Multicast packet detection method, network device, and system

Abstract

Embodiments of this application disclose a multicast packet detection method, a network device, and a system, to improve detection deployment efficiency, reduce occupation of management bandwidth resources, and improve network management performance. The method includes: obtaining (S105), by a network device, a first bit index explicit replication BIER packet, where the first BIER packet includes a first identifier, and the first identifier is used to indicate to detect the first BIER packet; detecting (S106), by the network device, the first BIER packet based on the first identifier, to obtain detection data; and sending (S107), by the network device, the detection data to a controller. Figure 2

Description

Multicast packet detection methods, network equipment and systems

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202010075317.7, filed on January 22, 2020, entitled "Multicast Message Detection Method, Network Device and System", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] This application relates to the field of communications, and in particular to a method, network device and system for detecting multicast messages. Background Technology

[0003] Multicast is a method of communication between a sender and multiple receivers in a network. Multicast technology can be applied to both point-to-multipoint applications, such as media broadcasting, event notification, status monitoring, data collection, and online auctions, and to multipoint-to-multipoint applications, such as multipoint conferencing and database synchronization, thus attracting considerable attention from developers.

[0004] Bit-indexed explicit replication (BIER) is a multicast technology used to construct multicast transmission and forwarding paths. It meets the ever-increasing business demands of multicast packet volume while reducing operational costs. To ensure the transmission quality of BIER multicast packets, they need to be inspected. The traditional inspection method involves issuing inspection commands to each network device transmitting BIER multicast packets, and each device then inspects the packets according to these commands. This approach results in low deployment efficiency, consumes significant management bandwidth resources, and impacts network management performance.

[0005] Summary of the Invention

[0006] This application provides a multicast packet detection method, network device, and system, which improves detection deployment efficiency, reduces the occupation of management bandwidth resources, and improves network management performance.

[0007] Firstly, embodiments of this application provide a multicast packet detection method. The method includes a network device acquiring a first BIER packet, the first BIER packet including a first identifier, the first identifier indicating that the first BIER packet should be detected. Secondly, the network device detects the first BIER packet based on the first identifier to obtain detection data. Finally, the network device sends the detection data to a controller. This multicast packet detection method can be executed by a network device, which can be an ingress node, an intermediate node, or a tail node.

[0008] To further explain, the controller first sends a detection command to the ingress node. This command includes a multicast stream identifier, which identifies the BIER multicast stream. The detection command instructs the ingress node to include the first identifier in the second BIER message corresponding to the multicast stream identifier. Upon receiving the detection command from the controller, the ingress node includes the first identifier in the second BIER message to obtain a first BIER message. The ingress node then sends the first BIER message. Intermediate or tail nodes receiving the first BIER message can then detect it using the first identifier, obtain detection data, and send the detection data to the controller. In this process, the controller does not need to send detection commands to intermediate or tail nodes. Compared to the traditional approach where the controller needs to send detection commands to every network device transmitting a BIER message, this application improves detection deployment efficiency, reduces management bandwidth resource consumption, and enhances network management performance while still detecting the first BIER message. Of course, the entry node can also detect the first BIER message based on the first identifier in the first BIER message, obtain the detection data, and send the detection data to the controller.

[0009] In some examples, the detection command may not be issued by the controller, but may be configured directly in the ingress node, or sent to the ingress node by other devices; this application does not impose any specific limitations.

[0010] Optionally, when the network device is an ingress node, the first BIER message includes a multicast stream identifier;

[0011] The corresponding method further includes the following steps: the ingress node receives a detection instruction from the controller, the detection instruction including the multicast stream identifier, the detection instruction being used to instruct the ingress node to carry the first identifier in a second BIER message corresponding to the multicast stream identifier. The ingress node carries the first identifier in the second BIER message according to the detection instruction, thereby obtaining the first BIER message.

[0012] Optionally, after the ingress node receives the detection instruction from the controller, the method further includes: the ingress node generating a first correspondence, the first correspondence being the correspondence between the multicast stream identifier and the first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate that the first identifier is carried in the second BIER message. Accordingly, the ingress node carrying the first identifier in the second BIER message according to the detection instruction to obtain the first BIER message specifically includes: first, the ingress node acquiring the second BIER message; second, the ingress node obtaining the first indication information based on the multicast stream identifier of the second BIER message and the first correspondence; and finally, the ingress node carrying the first identifier in the second BIER message according to the first indication information to obtain the first BIER message. It should be noted that the first indication information can be generated by the ingress node according to the detection instruction, or it can be carried in the detection instruction, for example, the first indication information can be carried in a field of the detection instruction.

[0013] Optionally, when it is not necessary to detect the BIER packets corresponding to the first correspondence, the method further includes: the ingress node receiving a revocation instruction from the controller, the revocation instruction including the multicast stream identifier. The ingress node deletes the first correspondence corresponding to the multicast stream identifier according to the revocation instruction. In this way, the ingress node no longer carries the first identifier in the BIER packets corresponding to the multicast stream identifier in the first correspondence, and the ingress node, intermediate nodes, and tail nodes do not need to detect the BIER packets corresponding to the multicast stream identifier. Since the controller only needs to issue a revocation instruction to the ingress node, compared to the traditional scheme where the controller needs to issue a revocation instruction to every network device transmitting BIER packets, this application improves the deployment efficiency of revocation detection, reduces the occupation of management bandwidth resources, and improves network management performance while implementing BIER packet revocation detection.

[0014] Optionally, the network device's detection of the first BIER packet based on the first identifier includes: the network device obtaining information about the interface transmitting the first BIER packet based on the first identifier, such as at least one of the ingress interface information and egress interface information of the first BIER packet; and the network device sending the interface information to the controller. By sending the interface information of the first BIER packet to the controller, the controller can obtain the forwarding path of the first BIER packet.

[0015] Optionally, the first BIER message further includes a sequence number. The network device's detection of the first BIER message based on the first identifier includes: the network device obtaining the sequence number of the first BIER message based on the first identifier; and the network device obtaining packet loss or out-of-order information of the multicast stream to which the first BIER message belongs based on the sequence number, thereby detecting packet loss and out-of-order conditions of the multicast stream to which the first BIER message belongs.

