US 7,292,573 B2 Nov. 6, 2007
(54) METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR
SELECTION OF MIRRORED TRAFFIC
(75) Inventors: Bruce Edward LaVigne, Roseville, CA (US); Paul T. Congdon, Granite Bay, CA (US); Mark Gooch, Roseville, CA (US)
(73) Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development
Company, L.P., Houston, TX (US)
( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 828 days.
(21) Appl. No.: 10/813,766
(22) Filed: Mar. 31, 2004
(65) Prior Publication Data
US 2005/0220092 Al Oct. 6, 2005
(51) Int. CI.
H04L12/28 (2006.01)
(52) U.S. CI 370/390; 370/468; 370/394;
370/401; 370/432
Field of Classification Search None
See application file for complete search history.
* cited by examiner
Primary Examiner—Due Ho
(57) ABSTRACT
One embodiment disclosed relates to a method for mirroring of select network traffic. A data packet is received by a network device. A determination is made as to whether a designated aspect of the packet matches a flagged entry in a look-up table on the network device. If a match is found, then copy of the packet is sent to an associated mirror destination. Another embodiment disclosed relates to a networking apparatus. The apparatus includes at least an operating system, a look-up table, and a mirroring engine. The operating system includes routines utilized to control the apparatus, and the look-up table includes selection information for mirror sources. The mirroring engine forwards copies of selected packets to a corresponding mirror destination. Another embodiment disclosed relates to a method of selecting packets to mirror that includes checking state information relating to the network traffic against dynamic mirroring criteria.
35 Claims, 15 Drawing Sheets
