System and method of discovering and validating different network action hardware capabilities

A system for validating a hardware path capability, the system having a plurality of intermediate nodes in a network, the system comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
• generating an operations, administration and maintenance (OAM) probe packet encoded according to a multiprotocol label switching extension header that includes network-action fields defining operation codes and associated ancillary data associated with validating the hardware path capability, wherein the OAM probe packet comprises a plurality of features;
• indicating, by a respective intermediate node of the plurality of intermediate nodes in the network along a network path and as instructed by the OAM probe packet, whether the respective intermediate node can support a respective feature identified by a network-action opcode of the plurality of features;
• generating a report regarding whether the plurality of intermediate nodes can support each respective feature of the plurality of features within the OAM probe packet;
• and
• determining, based on the report, whether to enable customer traffic implementing the plurality of features along the network path, wherein the OAM probe packet is used to validate a hardware capability of the network path by determining, for each node, a hardware-specific constraint associated with a maximum readable label-stack depth, an opcode execution support or an ancillary-data field recognition capability.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for validating a hardware path capability which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

• generating an operations, administration and maintenance (OAM) probe packet encoded according to a multiprotocol label switching extension header that includes network-action fields defining operation codes and associated ancillary data associated with validating the hardware path capability, wherein the OAM probe packet comprises a plurality of features;
• indicating, by a respective intermediate node of a plurality of intermediate nodes in the network along a network path and as instructed by the OAM probe packet, whether the respective intermediate node can support a respective feature identified by a network-action opcode of the plurality of features;
• generating a report regarding whether the plurality of intermediate nodes can support each respective feature of the plurality of features within the OAM probe packet;
• and
• determining, based on the report, whether to enable customer traffic implementing the plurality of features along the network path, wherein the OAM probe packet is used to validate a hardware capability of the network path by determining, for each node, a hardware-specific constraint associated with a maximum readable label-stack depth, an opcode execution support or an ancillary-data field recognition capability.