[0016] Of course, it is understandable that network devices can also directly send the sequence number of the first BIER packet to the network device, and the controller can obtain the packet loss information or out-of-order information of the multicast stream to which the first BIER packet belongs based on the sequence number. Similarly, it can also detect the packet loss and out-of-order status of the multicast stream to which the first BIER packet belongs.

[0017] Optionally, the first identifier is carried in the first field of the first BIER message, and the first field may be, for example, an operation and maintenance management field or a reserved field.

[0018] Optionally, the first BIER message further includes a second field, the value of which indicates that the first identifier is carried in the first field. The second field may be, for example, a protocol field or a version field. The method further includes: the network device obtaining the first identifier from the first field based on the value of the second field.

[0019] Optionally, to improve detection efficiency, the method further includes: the network device obtaining feature information of the first BIER packet based on the first identifier, such as triplet information or quintuple information. The network device generates a third correspondence based on the feature information of the first BIER packet, the third correspondence being the correspondence between the feature information and the second indication information, whereby the second indication information is used to indicate the detection of the BIER multicast packet corresponding to the feature information. Accordingly, after the network device obtains the third BIER packet, the network device obtains the second indication information based on the feature information of the third BIER packet and the third correspondence, and then the network device detects the third BIER packet based on the second indication information. Since the efficiency of the network device in obtaining feature information from the BIER packet is higher than that in obtaining the first identifier, the detection efficiency of the BIER packet can be improved.

[0020] Optionally, in some application scenarios, network devices may receive BIER packets whose tail nodes belong to different set identifiers but whose content is the same. To achieve accurate detection of BIER packets, the network device's detection of the first BIER packet based on the first identifier includes: the network device obtaining the Bit Index Forwarding Table Identifier (BIFT ID) of the first BIER packet; the network device obtaining the set identifier corresponding to the first BIER packet based on the BIFT ID of the first BIER packet and a second correspondence, where the set identifier is the identifier of the set to which the tail node corresponding to the first BIER packet belongs, and the second correspondence is the correspondence between the Bit Index Forwarding Table Identifier and the set identifier. The network device then detects the first BIER packet based on the first identifier and the set identifier corresponding to the first BIER packet.

[0021] Optionally, in some application scenarios, network devices may receive BIER packets with the same content from different ingress nodes. In order to achieve accurate detection of BIER packets, the network device detects the first BIER packet based on the first identifier, including: the network device obtaining the identifier of the ingress node corresponding to the first BIER packet; and the network device detecting the first BIER packet based on the first identifier and the identifier of the ingress node.

[0022] Secondly, embodiments of this application provide a network device for performing the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect. Specifically, the network device includes units for performing the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect.

[0023] Thirdly, embodiments of this application provide a network device, the controller of which includes: a processor, a communication interface, and a memory. The memory can be used to store program code, and the processor is used to call the program code in the memory to execute the methods in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, as detailed in the method examples, which will not be repeated here.

[0024] Fourthly, embodiments of this application provide a multicast packet detection system, which includes a network device and a controller. The network device is used to acquire a first bit index to explicitly copy a BIER packet, the first BIER packet including a first identifier, the first identifier indicating that the first BIER packet should be detected; the network device is further used to detect the first BIER packet according to the first identifier, obtain detection data, and send the detection data to the controller. The controller is used to receive the detection data and process it.

[0025] Fifthly, embodiments of this application provide a computer-readable medium including instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation thereof. Attached Figure Description

[0026] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the multicast message detection system provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0027] Figure 2 is a flowchart of a multicast message detection method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0028] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the header format of the BIER message S2 provided in the embodiment of this application;

[0029] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the format of the new version of the BIER message header provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0030] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of the BIER multicast system provided in the embodiment of this application;

[0031] Figure 6 is another flowchart of a multicast message detection method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0032] Figure 7 is a structural schematic diagram of a network device 700 provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0033] Figure 8 is a structural schematic diagram of a network device 800 provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0034] Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a multicast message detection system 900 provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0035] This application provides a multicast packet detection method, network device, and system to reduce the consumption of management bandwidth resources and improve detection deployment efficiency during the detection of BIER multicast packets.

[0036] To facilitate understanding, the application scenarios of the embodiments of this application will be introduced first with reference to Figure 1.

[0037] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the multicast packet detection system provided in an embodiment of this application. In Figure 1, the multicast packet detection system provided in this embodiment includes a server 101, terminal devices 102 and 103, network devices 201, 202, and 203, and a controller 301. The server 101 is connected to network device 201, network device 201 is connected to network device 202, network device 202 is connected to network device 203, network device 203 is connected to terminal device 102, and terminal device 103 is connected to network device 202. The controller 301 is connected to network devices 201, 202, and 203.

[0038] In this embodiment of the application, server 101 may be used to generate video streams, image streams, etc.

[0039] Terminal equipment 102 and terminal equipment 103, also known as user equipment (UE), mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), or terminal, are devices that provide voice and / or data connectivity to users, or chips embedded within such devices, such as handheld devices or in-vehicle devices with wireless connectivity. Examples of current terminal devices include: set-top boxes (STBs), mobile phones, tablets, laptops, PDAs, mobile internet devices (MIDs), wearable devices, virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in self-driving, wireless terminals in remote medical surgery, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, and wireless terminals in smart homes.

[0040] Controller 301 can be, for example, a Network Control Engine (NCE), an Internet Protocol (IP) server, or other similar devices.

[0041] In this embodiment, network devices 201, 202, and 203 can be, for example, network communication devices such as routers and switches. When the aforementioned network devices are routers, they can be referred to as bit-forwarding routers (BFRs).

[0042] In this embodiment, network devices 201-203 together constitute a BIER multicast domain. A BIER multicast domain is a domain that forwards BIER messages. In the BIER multicast domain, the edge network device (network device 201) connected to the multicast source network device (e.g., server 101 in Figure 1) can be a bit-forwarding ingress router (BFIR), and the edge network device (e.g., network device 203) connected to the terminal device (e.g., terminal device 101 in Figure 1) can be a bit-forwarding egress router (BFER).

