Controller driven oam for split architecture network

A method performed by a network element implementing a switch, the switch to report metrics for a data flow to a controller of a split architecture network, wherein the switch forwards a management packet with the data flow and collects the metrics for the data flow, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving by the switch a trigger monitoring message from the controller;
• generating the management packet by a protocol agent, the management packet defined by the trigger monitoring message;
• forwarding the management packet through the switch module to aggregate the management packet with the data flow;
• detecting the management packet in the switch module;
• generating a monitoring response message by the protocol agent in response to the detecting of the management packet;
• collecting the metrics from the switch module for the data flow and management packet;
• and
• sending the monitor response message with the metrics to the controller, the monitor response message including a metric entry for each flow table or group table in which a match for the management packet occurred in the switch module, where each metric entry includes any one of a flow table identifier, a group identifier, a match structure, or a cookie of a flow entry.

A network element implementing a controller, the controller to service a management function request in a network having a split architecture, the controller to request that a subset of switches in the network report metrics for a data flow to provide the information for executing the requested management function, the network element comprising:

• a processor coupled to a management module and a message correlation module, the processor configured to execute the management module to execute a management function and to generate a trigger monitoring message, the trigger monitoring message defining actions to be performed by a switch in the subset of flow switches, wherein the actions are to provide the metrics for the data flow, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the management module to send the trigger monitoring message to the switch, to execute the management function using the metrics of the data flow provided by the message correlation module, and to generate a result of the management function, the message correlation module communicatively coupled to management module, the processor further configured to execute the message correlation module to receive a plurality of monitor response messages from the subset of switches, each of the plurality of monitor response messages including a metric entry for each flow table or group table in which a match for the data flow occurred in a given switch, where each metric entry includes any one of a flow table identifier, a group identifier, a match structure, or a cookie of a flow entry, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the message correlation module to correlate the plurality of monitor response messages with the management function request.