IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,341,700
Granted Patent B2
US 12,341,700 · App. 18/454,188 · Granted Jun 24, 2025

Load sharing method and apparatus, and chip

Inventors: Liudong Xiong (Xi'an, CN); Xiangang Zhang (Dongguan, CN); Chunzhi He (Shenzhen, CN)
Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
H04L47/125
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,341,700
App. No.
18/454,188
Granted
Jun 24, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

This application provides a load sharing method and apparatus, and a chip, which are applicable to a scenario of a complex combination and hybrid procedure. When sending a data packet, a transmit end adds different values to a first field of the data packet for different flow types of data flows, to indicate a forwarding device to use different load sharing rules. When hybrid traffic exists in complex networking, different load sharing rules are used for traffic of different flow types. Compared with configuring the forwarding device to use a fixed load sharing rule for all traffic, a better load sharing effect can be achieved.

Claims (61)

1. A load sharing method, applied to a transmit end, the method comprising:

sending a first data packet to a forwarding device, wherein the first data packet belongs to a first data flow, a value of a first field comprised in the first data packet is a first value, and the first value indicates the forwarding device to forward the first data packet according to a first load sharing rule; and

sending a second data packet to the forwarding device, wherein the second data packet belongs to a second data flow, a value of a first field comprised in the second data packet is a second value, and the second value indicates the forwarding device to forward the second data packet according to a second load sharing rule; and

a first flow type of the first data flow is different from a second flow type of the second data flow; wherein

the first flow type of the first data flow is a mouse flow, and the second flow type of the second data flow is an elephant flow;

the first data flow is a data flow sent to a first receive end, and

the method further comprises determining, based on a capability of the first receive end for reordering disordered packets and the first flow type of the first data flow, that the forwarding device forwards the first data flow according to the first load sharing rule.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:

before sending the first data packet to the forwarding device, determining, based on a service type or a data volume of the first data flow, that the first flow type of the first data flow is the mouse flow; and

before sending the second data packet to the forwarding device, determining, based on a service type or a data volume of the second data flow, that the second flow type of the second data flow is the elephant flow.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:

receiving capability information from the first receive end, wherein the capability information indicates whether the first receive end has the capability for reordering disordered packets.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second data flow is a data flow sent to a second receive end; and the method further comprises:

determining, based on a capability of the second receive end for reordering disordered packets and the second flow type of the second data flow, that the forwarding device forwards the second data flow according to the second load sharing rule.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the first receive end does not have the capability for reordering disordered packets;

the first data packet further comprises a second field, and a value of the second field comprised in the first data packet indicates a load sharing factor of the first data packet; and

the first load sharing rule includes using, based on the load sharing factor, a shortest path to the first receive end as a forwarding path for forwarding the first data packet.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first receive end has the capability for reordering disordered packets; and

the first load sharing rule includes:

selecting, from different transmission paths based on distances and congestion degrees of the different transmission paths to the first receive end, a transmission path for forwarding the first data packet; or

using a shortest path to the first receive end as a forwarding path for forwarding the first data packet.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first data packet further comprises a second field, and a value of the second field comprised in the first data packet indicates a load sharing factor for selecting a transmission path for forwarding the first data packet.

8. A load sharing method, applied to a forwarding device, the method comprising:

receiving a first data packet, wherein the first data packet belongs to a first data flow, a value of a first field comprised in the first data packet is a first value, and forwarding the first data packet according to a first load sharing rule indicated by the first value; and

receiving a second data packet, wherein the second data packet belongs to a second data flow, a value of a first field comprised in the second data packet is a second value, and forwarding the second data packet according to a second load sharing rule indicated by the second value; and

a first flow type of the first data flow is different from a second flow type of the second data flow; wherein

the first data flow is a data flow sent to a first receive end, and the forwarding the first data packet according to the first load sharing rule indicated by the first value comprises:

selecting, for transmission paths based on distances and congestion degrees of the transmission paths to the first receive end, a first forwarding path for forwarding the first data packet; and

