Routing support for lossless data traffic

摘要

A method for communication in a packet data network including at least first and second subnets interconnected by routers. The method includes defining at least first and second classes of link-layer traffic within the subnets, such that the link-layer traffic in the first class is transmitted among nodes in the network without loss of packets, while at least some of the packets in the second class are dropped in case of network congestion. The routers are configured by transmitting control traffic over the network in the packets of the second class. Data traffic is transmitted between the nodes in the first and second subnets via the configured routers in the packets of the first class.

主权项

1. A method for communication, comprising:
in a packet data network comprising at least first and second subnets interconnected by routers, defining at least first and second priority flow control classes of link-layer traffic within the subnets, and configuring nodes of the network to apply congestion flow control to the first class but not to the second class such that the link-layer traffic in the first class is transmitted among the nodes in the network without loss of packets, while at least some of the packets in the second class are dropped in case of network congestion; configuring the routers by transmitting control traffic over the network in the packets of the second class; and transmitting data traffic between the nodes in the first and second subnets via the configured routers in the packets of the first class, wherein transmitting the control traffic and the data traffic comprises placing the packets in the first and second classes into respective first and second queues for transmission by the nodes, wherein the second queues have a higher priority for transmission than the first queues.