Device and method for scalable traffic shaping with a time-indexed data structure

A network device, comprising:

• a network interface card,
• at least one processor,
• a memory;
• and
• a network interface driver comprising computer-readable instructions executing on the at least one processor configured to:
• receive packets at a packet layer of the network device from a plurality of applications executing on the network device;
• prevent one of the applications executing on the network device from sending additional packets to the packet layer for transmission until the application receives a transmission completion notification indicating a packet previously forwarded by the application to the packet layer of the network device has been transmitted;
• process, by a scheduling module, the received packets to determine a transmission time for each packet based on at least one rate limit policy;
• for each of the packets to be transmitted, store an identifier associated with the respective packet in a time-indexed data structure at a position in the time-indexed data structure associated with the transmission time determined for the packet;
• determine, by the scheduling module, that a time indexed in the time-indexed data structure has been reached, and in response, transmitting by the network interface card a packet associated with an identifier stored in the time-indexed data structure at a position associated with the reached time;
• and
• subsequent to the network interface card transmitting the packet, communicate a transmission completion notification back to the application executing on the network device from which the packet was received at the packet layer.