Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ)
METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TRACING PACKETS IN SOFTWARE DEFINED NETWORKS

Abstract:

A method is implemented by a network device where the method performs a trace flow process in a packet processing pipeline of the network device. The packet processing pipeline includes a trace table and a forward table. The method encompasses forwarding a trace packet to the trace table, forwarding a copy of the trace packet to a trace analyzer in response to determining that a trace bit is set in the trace packet, forwarding the trace packet to the forward table, and determining a next stage of the packet processing pipeline based on trace packet meta data and a value stored in a trace register.