Patent ID: 9602439
Date: 2017-03-21
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. An apparatus, comprising: a switch fabric including at least a first switch stage and a second switch stage; an edge device operatively coupled to the switch fabric and configured to send a first portion of a data stream, from a first source device operatively coupled to a network port of the edge device to the switch fabric via a source port of the edge device such that the first portion of the data stream is received at a queue of the second switch stage of the switch fabric via the first switch stage of the switch fabric, the edge device configured to be operatively coupled to a second source device, the source port of the edge device associated with a source port identifier; and a management module configured to detect, in response to the first portion of the data stream being received at the queue of the second switch stage of the switch fabric, a congestion level of the queue of the second switch stage of the switch fabric satisfying a condition, the management module configured to send, to the edge device, a flow control signal addressed to the edge device and including the source port identifier, the flow control signal configured to trigger the edge device to suspend transmission of a second portion of the data stream from the first source device via the network port of the edge device in response to the management module detecting the congestion level, the flow control signal configured to allow the edge device to continue to transmit a data packet from the second source device to the switch fabric.