1. A method, comprising: receiving, at a node, a request to initiate a shadow joining operation to shadow join a field area router (FAR) of a computer network, wherein the FAR is a root node and the shadow joining operation triggers a fake joining sequence with the FAR in order to measure one or more joining metrics that are provided to a learning machine process executing on the node; preserving data structures and soft states of the node; initiating the shadow joining operation to shadow join the FAR, wherein shadow joining comprises preforming join operations without leaving currently joined-FARs; measuring the one or more joining metrics of the shadow joining operation; and reporting the one or more joining metrics.