Configurable Optical Transceiver for Data Center Network Node Elephant Flow Offload
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Solution Overview
Problem
Data center networks face performance degradation due to 'elephant flows' dominating network resources, which negatively impact latency-sensitive 'mice flows', necessitating an efficient method to manage large bandwidth-intensive flows without compromising smaller, delay-sensitive flows.
Innovation Solution
A data center network node with a configurable optical transceiver that can bypass or connect to an optical offload subnetwork, establishing point-to-point links for elephant flows, thereby isolating them from the main network and optimizing bandwidth for latency-sensitive traffic.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If elephant flows are allowed to use the main network infrastructure, then bandwidth-intensive flows can be supported, but latency-sensitive mice flows experience performance degradation
Solution Approach 1:
The network infrastructure is segmented into two separate paths: an optical offload network for elephant flows and the electrical packet-switched network for mice flows. This segmentation allows each type of traffic to be handled by the most appropriate network, preventing elephant flows from degrading mice flow performance while maintaining high bandwidth capacity for large data transfers.
Solution Approach 2:
Elephant flows are extracted from the main electrical packet-switched network and routed through a separate optical offload network. This extraction removes the harmful impact of bandwidth-intensive flows on latency-sensitive traffic while preserving the high-speed switching capabilities of the original network for mice flows.
2Loss of time
If a separate optical offload network is provided for elephant flows, then mice flow performance is protected, but network infrastructure complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The optical offload network and electrical packet-switched network are merged at the network node level, where a single network interface card (NIC) integrates both optical and electrical interfaces. This merging allows seamless traffic steering between the two networks without requiring separate physical network paths, thereby reducing infrastructure complexity while maintaining performance benefits.
Solution Approach 2:
The network interface card is designed with multi-functionality, serving as the interface for both the optical offload network and the electrical packet-switched network. This universal interface handles both elephant flows (via optical path) and mice flows (via electrical path), eliminating the need for separate specialized interfaces and reducing overall system complexity.
3Quantity of substance
If optical transceivers are connected to the offload subnetwork, then bandwidth capacity is increased, but protocol simplification benefits are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The network interface card acts as an intermediary between the optical offload network and the electrical packet-switched network. It performs protocol conversion and traffic steering, translating between the simplified optical network protocols and the standard electrical network protocols. This intermediary function allows the optical network to provide high bandwidth capacity while maintaining compatibility with existing network protocols and infrastructure.
Data Source
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AI summary
A data center network node (13) comprising a first data connection (22) for connecting at least one server to a conventional subnetwork comprising at least one of a switch or a router, an optical transceiver (14) comprising a transmitter (16) and a receiver (17), a second data connection (23) for connecting the at least one server to the optical transceiver, a switching arrangement (21 ) for linking the optical transceiver (14) to an offload subnetwork (10), the switching arrangement configurable between a first configuration (24) in which the offload subnetwork bypasses the optical transceiver and a second configuration (28) in which the optical transceiver is optically linked to the offload subnetwork.