The dynamic nature of Congestion inInfiniBand

Qian Liu, Robert D. Russell, Fabrice Mizero, Malathi Veeraraghavan, John M. Dennis, Benjamin Jamroz

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The InfiniBand Congestion Control (CC) mechanism is able to reduce congestion and improve performance in many situations. In this paper we study the characteristics of congestion in InfiniBand by monitoring and analyzing the CC mechanism with a hardware analyzer. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that presents experience with, and analysis of, the InfiniBand CC with such a tool. We found that there can be more than one root of congestion, as defined by the IBTA specification, existing at the same time in the congestion tree, and a root of congestion can be converted to a victim of congestion as its nature changes. We also observed that even with constant traffic flows, the root of congestion will shift from one place to another within the congestion tree, with corresponding consequence for packets from various traffic sources: traffic that might be negatively impacted by tree spreading and might be not contributing to the root of congestion before, will be treated as a congestion contributor and then be throttled by the CC mechanism.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2015 International Conference and Workshop on Computing and Communication, IEMCON 2015
EditorsSatyajit Chakrabarti, Himadri Nath Saha
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)9781479969081
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2 2015
EventInternational Conference and Workshop on Computing and Communication, IEMCON 2015 - Vancouver, Canada
Duration: Oct 15 2015Oct 17 2015

Publication series

Name2015 International Conference and Workshop on Computing and Communication, IEMCON 2015

Conference

ConferenceInternational Conference and Workshop on Computing and Communication, IEMCON 2015
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityVancouver
Period10/15/1510/17/15

Keywords

  • Congestion Control
  • Congestion Tree
  • InfiniBand
  • Root of Congestion
  • Victim of Congestion

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