Patent ID: 9282019
Filing Date: 2016-03-08
CPC Classification: H04L

Claim Text:
1. For a network controller that manages a plurality of managed forwarding elements, a method comprising: receiving a request to trace a specified packet having a particular source on a logical switching element; generating the packet at the network controller according to the packet specification, the generated packet comprising an indicator that the packet is for a trace operation; sending the packet to a managed forwarding element associated with the particular source; and receiving a set of messages from a set of managed forwarding elements that process the packet regarding operations performed on the packet, wherein each managed forwarding element in the set generates a message based on a set of flow entries in its forwarding table, each flow entry of the forwarding table specifying (i) a matching condition and (ii) a corresponding set of actions that the managed forwarding element is to perform when the specified matching condition is met.