Method and apparatus for statistics collection in a data communication network

A statistics collection block adapted to couple to a plurality of nodes in a data communications network for statistics collection, comprising:

• a processing module;
• and
• memory operably coupled to the processing module, wherein the memory stores operating instructions that, when executed by the processing module, cause the processing module to perform functions that include:
• determining status of each of the plurality of nodes;
• maintaining indications as to the status of each of the plurality of nodes;
• when statistics collection configuration information corresponding to a selected node of the plurality of nodes is received and the indication as to the status of the selected node indicates that the status of the selected node is favorable, issuing a statistics request to the selected node based on the statistics collection configuration information;
• and
• when the indication as to the status of the selected node indicates that the status of the selected node is unfavorable, delaying issuance of statistics requests to the node until a favorable response is received in response to a subsequently issued status monitoring packet.

A statistics collection circuit for use with a data communications network that includes a plurality of node segments, comprising:

• a plurality of statistics collection blocks, wherein each of the plurality of statistics collection blocks is operably coupled to a corresponding node segment within the data communications network, wherein each of the plurality of statistics collection blocks maintains indications as to status of each node included in a corresponding node segment, wherein each of the static collection blocks selectively issues statistics requests to a node in the corresponding node segment in response to statistics collection configuration information received, wherein statistics requests are selectively issued based on the indication as to status of the node, wherein responses to statistics requests from the nodes in corresponding segments are collected by each of the plurality of statistics collection blocks to generate segment statistics;
• a statistics management block operably coupled to each of the plurality of statistics collection blocks, wherein the statistics management block receives a network statistics request and generates the static collection configuration information provided to each of the plurality of statistics collection blocks based on the network statistics request;
• and
• a statistics aggregation block operably coupled to the plurality of statistics collection blocks, wherein the statistics aggregation block receives the segment statistics generated by each of the statistics collection block in response to the collection configuration information, wherein the statistics aggregation block aggregates the segment statistics to produce compiled statistics that are provided as a response to the network statistics request received by the statistic management block.