Network Tracing for Data Centers

摘要

Network devices facilitate network tracing using tracing packets that travel through the network devices. The network devices may be switches, routers, bridges, hubs, or any other network device. The network tracing may include sending tracing packets down each of multiple routed paths between a source and a destination, at each hop through the network, or through a selected subset of the paths between a source and a destination. The network devices may add tracing information to the tracing packets, which an analysis system may review to determine characteristics of the network and the characteristics of the potentially many paths between a source and a destination.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
in a network device that connects a source device to a destination device through the network device:
determining whether to execute network tracing; andwhen the network device determines to execute network tracing:
determining a set of network paths outgoing from the network device toward the destination device;determining a selected set of network paths to trace from among the set of network paths; andsending an outgoing network tracing packet down each network path in the selected set of network paths.