The disclosure relates to technology for sending network management information in a network. A source edge node modifies data packets by encapsulating an operations, administration and maintenance (OAM) header in the data packets traversing a data path, and the OAM header includes a first indicator field. The source edge node also inserts a segment size field into the OAM header of the data packets based on an indication by the first indicator field, the segment size field indicating the data path is partitioned into segments based on a value of the segment size field.

An Ethernet Physical layer (PHY) device includes a PHY interface and PHY circuitry. The PHY interface is configured to connect to a physical link. The PHY circuitry is configured to generate layer-1 frames that carry data for transmission to a peer Ethernet PHY device, to insert among the layer-1 frames one or more management frames that are separate from the layer-1 frames and that are configured to control a General-Purpose Input-Output (GPIO) port associated with the peer Ethernet PHY device, to transmit the layer-1 frames and the inserted management frames, via the PHY interface, to the peer Ethernet PHY device over the physical link, for controlling one or more operations of the GPIO port associated with the peer Ethernet PHY device, and to receive, via the PHY interface, one or more verifications acknowledging that the one or more management frames were received successfully at the peer Ethernet PHY device.

In an embodiment, a data processing method comprises receiving, at a BIER replicator node that is programmed to implement Bit Index Explicit Replication (BIER) protocol, from a data source, a multicast stream packet identifying a service-level multicast group address; using the BIER replicator node, replicating the multicast stream packet according to BIER protocol and transmitting two or more replicated packet streams to two or more BIER receiver nodes that are programmed to implement BIER; using the two or more BIER receiver nodes, transmitting the two or more replicated packet streams to two or more receivers. Other embodiments may use modified iOAM (In-situ Operations, Administration, and Maintenance) techniques.

A method is provided that is performed by a network element in a network. The network element receives a packet. The network element inserts into a header of the packet, packet replication information indicating whether and to which egress interface the network element performs a replication operation on the packet, wherein the header is an In-Situ Operations, Administration and Management (IOAM) header. The network element sends the packet, with the packet replication information included in the IOAM header, in the network.

In an embodiment, a data processing method comprises receiving, at a BIER replicator node that is programmed to implement Bit Index Explicit Replication (BIER) protocol, from a data source, a multicast stream packet identifying a service-level multicast group address; using the BIER replicator node, replicating the multicast stream packet according to BIER protocol and transmitting two or more replicated packet streams to two or more BIER receiver nodes that are programmed to implement BIER; using the two or more BIER receiver nodes, transmitting the two or more replicated packet streams to two or more receivers. Other embodiments may use modified iOAM (In-situ Operations, Administration, and Maintenance) techniques.

Service availability determination systems and methods include determining availability of a packet service in a Maintenance Interval (MI) based on frame loss measurements in short intervals t and marking each t as available or unavailable based on the frame loss measurements and an associated Frame Loss Ratio (FLR) threshold, wherein each t is a High Loss interval (HLI) when exceeding the FLR threshold; utilizing a sliding window of size n, n being an integer, to determine whether the packet service is available or unavailable; and utilizing an extension period after an end of the MI with the sliding window to ensure all t's in the MI are marked as available or unavailable.

An Ethernet Physical layer (PHY) device includes a PHY interface and PHY circuitry. The PHY interface is configured to connect to a physical link. The PHY circuitry is configured to generate layer-1 frames that carry data for transmission to a peer Ethernet PHY device, to insert among the layer-1 frames one or more management frames that are separate from, the layer-1 frames and that are configured to control a General-Purpose Input-Output (GPIO) port associated with the peer Ethernet PHY device, to transmit the layer-1 frames and the inserted management frames, via the PHY interface, to the peer Ethernet PHY device over the physical link, for controlling one or more operations of the GPIO port associated with the peer Ethernet PHY device, and to receive, via the PHY interface, one or more verifications acknowledging that the one or more management frames were received successfully at the peer Ethernet PHY device.

Embodiments of the disclosure pertain to activating in-band OAM based on a triggering event. Aspects of the embodiments are directed to receiving a first notification indicating a problem in a network; triggering a data-collection feature on one or more nodes in the network for subsequent packets that traverse the one or more nodes; evaluating a subsequent packet that includes data augmented by the data collection feature; and determining the problem in the network based on the data augmented to the subsequent packet.

A Slow Protocol packet processing method includes receiving, by a network device, a first Slow Protocol packet, determining, based on port information of a port of the network device receiving the first Slow Protocol packet, that a negotiation process is already completed between the network device and the transmit end device, querying, based on device information of the transmit end device carried in the first Slow Protocol packet, whether a device information base stored by the network device in the negotiation process includes the device information of the transmit end device, and identifying the first Slow Protocol packet as a valid packet in response to a result that the device information base includes the device information of the transmit end device.

In one embodiment, a service function forwarder (SFF) analyzes pre-service state and post-service state of an original packet to determine whether to initiate and perform service offload or service bypass. A service function forwarder (SFF) receives a particular packet having a service function chain (SFC) encapsulation of the original packet, the SFC encapsulation identifying a particular service function path (SFP) designating a particular service function (SF). The SFF extracts pre-service state of the original packet, typically adding it to the particular packet in an In-Situ Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (IOAM) data field (or alternatively storing locally) before sending the particular packet to the particular SF. The SFF receives the particular packet after the SF applies the particular network service. In response to analyzing pre-service state and post-service state by the SFF, the SFF may perform service bypass or service offload for subsequently received packets identifying the same particular SFP.