Patent ID: 8289859

Claim:
A processor-implemented method of determining link delay in a network comprising a plurality of nodes, the method comprising the steps of: identifying pairs of nodes associated with a given link; for each of the identified pairs, setting up a virtually-concatenated group between the nodes of that pair; utilizing the virtually-concatenated groups to make delay measurements; and processing the delay measurements to determine delay of the given link; wherein one or more of the virtually-concatenated groups comprise two-member virtually-concatenated groups; and wherein for a given two-member virtually-concatenated group C, the group having members M 1 and M 2 using respective paths P 1 and P 2 , a differential delay measurement Î´ C is determined as âˆ‘ linksL i âˆˆ P 1 â¢ D i - âˆ‘ linksL j âˆˆ P 2 â¢ D j = Î´ C , D i and D j being delays of respective links L i and L j .