US-12621248-B2 - End-to-end path tracing of hybrid unicast and multicast translated flows

Abstract

Methods are provided for visualizing end-to-end path traversed by a hybrid media traffic flow. Specifically, the methods involve obtaining at least one hybrid flow record that includes information about a source of a traffic flow prior to performing a network address translation for the traffic flow. The traffic flow traverses from the source, along a path in a network, to a destination. The method further involves generating a merged flow data record in which at least two flow data records are merged based on the at least one hybrid flow record. The at least two flow data records include a unicast flow data record and a multicast flow data record based on the traffic flow traversing along the path in the network. The method further includes providing an end-to-end visibility of the path traversed by the traffic flow based on the merged flow data record.

Inventors

• Francesco Meo
• Sachin V Vishwarupe
• Lakshmi Ramesh
• ROSHAN LAL

Assignees

• CISCO TECHNOLOGY, INC.

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20230511

Claims (20)

1. 1 . A method comprising: obtaining at least one hybrid flow record that includes information about a source of a traffic flow prior to performing a network address translation for the traffic flow in which the traffic flow is switched from a multicast media stream to a unicast media stream or from the unicast media stream to the multicast media stream, wherein the traffic flow traverses from the source, along a path in a network, to a destination, and wherein the at least one hybrid flow record includes a post network address translation source for the traffic flow; generating a merged flow data record in which at least two flow data records are merged based on the at least one hybrid flow record, wherein the at least two flow data records include a unicast flow data record and a multicast flow data record based on the traffic flow traversing along the path in the network; and providing an end-to-end visibility of the path traversed by the traffic flow based on the merged flow data record.
2. 2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the traffic flow includes media data, and further comprising: generating a respective flow data record at each network node along the path, wherein at least a first portion of the path is in an on-premises network and at least a second portion of the path is in a cloud network; and performing the network address translation for switching the traffic flow between the unicast media stream and the multicast media stream based on the traffic flow traversing between the first portion of the path and the second portion of the path.
3. 3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one hybrid flow record is generated at an edge network node in which the network address translation of the traffic flow is performed.
4. 4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the at least one hybrid flow record is based on: obtaining, via a cloud network, by a first hop node of an on-premises network, the unicast media stream, extracting, from a unicast data record associated with the unicast media stream, unicast information about the source and the destination, performing the network address translation for switching the traffic flow from the unicast media stream to the multicast media stream, and generating the at least one hybrid flow record that includes the unicast information and multicast information for transporting the multicast media stream along the path in the on-premises network.
5. 5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the at least one hybrid flow record is based on: obtaining, by a last hop node of an on-premises network, the multicast media stream, extracting, from a multicast data record associated with the multicast media stream, multicast information about the source and a group, performing the network address translation for switching the traffic flow from the multicast media stream to the unicast media stream, and generating the at least one hybrid flow record that includes the multicast information and unicast information for transporting the unicast media stream along the path in a cloud network.
6. 6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein generating the merged flow data record includes: merging the source and the group of the multicast information with at least a unicast source and a unicast destination of the unicast information for determining the end-to-end visibility of the path for the traffic flow.
7. 7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein generating the merged flow data record includes: separating the source and the group of the multicast information, obtained from a source endpoint, and a fabric source and a fabric group, observed by one or more network nodes along the path, to track a plurality of network address translations; and adding the fabric source and the fabric group to the merged flow data record.
8. 8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining a state of the traffic flow from a plurality of traffic states based on the end-to-end visibility of the path traversed by the traffic flow, wherein the plurality of traffic states include an active traffic flow, an inactive traffic flow, a sender only traffic flow, and a receiver only traffic flow; and providing the state of the traffic flow for troubleshooting.
9. 9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the at least one hybrid flow record is based on: performing the network address translation for switching the traffic flow from the unicast media stream to the multicast media stream and generating the at least one hybrid flow record that includes unicast information and multicast information for transporting the multicast media stream along the path, or performing the network address translation for switching the traffic flow from the multicast media stream to the unicast media stream and generating the at least one hybrid flow record that includes the multicast information and the unicast information for transporting the unicast media stream along the path.
