Deterministic Timer Manager for Network Statistics
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Solution Overview
Problem
Service provider networks face significant resource demands when collecting network traffic statistics from millions of subscribers, leading to inefficiencies and potential service disruptions due to high arrival rates of timer events exceeding processing capacity.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a deterministic timer manager with a rate-limiting mechanism and a hashed timing wheel data structure to manage timer events, allowing for quantifiable service rates and deferral of excessive events to a wait pool, while employing a drop mechanism to maintain system stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If service statistics collection is performed for all subscriber devices, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases due to tremendous resource demands on provider edge devices
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the large-scale timer management into hierarchical levels: provider edge devices perform aggregation at a higher level, while network switches perform statistics collection at lower levels. This segmentation distributes the computational burden, reducing resource demands on provider edge devices while maintaining comprehensive statistics collection across millions of subscriber devices.
2Productivity
If timer events are processed at high arrival rates, then productivity is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to excessive timers exceeding processing capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary rate-limiting mechanism between timer event arrival and processing. This mechanism controls the flow of timer events to processor components, ensuring that processing capacity is not exceeded while maintaining deterministic service rates. The intermediary buffer and rate limiter prevent system overload, preserving reliability under high arrival rate conditions.
3Loss of time
If rate limiting is applied to timer processing, then device complexity increases due to additional management mechanisms, but loss of time is reduced through deterministic service rates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic action through tick-driven timer processing, where timer events are serviced at regular intervals according to a predetermined schedule. This periodic mechanism provides deterministic service rates, ensuring predictable processing delays while avoiding the need for complex real-time scheduling algorithms. The periodic tick structure simplifies the rate-limiting mechanism compared to continuous dynamic control.
Data Source
AI summary
In general, techniques are described for managing timers for large scale service statistics collection. For example, as described herein, a network device includes a timing wheel data structure defining a plurality of slots. A rate limiter selects up to a rate limit value of timer events stored in a first one of the slots, wherein the rate limit value is less than a total number of the plurality of timer events stored in the first one of the time slots. A timer service module services the selected timer events during the first time interval, wherein the timer service module defers at least one of the unserviced timer events from the first one of the slots to a second one of the slot. During a second time interval, the timer service module services at least one of the timer events deferred from the first one of the slots.