LAYER-3 FLOW CONTROL INFORMATION ROUTING SYSTEM

• US 20160226773A1
• Filed: 02/26/2016
• Published: 08/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Sundaram, Shivakumar, Subramanian, Ramesh Balaji
• Granted Patent: US 10,341,224 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/12 Shortest path evaluation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/24 Multipath
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/245 Link aggregation, e.g. trunking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/38 Flow based routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/7453 using hashing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/18 End to end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/30 Peripheral units, e.g. input or output ports

Abstract

A flow control information routing system includes a receiver node device coupled to a sender node device by intermediate node devices that receive data traffic directed downstream, transmit the data traffic downstream, and provide flow control information upstream that is based on the data traffic transmitted downstream. The sender node device may perform a first layer 3 routing decision to direct a traffic flow to the receiver node device along a first traffic flow path that includes first intermediate node device(s). The sender node device may then receive flow control information provided by the first intermediate node device(s) and, in response, perform a second layer 3 routing decision using the flow control information in order to direct the traffic flow to the receiver node device along a second traffic flow path that includes second intermediate node device(s) and that does not include the first intermediate node device(s).

Claims

1. A flow control information routing system, comprising:

a receiver node device;

a plurality of intermediate node devices that are coupled to the receiver node device and that are configured to;

receive at least one traffic flow that is directed downstream;

transmit the at least one traffic flow downstream; and

provide flow control information upstream that is based on the at least one traffic flow transmitted downstream; and

a sender node device that is coupled to the receiver node device through the plurality of intermediate node devices, wherein the sender node device is configured to;

perform a first layer 3 routing decision to direct a first traffic flow to the receiver node device along a first traffic flow path that includes at least one first intermediate node device of the plurality of intermediate node devices;

receive flow control information that is provided by the at least one first intermediate node device; and

perform a second layer 3 routing decision using the flow control information from the at least one first intermediate node device in order to direct the first traffic flow to the receiver node device along a second traffic flow path that includes at least one second intermediate node device of the plurality of intermediate node devices and that does not include the at least one first intermediate node device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first layer 3 routing decision and the second layer 3 routing decision are Equal Cost Multi-Path (ECMP) routing decisions.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first layer 3 routing decision is based on at least one first cost assigned to the at least one first intermediate node device, and wherein the at least one first cost assigned to the at least one first intermediate node device is modified based on the flow control information to at least one second cost assigned to the at least one first intermediate node device that is greater than a third cost assigned to the at least one second intermediate node device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the flow control information is provided directly from the at least one first intermediate node device to the sender node device.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a controller device coupled to each of the receiver node device, the plurality of intermediate node devices, and the sender node device, wherein the controller device is configured to;

receive the flow control information from the at least one first intermediate node device; and

provide the flow control information from the at least one first intermediate node device to the sender node device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the flow control information includes at least one pause frame.

7. An Information Handling System (IHS), comprising:

a communication system;

a non-transitory memory system; and

a processing system that is coupled to the communication system and the non-transitory memory system, wherein the processing system is configured to read instructions from the non-transitory memory system to provide a routing engine that is configured to;

perform a first layer 3 routing decision to direct a first traffic flow through the communication system to a receiver node device along a first traffic flow path that includes at least one first intermediate node device;

receive flow control information through the communication system that is provided by the at least one first intermediate node device; and

perform a second layer 3 routing decision using the flow control information from the at least one first intermediate node device in order to direct the first traffic flow through the communication system to the receiver node device along a second traffic flow path that includes at least one second intermediate node device and that does not include the at least one first intermediate node device.

8. The IHS of claim 7, wherein the first layer 3 routing decision and the second layer 3 routing decision are Equal Cost Multi-Path (ECMP) routing decisions.

9. The IHS of claim 7, wherein the first layer 3 routing decision is based on at least one first cost assigned to the at least one first intermediate node device, and wherein the at least one first cost assigned to the at least one first intermediate node device is modified based on the flow control information to at least one second cost assigned to the at least one first intermediate node device that is greater than a third cost assigned to the at least one second intermediate node device.

10. The IHS of claim 7, wherein the flow control information is received directly from the at least one first intermediate node device.

11. The IHS of claim 7, wherein the flow control information provided by the at least one first intermediate node device is received from a controller device.

12. The IHS of claim 7, wherein the flow control information includes at least one pause frame.

13. The IHS of claim 12, wherein the flow control information includes a plurality of pause frames received over at least one time period.

14. A method for routing traffic using flow control information, comprising:

performing, by a sender node device, a first layer 3 routing decision to direct first traffic flow to a receiver node device along a first traffic flow path that includes at least one first intermediate node device;

receiving, by the sender node device from the at least one intermediate node device, flow control information; and

performing, by the sender node device, a second layer 3 routing decision using the flow control information from the at least one first intermediate node device in order to direct the first traffic flow to the receiver node device along a second traffic flow path that includes at least one second intermediate node device and that does not include the at least one first intermediate node device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first layer 3 routing decision and the second layer 3 routing decision are Equal Cost Multi-Path (ECMP) routing decisions.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the first layer 3 routing decision is based on at least one first cost assigned to the at least one first intermediate node device, and wherein the at least one first cost assigned to the at least one first intermediate node device is modified based on the flow control information to at least one second cost assigned to the at least one first intermediate node device that is greater than a third cost assigned to the at least one second intermediate node device.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the flow control information is received directly from the at least one first intermediate node device.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving, by a controller device, the flow control information from the at least one first intermediate node device; and

providing, by the controller device to the sender node device, the flow control information from the at least one first intermediate node device.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the flow control information includes at least one pause frame.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the flow control information includes a plurality of pause frames received over at least one time period.