METHOD FOR CONTROLLING SWITCHES TO CAPTURE AND MONITOR NETWORK TRAFFIC

A packet forwarding network may include switches that forward network traffic between end hosts that are coupled to the forwarding network. An analysis network may be connected to the forwarding network. A controller may control the switches in the forwarding network to implement desired forwarding paths. The controller may configure the switches to form switch port groups. The controller may identify a port group that is connected to the analysis network. The controller may select a subset of the forwarded packets and may control selected switches to copy the subset to the identified port group. The controller may establish network tunnels between the switches and the port group. In this way, the controller may control the switches to perform efficient traffic monitoring regardless of the location on the forwarding network at which the traffic monitoring network is connected and without interfering with normal packet forwarding operations through the forwarding network.