Credit Loop Deadlock Detection and Recovery in Arbitrary Topology Networks

A method of communication, comprising the steps of:

• in a network of switches that are interconnected for packet traffic flows therethrough, identifying a credit loop that produces a deadlock, the credit loop comprising loop-participating switches having respective deadlock-suspected egress ports by:
• periodically transmitting respective credit loop control messages (CLCMs) from the loop-participating switches via the deadlock-suspected egress ports to respective next-hop switches, the CLCMs having switch port-unique identifiers (SPUIDs);
• in one of the next-hop switches determining that the SPUID of a current received CLCM is equal to the SPUID of a transmitted CLCM thereof;
• and
• thereafter selecting a master switch for resolving the deadlock.