Load balancing method, apparatus, and system

A server configured to calculate end-to-end load balanced paths that performs load balancing to determine a plurality of load balanced paths within a data center network (DCN) to reduce congestion at downstream nodes, in a data center network, comprising:

• a memory storing executable instructions;
• a processor configured to execute the executable instructions to:
• obtain, via a communications interface, topology information of a plurality of nodes disposed at different layers in a data center network (DCN), wherein the topology information comprises an identifier of a network node in the data center network and a connection relationship between the network node and a neighboring node in the data center network;
• obtain a data flow path within the DCN;
• receiving loading or congestion information via a link layer discovery protocol (LLDP) for a plurality of nodes in the DCN;
• generate a plurality of load balancing paths based on the topology information;
• perform load balancing analysis for communications within the DCN based upon the loading of congestion information to determine the plurality of load balanced paths that considers node information for nodes disposed at the different layers within the DCN;
• and
• select, from the plurality of load balancing paths, a forwarding path corresponding to the data flow to improve load balancing efficiency in the DCN to reduce congestion for at least one downstream node at a layer beyond a next hop.

A load balancing system configured to determine a plurality of load balanced paths within a data center network (DCN) to reduce congestion at downstream nodes, comprising:

• a server in a data center network;
• and
• a controller in the data center network,
• wherein the server is configured to:
• obtain topology information of a data center network (DCN) of a plurality of nodes disposed at different layers, wherein the topology information comprises an identifier of a network node in the data center network and a connection relationship between the network node and a neighboring node in the data center network;
• obtain a data flow path within the DCN;
• receive loading or congestion information via a link layer discovery protocol (LLDP) for a plurality of nodes in the DCN;
• generate a plurality of load balancing paths based on the topology information;
• perform load balancing analysis for communications within the DCN to determine the plurality of load balanced paths that considers node information for nodes disposed at the different layers within the DCN;
• and
• select, from the plurality of load balancing paths to improve load balancing efficiency in the DCN, a forwarding path corresponding to the data flow to reduce congestion for at least one downstream node at a layer beyond a next hop;
• and
• wherein the controller is configured to:
• collect information about a network node in the data center network;
• generate topology information of the data center network based on a topology model parameter and the information about the network node, wherein the topology information comprises an identifier of the network node in the data center network and a connection relationship between the network node and a plurality of downstream nodes disposed at different layers in the data center network;
• and
• send the topology information to the server.