US Patent 10924352 Data center network topology discovery

Example methods are provided a first node to perform data center network topology discovery in a data center network. One example method may comprise the first node receiving multiple probe packets that include a first probe packet and a second probe packet in response to a probing process initiated by a second node. The method may also comprise extracting, from the first probe packet, first metadata that is added by a first subset of multiple intermediate network devices and extracting, from the second probe packet, second metadata that is added by a second subset of the multiple intermediate network devices. The method may further comprise processing the first metadata and the second metadata to identify respective first forwarding path and second forwarding path from the second node to the first node.