Inter-device policing on network interface devices in LAG configuration

A system, comprising:

• a master network interface device comprising:
• a master network interface configured to:
• receive a configuration setting identifying the master network interface device as the master network interface device for a link aggregation group, the link aggregation group including multiple links, with each of the multiple links coupling two end point devices and the multiple links acting as single logical connection between the two end point devices,
• receive, via a first active link of the link aggregation group, a first traffic flow associated with a service level for a particular customer, and
• receive, from a non-master network interface device via an inter-chassis link, an indication of a second traffic flow, for the same service level and particular customer, received at the non-master network interface device and traversing a second active link of the link aggregation group,
• a processor configured to apply collective rate limiting criteria to the first traffic flow and the second traffic flow, wherein the collective rate limiting criteria enforces a traffic rate for the service level collectively over the first active link and the second active link of the single logical connection, wherein, when applying the collective rate limiting criteria, the processor is further configured to:
• apply an arbitration scheme to allocate a first group of policer tokens for the first traffic flow, received by the master network interface device, and a second group of policer tokens, received at the non-master network interface device, for the second traffic flow, wherein the first group of policer tokens and the second group of policer tokens are allocated from a single token bucket associated with the master network interface device;
• and
• the non-master network interface device including a non-master network interface configured to:
• receive, via the second active link of the link aggregation group, the second traffic flow associated with the service level, and
• send, to the master network interface device, the indication of a second traffic flow.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

• receive a configuration setting identifying a network interface device, of multiple network interface devices, as a master network interface device for a link aggregation group, the link aggregation group including multiple links, with each of the multiple links coupling two end point devices and the multiple links acting as single logical connection between the two end point devices;
• receive, via a first active link of a link aggregation group, a first packet flow associated with a particular customer;
• receive, from a non-master network interface device via an inter-chassis link, an indication of a second packet flow, associated with the particular customer, received at the non-master network interface device and traversing a second active link of the link aggregation group;
• apply collective rate limiting criteria to the first packet flow associated with the particular customer and to the second packet flow associated with the particular customer, wherein the collective rate limiting criteria enforces a traffic rate of a service level agreement for the particular customer collectively over the first active link and the second active link of the single logical connection, and wherein, when applying the collective rate limiting criteria, the instructions further cause the at least one processor to:
• apply an arbitration scheme to allocate a first group of policer tokens for the first packet flow and a second group of policer tokens for the second packet flow, wherein the first group of policer tokens and the second group of policer tokens are allocated from a token bucket associated with the master network interface device;
• forward, via the first active link, at least some of the first packet flow based on the collective rate limiting criteria applied to the first packet flow;
• and
• send, to the non-master network interface device via the inter-chassis link, an indication of the collective rate limiting criteria applied to the second packet flow.