System and method for managing out of order packets in a network environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9246837-B2
Application number	US-201414260387-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 24, 2014
Priority date	Dec 19, 2009
Publication date	Jan 26, 2016
Grant date	Jan 26, 2016

Abstract

A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes creating at a network element an entry designating an out of order (“OOO”) sequence number range associated with a flow and receiving at the network element a packet associated with the flow, wherein the packet corresponds to a first sequence number range, wherein the first sequence number range falls within the OOO sequence number range designated in the entry. The method may further include updating the entry to remove sequence numbers comprising the first sequence number range from the OOO sequence number range and forwarding the packet without awaiting receipt of any other packets associated with the flow.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
creating by a network element an entry comprising an out of order (“OOO”) sequence number range associated with a flow, wherein the OOO sequence number range is indicated by a request packet received at the network element;
receiving by the network element a packet associated with the flow, wherein the packet corresponds to a first sequence number range, wherein the first sequence number range falls within the OOO sequence number range designated in the entry;
updating the entry to remove sequence numbers comprising the first sequence number range from the OOO sequence number range; and
forwarding the packet without awaiting receipt of any other packets associated with the flow;
wherein the updating and forwarding are performed by the network element.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving at the network element a request packet associated with the flow.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an additional packet associated with the flow, wherein the additional packet corresponds to a second sequence number range; and
determining whether the OOO sequence number range designated in the entry includes sequence numbers comprising the second sequence number range.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
classifying the additional packet as a retransmission if the OOO sequence number range designated in the entry does not include sequence numbers comprising the second sequence number range.

5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising forwarding the additional packet without awaiting receipt of any other packets associated with the flow if the OOO sequence number range designated in the entry includes sequence numbers comprising the second sequence number range.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising updating the entry to remove sequence numbers comprising the second sequence number range from the OOO sequence number range.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein creating the entry includes creating a segment within a queue for the OOO sequence number range comprising expected sequence numbers for packets associated with the flow.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
accounting for a number of transmission control protocol (“TCP”) bytes passing through the network element; and
accounting for packets received at the network element.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising billing a first set of packets associated with the flow in response to forwarding the first set of packets, wherein the request packet is associated with a data type in which out of order processing for packets within the flow is permissible.

10. One or more non-transitory tangible media that includes code for execution and when executed by a processor causes performance of operations comprising:
creating by network element an entry comprising an out of order (“OOO”) sequence number range associated with a flow, wherein the OOO sequence number range is indicated by a request packet received at the network element;
receiving at the network element a packet associated with the flow, wherein the packet corresponds to a first sequence number range, wherein the first sequence number range falls within the OOO sequence number range designated in the entry;
updating the entry to remove sequence numbers comprising the first sequence number range from the OOO sequence number range; and
forwarding the packet without awaiting receipt of any other packets associated with the flow.

11. The non-transitory tangible media of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise receiving at the network element a request packet associated with the flow.

12. The non-transitory tangible media of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving an additional packet associated with the flow, wherein the additional packet corresponds to a second sequence number range; and
determining whether the OOO sequence number range designated in the entry includes sequence numbers comprising the second sequence number range.

13. The non-transitory tangible media of claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise:
classifying the additional packet as a retransmission if the OOO sequence number range designated in the entry does not include sequence numbers comprising the second sequence number range.

14. The non-transitory tangible media of claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise forwarding the additional packet without awaiting receipt of any other packets associated with the flow if the OOO sequence number range designated in the entry includes sequence numbers comprising the second sequence number range.

15. The non-transitory tangible media of claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprise updating the entry to remove sequence numbers comprising the second sequence number range from the OOO sequence number range.

16. An apparatus, comprising:
a memory element configured to store data,
a processor to execute instructions associated with the data, and
a tracking module configured to:
create by a network element an entry comprising an out of order (“OOO”) sequence number range associated with a flow, wherein the OOO sequence number range is indicated by a request packet received at the network element;
receive a packet associated with the flow, wherein the packet corresponds to a first sequence number range, wherein the first sequence number range falls within the OOO sequence number range designated in the entry;
update the entry to remove sequence numbers comprising the first sequence number range from the OOO sequence number range; and
forward the packet without awaiting receipt of any other packets associated with the flow.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the tracking module is further configured to receive a request packet associated with the flow.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the tracking module is further configured to:
receive an additional packet associated with the flow, wherein the additional packet corresponds to a second sequence number range; and
determine whether the OOO sequence number range designated in the entry includes sequence numbers comprising the second sequence number range.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the tracking module is further configured to:
classify the additional packet as a retransmission if the OOO sequence number range designated in the entry does not include sequence numbers comprising the second sequence number range.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the tracking module is further configured to:
forward the additional packet without awaiting receipt of any other packets associated with the flow if the OOO sequence number range designated in the entry includes sequence numbers comprising the second sequence number range; and
update the entry to remove sequence numbers comprising the second sequence number range from the OOO sequence number range.

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Dixon Walter
• Kalyanakrishnan Mahesh C
• Tavares Humberto M
• Yeh Showen

Classifications

• H04L47/624 Primary

  Altering the ordering of packets in an individual queue · CPC title

• H04L47/34

  ensuring sequence integrity, e.g. using sequence numbers · CPC title

• H04L45/38

  Flow based routing · CPC title