Method and apparatus for preventing head of line blocking among ethernet switches

Ethernet switching means comprising:

• a plurality of ports, including at least one port communicating with an Ethernet network, wherein each of said ports contains one or more queues;
• management means receiving over the Ethernet network an Ethernet packet carrying congestion status information from an Ethernet switching means in the Ethernet network;
• switch fabric means for providing switching connections, the switch fabric means communicating between the plurality of ports and the management means such that communication between the plurality of ports and the management means passes through the switch fabric means;
• an address database associating addresses with ports or queues of Ethernet switching means in the Ethernet network;
• and
• address parse means communicating between the switch fabric means and the address database such that communication between the switch fabric means and the address database passes through the address parse means and such that communication between the management means and the address parse means passes through the switch fabric means.

A method for preventing head of line blocking in an Ethernet system, the method comprising:

• associating, in a database of an Ethernet switch, addresses with ports or queues of Ethernet switches in an Ethernet network;
• and
• receiving over the Ethernet network into a management module of the Ethernet switch an Ethernet packet carrying congestion status information from one of the Ethernet switches in the Ethernet network,
• the congestion status information passing from one of a plurality of ports of the Ethernet switch through a switch fabric of the Ethernet switch to the management module,
• the switch fabric communicating between the management module and an address parse module of the Ethernet switch such that communication between the management module and the address parse module passes through the switch fabric
• the address parse module communicating between the switch fabric and the database such that communication between the switch fabric and the database passes through the address parse module,
• wherein the plurality of ports includes at least one port communicating with the Ethernet network, each of said ports containing one or more queues.

An Ethernet switch comprising:

• a plurality of ports, including at least one port communicating with an Ethernet network, wherein each of said ports contains one or more queues;
• a management module identifying a congested port or queue of the Ethernet switch and generating an Ethernet packet carrying congestion status information about the Ethernet switch to be sent over the Ethernet network;
• a switch fabric for providing switching connections the switch fabric communicating between the plurality of ports and the management module such that communication between the plurality of ports and the management module passes through the switch fabric;
• an address database associating addresses with ports or queues of Ethernet switches in the Ethernet network;
• an address parse module communicating between the switch fabric and the address database such that communication between the switch fabric and the address database passes through the address parse module and such that communication between the management module and the address parse module passes through the switch fabric.

Ethernet switching means comprising:

• a plurality of ports, including at least one port communicating with an Ethernet network, wherein each of said ports contains one or more queues;
• management means identifying a congested port or queue of the Ethernet switching means and generating an Ethernet packet carrying congestion status information about the Ethernet switching means to be sent over the Ethernet network;
• switch fabric means for providing switching connections the switch fabric means communicating between the plurality of ports and the management means such that communication between the plurality of ports and the management means passes through the switch fabric means,
• an address database associating addresses with ports or queues of Ethernet switching means in the Ethernet network;
• and
• address parse means communicating between the switch fabric means and the address database such that communication between the switch fabric means and the address database passes through the address parse means and such that communication between the management means and the address parse means passes through the switch fabric means.

A method for preventing head of line blocking in an Ethernet system, the method comprising:

• associating, in a database of an Ethernet switching means, addresses with ports or queues of Ethernet switching means in an Ethernet network;
• identifying a congested port or queue of the Ethernet switching means;
• and
• generating in management means of the Ethernet switching means, an Ethernet packet carrying congestion status information about the Ethernet switching means to be sent over the Ethernet network
• the packet to pass from the management means through switch fabric means of the Ethernet switching means to one of a plurality of ports of the Ethernet switching means,
• the switch fabric means communicating between the management means and address parse means of the Ethernet switching means such that communication between the management means and the address parse means passes through the switch fabric means,
• the address parse means communicating between the switch fabric means and the database such that communication between the switch fabric means and the database passes through the address parse means,
• wherein the plurality of ports includes at least one port communicating with the Ethernet network, each of said ports containing one or more queues.