Gathering network statistics in a distributed network service environment

A method for gathering statistics about packets, comprising:

• determining one or more statistics that are to be gathered for a flow;
• communicating instructions to a forwarding agent that are associated with the statistics for the flow, the forwarding agent being implemented on a network device and operable to receive the instructions;
• and
• receiving a report of the statistics gathered by the forwarding agent according to the instructions;
• wherein the instructions include a dispatch flag operable to signal whether or not one or more packets included in the flow are to be forwarded;
• wherein the dispatch flag indicates whether a packet included in the flow and having a packet header is to be sent to a specified forwarding internet protocol (IP) address that is different than a destination IP address specified in the packet header;
• and
• wherein one or more of the packets are counted as inbound packets when the dispatch flag and the information flag are set, and wherein one or more of the packets are counted as outbound packets when the information flag is set and the dispatch flag is not set.

A method for gathering statistics about packets, comprising:

• determining one or more statistics that are to be gathered for a flow;
• communicating instructions to a forwarding agent that are associated with the statistics for the flow, the forwarding agent being implemented on a network device and operable to receive the instructions;
• and
• receiving a report of the statistics gathered by the forwarding agent according to the instructions;
• wherein the instructions include a dispatch flag operable to signal whether or not one or more packets included in the flow are to be forwarded;
• wherein the dispatch flag indicates whether a packet included in the flow and having a packet header is to be sent to a specified forwarding internet protocol (IP) address that is different than a destination IP address specified in the packet header;
• and
• wherein the instructions further include a forwarding IP address field, and wherein one or more of the packets are dropped when the dispatch flag is set and the forwarding IP address field is null.

A method for gathering statistics about packets, comprising:

• determining one or more statistics that are to be gathered for a flow;
• communicating instructions to a forwarding agent that are associated with the statistics for the flow, the forwarding agent being implemented on a network device and operable to receive the instructions;
• and
• receiving a report of the statistics gathered by the forwarding agent according to the instructions;
• wherein the instructions include a dispatch flag operable to signal whether or not one or more packets included in the flow are to be forwarded;
• wherein the dispatch flag indicates whether a packet included in the flow and having a packet header is to be sent to a specified forwarding internet protocol (IP) address that is different than a destination IP address specified in the packet header;
• and
• wherein the instructions further include a forwarding IP address field, and wherein one or more of the packets are counted and dropped when the information flag is set and the forwarding IP address field is null.

A method for gathering statistics about packets, comprising:

• determining one or more statistics that are to be gathered for a flow;
• communicating instructions to a forwarding agent that are associated with the statistics for the flow, the forwarding agent being implemented on a network device and operable to receive the instructions;
• and
• receiving a report of the statistics gathered by the forwarding agent according to the instructions;
• wherein the instructions include a dispatch flag operable to signal whether or not one or more packets included in the flow are to be forwarded;
• wherein the dispatch flag indicates whether a packet included in the flow and having a packet header is to be sent to a specified forwarding internet protocol (IP) address that is different than a destination IP address specified in the packet header;
• wherein the instructions include a selected one of the dispatch flag, the information flag, and a network address translation (NAT) address field that contains a NAT address;
• and
• wherein one or more of the packets are counted as inbound packets when the dispatch flag and the information flag are set, and wherein one or more of the packets are counted as outbound packets when the information flag is set and the dispatch flag is not set.

A forwarding agent, comprising:

• a network packet receiving interface for receiving packets from a network;
• a service manager receiving interface for receiving instructions from a service manager specifying statistics to be gathered for one or more of the packets;
• a processor for gathering the statistics for one or more of the packets;
• a memory for storing the statistics;
• and
• a communication interface for communicating the statistics to a statistics collector.

A service manager, comprising:

• a processor operable to determine statistics that are to be gathered for a flow;
• a forwarding agent sending interface operable to communicate instructions to a forwarding agent designating statistics associated with the flow, the forwarding agent being operable to receive the instructions for the flow;
• and
• a forwarding agent receiving interface operable to receive a report of the statistics gathered at the forwarding agent.

A computer readable medium for gathering statistics about packets comprising code operable to:

• determine statistics that are to be gathered for a flow;
• communicate instructions to a forwarding agent designating statistics associated with the flow, the forwarding agent being operable to receive the instructions for the flow;
• and
• communicate a report reflecting the statistics gathered at the forwarding agent according to the instructions.

A method for gathering statistics associated with one or more packets, comprising:

• means for determining one or more statistics that are to be gathered for a flow that includes one or more of the packets;
• means for communicating instructions to a forwarding agent that are associated with the statistics for the flow, the forwarding agent being operable to receive the instructions;
• and
• means for receiving a report of the statistics gathered by the forwarding agent according to the instructions.