[0043] If traditional technology is used, controller 301 first obtains the transmission path of a specific multicast message. For example, after network device 201 converts the data stream from server 101 into this specific BIER multicast message, it sends it to terminal device 102 via network devices 202 and 203. Therefore, the transmission path of this specific BIER multicast message is network device 201-network device 202-network device 203. Then, controller 301 can issue detection commands to network devices 201, 202, and 203 respectively, instructing them to detect this specific BIER multicast message. It is evident that the controller needs to issue as many detection commands as there are network devices that need to detect this specific BIER multicast message, resulting in a significant consumption of management bandwidth resources. Moreover, since one detection command only indicates one BIER multicast message, when there are many BIER multicast messages that need to be detected, the controller needs to issue multiple detection commands to each network device. This leads to low detection deployment efficiency, consumes a large amount of management bandwidth resources, and affects network performance. When network devices cancel their detection of BIER multicast packets, traditional technology requires the controller 301 to send a cancellation command to each network device. This results in low deployment cancellation efficiency and consumes a large amount of management bandwidth resources, affecting network performance.

[0044] In this embodiment, the controller 301 can send a detection command to the ingress node of the BIER multicast domain, such as network device 201. Upon receiving the detection command, the ingress node carries a first identifier in the BIER multicast message. This first identifier instructs the network device transmitting the BIER multicast message to detect it. The network device transmitting the BIER multicast message can then detect it based on the first identifier. In other words, the controller 301 only needs to send a flow-based detection command to the ingress node; it does not need to send the same command to other network devices transmitting the BIER multicast message, thus improving detection deployment efficiency, saving network management bandwidth resources, and enhancing network management performance.

[0045] When it is necessary to cancel the detection of BIER multicast packets by network devices 201, 202 and 203, controller 301 only needs to send a cancellation command to the ingress node. After receiving the cancellation command, the ingress node can stop carrying the first identifier in the BIER multicast packet. In this way, network devices 201, 202 and 203 do not need to detect the BIER multicast packet. This not only realizes the cancellation of detection, but also improves the deployment efficiency of cancellation detection, saves network management bandwidth resources and improves network management performance.

[0046] Referring to Figure 2, this figure is a flowchart of a multicast message detection method provided in an embodiment of this application.

[0047] The multicast message detection method provided in the embodiments of this application is described below with reference to Figures 2 and 1.

[0048] S101: The controller sends a detection command to the ingress node.

[0049] In this embodiment of the application, the controller may be, for example, the controller 301 in FIG1, and the entry node may be, for example, the network device 201 in FIG1.

[0050] In this embodiment, the detection command may carry a multicast stream identifier to identify the multicast stream to which the BIER multicast message belongs. In different application scenarios, the multicast stream identifier can have different possible implementations:

[0051] When the method provided in this application is applied to BIER version 4 or BIER version 6, as one possible implementation, the multicast stream identifier can be a multicast address, which includes a multicast source address and a multicast group address. Optionally, the multicast stream identifier may also include a Virtual Private Network (VPN) identifier, etc., and the BIER message can be identified by a multicast address or a VPN, or a combination of a multicast address and a VPN. This application does not impose specific limitations. Optionally, the above-mentioned multicast stream identifier may also include at least one or more of the following information: bit string length (BSL), sub-domain identifier (sub-domain ID), set identifier (set ID), etc.

[0052] When the method provided in this application is applied to BIER version 4, as another possible implementation, the multicast stream identifier can also be an entropy label. The entropy label is different under different VPN, multicast source address, multicast group address, BSL, sub-domain ID, and set ID constraints. If the entropy label cannot satisfy the requirement of being different under the above constraints, then it is necessary to use the entropy label in combination with one or more of the above VPN, multicast source address, multicast group address, BSL, sub-domain ID, and set ID to uniquely identify a multicast stream.

[0053] When the method provided in this application is applied to BIER version 6, as another possible implementation, the multicast stream identifier can also be a flow label. This flow label can be different under different VPNs, multicast source addresses, multicast group addresses, BSLs, sub-domain IDs, and set IDs. If the flow label cannot satisfy the requirement of being different under the above constraints, then the flow label needs to be combined with one or more of the above VPNs, multicast source addresses, multicast group addresses, BSLs, sub-domain IDs, and set IDs to uniquely identify a multicast stream.

[0054] The above possible implementation methods do not constitute a limitation on multicast stream identifiers, and those skilled in the art can design their own according to the actual situation.

[0055] For ease of description, the following text will use multicast addresses as examples to identify the multicast stream to which BIER multicast messages belong.

[0056] In this embodiment, the detection instruction is used to instruct the ingress node to carry a first identifier in the BIER packet corresponding to the multicast address. The first identifier is used to instruct the BIER packet to be detected. In this embodiment, the detection of the BIER packet may be the detection of the multicast stream to which a certain BIER packet belongs. The specific content of the detection may include information such as packet loss, out-of-order delivery, latency, jitter, and topology, and this embodiment does not impose specific limitations.

[0057] In this embodiment, if there are multiple multicast streams that need to be detected, the controller can carry multiple sets of multicast addresses in the detection command sent to the ingress node, or it can send multiple detection commands, each carrying a set of multicast addresses. This embodiment does not make any specific limitations.

[0058] Optionally, the controller can also send other detection parameters to the devices that need to be detected, such as the ingress node and network device R1. These detection parameters can be, for example, the detection period and a threshold. The detection period is the period during which BIER packets are detected. The threshold is used to determine whether multicast streams experience jitter, latency, or other information.

[0059] S102: The entry node receives the detection command.

[0060] In this embodiment, after the ingress node receives the detection command, it can generate and store a correspondence M1, which is the correspondence between the first indication information and the multicast address in the detection command. The first indication information is used to instruct the ingress node to carry a first identifier in the BIER message corresponding to the multicast address. It should be noted that the first indication information can be generated by the ingress node based on the detection command, or it can be extracted by the ingress node from the detection command; that is, the first indication information can be carried in a field of the detection command.

[0061] If there are multiple multicast streams to be detected, the ingress node can generate a list of multicast addresses corresponding to the indication information. This list includes the multicast addresses of the multiple multicast streams to be detected.

[0062] See Table 1, which is an example of a list of multicast addresses established by the ingress node corresponding to the first indication information.

[0063] Table 1

[0064] Multicast source address Multicast group address S1G1S1G2S2G3

[0065] S103: The entry node obtains the BIER message S1, and carries the first identifier in the BIER message S1 according to the detection instruction to obtain the BIER message S2.

