COLLECTION OF SEGMENT ROUTING IPV6 (SRV6) NETWORK TELEMETRY INFORMATION

Abstract

Techniques and mechanisms for monitoring and processing telemetry information of an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) packet in a network. The IPv6 packet includes an IPv6 header having a Segment Identifier (SID) field, and a function field. According to this disclosure, the function field may include a function associated with an operation for collecting telemetry information of a first node indicated by the SID field. When the function executed by the first node, it may collect the telemetry information from the first node, and export the telemetry information to a collector node. Further, the function may indicate an operation for collecting the telemetry information of a set of paths including one or more nodes, where the telemetry path can be changed dynamically. In this way, each node in the telemetry path may define a new path for collecting the telemetry information.

Specification

WE CLAIM
1. A method comprising:
receiving, by a first network node in a network, a first Internet Protocol version 6
(Ipv6) packet having an Ipv6 header including a destination address field that is populated
with a first destination address, the first destination address including:
a first segment identifier (SID) assigned to the first node; and
an indication of a first function to be performed by the first network node,
wherein the first function is associated with an operation for handling telemetry
information;
executing, by the first network node, the first function to perform the operation for
handling the telemetry information; and
sending, from the first network node, the first Ipv6 packet having the Ipv6 header
including a second function to a second node.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first segment identifier (SID) includes:
a locator part used to route the Ipv6 packet to the first node;
a function part used to define the first function functionality; and
an argument part used to carry extra information required by the first node to perform
the first function.
3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the operation executed by the first
telemetry header includes:
generating a first telemetry header which defines the telemetry information of the first
node; and
adding the first telemetry header to the IPv6 header.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the operation executed by the first function
includes:
adding the first node telemetry information to the first telemetry header.
5. The method of claim 3 or 4, wherein the first telemetry header includes an
instruction field as function argument, which directs the node as to what required telemetry
information to collect.
6. The method of any of claims 3 to 5, wherein the operation executed by the first
function includes:
extracting the telemetry information from the first IPv6 packet;
removing the first telemetry header;
generating a telemetry export packet based on the telemetry header information; and
exporting the telemetry export package to a second node.
7. The method of any of claims 3 to 6, wherein the operation executed by the first
function includes:
extracting the telemetry information from the first IPv6 packet;
generating a telemetry export packet;
exporting the export packet to a collector node;
adding the first node telemetry information to the first telemetry header; and
sending the IPv6 packet to the second node.
8. The method of any of claims 4 to 7, wherein the operation executed by the first
function includes to end the operation for handling telemetry if a maximum transmission unit
(MTU) failure occurs during the operation.
9. The method of claim 7, wherein the second node is a collector node.
10. The method of any of claims 3 to 9, wherein the operation executed by the first
function includes:
generating a telemetry export packet;
adding the first node telemetry information to the first telemetry header; and
exporting the export packet to a second node.

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