Adaptive load balancing between ECMP or LAG port group members
AssigneeForce 10 Networks, Inc.
InventorsKrishnamurthy Subramanian, Eddie Tan, Rajeev Manur
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A packet network device has multiple equal output paths for at least some traffic flows. The device adjusts load between the paths using a structure that has more entries than the number of equal output paths, with at least some of the output paths appearing as entries in the structure more than once. By adjusting the frequency and/or order of the entries, the device can effect changes in the portion of the traffic flows directed to each of the equal output paths. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
Claims18
A method of distributing packet data traffic among a plurality of outgoing packet links in a packet network device, the method comprising:
- for an N-member packet link group among which packet traffic is distributed, N>1, forming an interface structure containing more than N members;
- associating each member of the packet link group with one or more members of the interface structure;
- receiving statistics indicative of an outgoing traffic load on each member of the packet link group and manipulating the association between the packet link group members and the interface structure members based at least in part on the received statistics;
- for an incoming packet, using packet-related information to select a member of the interface structure;
- and
- selecting a member of the packet link group for outgoing transmission of the incoming packet, selection of the member comprising selecting the member of the packet link group currently associated with the selected member of the interface structure.
A packet network device comprising:
- a plurality of outgoing packet data ports;
- an interface structure having a plurality of members, each interface structure member associated with one of the packet data ports, the interface structure including at least two members associated with the same packet data port and at least two members associated with different packet data ports;
- a forwarding table including at least one entry pointing to the interface structure;
- a statistics receiving facility, the statistics receiving facility receiving statistics indicative of the outgoing traffic load at least for outgoing packet data ports that are members of the interface structure;
- an interface structure manipulation facility, the manipulation facility adjusting the associations between interface structure members and packet data ports based at least in part on the statistics received by the statistics receiving facility;
- and
- an outgoing port selector that, when an incoming packet triggers a forwarding table entry pointing to the interface structure, uses information related to the incoming packet to select a member of the current interface structure and a corresponding outgoing packet data port.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.