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.

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.

The disclosed systems and methods provide methods and systems for providing power throttling adapted for high performance network switches. A method includes determining, for each of a plurality of measurement periods within a thermal average period, an energy usage estimate for a packet processing block configured to process ingress packets at a power gated clock rate. The method includes determining, for each of the plurality of measurement periods, a target clock rate for the packet processing block based on the determined energy usage estimates to meet a target energy value that is averaged for the thermal average period. The method includes adjusting, for each of the plurality of measurement periods, the power gated clock rate towards the target clock rate, wherein the adjusting causes the packet processing block to process the ingress packets at the adjusted power gated clock rate.

The disclosed systems and methods provide methods and systems for providing power throttling adapted for high performance network switches. A method includes determining, for each of a plurality of measurement periods within a thermal average period, an energy usage estimate for a packet processing block configured to process ingress packets at a power gated clock rate. The method includes determining, for each of the plurality of measurement periods, a target clock rate for the packet processing block based on the determined energy usage estimates to meet a target energy value that is averaged for the thermal average period. The method includes adjusting, for each of the plurality of measurement periods, the power gated clock rate towards the target clock rate, wherein the adjusting causes the packet processing block to process the ingress packets at the adjusted power gated clock rate.

The subject disclosure relates to systems and methods for improving multicast traffic flows in a computer network. In some aspects, a method of the technology includes steps for receiving multicast traffic statistics from each of a plurality of switches in a computer network, aggregating the multicast traffic statistics into a time-series database, and identifying a low-performing multicast flow based on the time-series database. In some aspects, the method can include steps for automatically reconfiguring the computer network to improve the low-performing multicast flow. Systems and machine readable media are also provided.

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.

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.

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.