10. 10 . An apparatus comprising: a memory; a network interface configured to enable network communications; and a processor, wherein the processor is configured to perform a method comprising: obtaining at least one hybrid flow record that includes information about a source of a traffic flow prior to performing a network address translation for the traffic flow in which the traffic flow is switched from a multicast media stream to a unicast media stream or from the unicast media stream to the multicast media stream, wherein the traffic flow traverses from the source, along a path in a network, to a destination and wherein the at least one hybrid flow record includes a post network address translation source for the traffic flow; generating a merged flow data record in which at least two flow data records are merged based on the at least one hybrid flow record, wherein the at least two flow data records include a unicast flow data record and a multicast flow data record based on the traffic flow traversing along the path in the network; and providing an end-to-end visibility of the path traversed by the traffic flow based on the merged flow data record.
11. 11 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the traffic flow includes media data, and the processor is further configured to perform: generating a respective flow data record at each network node along the path, wherein at least a first portion of the path is in an on-premises network and at least a second portion of the path is in a cloud network; and performing the network address translation for switching the traffic flow between the unicast media stream and the multicast media stream based on the traffic flow traversing between the first portion of the path and the second portion of the path.
12. 12 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the at least one hybrid flow record is generated at an edge network node in which the network address translation of the traffic flow is performed.
13. 13 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to obtain the at least one hybrid flow record based on: obtaining, via a cloud network, by a first hop node of an on-premises network, the unicast media stream, extracting, from a unicast data record associated with the unicast media stream, unicast information about the source and the destination, performing the network address translation for switching the traffic flow from the unicast media stream to the multicast media stream, and generating the at least one hybrid flow record that includes the unicast information and multicast information for transporting the multicast media stream along the path in the on-premises network.
14. 14 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to obtain the at least one hybrid flow record based on: obtaining, by a last hop node of an on-premises network, the multicast media stream, extracting, from a multicast data record associated with the multicast media stream, multicast information about the source and a group, performing the network address translation for switching the traffic flow from the multicast media stream to the unicast media stream, and generating the at least one hybrid flow record that includes the multicast information and unicast information for transporting the unicast media stream along the path in a cloud network.
15. 15 . The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the processor is configured to generate the merged flow data record by: merging the source and the group of the multicast information with at least a unicast source and a unicast destination of the unicast information for determining the end-to-end visibility of the path for the traffic flow.
16. 16 . The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the processor is configured to generate the merged flow data record by: separating the source and the group of the multicast information, obtained from a source endpoint, and a fabric source and a fabric group, observed by one or more network nodes along the path, to track a plurality of network address translations; and adding the fabric source and the fabric group to the merged flow data record.
17. 17 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform: determining a state of the traffic flow from a plurality of traffic states based on the end-to-end visibility of the path traversed by the traffic flow, wherein the plurality of traffic states include an active traffic flow, an inactive traffic flow, a sender only traffic flow, and a receiver only traffic flow; and providing the state of the traffic flow for troubleshooting.
18. 18 . One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media encoded with software comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method including: obtaining at least one hybrid flow record that includes information about a source of a traffic flow prior to performing a network address translation for the traffic flow in which the traffic flow is switched from a multicast media stream to a unicast media stream or from the unicast media stream to the multicast media stream, wherein the traffic flow traverses from the source, along a path in a network, to a destination and wherein the at least one hybrid flow record includes a post network address translation source for the traffic flow; generating a merged flow data record in which at least two flow data records are merged based on the at least one hybrid flow record, wherein the at least two flow data records include a unicast flow data record and a multicast flow data record based on the traffic flow traversing along the path in the network; and providing an end-to-end visibility of the path traversed by the traffic flow based on the merged flow data record.
19. 19 . The one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media according to claim 17 , wherein the traffic flow includes media data, and wherein the computer executable instructions cause the processor to further perform: generating a respective flow data record at each network node along the path, wherein at least a first portion of the path is in an on-premises network and at least a second portion of the path is in a cloud network; and performing the network address translation for switching the traffic flow between the unicast media stream and the multicast media stream based on the traffic flow traversing between the first portion of the path and the second portion of the path.
