Extreme Networks, Inc.

Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.

Xiaochu Chen

Ivy Pei-Shan Hsu

Sanjeev Chhabria

Eswara Chinthalapati

Arvindsrinivasan Lakshmi Narasimhan

Shailender Sharma

Rakesh Varimalla

Sanjeev Nand Chhabria

Sanjay Munshi

Techniques for exchanging control and configuration information in a network visibility system are provided. In one embodiment, a control plane component of the network visibility system can receive one or more first messages from a data plane component of the network visibility system, where the one or more first messages define one or more forwarding resources available on the data plane component. The control plane component can further retrieve configuration information stored on the control plane component that comprises one or more network prefixes to be monitored by the network visibility system, and can determine one or more mappings between the network prefixes and the forwarding resources. Upon determining the one or more mappings, the control plane component can generate one or more packet forwarding rules based on the mappings. Finally, the control plane component can transmit one or more second messages to the data plane component that include the packet forwarding rules for programming on the data plane component.

Techniques for exchanging control and configuration information in a network visibility system

Using a hash function, an L2/L3 switch can produce an FID for a data packet. The L2/L3 switch can select, from among potentially several stored VLAN flooding tables, a particular VLAN flooding table that is associated with a particular VLAN on which the data packet is to be carried. The rows of the particular VLAN flooding table can specify different combinations of the particular VLAN's egress ports. The L2/L3 switch can locate, in the particular VLAN flooding table, a particular row that specifies the FID. The L2/L3 switch can read, from the particular row, a specified subset of the egress ports that are associated with the particular VLAN. The L2/L3 switch can transmit copies of the data packet out each of the egress ports specified in the subset, toward analytic servers connected to those egress ports.

Ruled-based network traffic interception and distribution scheme

Using a hash function, an LLswitch can produce an FID for a data packet. The LLswitch can select, from among potentially several stored VLAN flooding tables, a particular VLAN flooding table that is associated with a particular VLAN on which the data packet is to be carried. The rows of the particular VLAN flooding table can specify different combinations of the particular VLAN's egress ports. The LLswitch can locate, in the particular VLAN flooding table, a particular row that specifies the FID. The LLswitch can read, from the particular row, a specified subset of the egress ports that are associated with the particular VLAN. The LLswitch can transmit copies of the data packet out each of the egress ports specified in the subset, toward analytic servers connected to those egress ports.

A GTP correlation cluster (GCC) can automatically program a network element to forward copies of packets originating from a mobile device and having a shared attribute to the same analytic server, regardless of the regions into which the mobile device moves. The GCC can monitor attributes of copies of control packets that the network element receives. In response to detecting a changed attribute within a control packet originating from a mobile device, the GCC can update a session map specific to that mobile device in order to cause packets having that changed attribute to be forwarded to the same port to which packets having the former attribute were being forwarded prior to the change. As a result, the network element can ensure that packets belonging to a particular session still are forwarded to the same analytic server even if the mobile device has moved to a different region.

Session-based packet routing for facilitating analytics

Using a hash function, an L/Lswitch can produce an FID for a data packet. The L/Lswitch can select, from among potentially several stored VLAN flooding tables, a particular VLAN flooding table that is associated with a particular VLAN on which the data packet is to be carried. The rows of the particular VLAN flooding table can specify different combinations of the particular VLAN's egress ports. The L/Lswitch can locate, in the particular VLAN flooding table, a particular row that specifies the FID. The L/Lswitch can read, from the particular row, a specified subset of the egress ports that are associated with the particular VLAN. The L/Lswitch can transmit copies of the data packet out each of the egress ports specified in the subset, toward analytic servers connected to those egress ports.

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San Ramon, CA, United States of America

Xiaochu Chen