Abstract: One aspect of the instant application provides a system and method for managing a switch buffer. During operation, the system establishes a hierarchical accounting structure to determine utilizations of different elements of a buffer on the switch. The hierarchical accounting structure comprises one or more parent elements, and each parent element is associated with one or more child elements. The system determines a base utilization of a child element based on an amount of buffer space allocated to the child element and an amount of buffer space used by the child element, and determines an adaptive utilization of the child element based at least on the base utilization of the child element and a congestion state of a corresponding parent element. Determining the adaptive utilization of the child element comprises performing a table lookup operation.

Abstract: A system for facilitating an integrated traffic profile for indicating congestion and packet drop is provided. During operation, the system can determine a first traffic profile indicating whether to drop a packet based on the utilization of a queue. The packets from the queue can be forwarded via an egress port reachable via a fabric. The system can also determine a second traffic profile indicating whether to indicate congestion in the packet based on the utilization. The system can then determine a third traffic profile by combining the first and second traffic profiles. The third traffic profile can indicate acceptance at the queue for a subset of packets being selected for dropping based on the utilization. Subsequently, the system can, if the packet is selected for dropping, determine whether to accept the packet at the queue and set a congestion indicator in the packet based on the third traffic profile.

Abstract: A system for facilitating an integrated traffic profile for indicating congestion and packet drop is provided. During operation, the system can determine a first traffic profile indicating whether to drop a packet based on the utilization of a queue. The packets from the queue can be forwarded via an egress port reachable via a fabric. The system can also determine a second traffic profile indicating whether to indicate congestion in the packet based on the utilization. The system can then determine a third traffic profile by combining the first and second traffic profiles. The third traffic profile can indicate acceptance at the queue for a subset of packets being selected for dropping based on the utilization. Subsequently, the system can, if the packet is selected for dropping, determine whether to accept the packet at the queue and set a congestion indicator in the packet based on the third traffic profile.

Abstract: One aspect of the instant application provides a system and method for rerouting dropped packets back to a switch for analysis. During operation, the system determines, by packet-forwarding hardware logic on the switch, a destination port associated with a received packet, and determines whether the destination port is congested. In response to determining that the destination port is congested, the system drops the received packet from the destination port and sends the dropped packet to an internal dropped-packet-rerouting port to reroute the dropped packet back to the packet-forwarding hardware logic. In response to the packet-forwarding hardware logic determining that a packet is a rerouted packet from the internal dropped-packet-rerouting port, the system forwards the rerouted packet to a packet-analyzing entity for analysis.

Abstract: One aspect of the instant application provides a system and method for managing a switch buffer. During operation, the system establishes a hierarchical accounting structure to determine utilizations of different elements of a buffer on the switch. The hierarchical accounting structure comprises one or more parent elements, and each parent element is associated with one or more child elements. The system determines a base utilization of a child element based on an amount of buffer space allocated to the child element and an amount of buffer space used by the child element, and determines an adaptive utilization of the child element based at least on the base utilization of the child element and a congestion state of a corresponding parent element. Determining the adaptive utilization of the child element comprises performing a table lookup operation.

Abstract: A system for facilitating an enhanced traffic profile is provided. During operation, the system can determine a first traffic profile indicating whether to drop a packet based on the utilization of a queue. The packets from the queue can be forwarded via an egress port reachable via a fabric. The system can also determine a second traffic profile indicating whether to indicate congestion in the packet based on the utilization. The system can then determine a third traffic profile by combining the first and second traffic profiles. The third traffic profile can indicate acceptance at the queue for a subset of packets with a low-level congestion indicator or selected for dropping based on the utilization. Subsequently, the system can, if the packet is selected for dropping, determine whether to accept the packet at the queue with a high-level congestion indicator in the packet based on the third traffic profile.

Abstract: A plurality of work requests may be received from a plurality of clients. A plurality of credits may be distributed among the plurality of clients. The plurality of credits may be distributed in response to a refreshed credit cycle. At least one of the work requests to be processed may be selected based on an amount of the credits available for the clients. An amount of credits to distribute to the clients may be determined in response to the refreshed credit cycle based on an amount of the credits used to process the at least one work request during a last credit cycle compared to a system credit capacity of the system.

Abstract: Examples include sampling a transmit rate of an egress port queue on a destination node, determining a utilization percentage of the egress port queue based on the transmit rate and a total rate capacity of the egress port, and determining a backlog percentage of the egress port queue. Examples also include determining an output rate for a virtual output queue on a source node based on the utilization percentage and the backlog percentage. The virtual output queue is for the egress port queue.

Abstract: Examples include sampling a transmit rate of an egress port queue on a destination node, determining a utilization percentage of the egress port queue based on the transmit rate and a total rate capacity of the egress port, and determining a backlog percentage of the egress port queue. Examples also include determining an output rate for a virtual output queue on a source node based on the utilization percentage and the backlog percentage. The virtual output queue is for the egress port queue.