Network Tracing for Data Centers
AssigneeBroadcom Corporation
InventorsWilliam Brad Matthews, Puneet Agarwal
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Network devices facilitate network tracing using tracing packets that travel through the network devices. The network devices may be switches, routers, bridges, hubs, or any other network device. The network tracing may include sending tracing packets down each of multiple routed paths between a source and a destination, at each hop through the network, or through a selected subset of the paths between a source and a destination. The network devices may add tracing information to the tracing packets, which an analysis system may review to determine characteristics of the network and the characteristics of the potentially many paths between a source and a destination.
Claims20
A device comprising:
- a communication interface configured to receive a plurality of network tracing packets transmitted by a switching device over a multi-path multi-hop network, the network tracing packets transmitted by the switching device as outgoing tracing packets along a plurality of different routing communication paths for receipt by a same destination device;
- and
- analysis logic circuitry configured to analyze tracing information included in each of the plurality of received network tracing packets to develop a coverage pattern of possible communication paths in the multi-path multi-hop network to the same destination device, the tracing information added to the tracing packets at each of a plurality of respective switching devices forming part of the respective different routing communication paths;
- the analysis logic circuitry further configured to generate an adaptation command based on the tracing information received in the network tracing packets, the adaptation command executable by network device to tune performance of the network device;
- and
- the communication interface configured to transmit the adaptation command over the multi-path multi-hop network for receipt by the network device.
A method comprising:
- receiving, at an application server, a plurality of network tracing packets transmitted in a network, from a switching device, as outgoing tracing packets along a plurality of different routing communication paths for receipt by a same destination device;
- analyzing, by the application server, respective tracing information added to the tracing packets by respective switching devices forming the different routing communication paths;
- generating by the application server, an adaptation command, the adaptation command for execution by a network device to tune performance of the network device in accordance with the analysis of the respective tracing information;
- and
- transmitting, by the application server, the adaptation command over the network for receipt by the network device.
A device comprising:
- a communication interface configured to receive a plurality of network tracing packets over a multi-path multi-hop network, the network tracing packets transmitted from a switching device as outgoing tracing packets along a plurality of different routing communication paths for receipt by a same destination device;
- and
- analysis logic circuitry configured to analyze tracing information included in each of the network tracing packets to generate a user dashboard interface comprising operational information, the tracing information added to the tracing packets at each of a plurality of respective switching devices forming part of the respective different routing communication paths, and the operational information being indicative of operation of the respective switching devices within the multi-path multi-hop network;
- the analysis logic circuitry further configured to generate an adaptation command based on the tracing information received in the network tracing packets, the adaptation command executable by one of the respective switching devices to adjust processing of packets by the one of the respective switching devices;
- and
- the communication interface configured to transmit the adaptation command over the multi-path multi-hop network for receipt by the one of the respective switching devices.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.