The present invention relates to a method of managing congestion in a multi-path network, the network having a plurality of network elements arranged in a plurality of switch stages and a plurality of network links interconnecting the network elements, the method comprising the steps of detecting congestion on a network link, the congested network link interconnecting the output port of a first network element with a first input port of a second network element in a subsequent switch stage; identifying an uncongested network link connected to a second input port of said second network element; and directing future data packets on a route across the multi-path network which includes the identified uncongested network link. Also provided is a multi-path network and an Ethernet bridge or router incorporating such a multi-path network.

A method for interrupting a packet storm in a server is implemented by a baseboard management controller (BMC) included in the server and includes the steps of: assigning a setting value included in firmware of the BMC to a first value so as to enable receipt of specific packets from a network, the specific packets being transmitted using a specific routing scheme; determining whether a packet storm has occurred according to a number of the specific packets that are received; and assigning the setting value to a second value so as to disable receipt of the specific packets when it is determined that the packet storm has occurred.

An MC-LAG system may operate to monitor load conditions existing in two network switches, and to compute a load index value based on detected load conditions. If a computed load index value for a first switch is determined to exceed a predetermined threshold, an overloaded switch may predictively cause traffic to be routed to a second switch prior to rebooting of the first switch. Load index values may be computed based upon factors including excessive inter-switch link (“ISL”) flapping, excessive MAC flush or MAC move operations in a switch, excessive processing resource utilization in a switch.

A device is described. The device may include a network port to connect to a network. The device may include a first controller configured to send and receive a first communication across the network using the network port. The device may include storage for a controller record for the controller may store a congestion score, a congestion timestamp, and an uncongested timestamp. The device may also include storage for a device-wide record including at least a second congestion score and a second congestion timestamp for the first controller and a third congestion score and a third congestion timestamp for a second controller. The device-wide record may be based at least in part on the controller record. A throttle may limit a second communication of a second controller based at least in part on the device-wide record.

Disclosed is a time-division multiplexing (TDM) scheduler capable of determining a service order for serving N packet transmission requesters. The TDM scheduler includes: N current count value generators configured to serve the N packet transmission requesters respectively, and generate N current count values according to parameters of the N packet transmission requesters, a previous scheduling result generated by the EDD scheduler previously, and a predetermined counting rule; and an earliest due date (EDD) scheduler configured to generate a current scheduling result for determining the service order according to the N current count values and a predetermined urgency decision rule, wherein an extremum of the N current count values relates to one of the N packet transmission requesters, and the EDD scheduler selects this requester as the one to be served preferentially.

A review and retry mechanism ensures a port channel can be configured to provide and maintain a minimum data speed. A timer-based review sequence reviews the constituent interfaces of a port channel to determine if a minimum speed requirement is met. If the minimum speed cannot be fulfilled, the port-channel member interfaces are un-programmed and removed from the port-channel, rendering the port-channel functionally inactive, thereby preventing network traffic loss. A timer-based retry sequence attempts to program the constituent interfaces. The minimum speed requirement of the interfaces is checked in the next review cycle. If the minimum speed requirement is met, then the review and retry mechanism halts and the port channel continues to remain active; otherwise, the interfaces are un-programmed and the process repeats.

Systems and methods in a node in an Ethernet network include, responsive to enabling burst monitoring between the node and a peer node in the Ethernet network, obtaining rate and burst size information from the peer node; configuring a counter at a traffic disaggregation point based on the rate and the burst size information, wherein the counter is based on a dual token bucket that is used to count out-of-profile frames in excess of a Committed Information Rate (CIR); and detecting a burst based on the out-of-profile frames during a monitored time interval.

Embodiments herein facilitate the modification of data traffic load balancing on information handling systems affected by a networking information handling system having the status of one or more of its uplinks changed from operable to inoperable or from inoperable to operable. In one or more embodiments, an agent operating on or in conjunction with a networking information handling system (e.g., a TOR) detects a change in one its links. The agent sends a message to information handling system(s) (e.g., hosts) that are communicatively coupled to the TOR regarding the change in status. Based upon the TOR's message, a host may adjust its traffic load balancing to compensate for the status change. Embodiments, therefore, help efficiently utilize network pathways.

This application discloses a method for forwarding a packet in a data center network. A first device obtains an original packet, and adds a first source label to the original packet to obtain a first packet. The first source label includes a forwarding type, an indication field, and an interface sequence. The forwarding type indicates that the first packet supports source label forwarding, the interface sequence indicates a first source label forwarding path of the original packet, and the indication field indicates information that is about an outbound interface and that should be read from the interface sequence. The first device sends the first packet to a next-hop switch through the outbound interface corresponding to the first source label forwarding path. The next-hop switch receives the first packet, and forwards the first packet based on the first source label.

Some embodiments of the invention provide a network forwarding element that can be dynamically reconfigured to adjust its data message processing to stay within a desired operating temperature or power consumption range. In some embodiments, the network forwarding element includes (1) a data-plane forwarding circuit (“data plane”) to process data tuples associated with data messages received by the IC, and (2) a control-plane circuit (“control plane”) for configuring the data plane forwarding circuit. The data plane includes several data processing stages to process the data tuples. The data plane also includes an idle-signal injecting circuit that receives from the control plane configuration data that the control plane generates based on the IC's temperature. Based on the received configuration data, the idle-signal injecting circuit generates idle control signals for the data processing stages. Each stage that receives an idle control signal enters an idle state during which the majority of the components of that stage do not perform any operations, which reduces the power consumed and temperature generated by that stage during its idle state.