Residence time measurement for traffic engineered network

A packet communication apparatus comprising:

• at least one processor and a memory having instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions upon execution by the at least one processor configures the packet communication apparatus to:
• receive one or more test packets configured to traverse the plurality of nodes according to a list;
• identify information indicative of a requested residence time measurement for the one or more test packets;
• read a first clock value as each test packet is passed thereto;
• read a second clock value as each test packet is passed therefrom;
• and
• calculate the residence time of each test packet as a function of the first clock value and the second clock value.

A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium having code stored thereon, the code, when executed by a processor, causing the processor to implement a method, the code comprising:

• instruction for receiving one or more test packets configured to traverse the plurality of nodes according to a list;
• instruction for identifying information indicative of a requested residence time measurement for the one or more test packets;
• instruction for reading a first clock value as each test packet is passed thereto;
• instruction for reading a second clock value as each test packet is passed therefrom;
• and
• instruction for calculating the residence time of each test packet as a function of the first clock value and the second clock value.