[0066] In this embodiment, the BIER message S1 carries a multicast address. When the ingress node determines that the multicast address in the BIER message S1 matches the multicast address in the detection command, it carries the first identifier in the BIER message S1. Specifically, the ingress node can obtain the corresponding indication information based on the multicast address in the BIER message S1 and the corresponding relationship M1, and carry the first identifier in the BIER message S1 according to the indication information.

[0067] For example, assuming that the BIER message S1 carries the multicast source address S1 and the multicast group address G1, then according to Table 1, the BIER multicast message corresponding to the BIER message S1 needs to be detected. Therefore, the first identifier can be inserted into the BIER message S1 to obtain the BIER message S2.

[0068] In this embodiment of the application, the first identifier can be carried in the first field of the BIER message S2. Specifically, the first field can be in the message header of the BIER message S2.

[0069] Referring to Figure 3, this figure is a schematic diagram of the header format of BIER message S2. In this figure, the header of BIER message S2 includes the following fields: Bit Index Forwarding Table (BIFT) identifier (ID), Traffic Class (TC), Stack Bottom Label (S), Time To Live (TTL), Nibble, Version (Ver), BitString Length, Entropy, Operation Administration and Maintenance (OAM), Reserve (RSV), Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP), Protocol (Proto), BFIR ID, BitString, etc.

[0070] As a first possible implementation, the first identifier can be carried in the OAM field of the header of the BIER message S2. For example, the value of the OAM field can be 00, 01, 10, and 11. Among them, 00 can represent the default value, and one of 01, 10, and 11 can be used as the first identifier, for example, 01 can be selected as the first identifier.

[0071] As a second possible implementation, the first identifier can be carried in the Rsv field of the header of the BIER message S2. For example, the value of the Rsv field can be 00, 01, 10, or 11. Among them, 00 can represent the default value, and one of 01, 10, and 11 can be used as the first identifier, for example, 01 can be selected as the first identifier.

[0072] In both implementations, the OAM field or Rsv field carrying the first identifier is an existing field in the message header.

[0073] In this embodiment of the application, the first field carrying the first identifier can also be a newly added field in the message header. In this case, the BIER message S2 can also include a second field, wherein the value of the second field indicates that the first identifier is carried in the first field.

[0074] As a third possible implementation, the first field can be a type length value (TLV) field in the BIER extension header (not shown in Figure 3). The second field can be a Proto field. The value of the Proto field (e.g., 0x3F) is used to indicate that the TLV field in the BIER extension header carries a first identifier.

[0075] As a fourth possible implementation, the first field can be a new field added to the new version of the BIER header. See Figure 4, which illustrates the format of the new version of the BIER header. In this figure, the new field is the Quality of Experience (QoE) field, and the value in this QoE field (e.g., 0x01) can be the first identifier. The second field can be the Ver field; for example, when the value of the Ver field is 1, it indicates that the QoE field carries the first identifier.

[0076] It is understood that the above four implementation methods do not constitute a limitation on the technical solution of this application, and those skilled in the art can design their own solutions according to the actual situation.

[0077] S104: The ingress node sends a BIER message S2 to network device R1.

[0078] In this embodiment of the application, network device R1 is, for example, network device 202 in FIG1.

[0079] S105: Network device R1 receives BIER message S2.

[0080] S106: Network device R1 detects the BIER multicast message to which the BIER message S2 belongs based on the first identifier in the BIER message S2, and obtains detection data.

[0081] In an embodiment of the present application, after network device R1 receives BIER packet S2, it can read the first identifier carried in the first field of BIER packet S2, and detect the BIER multicast packet to which BIER packet S2 belongs according to the first identifier.

[0082] As mentioned above, the specific content of the detection is such as information on packet loss, out-of-order, latency, jitter, topology, etc. In an embodiment of the present application, the technical solution of the present application is introduced by taking the detection of packet loss information, out-of-order information, jitter information and topology information of BIER multicast packets as an example.

[0083] In an embodiment of the present application, BIER packet S2 may include a sequence number field, and the sequence number of BIER packet S2 is carried in the sequence number field. Optionally, the sequence number field may be located in the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) header of BIER packet S2.

[0084] When the ingress node generates the first packet of a BIER multicast packet, the sequence number of the packet may be a random positive integer less than 65536. Subsequently, for each packet generated for the BIER multicast packet, the corresponding sequence number is incremented by 1 based on the sequence number of the previous packet. After reaching 65535, the sequence number starts to accumulate from 1.

[0085] Assume that the sequence number of the BIER packet received by network device R1 this time is M, and the sequence number of the previous BIER packet received is N. If M > N + 1, it is considered that there is packet loss, and the number of lost packets is M - N; if M < N, it is considered that there is out-of-order, and network device R1 can record an out-of-order once.

[0086] Network device R1 can calculate the loss rate (LR) based on the statistics of the number of packet losses. The calculation method can be seen in the following formula:

[0087]

[0088] where expectedpktNum is the total number of BIER packets expected to be received within a statistical period. expectedpktNum is equal to the difference between the maximum sequence number and the minimum sequence number within a statistical period. For the first statistical period, the minimum sequence number is the minimum sequence number of the BIER packets received by network device R1 within this statistical period. For subsequent statistical periods, the minimum sequence number is the maximum sequence number of the previous statistical period plus 1. The maximum sequence number is the maximum sequence number of the BIER packets received by network device R1 within a statistical period. losspktNum represents the number of packet losses of network device R1 within a statistical period.

[0089] Network device R1 can also calculate the sequence error rate (SER) based on statistics of out-of-order occurrences. The calculation method can be found in the following formula:

[0090]

[0091] Here, SequenceErrorpktNum represents the number of out-of-order messages within a statistical period. expectedpktNum represents the total number of BIER messages expected to be received within a statistical period.

[0092] Of course, detecting out-of-order delivery and packet loss in multicast streams based on the sequence number in the RTP header of the BIER message is not the only implementation method. Other implementation methods exist in practical applications, and this application does not specifically limit them. For example, if the BIER message does not contain an RTP header but only a Transport Stream (TS), then the out-of-order delivery and packet loss of the multicast stream can be detected based on the sequence number in the continuity counter of the TS header in the BIER message. Since this method is existing, it will not be elaborated upon here.

