Periodical generation of network measurement data

摘要

Some embodiments provide a method that generates different network measurements data (e.g., network topology, bandwidth estimation of different paths, etc.) for a pair of endpoints upon receiving a network administrative request (e.g., an application programming interface (API) request) or by other means (e.g., automatically and without intervention of a user). In some embodiments, the method is implemented by a network measurement agent operating on each endpoint and a centralized service component (e.g., web service layer) executing on a network manager machine (e.g., a controller) that responds to measurement requests. The network measurement agent probes the network periodically (i.e., in certain time intervals) or upon an API request that it receives through the network manager machine to gather the measurement data of a particular network topology between a pair of endpoints.

主权项

1. A network comprising:
a first network host executing a first forwarding element and a first set of machines, the first forwarding element for communicating with a second forwarding element executing on a second network host that hosts a second set of machines, wherein the first forwarding element implements a probing agent that when enabled:
periodically probes a plurality of routing paths between the first and second forwarding elements;generates a set of network measurements data comprising an estimated bandwidth for each routing path, said estimated bandwidth calculated by identifying a flow signature for the routing path and generating a set of probing packets with the identified flow signature to calculate an estimated bandwidth for each link on the routing path; and a network manager for receiving the set of network measurements data and controlling flow of data between a machine executing on the first network host and a second machine executing on the second network host based on the set of measurements data.