Patent ID: 8218540

Claim:
A packet switch operating method comprising: using a first port of forwarding circuitry of the packet switch, the packet switch receiving first packets and transmitting second packets; the packet switch mirroring the first and second packets and transmitting the mirrored first and second packets on a second port of the forwarding circuitry; the packet switch looping the mirrored first and second packets transmitted on the second port of the forwarding circuitry back to the second port of the forwarding circuitry; the packet switch encapsulating the mirrored packets with a transport identifier, wherein the encapsulating comprises adding the transport identifier in addition to existing fields in the mirrored packets; after the looping, the packet switch transmitting the encapsulated packets using a third port of the forwarding circuitry; and using the encapsulated packets at a device associated with a first service provider to analyze the quality of a selected service provided by the first service provider.