Patent ID: 8363556

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: one or more processors coupled to generation logic and reception logic; the generation logic configured to dynamically create, in response to detecting an event that occurred in one or more of: a first network device other than the apparatus, a first path between network devices, or a first location in an encapsulation stack, a first probe that is configured to run a first diagnostic test on the one or more of: the first network device, the first path between the network devices, or the first location in the encapsulation stack; wherein the generation logic is further configured to launch the test network traffic towards a remote network device; and the reception logic configured to receive, in response to the first diagnostic test, a first status of the one or more of: the first network device, the first path between network devices, or the first location in the encapsulation stack; wherein the generation logic is further configured to create, in response to detecting the event, a second probe that is configured to run a second diagnostic test on one or more of: a different network device, a different path between network devices, or a different location in the encapsulation stack; wherein the reception logic is further configured to receive, in response to the second diagnostic test, a second status of the one or more of: the different network device, the different path between network devices, or the different location in the encapsulation stack; management logic configured to delete the first probe after the first status is received and the second probe after the second status is received; the apparatus further comprising a processing entity configured to isolate a network fault location at least in part by correlating the first status and the second status.