[0093] Optionally, network device R1 can also acquire the number of bytes of BIER packets containing the first identifier and with the same multicast address multiple times within the sampling period, and obtain the jitter information of the multicast stream corresponding to the multicast address based on the number of bytes.

[0094] For example, network device R1 collects the number of bytes of BIER packets with the first identifier, multicast source address S1, and multicast group address G1 once per second within a 10-second sampling period. It takes the maximum and minimum values ​​of the 10 collected byte counts and determines whether the difference between the maximum and minimum values ​​is greater than or equal to a threshold. If so, it confirms that the multicast stream corresponding to S1 and G1 has jittered.

[0095] Of course, network device R1 can also report the number of bytes collected within the sampling period to the controller, which will then determine whether the multicast stream is jittering.

[0096] Optionally, network device R1 may also obtain information about the interface that transmits the BIER message S2 based on the first identifier, such as at least one of the information about the interface that receives the BIER message S2 and the information about the interface that sends the BIER message S2.

[0097] In this embodiment, the ingress node can also obtain the detection data of the BIER message S2 based on the first identifier and send it to the controller. For example, the ingress node obtains the information of the interface that sent the BIER message S2 based on the first identifier and sends the information to the controller.

[0098] Furthermore, in practical applications, network device R1 does not need to read the first identifier from each received packet belonging to the same BIER multicast stream and perform detection based on that first identifier. Therefore, optionally, when BIER packet S2 is the first packet of the BIER multicast stream, it can obtain the characteristic information of BIER packet S2 based on the first identifier, such as triplet information, quintuple information, etc., and then generate a correspondence M2 between the characteristic information and the second indication information. The triplet information includes the multicast address and destination port of BIER packet S2. The quintuple information includes the source IP address, destination IP address, source port, destination port, and transport layer protocol of BIER packet S2. The second indication information is used to indicate that the BIER multicast stream corresponding to this characteristic information should be detected. When network device R1 subsequently receives a BIER packet from the BIER multicast stream, such as BIER packet S3, it can obtain the second indication information based on the characteristic information of BIER packet S3 and the correspondence M2, and then detect BIER packet S2 based on the second indication information. Since matching feature information and the corresponding relationship M2 takes less time than reading the first identifier from the message, detection efficiency can be improved. Please refer to the above for the specific detection method; it will not be repeated here.

[0099] In some application scenarios, to improve reliability, a server may connect to multiple ingress nodes, that is, forward the same stream through these multiple ingress nodes. Therefore, the five-tuple information of the BIER multicast packets sent by multiple ingress nodes may be the same. Since these BIER multicast packets may pass through the same network device, in order to enable the network device to distinguish BIER packets from different ingress nodes, the network device R1 can distinguish BIER multicast packets from different ingress nodes based on the BFIR ID of the ingress node in the BIER packet, so as to detect BIER multicast packets from different ingress nodes separately.

[0100] Additionally, the bit string carried in the BIER message indicates the tail node of that BIER message. Since the size of the bit string that a BIER message can carry is limited, if the BIER multicast message to which the BIER message belongs is sent to a large number of tail nodes, such that the total number of tail nodes exceeds the number of tail nodes that a single BIER message's bit string can represent, then these tail nodes can be divided into multiple sets, each corresponding to an identifier called a set identifier (SI). The ingress node can send the same BIER multicast message according to the tail nodes corresponding to different SIs. Therefore, network device R1 may receive multiple BIER messages with tail nodes belonging to different SIs but with the same 5-tuple information. Because these BIER messages have different forwarding paths, network device R1 can distinguish the BIER message streams corresponding to these multiple BIER messages for separate detection.

[0101] Specifically, as shown in Figure 3, the BIER message S2 may carry a BIFT ID. Network device R1 can obtain the SI corresponding to the BIER message S2 based on the BIFT ID in the BIER message S2 and the pre-acquired correspondence M3, and then detect the BIER multicast message in the BIER message S2 based on the SI. The correspondence M3 is the mapping between the BIFT ID and the SI. The correspondence M3 can be issued by the controller or generated by the tail node itself and communicated to other network devices through flooding.

[0102] S107: Network device R1 sends detection data to the controller.

[0103] S108: Network device R1 sends a BIER message S2 to network device R2.

[0104] In this embodiment, network device R2 can be, for example, network device 203. After receiving the BIER message S2 from network device R1, network device R2 performs a similar process to network device R1, which will not be repeated here. If the forwarding path of the BIER message S2 includes other network devices, network device R2 can continue to send the BIER message S2 to the next-hop network device until it reaches the destination node. In practical applications, which network devices on the path forwarding the BIER message S2 perform the action of detecting the BIER message S2 based on the first identifier in the BIER message S2 and sending the detection data to the controller can be pre-configured in the corresponding network devices. Network devices configured to enable detection perform the above detection process; network devices not configured to enable detection may not perform the above detection process.

[0105] Furthermore, there is no necessary order between S107 and S108; S108 can be executed before, after, or simultaneously with S107.

[0106] S109: The controller receives the detection data and processes it accordingly.

[0107] In this embodiment of the application, the controller can perform corresponding processing based on the detection data sent by each network device.

[0108] For example, if the detection data received by the controller includes information about the interface that transmits the BIER message S2, then the controller can obtain the forwarding path of the BIER message S2 based on the information about the interface that transmits the BIER message S2.

[0109] See Figure 5, which is a schematic diagram of the architecture of the BIER multicast system.

[0110] In Figure 5, nodes 1 to 15 are network devices. Node 15 is the entry node of the BIER multicast domain, and nodes 1-4 and 13 are the tail nodes of the BIER multicast source. The terminal devices connected to nodes 1-4 and 13 are set-top boxes.

[0111] Output BIER multicast stream 1 and BIER multicast stream 2 from interface (Intf) 1 of node 15. BIER multicast stream 1 is received by Intf 4 of node 12 and output from Intf 1 of node 12; BIER multicast stream 1 is received by Intf 1 of node 10 and output from Intf 3 of node 10; BIER multicast stream 1 enters node 8 through Intf 1 of node 8, is replicated in node 8 to obtain BIER multicast stream 1' and BIER multicast stream 1" and output from Intf 3 and Intf 4 of node 8 respectively. BIER multicast stream 1' enters node 6 through Intf 1 of node 6 and is output from Intf 4 of node 6, and is then received by Intf 1 of node 1; node 1 transmits BIER multicast stream 1' to the corresponding STB. BIER multicast stream 1" is received by Intf 3 of node 7, output through Intf 5 of node 7, and then received by Intf 1 of node 5. Node 5 transmits BIER multicast stream 1” to Node 4 via Intf 4, and Node 4 sends the BIER multicast stream 1” received from Intf 1 to the corresponding STB.

