plurality of data packets based on a similar data packet trait used to test the condition of the one or more invariants;
• and
• applying the network verification test on a representation of the network generated using the identified network elements using the symbolic packet.

A network verification system, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• memory in electronic communication with the one or more processors;
• instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable by the one or more processors to:
• receive a network change to be implemented on a network, the network change affecting transfer of data packets through the network;
• receive a network verification test;
• identify test parameters from the network verification test, the test parameters including one or more invariants, wherein the one or more invariants include a condition for the transfer of data packets through the network, and wherein the network verification test tests the transfer of data packets and identifies network elements used by the data packets affected by the network change;
• retrieve network data from the network elements identified by the test parameters;
• build a representation of the network from the network data on which to run the network verification test, the representation of the network including representations of the network elements identified by the test parameters, the representation of the network being configured to transfer simulated data packets across the network elements;
• generate a symbolic packet using an equivalence class for a plurality of data packets, the equivalence class correlating the plurality of data packets based on a similar data packet trait used to test the condition of the one or more invariants;
• and
• apply the network verification test to the symbolic packet to determine whether the condition included in the one or more invariants is satisfied.