Flow-slice: a novel load-balancing scheme for multi-path switching systems

ABSTRACT

Multi-Path Switching systems (MPS) are intensively used in the state-of-the-art core routers. One of the most intractable issues is how to load-balance traffic across its multiple paths while not disturbing the intra-flow packet orders. In this paper, based on the studies of tens of real Internet traces, we develop a novel scheme, namely Flow-Slice (FS), which cuts off each flow into flow-slices at every intra-flow interval larger than a slicing threshold set to 1ms 4ms and balances the load on the finer granularity. Through theoretical analyses and comprehensive trace-driven simulations, we show that FS achieves impressive load-balancing performance with little hardware cost while limiting the packet out-of-order chances to a negligible level (below 10 ^-6).

REFERENCES

• 1: J. S. Turner, "Resequencing Cells in an ATM Switch," Tech. Rep., WUCS-91--21, Feb. 1991.
• 2: D. A. Khotimsky and S. Krishnan, "Evaluation of Open-loop Sequence Control Schemes for Multi-path Switches," in Proc. IEEE ICC, pp. 2116--2120, 2002.
• 3: L. Shi, W. Li, B. Liu, and X. Wang, "Flow Mapping in the Load Balancing Parallel Packet Switches," in Proc. IEEE HPSR, pp. 254--258, 2005.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.1 Network Architecture and Design
          Subjects: Packet-switching networks

General Terms:
Algorithms, Measurement, Performance

Keywords:
flow-slice, load-balancing, multi-path switching