Adaptive setting of the quantized congestion notification equilibrium setpoint in converged enhanced Ethernet networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9954781-B2
Application number	US-201313834600-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 15, 2013
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Apr 24, 2018
Grant date	Apr 24, 2018

Abstract

Embodiments relate to controlling workload flow on converged Ethernet links. An aspect includes coupling, by a processing device, a first control loop to a second control loop. The second control loop monitors the operation of the first control loop. An equilibrium set point is initialized for the second control loop prior to commencing operation of the first control loop. Accordingly, the equilibrium set point value is adjusted in the second control loop continuously based on a rate of operation of the first control loop.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer system configured to control a workload flow on converged Ethernet links, the computer system comprising:
a memory having computer readable instructions; and
a processing device for executing the computer readable instructions, the instructions including:
coupling, by a processing device, a first control loop that runs a link level flow control protocol for a link to a second control loop that runs an end-to-end congestion notification protocol for the link, the second control loop monitoring the operation of the first control loop;
initializing an equilibrium set point value for the second control loop prior to commencing operation of the first control loop, the equilibrium set point value indicating a target congestion level for the link and utilized by the second control loop to generate a congestion notification message, the equilibrium set point value selected by the initializing to cause the congestion notification message to be generated prior to the first control loop being triggered; and
adjusting the equilibrium set point value in the second control loop continuously based on a rate of operation of the first control loop, the adjusted equilibrium set point value selected to cause a next congestion notification message to be generated prior to a next triggering of the first control loop.

2. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the first control loop runs a priority flow control protocol.

3. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the second control loop runs a quantized congestion notification protocol.

4. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the adjusting of the equilibrium set point value in the second control loop further comprises dynamically increasing the equilibrium set point value based on the monitoring of the operation of the first control loop.

5. The computer system of claim 4 , wherein, responsive to encountering a flag indicating a triggering of the first control loop, pausing the increase of the equilibrium set point value.

6. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is a central control processor external to switches in a network, the central control processor configured to execute computer readable instructions that provide centralized control of network packet flows without requiring physical access to the hardware devices in the network.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Chrysos Nikolaos
• Crisan Daniel
• Decusatis Casimer M
• Gusat Mircea
• Minkenberg Cyriel J
• Neeser Fredy D

Classifications

• H04L47/122 Primary

  by diverting traffic away from congested entities · CPC title

• H04L47/12

  Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion · CPC title