A server includes a normal NIC as an NIC having an expansion function, and a virtual patch panel having a transfer function of transferring packets between the normal NIC and an accelerator utilization type NIC, which is implemented by software. The server is configured such that, when a packet is transferred between the normal NIC and the accelerator utilization type NIC via the virtual patch panel, the target function transfers the packet to and from the APLs.

A time-sensitive networking communication method and an apparatus, where the method may include: determining, by an application function network element, a virtual switching node identifier corresponding to a port identifier of a user plane function network element; determining a virtual port identifier of a virtual switching node identified by the virtual switching node identifier; obtaining attribute information of the virtual switching node, where the attribute information includes attribute information of a port identified by the port identifier of the user plane function network element and attribute information of a virtual port identified by the virtual port identifier; and sending the attribute information of the virtual switching node to a time-sensitive network, where the attribute information of the virtual switching node is used to request the time-sensitive network to register or update the virtual switching node based on the attribute information of the virtual switching node.

The disclosure provides an approach for decentralizing control plane operations in a network environment that includes transport nodes configured to implement a logical overlay network. A method includes transmitting a global list of transport nodes to each of the plurality of transport nodes from a management plane, the global list including an ordered list of the plurality of transport nodes. The method also includes transmitting a neighbor index value to each of the plurality of transport nodes, where the transport nodes each compute a corresponding list of neighbor transport nodes based on the neighbor index value and the global list of transport nodes. The method also includes, based on determining an update to a state of the logical overlay network has occurred by a first transport node, transmitting an update message from the first transport node to each transport node in the first transport node's list of neighbor transport nodes.

Systems and methods for data scheduling and queuing. A data network node is configured to transmit data in a store-and-forward fashion. The data network node includes a delay and validity determination module that determines and assigns a validity value to each data packet incoming via an input port based on a time stamp of the data packet, a current time value, an expected delay on a route of the data packet to its destination, and a packet urgency value. A scheduling module and a queue managing module execute their functions based on the validity value assigned to a data packet in a transmission buffer.

Methods and systems are disclosed. The method comprises: designating a first plurality of links from a first stack segment to a second stack segment as a first etherchannel link; designating a second plurality of links from the first stack segment to a third stack segment as a second etherchannel link, where the second stack segment and the third stack segment are in communication with a fourth stack segment; designating the first etherchannel link and the second etherchannel link as members of a hierarchical etherchannel link; and sending a packet from the first stack segment to the fourth stack segment using the hierarchical etherchannel link.

Distributed machine learning systems and other distributed computing systems are improved by compute logic embedded in extension modules coupled directly to network switches. The compute logic performs collective actions, such as reduction operations, on gradients or other compute data processed by the nodes of the system. The reduction operations may include, for instance, summation, averaging, bitwise operations, and so forth. In this manner, the extension modules may take over some or all of the processing of the distributed system during the collective phase. An inline version of the module sits between a switch and the network. Data units carrying compute data are intercepted and processed using the compute logic, while other data units pass through the module transparently to or from the switch. Multiple modules may be connected to the switch, each coupled to a different group of nodes, and sharing intermediate results. A sidecar version is also described.

A network management apparatus includes a first controller, a memory, and a second controller. The first controller configured to operate a first virtual machine including a first container monitoring the mirror packet and a virtual switch transferring the mirror packet. The memory configured to store a destination information of the mirror packet and an address corresponding to the first container in association with each other. The second controller configured to cause the virtual switch to perform an operation to transmit the address corresponding to the first container from the virtual switch and cause the virtual machine to perform an operation to transfer the mirror packet to the first container from the first virtual machine, using the address corresponding to the first container when the virtual machine receives the mirror packet from the virtual switch and requests address resolution for the destination information of the mirror packet.

Technologies for switching network traffic include a network switch. The network switch includes one or more processors and communication circuitry coupled to the one or more processors. The communication circuitry is capable of switching network traffic of multiple link layer protocols. Additionally, the network switch includes one or more memory devices storing instructions that, when executed, cause the network switch to receive, with the communication circuitry through an optical connection, network traffic to be forwarded, and determine a link layer protocol of the received network traffic. The instructions additionally cause the network switch to forward the network traffic as a function of the determined link layer protocol. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

Technologies for switching network traffic include a network switch. The network switch includes one or more processors and communication circuitry coupled to the one or more processors. The communication circuitry is capable of switching network traffic of multiple link layer protocols. Additionally, the network switch includes one or more memory devices storing instructions that, when executed, cause the network switch to receive, with the communication circuitry through an optical connection, network traffic to be forwarded, and determine a link layer protocol of the received network traffic. The instructions additionally cause the network switch to forward the network traffic as a function of the determined link layer protocol. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

A switch in a slice-based network can be used to enforce quality of service (“QoS”). Agents can run in the switches, such as in the core of each switch. The switches can sort ingress packets into slice-specific ingress queues in a slice-based pool. The slices can have different QoS prioritizations. A switch-wide policing algorithm can move the slice-specific packets to egress interfaces. Then, one or more user-defined egress policing algorithms can prioritize which packets are sent out into the network first based on slice classifications.