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One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates flow control of multi-path-switched data frames. During operation the system transmits from an ingress edge device data frames destined to an egress edge device across different switched paths based on queue status of a core

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates flow control of multi-path-switched data frames. During operation the system transmits from an ingress edge device data frames destined to an egress edge device across different switched paths based on queue status of a core switching device and queue status of the egress edge device. The egress edge device is separate from the core switching device.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A method comprising: maintaining at a switch a queue which stores a packet, wherein the packet includes a Transparent Interconnect of Lots of Links (TRILL) header;adding a shim header to the packet, wherein the shim header includes information indicating local congestion; andwherein the shim head

1. A method comprising: maintaining at a switch a queue which stores a packet, wherein the packet includes a Transparent Interconnect of Lots of Links (TRILL) header;adding a shim header to the packet, wherein the shim header includes information indicating local congestion; andwherein the shim header is placed between the TRILL header and a start of frame field in the packet. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting packets from the queue across different switched paths via a plurality of output ports of the switch, each of which is coupled to a different core switch and is part of a different switched path leading to an egress edge switch. 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining status of a queue at an egress edge switch. 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving information from a received packet's shim header indicative of status of a queue at an egress edge switch, wherein the received packet is encapsulated by a TRILL header and transmitted from the egress edge switch. 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving information indicative of status of a queue at an egress edge switch, wherein this information is contained in a stand-alone packet encapsulated by a TRILL header without payload data. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the packet is an Ethernet frame encapsulated by the TRILL header. 7. The method of claim 5, wherein the queue status of the core switch is indicated by a Fibre Channel credit count. 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the packet based on status of a queue at a core switch and status of a queue at an egress edge switch. 9. A switch, comprising: a queue configured to store a packet, wherein the packet includes a TRILL header;a header notification mechanism coupled to the queue and configured to add a shim header to the packet outside the TRILL header, wherein the shim header includes information indicating local congestion; andwherein the shim header is placed between the TRILL header and a start of frame field in the packet. 10. The switch of claim 9, further comprising a queue status maintaining mechanism configured to maintain status of a queue at an egress edge switch, the queue corresponding to a destination device port on the egress edge switch and the ingress edge switch. 11. The switch of claim 9, further comprising a the flow-control mechanism configured to receive information from a received packet's shim header indicative of status of a queue at an egress edge switch, wherein the received packet is encapsulated by a TRILL header and transmitted from the egress edge switch. 12. The switch of claim 9, further comprising a flow-control mechanism configured to receive information indicative of status of a queue at an the egress edge switch, wherein this information is contained in a stand-alone packet encapsulated by a TRILL header without payload data. 13. The switch of claim 12, wherein the packet is an Ethernet frame encapsulated by the TRILL header. 14. The switch of claim 12, wherein the queue status of the core switch is indicated by an FC credit count. 15. The switch of claim 9, further comprising a transmission mechanism configured to transmit the packet based on status of a queue at a core switch and status of a queue at an egress edge switch. 16. A system for facilitating flow control of multi-path-switched packets encapsulated by a TRILL header, the system comprising: an ingress edge switch, said ingress edge switch comprising: a source device port for coupling to a packet source device to receive packets encapsulated by a TRILL header;a plurality of core device ports for coupling to at least one separate core switch to provide packets encapsulated by a TRILL header;queue status registers for storing status of queues between the ingress edge switch and said at least one core switch and queues between the ingress edge switch and a separate egress edge switch which is the destination of the received packets;a flow-control mechanism coupled to the queue status registers and configured to determine a queue status of a respective core switch and status of a queue of a respective egress edge switch and provide values to the queue status registers;a transmission mechanism coupled to the source device port, the core device ports, and the queue status registers and configured to transmit received packets encapsulated by a shim header added outside the TRILL header across different switched paths using different core device ports, wherein the shim header includes information indicating local congestion; andwherein the shim header is placed between the TRILL header and a start of frame field in the packet;at least one core switch; and at least one egress edge switch. 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the egress edge switch comprises a queue that stores packets encapsulated by a TRILL header, the queuing dedicated to a destination device port on the egress edge switch and the ingress edge switch. 18. The system of claim 16, wherein the ingress edge switch is configured to receive information from a received packet's shim header indicative of the status of a queue in the egress edge switch; and wherein the received packet is encapsulated by a TRILL header and transmitted from the egress edge switch. 19. The system of claim 16, wherein the ingress edge switch is configured to receive information indicative of status of a queue at an egress edge switch; and wherein this information is contained in a stand-alone packet encapsulated by a TRILL header without payload data. 20. The system of claim 16, wherein the packet is an Ethernet frame encapsulated by the TRILL header. 21. The system of claim 16, wherein status of a queue in the core switch is indicated by an FC credit count.