Distributed traffic quota measurement and enforcement
First Claim
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1. A traffic controller coupled to a plurality of switches distributed within a network and configured to:
- directly receive a measure of traffic from each of the plurality of switches, the measure of traffic being associated with each of a plurality of hosts connected to the switches;
compare the measured traffic associated with each host to one or more threshold values; and
send a traffic control signal to the switch whose corresponding host'"'"'s measured traffic satisfies the one or more threshold values,wherein the traffic controller is the only controller operable to directly send traffic control signals to all of the switches distributed within the network, and the traffic controller does not send data that is not traffic control signals to another device.
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Abstract
A network traffic controller includes components adapted to receive traffic from a multitude of switches and to compare the traffic data to one or more threshold values. The threshold values may represent usage quotas. If the traffic generated by a host is detected as exceeding such usage quota, a traffic control signal is sent to the switch connecting the host to the network. The control signal may instruct the switch to mark the associated host'"'"'s traffic as low priority, or rate limit the interface so as to limit the amount of traffic that is allowed onto the network, or block the traffic altogether.
57 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A traffic controller coupled to a plurality of switches distributed within a network and configured to:
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directly receive a measure of traffic from each of the plurality of switches, the measure of traffic being associated with each of a plurality of hosts connected to the switches; compare the measured traffic associated with each host to one or more threshold values; and send a traffic control signal to the switch whose corresponding host'"'"'s measured traffic satisfies the one or more threshold values, wherein the traffic controller is the only controller operable to directly send traffic control signals to all of the switches distributed within the network, and the traffic controller does not send data that is not traffic control signals to another device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 11, 13, 14)
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6. A method of controlling traffic by a traffic controller coupled to a plurality of switches distributed within a network, the method comprising:
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directly receiving a measure of traffic from each of the plurality of switches by the traffic controller, the measure of traffic being associated with each of a plurality of hosts; comparing the measured traffic associated with each host to one or more threshold values by the traffic controller; and sending a traffic control signal from the traffic controller to the switch whose corresponding host'"'"'s measured traffic satisfies the one or more threshold values, wherein the traffic controller is the only controller operable to directly send traffic control signals to all of the switches distributed within the network, and the traffic controller does not send data that is not traffic control signals to another device. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16)
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17. A network comprising:
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a plurality of switches distributed within the network; a plurality of hosts, each host corresponding to a different one of the switches; a traffic controller directly coupled to all of the switches distributed within the network and configured to directly receive a measure of traffic from each of the plurality of switches, the measure of traffic being associated with each of the hosts and directly send a traffic control signal to the switch whose corresponding host'"'"'s measured traffic satisfies the one or more threshold values, wherein the measure of traffic associated with each host is performed by a switch associated with that host, and wherein the traffic controller does not send data that is not a traffic control signal to another device. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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Specification