US 11,711,299 B2
Traffic mirroring in hybrid network environments
Xueqiang Ma, Sunnyvale, CA (US); Dave Persaud, San Jose, CA (US); and Kalyan Ghosh, Saratoga, CA (US)
Assigned to Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed by Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed on Apr. 30, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/863,713.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/959,751, filed on Jan. 10, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2021/0218673 A1, Jul. 15, 2021
Int. Cl. H04L 45/74 (2022.01); G06F 9/455 (2018.01); H04L 67/1095 (2022.01)
CPC H04L 45/74 (2013.01) [G06F 9/45558 (2013.01); H04L 67/1095 (2013.01); G06F 2009/45595 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method, comprising:
translating, by a source forwarder in a source cloud-based network, a mirrored data packet out of a first communication protocol and into an Encapsulated Remote Switch Port Analyzer (ERSPAN) format, the mirrored data packet comprising a copy of an original data packet that was transmitted or received by at least one node in the source cloud-based network, the original data packet complying with one or more traffic mirroring rules, the original data packet being in the first communication protocol;
encapsulating, by the source forwarder, the mirrored data packet in a Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE);
transmitting, by the source forwarder, the mirrored data packet;
receiving, by a controller and from the source forwarder, the mirrored data packet;
identifying, by the controller, based on an ERSPAN header of the mirrored data packet, a session of the mirrored data packet, the session comprising transmission of multiple data packets between a source in the source cloud-based network and a destination in a destination cloud-based network, the multiple data packets comprising the mirrored data packet;
identifying, by the controller, based on the session, a destination forwarder in the destination cloud-based network, the destination cloud-based network being different than the source cloud-based network, the destination cloud-based network utilizing a second communication protocol that is different than the first communication protocol and is different than the ERSPAN format; and
forwarding, by the controller, the mirrored data packet to the destination forwarder.