Hierarchical network traffic scheduling using dynamic node weighting

A network device comprising:

• a network interface that provides a maximum bandwidth;
• a plurality of queues that store one or more portions corresponding to one or more network packets;
• and
• a control unit executed by one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
• store data defining a plurality of nodes arranged in a hierarchical ordering, wherein the plurality of nodes includes at least a root node, the root node representing a physical interface of the network device to send and receive packets for one or more services, and a plurality of intermediate nodes each representing a logical interface associated with one or more subscribers of at least one of the one or more services, wherein each of the plurality of nodes represents a packet scheduler that schedules packets outbound via the physical interface;
• group queues of a plurality of queues that are children of the intermediate nodes to form virtual subscribers, each of the virtual subscribers associated with one or more queues of the plurality of queues, wherein the queues enqueue packets for transmittal by the network device via the physical interface;
• associate a first virtual subscriber and a second virtual subscriber of the virtual subscribers with a shared intermediate node of the plurality of intermediate nodes;
• compute a weight for the shared intermediate node based on a number of virtual subscribers associated with the shared intermediate node and the respective weights of the first virtual subscriber and the second virtual subscriber associated with the shared intermediate node;
• compute, based on the computed weight for the shared intermediate node, an amount of bandwidth to be allocated to each of the queues associated with the first virtual subscriber and the second virtual subscriber;
• allocate the computed amount of bandwidth to the queues associated with the first virtual subscriber and the second virtual subscriber that are associated with the shared intermediate node;
• and
• schedule packets for transmittal from the queues via the physical interface in accordance with the allocated bandwidth.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions, that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

• store data defining a plurality of nodes arranged in a hierarchical ordering, wherein the plurality of nodes includes at least a root node, the root node representing a physical interface of the network device to send and receive packets for one or more services, and a plurality of intermediate nodes each representing a logical interface associated with one or more subscribers of at least one of the one or more services, wherein each of the plurality of nodes represents a packet scheduler that schedules packets outbound via the physical interface;
• group queues of a plurality of queues that are children of the intermediate nodes to form virtual subscribers, each of the virtual subscribers associated with one or more queues of the plurality of queues, wherein the queues enqueue packets for transmittal by the network device via the physical interface;
• associate a first virtual subscriber and a second virtual subscriber of the virtual subscriber with a shared intermediate node of the plurality of intermediate nodes;
• compute a weight for the shared intermediate node based on a number of virtual subscribers associated with the shared intermediate node and the respective weights of the first virtual subscriber and the second virtual subscriber associated with the shared intermediate node;
• compute, based on the computed weight for the shared intermediate node, an amount of bandwidth to be allocated to each of the queues associated with the first virtual subscriber and the second virtual subscriber;
• allocate the computed amount of bandwidth to the queues associated with the first virtual subscriber and the second virtual subscriber that are associated with the shared intermediate node;
• and
• schedule packets for transmittal from the queues via the physical interface in accordance with the allocated bandwidth.