Namespace-Aware Test Agents for Network Measurement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing network performance measurement techniques require deploying full test agents in each namespace, leading to increased resource utilization and separate control interfaces, which complicates management and measurement traffic isolation.
Innovation Solution
Deploying namespace-aware test agents that can move between namespaces and create lightweight test agent children, allowing a single test agent process to administer multiple namespaces and interfaces, thereby reducing resource utilization and isolating management and measurement traffic.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If full test agents are deployed in each namespace, then network performance measurement can be performed for each namespace, but resource utilization increases and management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The test agent is segmented into a parent process and child processes. The parent process handles management functions while child processes handle measurement functions for specific namespaces. This segmentation allows the system to maintain measurement capability across multiple namespaces while centralizing management functions to reduce complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
A single parent test agent process is designed to be universal and can manage multiple child processes across different namespaces. This multi-functionality allows one parent process to administer measurements for multiple namespaces, eliminating the need for separate full test agents in each namespace and reducing overall management complexity.
2Reliability
If full test agents are deployed in each namespace, then network performance measurement can be performed for each namespace, but resource utilization increases
Solution Approach 1:
The test agent functionality is segmented between parent and child processes. Child processes are lightweight and namespace-specific, while the parent process is shared. This segmentation reduces the resource footprint per namespace compared to deploying full test agents independently in each namespace.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple child processes from different namespaces share a common parent process. This merging of management functions into a single parent process reduces duplicate resource consumption (such as memory, CPU overhead for management functions) that would occur if full test agents were deployed independently in each namespace.
3Reliability
If full test agents are deployed in each namespace, then separate control interfaces are provided for each namespace, but this complicates management
Solution Approach 1:
The control interface is segmented into a unified parent process interface that manages all child processes. This single interface provides centralized control for all namespaces, eliminating the need for multiple separate control interfaces while maintaining the ability to perform namespace-specific measurements through the child processes.
Data Source
AI summary
In general, the disclosure describes a method that includes partitioning resources of a computing device into a first namespace comprising a first physical network interface and a second namespace comprising a second physical network interface; creating, by a test agent executing as a process in the second namespace, a test agent child in the second namespace; migrating the test agent to execute as a process in the first namespace; communicating, by the test agent child via the second physical network interface, test packets; obtaining, by the test agent, network performance measurement data that is based at least on the test packets; and outputting, by the test agent while executing as a process in the first namespace, an indication of the network performance measurement data.