Method, apparatus, and system for flow measurement

A method for flow measurement, comprising:

• receiving a data flow, wherein the data flow comprises a feature identifier, and obtaining matching information of the data flow;
• searching a flow table by using the matching information, and if no information that is consistent with the matching information exists in the flow table, sending the data flow to a controller;
• receiving packet header information and operation information of the data flow that are sent by the controller, and writing the packet header information and the operation information into the flow table, wherein the operation information contains at least a first measurement operation for the feature identifier carried in the data flow;
• searching a measurement instance table according to the feature identifier in the measurement operation, wherein the measurement instance table records an additional feature identifier of a sent data flow and corresponding traffic information of the sent data flow;
• if a first feature identifier is recorded in the measurement instance table and the first feature identifier is consistent with the feature identifier carried in the data flow, updating, in the flow table and according to an index of a first entry corresponding to the first feature identifier in the measurement instance table, the measurement operation for the feature identifier carried in the data flow to a measurement operation for the index;
• and
• executing various operations in the operation information in the flow table, and when executing the measurement operation in the operation information in the flow table, updating traffic information corresponding to the first feature identifier recorded in the measurement instance table.

A controller, comprising:

• a knowing unit, configured to receive a data flow sent by a forwarding device, wherein the data flow comprises a feature identifier, and obtain a type of the data flow by parsing the data flow;
• a first obtaining unit, configured to, if the type of the data flow is a preset type in a measurement flow type set, obtain the feature identifier and packet header information of the data flow, and obtain operation information corresponding to the data flow, and add a measurement operation for the feature identifier to the operation information;
• and
• a sending unit, configured to send, to the forwarding device, the packet header information and the operation information added with the measurement operation for the feature identifier, wherein the packet header information and the operation information are obtained by the first obtaining unit, so that the forwarding device performs traffic measurement on the data flow according to the feature identifier.

A forwarding device, comprising:

• a first receiving unit, configured to receive a data flow, wherein the data flow comprises a feature identifier;
• an obtaining unit, configured to obtain matching information of the data flow according to the data flow received by the first receiving unit;
• a first searching unit, configured to search a flow table by using the matching information obtained by the first obtaining unit;
• a sending unit, configured to send the data flow to a controller if no information that is consistent with the matching information exists in the flow table;
• a second receiving unit, configured to receive packet header information and operation information of the data flow that are sent by the controller, and send the received packet header information and the operation information of the data flow to a writing unit;
• the writing unit, configured to write, into the flow table, the received packet header information and the operation information of the data flow that are sent by the second receiving unit, wherein the operation information contains at least a measurement operation for the feature identifier carried in the data flow;
• a second searching unit, configured to search a measurement instance table according to the feature identifier in the measurement operation, wherein the measurement instance table is used to record an additional feature identifier of a sent data flow and its corresponding traffic information of the sent data flow;
• a first updating unit, configured to, if a first feature identifier is recorded in the measurement instance table and the first feature identifier is consistent with the feature identifier carried in the data flow, update, in the flow table and according to an index of a first entry corresponding to the first feature identifier in the measurement instance table, the measurement operation for the feature identifier carried in the data flow to the measurement operation for the index of the first entry;
• a first executing unit, configured to execute each operation in the operation information of the flow table, and when executing the measurement operation, update traffic information corresponding to the first feature identifier recorded in the measurement instance table;
• and
• a storage unit, configured to store the flow table and the measurement instance table.