Data center congestion management for non-tcp traffic

Abstract

Methods, apparatus and software for implementing enhanced data center congestion management for non-TCP traffic. Non-congested transit latencies are determined for transmission of packets or Ethernet frames along paths between source and destination end-end-nodes when congestion along the paths is not present or minimal. Transit latencies are similarly measured along the same source-destination paths during ongoing operations during which traffic congestion may vary. Based on whether a difference between the transit latency for a packet or frame and the non-congested transit latency for the path exceeds a threshold, the path is marked as congested or not congested. A rate at which the non-TCP packets are transmitted along the path is then managed as function of a rate at which the path is marked as congested. In one implementation, non-TCP traffic is managed by mimicking a Data Center TCP technique, under which the congestion marking status of the path is substituted as an input to a DCTP algorithm in place of the normally-used ECN-Echo flag input. The congestion window output by the DCTCP algorithm is then used to manage the rate at which non-TCP packets to be forwarded via the path are transmitted from a source end-node.