US 11,991,070 B2
Layer-2 path tracing
Alexander K. Nelson, Roseville, CA (US); Goldy Tomy, Roseville, CA (US); Luis A. Mora, Roseville, CA (US); and Saurabh Mohan, Folsom, CA (US)
Assigned to Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP, Spring, TX (US)
Filed by Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP, Houston, TX (US)
Filed on Jan. 4, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/568,623.
Prior Publication US 2023/0216779 A1, Jul. 6, 2023
Int. Cl. H04L 45/00 (2022.01); H04L 12/46 (2006.01); H04L 45/02 (2022.01)
CPC H04L 45/26 (2013.01) [H04L 12/4633 (2013.01); H04L 45/02 (2013.01); H04L 45/20 (2013.01); H04L 45/66 (2013.01); H04L 12/4641 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
sending, by an originating device, a layer-2 trace packet with a packet type in a layer-2 header of the layer-2 trace packet, wherein the packet type indicates the layer-2 trace packet as a packet for layer-2 path tracing;
receiving a layer-2 response packet from a respective participating device along a path to a target device of the layer-2 trace packet, wherein the participating device supports the layer-2 path tracing;
obtaining, from a payload of the layer-2 response packet, trace information associated with a forward path to the participating device traversed by the layer-2 trace packet and a reverse path from the participating device traversed by the layer-2 response packet, wherein the trace information in the layer-2 response packet identifies a plurality of layer-2 devices along the forward and reverse paths, and wherein the trace information includes a plurality of layer-2 network addresses identifying the plurality of layer-2 devices, respectively; and
determining a layer-2 path trace, which includes at least the plurality of layer-2 network addresses, between the originating device and the target device based on the trace information.