Power management in a network of interconnected switches

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016197784-A1
Application number	US-201514792166-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 6, 2015
Priority date	Jan 5, 2015
Publication date	Jul 7, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A switch can reduce power consumption in a switch network by disabling under-utilized links between switches. The switch can include one or more line cards each operable to transmit and receive packets over a respective link to a remote switch. The switch can also comprise a control mechanism operable to place under-utilized links in standby mode whenever possible to conserve power. During operation, the switch can receive a standby request for placing a first link to a neighboring switch in a standby mode, and determines whether one or more eligible links to the neighboring switch can accommodate traffic from the first link. If the eligible links are able to accommodate traffic from the first link, and if the local switch and the neighboring switch agree to place the first link in standby mode, the local switch proceeds to place the first link in standby mode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A switch, comprising:
one or more line cards; and power control circuitry coupled to the one or more line cards and configured to:
identify a first standby request for placing a first link in a standby mode;
determine whether at least one eligible link can accommodate traffic from the first link; and
place a local line card corresponding to the first link in standby mode in response to the at least one eligible link being able to accommodate traffic from the first link.

2 . The switch of claim 1 , wherein the eligible link does not have a corresponding pending standby request.

3 . The switch of claim 1 , wherein the power control circuitry is further configured to reject the first standby request responsive to determining that there are insufficient number of eligible links to accommodate traffic from the first link.

4 . The switch of claim 1 , wherein the first standby request is originated from the local line card, and wherein the power control circuitry is further configured to:
generate a second standby request for placing the first link in standby mode, the second standby request being destined to a neighboring switch corresponding to the first link; and reject the first standby request in response to absence of acknowledgement to the second standby request within a timeout period.

5 . The switch of claim 1 , wherein the power control circuitry is further configured to:
identify another pending standby request for a second link; determine that there are insufficient number of eligible links to accommodate traffic from the first link and the second link; and reject the first standby request.

6 . The switch of claim 1 , wherein the first standby request is originated from a neighboring switch, and wherein the power control circuitry is further configured to:
determine whether there exists a pending local standby request for the first link; and responsive to determining that a pending local standby request exists, defer processing the first standby request.

7 . The switch of claim 1 , wherein the power control circuitry is further configured to:
determine whether a priority associated with the at least one eligible link is sufficiently high to accommodate traffic from the first link; and reject the first standby request responsive to determining that the priority associated with the at least one eligible link is not sufficiently high.

8 . The switch of claim 1 , wherein the power control circuitry is further configured to:
responsive to placing the first link in standby mode, determine whether the first link is a member of a trunk; and responsive to determining that the first link is a member of the trunk, update trunk state information to remove the first link from the trunk.

9 . The switch of claim 1 , wherein the power control circuitry is further configured to:
identify a link activate request; select, from a set of eligible links in standby mode, a link with a lowest priority that satisfies a priority requirement associated with the link activate request; and activate the selected link.

10 . A method, comprising:
identifying a first standby request for placing a first link in a standby mode; determining whether at least one eligible link can accommodate traffic from the first link; and placing a local line card corresponding to the first link in standby mode in response to the at least one eligible link being able to accommodate traffic from the first link.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the eligible link does not have a corresponding pending standby request.

12 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising rejecting the first standby request responsive to determining that there are insufficient number of eligible links to accommodate traffic from the first link.

13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the first standby request is originated from the local line card, and wherein the method further comprises:
generating a second standby request for placing the first link in standby mode, the second standby request being destined to a neighboring switch corresponding to the first link; and rejecting the first standby request in response to absence of acknowledgement to the second standby request within a timeout period.

14 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
identifying another pending standby request for a second link; determining that there are insufficient number of eligible links to accommodate traffic from the first link and the second link; and rejecting the first standby request.

15 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the first standby request is originated from a neighboring switch, and wherein the method further comprises:
determining whether there exists a pending local standby request for the first link; and responsive to determining that a pending local standby request exists, deferring processing the first standby request.

16 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining whether a priority associated with the at least one eligible link is sufficiently high to accommodate traffic from the first link; and rejecting the first standby request responsive to determining that the priority associated with the at least one eligible link is not sufficiently high.

17 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
responsive to placing the first link in standby mode, determining whether the first link is a member of a trunk; and responsive to determining that the first link is a member of the trunk, updating trunk state information to remove the first link from the trunk.

18 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
identifying a link activate request; selecting, from a set of eligible links in standby mode, a link with a lowest priority that satisfies a priority requirement associated with the link activate request; and activating the selected link.

19 . A computer system, comprising:
a processor; a storage device coupled to the processor and storing instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform a method, the method comprising: identifying a first standby request for placing a first link in a standby mode; determining whether at least one eligible link can accommodate traffic from the first link; and
placing a local line card corresponding to the first link in standby mode in response to the at least one eligible link being able to accommodate traffic from the first link.

20 . The computer system of claim 19 , wherein the method further comprises rejecting the first standby request responsive to determining that there are insufficient number of eligible links to accommodate traffic from the first link.

Assignees

• Brocade Comm Systems Inc

Inventors

• Gandhi Ram Kumar
• Chikkamath Shivalingayya
• Raman Mythilikanth

Classifications

• H04L12/12

  Arrangements for remote connection or disconnection of substations or of equipment thereof · CPC title

• H04L41/0833 Primary

  for reduction of network energy consumption · CPC title

• H04L43/062

  related to network traffic · CPC title

• H04L45/245

  Link aggregation, e.g. trunking · CPC title

• Y02D30/50

  in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate · CPC title