Traffic management in a network device

A network device, comprising:

• a queue manager operable to maintain queues of packets;
• a port;
• a controller coupled to the queue manager and the port;
• a first memory storing nodes of a scheduler for the queues that schedules transmission of the packets to the port;
• and
• an accelerator circuit including a second memory, the accelerator circuit coupled to the controller and the first memory and operable to:
• load, for a traverse operation in response to a command from the controller, the second memory with data from each of multiple nodes of the nodes successively over multiple iterations;
• update, during the traverse operation for at least one of the multiple iterations, the second memory;
• and
• store, during the traverse operation, updated data from the second memory to at least one of the multiple nodes in the first memory.

A method of traffic management in a network device, comprising:

• storing, in queues, packets received by the network device;
• storing, in a first memory, nodes of a scheduler to select for the queues that schedules transmission of the packets to a port of the network device;
• and
• updating, by an accelerator circuit in response to a command from a controller, the scheduler by loading, for a traverse operation, fields of a data structure with data from each of multiple nodes of the nodes successively over multiple iterations, updating, during the traverse operation for at least one of the multiple iterations, the fields of the data structure, and storing, during the traverse operation, updated data to at least one of the multiple nodes in the first memory.