Systems and methods for flow mirroring with network-scoped connection-oriented sink

A network element configured for flow mirroring with a network-scoped connection-oriented sink, comprising:

• a plurality of port adaptors;
• a forwarding module interconnected to each of the plurality of port adaptors;
• a management interface in communication with each of the plurality of port adaptors and the forwarding module;
• wherein the management interface is configured to:
• receive a request for mirroring one or more specific flows;
• and
• transmit the request to one of the plurality of port adaptors and the forwarding module responsive to the request;
• wherein the one of the plurality of port adaptors responsive to the request is configured to provision a layer two point-to-point connection within an Ethernet switch to a sink port that is terminated on a second Ethernet switch responsive to the request;
• wherein the forwarding module responsive to the request is configured to copy and forward packets on the provisioned layer two point-to-point connection within the Ethernet switch to the sink port responsive to the request, wherein the copied and forward packets are addressed to the provisioned layer two point-to-point connection to the second Ethernet switch;
• and
• a processor for processing the one or more specific flows at the sink port using a layer two point-to-point connection identification tag to identify each of the one or more specific flows;
• wherein the provisioned layer two point-to-point connection comprises a connection-oriented technique established in a same manner and modality as normal connections such that the sink port requires no special knowledge of a mirrored flow and such that the copied packets are forwarded and addressed to the layer two point-to-point connection instead of any device attached to the second Ethernet switch.

A network configured for flow mirroring with a network-scoped connection-oriented sink, comprising:

• a plurality of network elements, wherein the plurality of network elements are interconnected through ports located on each of the plurality of network elements;
• means for mirroring one or more specific flows on one of the plurality of network elements to a sink port located on any of the plurality of network elements;
• wherein the means for mirroring one or more specific flows comprise a provisioned layer two point-to-point connection within an Ethernet switch to the sink port and terminating thereon, and means for copying packets of the one or more specific flows for forwarding on the provisioned layer two point-to-point connection within the Ethernet switch to the sink port, wherein the copied packets are addressed to the provisioned layer two point-to-point connection to the second Ethernet switch;
• and
• means for processing the one or more specific flows at the sink port using a layer two point-to-point connection identification tag to identify each of the one or more specific flows;
• wherein the provisioned layer two point-to-point connection comprises a connection-oriented technique established in a same manner and modality as normal connections such that the sink port requires no special knowledge of a mirrored flow and such that the copied packets are forwarded and addressed to the layer two point-to-point connection instead of any device attached to any of the plurality of network elements.