the first forwarding path is a transmission path with a shortest distance to the first receive end in the transmission paths whose congestion degrees are less than a threshold.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the first flow type of the first data flow is a mouse flow, and the second flow type of the second data flow is an elephant flow.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the first data flow is a data flow sent to a first receive end, the first data packet further comprises a second field, and the second field indicates a load sharing factor; and

the forwarding the first data packet according to the first load sharing rule indicated by the first value comprises:

selecting, based on the load sharing factor and from at least one shortest path to the first receive end, a forwarding path for forwarding the first data packet.

11. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the first data packet further comprises a second field, and a value of the second field comprised in the first data packet indicates a load sharing factor for selecting the transmission path for forwarding the first data packet.

12. A load sharing apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

one or more memories coupled to the at least one processor and storing programming instructions for execution by the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to:

send a first data packet to a forwarding device, wherein the first data packet belongs to a first data flow, a value of a first field comprised in the first data packet is a first value, and the first value indicates the forwarding device to forward the first data packet according to a first load sharing rule; and

send a second data packet to the forwarding device, wherein the second data packet belongs to a second data flow, a value of a first field comprised in the second data packet is a second value, and the second value indicates the forwarding device to forward the second data packet according to a second load sharing rule; and

a first flow type of the first data flow is different from a second flow type of the second data flow; wherein:

the first flow type of the first data flow is a mouse flow, and the second flow type of the second data flow is an elephant flow;

the first data flow is a data flow sent to a first receive end, and

the apparatus is further configured to determine, based on a capability of the first receive end for reordering disordered packets and the first flow type of the first data flow, that the forwarding device forwards the first data flow according to the first load sharing rule.

13. The load sharing apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the first data packet further comprises a second field, and a value of the second field comprised in the first data packet indicates a load sharing factor for selecting a transmission path for forwarding the first data packet.

14. The load sharing apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

before sending the first data packet to the forwarding device, determine, based on a service type or a data volume of the first data flow, that the first flow type of the first data flow is the mouse flow; and

before sending the second data packet to the forwarding device, determine, based on a service type or a data volume of the second data flow, that the second flow type of the second data flow is the elephant flow.

15. The load sharing apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive capability information from the first receive end, wherein the capability information indicates whether the first receive end has the capability for reordering disordered packets.

16. The load sharing apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the second data flow is a data flow sent to a second receive end; and the processor is further configured to:

determine, based on a capability of the second receive end for reordering disordered packets and the second flow type of the second data flow, that the forwarding device forwards the second data flow according to the second load sharing rule.

17. The load sharing apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein the first receive end does not have the capability for reordering disordered packets;

the first data packet further comprises a second field, and a value of the second field comprised in the first data packet indicates a load sharing factor of the first data packet; and

the first load sharing rule includes: using, based on the load sharing factor, a shortest path to the first receive end as the first forwarding path for forwarding the first data packet.

18. The load sharing apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the first receive end has the capability for reordering disordered packets; and

the first load sharing rule includes:

selecting, from different transmission paths based on distances and congestion degrees of the different transmission paths to the first receive end, a transmission path for forwarding the first data packet; or

using a shortest path to the first receive end as a forwarding path for forwarding the first data packet.

19. The method according to claim 8 wherein the first data packet further comprises a second field, and the second field indicates a load sharing factor; and the method further comprises:

performing a hash operation on a value of the second field to obtain a hash value; and

selecting, based on the hash value, the first forwarding path for forwarding the first data packet.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 27, 2025
From: XIONG, LIUDONG; ZHANG, XIANGANG; HE, CHUNZHI
To: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 070643/0375 →
Priority Claims (1)
CN 202110209432.3 · Feb 24, 2021 · national
Continuity (2)
Continuation PCTCN2022076919 · Feb 18, 2022
Related Publication 20230396549A1 · Dec 7, 2023
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