Network processor with external memory protection

A method, comprising:

• storing, in on-chip memory, packets in queues;
• and
• in response to determining that a source device is unresponsive to a congestion notification, reducing a size of one or more queues to prevent packets transferring from the on-chip memory to an external memory.

A non-transitory computer readable medium including computer program instructions which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus at least to:

• store, in on-chip memory, packets in queues;
• and
• in response to determining that a source device is unresponsive to a congestion notification, reducing a size of one or more queues to prevent packets transferring from the on-chip memory to an external memory.

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim wherein the computer program instructions, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus at least to:

• send the congestion notification to the source device by applying a bandwidth utilization of the external memory as an input parameter to a Random Early Discard (RED) profile.

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim wherein the computer program instructions, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus at least to:

• initiate the congestion notification to the source device based on a first threshold of the bandwidth utilization being exceeded;
• and
• initiate selecting queues to reduce in size based on a second threshold of the bandwidth utilization, which is higher than the first threshold, being exceeded.

The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim wherein the computer program instructions, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus at least to:

• reduce the size of the one or more queues in response to applying a Random Early Discard (RED) profile to preemptively select queues based on bandwidth utilization of the external memory.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a first memory configured to store packets in queues;
• and
• a processor configured to, in response to determining that a source device is unresponsive to a congestion notification, reduce a size of one or more queues to prevent packets transferring from the first memory to a second memory.