[0112] After being sent by node 15, BIER multicast stream 2 is received by node 9's Intf 3. Node 9 then forwards BIER multicast stream 2 to node 7 via Intf 4. Node 7 receives BIER multicast stream 2 via Intf 1 and forwards it to node 13 via Intf 6. Node 13's Intf 1 receives BIER multicast stream 2 and then forwards it to the corresponding STB.

[0113] See Table 2, which provides an example of the packet loss rate and out-of-order rate for BEIR multicast stream 1 with node 1 as the tail node.

[0114] Table 2

[0115]

[0116] As shown in Table 2, BEIR multicast stream 1 did not experience packet loss when leaving node 10, but packet loss occurred after entering node 8, with a packet loss rate of 1.1%. This indicates that BEIR multicast stream 1 may experience packet loss between node 10 and node 8, and the link between node 10 and node 8 can be further examined.

[0117] Table 2 also shows that BEIR multicast stream 1' was not out of order before leaving node 8, but became out of order after entering node 6, with an out-of-order rate of 0.7%. This indicates that BEIR multicast stream 1' may be out of order between node 8 and node 6, and the link between node 8 and node 6 can be further checked.

[0118] In this embodiment, the controller only needs to send flow-based detection instructions to the ingress node, without sending them to other network devices. After receiving the detection instructions, the ingress node adds a first identifier to the BIER packet corresponding to the multicast address carried in the detection instructions, so that the network devices forwarding the BIER packets can detect the BIER multicast packets corresponding to the BIER packets based on the first identifier. This achieves the goal of improving detection deployment efficiency, saving management bandwidth resources, and improving network management efficiency while detecting BIER multicast packets.

[0119] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the controller can also send a cancellation command to the ingress node to cancel the monitoring of BIER multicast packets by each network device. Specifically, referring to Figure 6, the multicast packet detection method provided in this embodiment can further include the following steps:

[0120] S110: The controller sends a cancellation command to the ingress node, which includes the multicast address.

[0121] S111: The entry node receives the cancellation command and deletes the corresponding relationship M1 with the multicast address according to the cancellation command.

[0122] After the ingress node deletes the corresponding relationship M1 with the revocation command, the ingress node no longer carries the first identifier in the BIER multicast message corresponding to relationship M1. Therefore, not only does the ingress node not need to detect the BIER multicast message, but other network devices forwarding the BIER multicast message also do not need to detect it. Compared to the traditional method, since the controller in this embodiment only needs to send the revocation command to the ingress node and not to all network devices, it improves the deployment efficiency of revocation detection while ensuring the revocation of BIER multicast message detection, saving management bandwidth resources and improving network management efficiency.

[0123] Figure 7 provides a possible structural diagram of the network device involved in the above embodiments. The network device 700 can realize the functions of the entry node or network device R1 in the embodiments shown in Figures 2 and 6. For example, the network device can execute S102, S103 and S104 in Figure 2 or Figure 6, or execute S105, S106 and S107 in Figure 2 or Figure 6, or execute S111 in Figure 6. The functions of each unit of the network device 700 can be referred to the description in the above method steps.

[0124] Referring to Figure 7, the network device 700 includes a processing unit 701 and a sending unit 702. The processing unit 701 is configured to acquire a first bit index and explicitly copy a BIER message. The first BIER message includes a first identifier, which indicates that the first BIER message should be detected. The processing unit 701 is further configured to detect the first BIER message based on the first identifier to obtain detection data. The sending unit 702 is configured to send the detection data to the controller.

[0125] In one example, the network device 700 is the entry node of the BIER network.

[0126] The network device 700 further includes: a receiving unit, configured to receive a detection instruction from the controller, the detection instruction including a multicast stream identifier, the detection instruction being configured to instruct the ingress node to carry the first identifier in a second BIER message carrying the multicast stream identifier;

[0127] The processing unit 701 is further configured to add the first identifier to the second BIER message according to the detection instruction, so as to obtain the first BIER message.

[0128] In one example, the processing unit 701 is further configured to, after receiving a detection instruction from the controller, generate a first correspondence, the first correspondence being the correspondence between the multicast stream identifier and the first indication information; the step of carrying the first identifier in the second BIER message according to the detection instruction to obtain the first BIER message includes: obtaining the second BIER message, and obtaining the first indication information according to the multicast stream identifier in the second BIER message and the first correspondence, the first indication information being used to indicate that the first identifier is carried in the second BIER message; and carrying the first identifier in the second BIER message according to the first indication information to obtain the first BIER message.

[0129] In one example, the processing unit is specifically configured to: obtain information about the interface transmitting the first BIER message based on the first identifier; and send the interface information to the controller.

[0130] In one example, the first BIER message further includes a sequence number. The processing unit is specifically configured to: obtain the sequence number of the first BIER message based on the first identifier; and obtain packet loss information or out-of-order information of the multicast stream to which the first BIER message belongs based on the sequence number.

[0131] In one example, the first identifier is carried in the first field of the first BIER message.

[0132] In one example, the first field is an operation and maintenance management field or a reserved field.

[0133] In one example, the first BIER message further includes a second field, the value of which indicates that the first identifier is carried in the first field;

[0134] The processing unit 701 is further configured to obtain the first identifier in the first field based on the second field.

[0135] In one example, the second field is a protocol field or a version field.

[0136] In one example, the processing unit 701 is further configured to obtain feature information of the first BIER message from the first identifier; generate a third correspondence relationship based on the feature information of the first BIER message, wherein the third correspondence relationship is the correspondence relationship between the feature information and the second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate that the BIER message corresponding to the feature information is detected.

[0137] In one example, the processing unit 701 is further configured to acquire a third BIER message; obtain the second indication information based on the feature information of the third BIER message and the third correspondence; and detect the third BIER message based on the second indication information.

