Patent ID: 8385208

Claim:
In a network comprising a plurality of Ethernet switches, a first Ethernet switch transmitting Ethernet traffic to a second Ethernet switch, the first Ethernet switch comprising: a plurality of ports; and a management module, communicating with the network, for receiving Ethernet packets containing congestion status information, for a plurality of other Ethernet switches in said network, in fillers of said Ethernet packets from at least said second Ethernet switch, said plurality of other Ethernet switches including said second Ethernet switch, and said fillers including a plurality of bits that are indicative of congestion status, wherein at least a subset of the plurality of bits is indicative of congestion status of corresponding different ports among ports of multiple Ethernet switches of said plurality of other Ethernet switches; wherein the management module is configured to cause said first Ethernet switch to adjust its transmission of said Ethernet traffic to said second Ethernet switch responsively to said congestion status information that is contained in said fillers of said Ethernet packets and that is indicative of an amount of congestion at one or more ports of said second Ethernet switch.