This paper introduces X-Trace, a unified network tracing framework for that spans several protocol layers (as opposed to tcpdump, for example) and applications. The concept behind X-Trace debugging is essentially to carry X-trace meta-data in packets. Received meta-data at one node's layer will be forwarded to the next node at that layer and related packets (such as in a DNS response) will all carry meta-data so that they are effectively linked together in traces. Finally, a reporting infrastructure (with a website, etc.) is presented to ensure visibility of network trace data to all relevant parties.
This is a neat idea that could potentially be quite useful for today's large-scale distributed systems. That said, I'm not certain whether the packet overhead due to X-Trace is justified by its benefits. Some of the applications that are mentioned (tracing messages, ISP troubleshooting, etc.) make a lot of sense and this is definitely a concept worthy of additional investigation. The paper goes well with Paxson's study on packet dynamics and definitely belongs in the syllabus.
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