Ciena Corporation
Virtual local area network identifiers for service function chaining fault detection and isolation

Abstract:

Systems and methods of Service Function Chaining (SFC) fault detection and fault isolation include injecting a first frame with a first Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) Identifier (ID) tag at an input to the SFC, wherein the first VLAN ID is dedicated to fault detection and a plurality of classifiers in the SFC are configured to pass the first frame with the first VLAN ID through the SFC; detecting the first frame with the first VLAN ID tag at an output of the SFC; and determining connectivity of the SFC based on the detecting. The systems and methods can further include injecting a second frame with a second VLAN ID tag through a plurality of services of the SFC; detecting the second frame at each output of each of the plurality of services; and determining a location of the fault based on the detecting the second frame.