20. 20 . The one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media according to claim 18 , wherein the computer executable instructions cause the processor to obtain the at least one hybrid flow record based on: obtaining, via a cloud network, by a first hop node of an on-premises network, the unicast media stream, extracting, from a unicast data record associated with the unicast media stream, unicast information about the source and the destination, performing the network address translation for switching the traffic flow from the unicast media stream to the multicast media stream, and generating the at least one hybrid flow record that includes the unicast information and multicast information for transporting the multicast media stream along the path in the on-premises network.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure generally relates to computer networks and systems. BACKGROUND Internet Protocol (IP) fabric for media (IPFM) helps media industry migrate from a serial digital interface (SDI) route to an IP-based infrastructure. In addition to physical media endpoints (EPs), services are extending beyond on-premise networking. Cloud computing is used in pre-processing and/or post-processing media data (e.g., audio and/or video data), media encoding, etc. Cloud networking is also involved in multi-site connections. Even though IP media solutions are based on multicast traffic flows, end to end multicast through the cloud (or cloud platforms) is not practical. Often, the media data is translated to unicast data while traversing through the cloud. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a system in which an end-to-end path traversed by a hybrid traffic flow is traced or tracked, according to an example embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a system in which a hybrid flow record is generated for a traffic flow that is translated from unicast to multicast, according to an example embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a merged flow data record for a traffic flow that is translated from unicast to multicast, according to an example embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram depicting a user interface that provides end-to-end visibility of a path traversed by a traffic flow that is translated from unicast to multicast, according to an example embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram depicting a user interface that provides path information based on input, according to an example embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a system in which a hybrid flow record is generated for a traffic flow that is translated from multicast to unicast, according to an example embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a merged flow data record for a traffic flow that is translated from multicast to unicast, according to an example embodiment. FIG. 8 is a diagram depicting another user interface that provides end-to-end visibility of a path traversed by a traffic flow that is translated from multicast to unicast, according to an example embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram depicting yet another user interface that provides states for traffic flows, according to an example embodiment. FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing end-to-end visibility of a path traversed by a traffic flow that was network address translated between unicast and multicast, according to an example embodiment. FIG. 11 is a hardware block diagram of a computing device that may perform functions associated with any combination of operations in connection with the techniques depicted and described in FIGS. 1-10, according to various example embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview Techniques presented herein provide end-to-end path tracing or tracking for network address translated (NATed) or hybrid flows in an IP fabric. The hybrid flows are translated between unicast and multicast. In one form, a method presented herein involves obtaining at least one hybrid flow record that includes information about a source of a traffic flow prior to performing a network address translation for the traffic flow. The traffic flow traverses from the source, along a path in a network, to a destination. The method further involves generating a merged flow data record in which at least two flow data records are merged based on the at least one hybrid flow record. The at least two flow data records include a unicast flow data record and a multicast flow data record based on the traffic flow traversing along the path in the network. The method further involves providing an end-to-end visibility of the path traversed by the traffic flow based on the merged flow data record. Example Embodiments Network management platforms deploy services for monitoring and visualizing traffic flows traversing in a network, for managing sender/receiver endpoints and network devices, and deploying flow control policies for the network. In addition to physical media endpoints (EPs), the services are extending beyond on-premise networking. The services use cloud computing for media data processing and cloud networking for media data transport. Since transporting end-to-end multicast data through a cloud platform is not practical, multicast to unicast and unicast to multicast network address translation (NAT) features are used. The monitoring services may provide path traceability for native multicast networks. When the media traffic flow is network address translated (NATed) one or more times along a path in the network from a source to a destination i.e., when traffic flows are translated or converted between multicast and unicast, information is lost and path tracing becomes challenging. A single unicast (or multicast) flow may also transform into multiple multicast (or unicast) flows. As source, destination to which the sender EP is stre