Network data congestion management probe system

Abstract

A system to investigate congestion in a computer network may include network devices to route data packets throughout the network. The system may also include a source node that sends a probe packet to the network devices to gather information about the traffic queues at each network device that receives the probe packet. The system may further include a routing table at each examined network device that is based upon the gathered information for each respective traffic queue.

1 . A system comprising:
 network devices to route data packets throughout a network;   a source node that sends a probe packet to the network devices to gather information about the traffic queues at each network device that receives the probe packet; and   a routing table at each network device that receives the probe packet, and the routing table is based upon the gathered information for each respective traffic queue.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the network devices are members of at least one virtual local area network. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the probe packets include at least one of a layer  2  flag and sequence/flow/source node IDs. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein each network device can ignore the probe packet if it is busy. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the network devices provide its extended queue status to the source node in response to receiving the probe packet. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein a network device provides its extended queue status to other network devices in response to receiving the probe packet. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the extended queue status includes at least one of the number of pings from any flow ID received since the last queue change, the number of packets forwarded since the last queue change, and pointers to a complete network device core dump. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein if an extended queue status exceeds a threshold level, the source node updates the routing table to rebalance traffic loads. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the probe packet is sent in response to the source node receiving a threshold number of congestion notification messages in a given time interval. 
     
     
         10 . A method comprising:
 sending a probe packet to network devices from a source node to gather information about the traffic queues at each network device that is examined by the probe packet; and   basing a routing table at each network device that receives the probe packet on the gathered information for respective each traffic queue.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising organizing the network devices into a virtual local area network. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising structuring the probe packets to include at least one of a layer  2  flag and sequence/flow/source node IDs. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising sending an extended queue status of at least one of the network devices to the source node in response to receiving the probe packet. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising providing an extended queue status of a network device to other network devices in response to the network device receiving the probe packet. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising including at least one of the number of pings from any flow ID received since the last queue change, the number of packets forwarded since the last queue change, and pointers to a complete network device core dump as part of the extended queue status. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising updating the routing table to rebalance traffic loads via the source node if the extended queue status exceeds a threshold level. 
     
     
         17 . A computer program product embodied in a tangible media comprising:
 computer readable program codes coupled to the tangible media to investigate congestion in a computer network, the computer readable program codes configured to cause the program to:   send a probe packet to network devices from a source node to gather information about the traffic queues at each network device that is examined by the probe packet; and   base a routing table at each network device that receives the probe packet on the gathered information for respective each traffic queue.   
     
     
         18 . The computer program product of  claim 17 , further comprising program code configured to at least one of:
 organize the network devices into a virtual local area network; and   structure the probe packets to include at least one of a layer  2  flag and sequence/flow/source node IDs.   
     
     
         19 . The computer program product of  claim 17 , further comprising program code configured to: send an extended queue status of at least one of the network devices to the source node in response to receiving the probe packet. 
     
     
         20 . The computer program product of  claim 19 , further comprising program code configured to at least one of:
 provide an extended queue status of a network device to other network devices in response to the network device receiving the probe packet;   include at least one of the number of pings from any flow ID received since the last queue change, the number of packets forwarded since the last queue change, and pointers to a complete network device core dump as part of the extended queue status; and   update the routing table to rebalance traffic loads via the source node if the extended queue status exceeds a threshold level.