In-situ best path selection for mobile core network

A method comprising:

• obtaining first inband metadata included in first messages sent, as first data packets, between a control plane node and a user plane node through a first path in a network, the first inband metadata including timestamp and sequence information for the first messages sent through the first path, the first messages further including a flag to indicate that the first messages are sent via a primary path and carry real control plane message information;
• obtaining second inband metadata included in second messages sent, as second data packets, between the control plane node and the user plane node through a second path in the network, wherein the first path and the second path are disjoint from each other, and wherein the second inband metadata including timestamp and sequence information for the second messages sent through the second path, the second messages further including a flag to indicate that the second messages are sent via a warm path and carry dummy control plane message information;
• analyzing performance of the first path and of the second path based on the first inband metadata on and the second inband metadata;
• based on the analyzing, determining whether to toggle a state of the first path and of the second path such that the first path is the warm path and the second path is the primary path;
• and
• when it is determined that performance of the second path is better than performance of the first path, providing a command at least to the control plane node to cause the control plane node to generate the first messages to include the dummy control plane message information and to set the flag of the first messages to indicate that the first messages are sent via the warm path, and to cause the control plane node to generate the second messages to include the real control plane message information and to set the flag of the second messages to indicate that the second messages are sent via the primary path.

A system comprising:

• a control plane node configured to:
• establish at least a first path and a second path through a network for communications between the control plane node and a user plane node, the first path and the second path being disjoint from each other, wherein the first path is designated as a primary path and the second path is designated as a warm path;
• generate first messages which include entropy that causes the first messages to traverse the first path, wherein the first messages include first inband metadata that includes timestamp and sequence information, control plane message information, and a flag to indicate that the first messages are sent via the primary path and carry real control plane message information;
• generate second messages which include entropy that causes the first messages to traverse the second path, wherein the second messages include second inband metadata, that includes timestamp and sequence information, dummy control plane message information, and a flag to indicate that the second messages are sent via the warm path and carry dummy control plane message information to be ignored by the user plane node;
• send the first messages and the second messages as data packets into the network;
• the user plane node configured to:
• obtain the first inband metadata from the first messages and second the inband metadata from the second messages;
• and
• send the first inband metadata and the second inband metadata to a performance analysis server;
• the performance analysis server configured to:
• analyze performance of the first path and of the second path based on the first inband metadata and the second inband metadata;
• and
• determine whether to toggle a state of the first path and of the second path such that the first path is the warm path and the second path is the primary path.