Patent ID: 9094308
Filing Date: 2015-07-28
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for determining latency of a physical network path in a network, the method comprising: receiving, by a virtual network controller, a plurality of messages from a plurality of network devices in a network, wherein each of the messages includes (1) a packet signature comprising a hash of an invariant portion of an original packet that uniquely identifies the original packet, (2) an identifier of one of the plurality of network devices from which the respective message was received, and (3) a timestamp indicating a time an original packet was processed by the network device from which the respective message was received; identifying, by the virtual network controller, two or more of the plurality of messages having a common packet signature; identifying distinct flows associated with the common packet signature; generating a path map for one of the identified flows comprising a list of physical network devices that a packet in the flows traversed based on a known physical topology of the network; generating a hash on the path map; for each path map hash, determining a time that a packet took in traversing a physical network path from a source to a destination in the known physical topology of the network; and determining, by the virtual network controller, a latency of a physical network path in the network based the determined time the packet took in traversing the physical network path.