[0138] It should be noted that the division of units in this embodiment is illustrative and represents only one logical functional division; in actual implementation, other division methods may be used. The functional units in this embodiment can be integrated into one processing unit 701, or each unit can exist physically separately, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit. For example, in the above embodiment, the receiving unit and the transmitting unit can be the same unit or different units. The integrated unit can be implemented in hardware or as a software functional unit.

[0139] Referring to Figure 8, a schematic diagram of a network device 800 provided in this application embodiment is shown. The network device 800 includes a processor 802, a communication interface 803, a memory 801, and a bus 804. The communication interface 803, processor 802, and memory 801 are interconnected via the bus 804. The bus 804 can be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, etc. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is used in Figure 8, but this does not indicate that there is only one bus or one type of bus. This network device 800 can implement the functions of the network devices in the embodiments shown in Figures 2 and 6. The processor 802 and the communication interface 803 can execute the corresponding functions of the network devices in the above method examples. The communication interface 803 is used to support the network device 800 in executing S102 and S104 in Figures 2 or 6, or in executing S105 and S107 in Figures 2 or 6. The processor 802 is used to support the network device 800 in executing S103 in Figure 2 or Figure 6, or S106 in Figure 2 or Figure 6, or S111 in Figure 6. The memory 801 is used to store the program code and data of the network device 800.

[0140] The following section, with reference to Figure 7, provides a detailed description of each component of the controller:

[0141] The memory 801 may be volatile memory, such as random-access memory (RAM); or non-volatile memory, such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, hard disk drive (HDD), or solid-state drive (SSD); or a combination of the above types of memory, used to store program code that can implement the method of this application, configuration files of network devices in the TSN domain, or other content.

[0142] The processor 802 is the control center of the controller. It can be a central processing unit (CPU), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the embodiments of this application, such as one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), or one or more field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

[0143] Communication interface 803 is used for communication with network devices, such as end-to-end service requirement latency of data streams, and network device transmission latency and link transmission latency along the data stream forwarding path. For example, the service requirement latency of the data stream can be obtained through MRP messages, LRP messages, NETCONF messages, NETCONF or RESTCONF messages, or management information base station messages. Communication interface 803 can be an Ethernet interface, a Fast Ethernet (FE) interface, or a Gigabit Ethernet (GE) interface.

[0144] In one example, processor 802 is configured to acquire a first bit index to explicitly copy a BIER message, the first BIER message including a first identifier, the first identifier being used to indicate that the first BIER message should be detected. Processor 802 is further configured to detect the first BIER message based on the first identifier to obtain detection data. Communication interface 803 is configured to send the detection data to the controller.

[0145] In one example, the network device 800 is the entry node of the BIER network.

[0146] The network device 800 further includes: a receiving unit, configured to receive a detection instruction from the controller, the detection instruction including a multicast stream identifier, the detection instruction being configured to instruct the ingress node to carry the first identifier in a second BIER message carrying the multicast stream identifier;

[0147] The processor 802 is further configured to add the first identifier to the second BIER message according to the detection instruction, so as to obtain the first BIER message.

[0148] In one example, the processor 802 is further configured to, after receiving a detection instruction from the controller, generate a first correspondence, the first correspondence being a correspondence between the multicast stream identifier and the first indication information; the step of carrying the first identifier in the second BIER message according to the detection instruction to obtain the first BIER message includes: obtaining the second BIER message, and obtaining the first indication information according to the multicast stream identifier in the second BIER message and the first correspondence, the first indication information being used to indicate that the first identifier is carried in the second BIER message; and carrying the first identifier in the second BIER message according to the first indication information to obtain the first BIER message.

[0149] In one example, the first identifier is carried in the first field of the first BIER message.

[0150] In one example, the first field is an operation and maintenance management field or a reserved field.

[0151] In one example, the first BIER message further includes a second field, the value of which indicates that the first identifier is carried in the first field;

[0152] The processor 802 is further configured to obtain the first identifier in the first field based on the second field.

[0153] In one example, the second field is a protocol field or a version field.

[0154] In one example, the processor 802 is further configured to: obtain feature information of the first BIER message from the first identifier; generate a third correspondence based on the feature information of the first BIER message, wherein the third correspondence is a correspondence between the feature information and a second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate that the BIER message corresponding to the feature information is detected.

[0155] In one example, the processor 802 is further configured to acquire a third BIER message; obtain the second indication information based on the feature information of the third BIER message and the third correspondence; and detect the third BIER message based on the second indication information.

[0156] For a detailed description of the specific execution process, please refer to the corresponding steps in the embodiments shown in Figures 2 and 6 above. They will not be repeated here.

[0157] As shown in Figure 9, this application embodiment also provides a multicast packet detection system 900, including a network device 901 and a controller 902. The system 900 is used to implement the multicast packet detection method in the aforementioned method embodiments. The network device 901 can implement the function of the entry node or network device R1 in the embodiments shown in Figure 2 or Figure 6, and the controller 902 can implement the function of the controller in the embodiments shown in Figure 2 or Figure 6. For example, the network device 901 is used to obtain a first bit index to explicitly copy a BIER packet, the first BIER packet including a first identifier, the first identifier being used to indicate that the first BIER packet is to be detected; the network device is also used to detect the first BIER packet according to the first identifier, obtain detection data, and send the detection data to the controller 902. The controller 902 is used to receive the detection data and process it. For the specific execution process, please refer to the detailed description of the corresponding steps in the embodiments shown in Figure 2 or Figure 6 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0158] It should be noted that any of the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units; that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the modules can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs. Furthermore, in the accompanying drawings of the first network node or control device embodiment provided in this application, the connection relationship between modules indicates that they have a communication connection, which can be specifically implemented as one or more communication buses or signal lines. Those skilled in the art can understand and implement this without any creative effort.

[0159] The steps of the methods or algorithms described in the embodiments of this application can be implemented in hardware or by a processor executing software instructions. The software instructions can consist of corresponding software modules, which can be stored in random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), hard disk, portable hard disk, optical disk, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to a processor, enabling the processor to read information from and write information to the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium can also be a component of the processor. The processor and storage medium can reside in an ASIC. Alternatively, the ASIC can reside in a core network interface device. Of course, the processor and storage medium can also exist as discrete components in the core network interface device.

