Patent ID: 9036481
Filing Date: 2015-05-19
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for load balancing in a switching system including a plurality of ingress nodes, comprising: determining, at a first ingress node of the plurality of ingress nodes, that an initial packet belongs to a new packet flow going to an egress node of the switching system, wherein the first ingress node includes a plurality of I/O ports; receiving congestion information of nodes on a plurality of paths broadcast to the ingress nodes of the switching system, wherein the nodes on the plurality of paths include at least one intermediate node between the first ingress node and the egress node, the congestion information includes congestion information that originates from the at least one intermediate node and that is broadcast from the at least one intermediate node to the first ingress node, and the at least one intermediate node is a switch node configured to direct the initial packet and subsequent packets to the egress node; determining real-time congestion status of the plurality of paths for switching packets to the egress node in the switching system based on the congestion information of the nodes on the plurality of paths; and selecting, based on the real-time congestion status, a least loaded path from the plurality of paths for switching the initial packet and subsequent packets of the new packet flow from the first ingress node to the egress node, wherein the congestion information includes a transmission queue depth of the switch node, a buffer depth of the switch node, and queue depths of the plurality of I/O ports.