Service Chain Continuity Verification via Packet Tagging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional continuity tests struggle to verify the correct chaining of services in dynamically formed service chains, especially due to dynamic service generation and changes in network function virtualization, and require specialized devices for protocol-based checks.
Innovation Solution
A communication system with a continuity checking apparatus that generates packets with user attributes and flags, allowing edge routers to determine service paths and verify service chaining by transmitting these packets through the service chain, enabling operators to easily check if services are correctly chained.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a conventional continuity test (ping) is performed to check service chaining, then the arrival of the packet at the final service can be checked, but it is impossible to check which services the packet passes through
Solution Approach 1:
The patent embeds a continuity checking packet within the service chain processing flow. The packet is nested through multiple service devices, with each service device adding its identification information to the packet, enabling traceability of the complete service path while maintaining the packet's core continuity checking function.
Solution Approach 2:
The continuity checking packet acts as an intermediary carrier that transports service path information through the service chain. Each service device processes the packet and adds its identification, allowing the packet to mediate between the continuity checking apparatus and the service devices, collecting path information along the way.
2Adaptability or versatility
If service information is dynamically changed according to NFV technology, then service chains can be flexibly formed and modified, but service information must be checked whenever it changes to perform continuity tests
Solution Approach 1:
The continuity checking packet automatically collects service path information as it passes through each service device. Each service device self-identifies by adding its information to the packet, eliminating the need for external verification of service information changes. The system serves itself by automatically tracking dynamic service chain configurations.
Solution Approach 2:
The continuity checking apparatus pre-configures the checking packet with necessary parameters before injection into the service chain. This preliminary setup enables the packet to automatically adapt to dynamic service information changes without requiring pre-verification or manual configuration updates.
3Reliability
If a dedicated protocol with NSH is used to solve continuity checking problems, then service path verification is enabled, but a device with the dedicated protocol mounted is required to generate the service chain
Solution Approach 1:
The continuity checking packet is designed with multi-functionality, serving both as a standard network packet for routing and as a data collection carrier for service path verification. This universal design allows ordinary network devices to participate in continuity checking without requiring specialized protocol implementations, reducing device complexity while maintaining verification reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the essential continuity checking function from the dedicated NSH protocol framework. By separating the core path verification mechanism from the complex NSH protocol requirements, the solution enables service chain verification using standard network devices, removing the necessity for specialized protocol-mounted devices while maintaining verification capability.
Data Source
AI summary
A continuity checking apparatus generates a continuity checking packet to which a predetermined flag and user attributes are assigned and transmits the generated continuity checking packet to an edge router connected to a service that is an entrance of a service chain. Each service transmits an arrival message with respect to the continuity checking packet to the continuity checking apparatus upon reception of the continuity checking packet to which the predetermined flag is assigned. In addition, each service transfers the continuity checking packet to a next service device of the service chain on the basis of the user attributes assigned to the received continuity checking packet. The continuity checking apparatus identifies a path representing service devices through which the continuity checking packet passes on the basis of the arrival message transmitted from each service, and determines whether the identified path is the same as a path of the service chain that is a continuity checking target.