System and method to control bandwidth of classes of network traffic using bandwidth limits and reservations

A system for bandwidth management, comprising:

• at least one processor configured to perform operations for processor-implemented modules including:
• a bandwidth (BW) manager module configured to manage bandwidth of a collection of flows by traffic classes using bandwidth limits and reservations assigned to the traffic classes, the traffic classes arranged in a hierarchical bandwidth tree (HBT), a traffic class at the highest level of the HBT represents a universal traffic class, the traffic classes at the lowest level of the HBT represent leaf traffic subclasses, each of the flows representing an end-to-end connection between two hosts;
• and
• a window manager (WM) module configured to manage bandwidth for individual flows in the collection of flows using a sliding window protocol to control the rate at which a first host transmits data packets to a second host, wherein the WM module is configured to send bandwidth requests, directly or indirectly, to the BW manager module and receive BW responses, directly or indirectly, from the BW manager module.

A bandwidth management system, comprising:

• at least one processor configured to perform operations for processor-implemented modules including:
• a quality of service (QOS) manager module configured to manage the bandwidth for a collection of flows associated with traffic classes based on application priority classifications of the flows associated with the traffic classes and generate allocated flow shares for the flows associated with the traffic classes;
• a window manager (WM) module configured to manage bandwidth for individual flows in the collection of flows using a sliding window protocol to control the rate at which a first host transmits data packets to a second host;
• and
• wherein the WM module is configured to send bandwidth requests to the QOS manager module and receive bandwidth responses from the QOS manager module for flows from the collection flows associated with the traffic classes, wherein the bandwidth requests are based on an estimated rate the second host is receiving the data packets from the bandwidth management system, wherein the bandwidth responses are based on the allocated flow shares and a round trip time between the first host and the bandwidth management system.