Intelligent dropping of packets in a network visibility fabric
US10057170B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 23, 2016 |
| Grant date | Aug 21, 2018 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 17, 2036 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L47/29
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A network appliance deployed in a visibility fabric may intelligently drop certain low priority traffic to avoid indiscriminate dropping of data packets across all flow maps during periods of high congestion. More specifically, the network appliance may determine the data packets of a flow map should be dropped based on priority measures assigned on a per-flow map basis. Such a technique enables the network appliance to drop low priority traffic and forward high priority traffic downstream. Also introduced herein are techniques for metering traffic in order to gain better control over the traffic that is forwarded to an egress port of a network appliance. Because a network tool connected to the egress port can become easily overwhelmed, the network appliance may filter the traffic based on the priority of the flow maps to ensure that the network tool does not receive more traffic than can be handled.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.