Patent ID: 9577957
Date: 2017-02-21
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A method for communicating packets through a network switch fabric, comprising: at an aggregation point in the network switch fabric, segregating packet flows from multiple sources into a set of quality-of-service (QoS) buckets; monitoring traffic rates for each QoS bucket in the set of QoS buckets; determining a state for each QoS bucket in the set of QoS buckets by comparing a traffic rate for the QoS bucket with one or more state-specific thresholds; and when a packet is received for a given QoS bucket, performing an action based on a state of the given QoS bucket; wherein if the given QoS bucket is associated with a moderately congested state, performing the action comprises sending a congestion notification packet (CNP) to: a source of the packet; another addressable aggregation point higher up in the network switch fabric hierarchy; a management entity for the network switch fabric; or an entity chosen by the management entity, wherein the CNP indicates that the source is oversubscribed and should start rate-limiting packets sent through the aggregation point.