Patent ID: 8897130

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a switch fabric configured to: send a first packet to a destination via a first path; determine, based at least in part on delays of the first path and a second path, whether sending a second packet to the destination via the second path will result in the second packet reaching the destination after the first packet reaches the destination, the second packet having been received by the switch fabric after the first packet; send a pause message to a network device from which the first and second packets are received based at least in part on the delay of the first path exceeding a threshold, the pause message including a pause time equal to a difference between the delay of the first path and the threshold; send the second packet to the destination via the second path based at least in part on the determining that sending the second packet to the destination via the second path will result in the second packet reaching the destination after the first packet reaches the destination, and determining that an instantaneous latency of the second path does not exceed the threshold, the instantaneous latency being based on a most recent probing packet sent via the second path, and determining that an average latency of the second path does not exceed the threshold, the average latency being based on a plurality of probing packets sent via the second path; and send a pause end message to the network device based at least in part on the delay of the first path falling below the threshold.