Cisco Technology, Inc.

Neal Kaushal Gokli

Zachariah Cherian

Stacy Lee Martin

Dipankar Bhatt Acharya

Eric T Chao

Eric Tsoh-Chang Chao

Methods and apparatus for compensating for time-based sampling using packet elimination are disclosed herein. An example method may be implemented in a network device communicatively connected to a network. The method may include: receiving a packet over the network at a monitoring point; replicating the received packet; determining whether to sample the replicated packet using a time-based sampling scheme; upon determining that the replicated packet should be sampled, queuing the replicated packet to a port of the network device; determining whether to eliminate the queued packet by comparing a configured sample rate with a current sample rate; upon determining that the current sample rate is less than the configured sample rate, exporting the queued packet from the network device; and upon determining that the current sample rate is greater than or equal to the configured sample rate, dropping the queued packet.

Methods and apparatus for compensating for time-based sampling by sample packet elimination during export of sampled packets

A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes receiving a packet flow from a data source at a network element; determining a control value for controlling a sample rate for the packet flow; and recalculating the control value based on a number of packets received and a number of sampled packets. In more particular embodiments, the method can include assigning a particular identifier to a particular packet of the packet flow; generating an input access control list for the data source; and matching the particular identifier to an output port of the network element. In yet other embodiments, the method can include generating a copy of a particular packet of the packet flow; and forwarding the copy of the particular packet to an output access control list based on an assigned quality of service (QoS) group.

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Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Neal Kaushal Gokli