Patent ID: 8245083

Claim:
A system comprising: a debugging coordinator communicatively coupled to a plurality of virtual service nodes via a plurality of network nodes of a communication network, wherein the debugging coordinator comprises: a processor; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising: instantiating a cloned network that includes a second set of virtual service nodes that includes at least one cloned virtual service node that is a clone of a corresponding virtual service node in a first set of virtual service nodes of the plurality of virtual services nodes, wherein the at least one cloned virtual service node has access to a history of events that occurred at the corresponding virtual service node in the first set of virtual service nodes; and initiating an interactive debugging session that includes step by step processing by the cloned network of the events of the history of events, wherein the step by step processing of the events starts at a first event of the history of events, wherein the first event is identified by a checkpoint, wherein the step by step processing of the events includes sending a transmit command to each virtual service node in the second set of virtual service nodes, wherein the transmit command identifies a transmit phase, and wherein, during the transmit phase, each virtual service node in the second set of virtual service nodes is configured to transmit one or more packets transmitted during the first event by the corresponding virtual service node in the first set of virtual service nodes and to receive one or more packets received during the first event at the corresponding virtual service node in the first set of virtual service nodes.