Encapsulating network performance metrics in border gateway protocol to support customer-driven path selection

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processing system including at least one processor, cause the processing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:

• receiving a plurality of network probes originating from a first provider edge router in a service provider network;
• calculating a plurality of network performance metrics, based on the plurality of network probes;
• and
• storing the plurality of network performance metrics in a path metric table, wherein an entry in the path metric table for each network probe of the plurality of network probes includes a path traveled by the each network probe from the first provider edge router to the processing system, a subset of the plurality of network performance metrics associated with the each network probe, a community value associated with the each network probe, and a traffic classification value associated with the each network probe, wherein a first customer edge router of the service provider network inserted the traffic classification value into a header of a data packet that is to travel through the first provider edge router to a second provider edge router of the service provider network, and wherein the processing system is a part of the second provider edge router.

An apparatus comprising:

• a processing system including at least one processor;
• and
• a computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processing system, cause the processing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
• receiving a plurality of network probes originating from a first provider edge router in a service provider network;
• calculating a plurality of network performance metrics, based on the plurality of network probes;
• and
• storing the plurality of network performance metrics in a path metric table, wherein an entry in the path metric table for each network probe of the plurality of network probes includes a path traveled by the each network probe from the first provider edge router to the processing system, a subset of the plurality of network performance metrics associated with the each network probe, a community value associated with the each network probe, and a traffic classification value associated with the each network probe, wherein a first customer edge router of the service provider network inserted the traffic classification value into a header of a data packet that is to travel through the first provider edge router to a second provider edge router of the service provider network, and wherein the processing system is a part of the second provider edge router.