[0160] Those skilled in the art will recognize that, in one or more of the examples above, the functions described in this application can be implemented using hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, these functions can be stored in a computer-readable medium or transmitted as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media include computer storage media and communication media, wherein communication media include any medium that facilitates the transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Storage media can be any available medium accessible to a general-purpose or special-purpose computer.

[0161] The specific embodiments described above further illustrate the purpose, technical solution, and beneficial effects of this application. It should be understood that the above description is only a specific embodiment of this application and is not intended to limit the scope of protection of this application. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made on the basis of the technical solution of this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application.

Claims

1. A multicast message detection method, It is characterized in that The method comprises: The network device obtains a first bit index explicitly copied BIER message, where the first BIER message includes a first identifier, and the first identifier is used to indicate detection of the first BIER message; The network device detects the first BIER message according to the first identifier to obtain detection data; The network device sends the detection data to a controller.

2. The method according to claim 1, It is characterized in that The network device is the entry node of the BIER network. The method further comprises: The ingress node receives a detection instruction from the controller, the detection instruction including a multicast stream identifier, and the detection instruction is used to instruct the ingress node to carry the first identifier in a second BIER message carrying the multicast stream identifier; The entry node adds the first identifier to the second BIER message according to the detection instruction to obtain the first BIER message.

3. The method according to claim 2, It is characterized in that After the ingress node receives the detection instruction from the controller, the method further includes: The ingress node generates a first corresponding relationship, where the first corresponding relationship is a corresponding relationship between the multicast stream identifier and the first indication information; The ingress node carries the first identifier in the second BIER message according to the detection instruction, and the first BIER message is obtained including: The entry node obtains a second BIER message; The ingress node obtains the first indication information according to the multicast stream identifier in the second BIER message and the first corresponding relationship, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the first identifier is carried in the second BIER message; The entry node carries the first identifier in the second BIER message according to the first indication information to obtain the first BIER message.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, It is characterized in that The network device detecting the first BIER message according to the first identifier includes: The network device obtains information of the interface for transmitting the first BIER message according to the first identifier; The network device sends the information of the interface to the controller.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, It is characterized in that The first BIER message also includes a sequence number; The network device detecting the first BIER message according to the first identifier includes: The network device obtains the serial number of the first BIER message according to the first identifier; The network device obtains the packet loss information or disorder information of the multicast stream to which the first BIER message belongs based on the sequence number.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, It is characterized in that The first identifier is carried in the first field in the first BIER message.

7. The method according to claim 6, It is characterized in that The first field is an operation maintenance management field or a reserved field.

8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, It is characterized in that The first BIER message also includes a second field, and a value of the second field indicates that the first identifier is carried in the first field; The method further comprises: The network device obtains the first identifier in the first field according to the second field.

9. The method according to claim 8, It is characterized in that The second field is a protocol field or a version field.

10. The method according to claim 1, It is characterized in that The method further comprises: The network device obtains characteristic information of the first BIER message according to the first identifier; The network device generates a third correspondence based on the characteristic information of the first BIER message, and the third correspondence is a correspondence between the characteristic information and second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate the detection of the BIER message corresponding to the characteristic information.

11. The method according to claim 10, It is characterized in that The method further comprises: The network device obtains a third BIER message; The network device obtains the second indication information according to the characteristic information of the third BIER message and the third corresponding relationship; The network device detects the third BIER message according to the second indication information.

12. A network device, It is characterized in that The network equipment includes: A processing unit, used for obtaining a first bit index explicitly copied BIER message, wherein the first BIER message includes a first identifier, and the first identifier is used for indicating detection of the first BIER message; The processing unit is further used to detect the first BIER message according to the first identifier to obtain detection data; The sending unit is used to send the detection data to the controller.

13. The network device according to claim 12, It is characterized in that The network device is the entry node of the BIER network. The network device also includes: A receiving unit, configured to receive a detection instruction from the controller, wherein the detection instruction includes a multicast stream identifier, and the detection instruction is configured to instruct the ingress node to carry the first identifier in a second BIER message carrying the multicast stream identifier; The processing unit is also used to add the first identifier to the second BIER message according to the detection instruction to obtain the first BIER message.

14. The network device according to claim 13, It is characterized in that The processing unit is further configured to generate a first corresponding relationship after receiving a detection instruction from the controller, wherein the first corresponding relationship is a corresponding relationship between the multicast stream identifier and the first indication information; The processing unit is specifically used to obtain the second BIER message, and obtain the first indication information according to the multicast stream identifier in the second BIER message and the first corresponding relationship, wherein the first indication information is used to indicate that the first identifier is carried in the second BIER message; The processing unit is also used to carry the first identifier in the second BIER message according to the first indication information to obtain the first BIER message.

15. The network device according to any one of claims 12 to 14, It is characterized in that The processing unit is specifically used to obtain information about the interface for transmitting the first BIER message according to the first identifier; The sending unit is further used to send the information of the interface to the controller.

16. The network device according to any one of claims 12 to 15, It is characterized in that The first BIER message also includes a sequence number; The processing unit is specifically used to obtain the serial number of the first BIER message according to the first identifier, and obtain the packet loss information or disorder information of the multicast stream to which the first BIER message belongs according to the serial number.

17. The network device according to any one of claims 12 to 16, It is characterized in that The first identifier is carried in the first field in the first BIER message.

18. The network device according to claim 17, It is characterized in that The first field is an operation maintenance management field or a reserved field.

19. The network device according to claim 17 or 18, It is characterized in that The first BIER message also includes a second field, and a value of the second field indicates that the first identifier is carried in the first field; The processing unit is further configured to obtain a first identifier in the first field according to the second field.

20. The network device according to claim 19, It is characterized in that The second field is a protocol field or a version field.

21. The network device according to any one of claims 12 to 20, It is characterized in that The processing unit is also used for the first identifier to obtain characteristic information of the first BIER message; and to generate a third corresponding relationship based on the characteristic information of the first BIER message, wherein the third corresponding relationship is a corresponding relationship between the characteristic information and second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate detection of the BIER message corresponding to the characteristic information.

22. The network device according to claim 21, It is characterized in that The processing unit is also used to obtain a third BIER message; obtain the second indication information based on the characteristic information of the third BIER message and the third corresponding relationship; and detect the third BIER message based on the second indication information.

23. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.