Monitoring endpoint buffer occupancy to determine congestion in an Ethernet network
View Patent ↗A system to improve a Converged Enhanced Ethernet network may include a controller having a computer processor connected to a layer 2 endpoint buffer. The system may also include a manager executing on the controller to monitor the layer 2 endpoint buffer by determining buffer data packet occupancy and/or rate of change in the buffer data packet occupancy. The system may further include a reporter to notify a congestion source of the layer 2 endpoint buffer based upon the buffer data packet occupancy and/or rate of change in the buffer data packet occupancy.
1. A method comprising:
monitoring a layer 2 endpoint buffer by at least one of determining buffer data packet occupancy, and rate of change in the buffer data packet occupancy, via a manager executing on a controller in a Converged Enhanced Ethernet network that includes a computer processor;
using at the manager at least one of unsent frames and unacknowledged frames, in relation to the round-trip-time*bandwidth product at a layer 2 transmitter buffer that is part of the layer 2 endpoint buffer as an indication of at least one of delay spread and congestion in the Converged Enhanced Ethernet network; and
notifying through a reporter a congestion source of the layer 2 endpoint buffer based upon the at least one of buffer data packet occupancy and rate of change in the buffer data packet occupancy.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
providing at least one of frame segmentation and frame retransmission through the layer 2 endpoint buffer.
3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
considering at least one of un-transmitted data packets, unordered data packets, and data unacknowledged packets with the buffer data packet occupancy.
4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
sending congestion notification to the congestion source through the reporter.
5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
using at least one of many partially reassembled frames, and fully reassembled but undelivered frames, at the layer 2 receiver buffer that is part of the layer 2 endpoint buffer as an indication of at least one of delay spread and congestion in the Converged Enhanced Ethernet network.