Method of detecting and monitoring fabric congestion
First Claim
1. A switch for use in a data storage network, comprising:
- a plurality of ports each comprising a receiving device for receiving data from a link connected to the port and a transmitting device for transmitting data onto another link connected to the port;
a plurality of control circuits each associated with one of the ports, wherein each of the control circuits collects data traffic statistics and port state information for the associated port;
memory for storing a congestion record for each of the ports; and
a congestion analysis module gathering at least a portion of the data traffic statistics and port state information for the ports, performing computations with the gathered port statistics and port state information to detect congestion at the ports, and updating the congestion records for the ports with detected congestion.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for detecting, monitoring, reporting, and managing congestion in a fabric at the port and fabric levels. The system includes multi-port switches in the fabric with port controllers that collect port traffic statistics. A congestion analysis module in the switch periodically gathers port statistics and processes the statistics to identify backpressure congestion, resource limited congestion, and over-subscription congestion at the ports. A port activity database is maintained at the switch with an entry for each port and contains counters for the types of congestion. The counters for ports that are identified as congested are incremented to reflect the detected congestion. The system includes a management platform that periodically requests copies of the port congestion data from the switches in the fabric. The switch data is aggregated to determine fabric congestion including the congestion level and type for each port and congestion sources.
414 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A switch for use in a data storage network, comprising:
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a plurality of ports each comprising a receiving device for receiving data from a link connected to the port and a transmitting device for transmitting data onto another link connected to the port;
a plurality of control circuits each associated with one of the ports, wherein each of the control circuits collects data traffic statistics and port state information for the associated port;
memory for storing a congestion record for each of the ports; and
a congestion analysis module gathering at least a portion of the data traffic statistics and port state information for the ports, performing computations with the gathered port statistics and port state information to detect congestion at the ports, and updating the congestion records for the ports with detected congestion. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of managing congestion in a data storage fabric having a set of switches with input/output (I/O) ports and links connecting the ports for transferring digital data through the fabric, comprising:
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receiving a first set of congestion data from the switches in the fabric, the first set comprising port-specific congestion data for the ports in the switches at a first time;
receiving a second set of congestion data from the switches in the fabric, the second set comprising port-specific congestion data for the ports in the switches at a second time; and
processing the first set and the second set of congestion data to determine a level of congestion at the ports. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for managing congestion in a fabric having a plurality of multi-port switches, comprising:
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at each switch in the fabric, monitoring bi-directional traffic pattern data for each switch port for indications of congestion and when congestion is indicated for one of the switch ports, updating a congestion record for the congested port based on the monitored traffic pattern data;
operating the switches to transfer at least portions of the congestion records from each of the switches to a network management platform; and
at the network management platform, processing the transferred portions of the congestion records to determine a congestion status for the fabric. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification