Multi-Path Flowlet Routing for Network Congestion Relief
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing high-speed data connections in network environments, such as InfiniBand and Gigabit Ethernet, face congestion due to increasing data demands, leading to inefficient utilization of network capacity and throughput.
Innovation Solution
Implementing multi-path data transport by splitting data flows into flowlets that take different paths through a network, manipulating packet headers to route packets via different physical ports, and using RRD transport to ensure packets are delivered in-order or out-of-order at the destination endpoint.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If high-speed data connections (InfiniBand, Gigabit Ethernet) are used to handle heavy data traffic, then data transfer speed is improved, but network congestion occurs due to increasing data demands exceeding connection capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments data flows into multiple flowlets that can be transmitted over different network paths. Each flowlet is independently routed through the network using modified packet headers, allowing parallel transmission across multiple connections. This segmentation transforms a single overloaded high-speed connection into multiple parallel paths, effectively increasing total network throughput while maintaining high data transfer speeds.
2Device complexity
If single-path data transport is used to simplify routing, then routing complexity is reduced, but network capacity utilization is inefficient and congestion occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an additional dimension to packet routing by modifying packet headers to include flowlet identification and path selection information. This enables packets to be routed across multiple dimensions (multiple paths) rather than a single path, significantly improving network capacity utilization. The added header information provides just enough complexity to enable multi-path routing while maintaining relatively simple routing logic at each network node.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein is a method including receiving, from a user application, data to be transmitted from a source address to a destination address using a single connection through a network; and splitting the data into a plurality of packets according to a communication protocol. For each packet of the plurality of packets, a respective flowlet for the packet to be transmitted in is determined from a plurality of flowlets. Assignment of the flowlets to the packets can be dynamically adjusted based on utilization of the flowlets.