A system and computer implemented method for optimizing network topology in a network comprises a memory unit to store a set of program modules and a processor to execute the set of program modules. A connection detection module is configured to identify a set of network endpoints connected to a network host via Ethernet connections. Further, an input module identifies at least one datagram among the plurality of datagrams received from the network endpoints. The at least one datagram is received from at least one network interface among the plurality of network interfaces. The input module classifies the at least one network interface into at least one of a compute node and a storage node. An optimizer module optimizes the network host, to function with the at least one network interface in one of a first mode, a second mode, and a third mode.

A method of protection switching in a packet network based on signal/service degrade includes monitoring a packet network connection; detecting the packet network connection has a signal/service degrade including a condition where the packet network connection is operational, but experiencing errors below a threshold; and responsive to detection of the signal/service degrade one or more of notifying nodes in the packet network and performing a protection switch based on the signal/service degrade. The signal/service degrade is detected through one or more of i) determining a Frame Error Rate imputed from one or more of Bit Error Rate, frame events, and frame losses; ii) frame delay measurements; and iii) a combination thereof.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and a device for allocating a packet switching resource, which includes: receiving, by a management plane unit, a service transport request carrying service information, where the service information includes source node information, sink node information, quality of service QoS requirement information, and bandwidth requirement information; determining, by the management plane unit, at least one transport path according to the service information and a preset resource allocation policy, and generating a routing table entry/forwarding table entry according to the at least one transport path; and sending, by the management plane unit, the routing table entry/forwarding table entry to data plane units of packet switching devices of each transport path of the at least one transport path. According to the embodiments, transparent and controllable allocation of a network bandwidth resource is implemented, so that utilization efficiency of a network resource is improved.

According to an example, a method for bandwidth guarantee and work conservation includes determining virtual machine (VM) bandwidth guarantees assigned to VMs in a network including a source VM that communicates with destination VMs. The method further includes assigning minimum bandwidth guarantees to communications between the source VM with the destination VMs by dividing a VM bandwidth guarantee assigned to the source VM between the destination VMs based on active VM-to-VM communications between the source VM and the destination VMs. The method also includes allocating, by a processor, spare bandwidth capacity in the network to a communication between the source VM and a destination VM based on the assigned minimum bandwidth guarantees.

The present disclosure provides a structured, pipelined large time-space switch and method of operation resolving interconnect complexity. The time-space switch results in an interconnect complexity that does not grow as the spatial dimension is increased and results in a reduction of long high fan-out nets, a quicker layout, and improved clock speed. With respect to time-space switch fabric implementation, the present invention improves the maximum clock frequency of the switch fabric, and improves integrated circuit layout time by eliminating long high fan-out nets. Certain high-speed large switch fabrics may not be realizable without this implementation, and it significantly reduces implementation time (and cost). The present invention may include link encoding of switch frames by mapping 8B10B control characters into an 64B65B format (similar to Generic Framing Protocol-Transparent (GFP-T)), wrapping 32 65B encoded words with an 11-bit error correcting code, and scrambling the frame with a frame synchronous scrambler.

A method for balancing load among firewall security devices (FSDs) is provided. According to one embodiment, a switching device performs adaptive load balancing among cluster units of an HA cluster of firewall security devices. A load balancing (LB) function implemented by the switching device is configured based on information received from a network administrator. A LB table is maintained that forms associations between hash values output by the LB function and corresponding ports of the switching device to which the cluster units are coupled. Network traffic received by the switching device is directed to appropriate cluster units based on the LB function and the LB table. A traffic load on each of the cluster units is monitored. Responsive to a deviation from a predefined ideal traffic distribution, an attempt is made to improve performance of the HA cluster by dynamically adjusting the LB balancing table to address the deviation.

In accordance with one example embodiment, there is provided a system configured for virtual local area network (VLAN) blocking on a virtual port channel (vPC) member link to handle discrepant virtual network instance (VNI) to VLAN mappings. In other embodiments, the system can be configured for providing Virtual Switch Interface Discovery Protocol (VDP) and virtual switch enhancements to accommodate discrepant VNI to VLAN mappings. In another example embodiment, an apparatus is provided that includes a processor, and a memory coupled to the processor, where the apparatus is configured such that if a server is connected through a virtual port channel, a VDP is used to notify the server of different VNI to VLAN mappings. In another embodiment, the apparatus can extend a VDP Filter Info Field to carry a set of VLANs mapped to a VNI, keyed by leaf MAC addresses that serve as bridge identifiers.

Aspects of the present invention include a port extender environment using the port extenders to dynamically select a data path. In embodiments of the present invention, each port extender can communicate data traffic to another port extender or to a host receiver. The communication path is selected in the port extender using a hashing system.

A fabric manager includes: a processing unit having a service chain creation module configured to create a service chain by connecting some of a plurality of nodes via virtual links; wherein the some of the plurality of nodes represent respective network components of an auxiliary network configured to obtain packets from a traffic production network; and wherein the service chain is configured to control an order of the network components represented by the some of the plurality of nodes packets are to traverse.

A communication apparatus determines whether to stop data reception during interpretation of the data according to a situation.