Lossless network is a powerful networking protocol designed to enable high-performance, low-latency data transfers over Ethernet networks. By leveraging RDMA technology, lossless network offers significant benefits for various high-demand applications, making it a crucial component in modern data centers, high-performance computing environments, and cloud services. Its ability to utilize existing Ethernet infrastructure makes it a cost-effective solution for enhancing network performance.

Lossless network switches are designed to support the unique requirements of RDMA, providing low-latency and high-throughput communication over Ethernet networks. Here are the key technologies and features that are crucial for lossless network switches:

Priority Flow Control (PFC)

Priority Flow Control (PFC) is a network protocol designed to manage congestion on Ethernet networks by allowing for the independent pausing of traffic based on priority levels. It is part of the IEEE 802.1Qbb standard and is particularly useful in data center environments where different types of traffic need to be handled with varying degrees of urgency.

PFC is a critical technology for managing congestion in Ethernet networks, particularly in data center environments. By enabling traffic differentiation and providing lossless transport for high-priority traffic, PFC helps maintain performance and reliability for critical applications.

PFC Wachdog

PFC Watchdog is a critical component in Ethernet networks that use Priority Flow Control to manage congestion. By detecting and mitigating PFC deadlocks, it ensures that the network remains stable and performs optimally. This mechanism is particularly important in data centers and other environments where maintaining high performance and reliability is crucial.

Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN)

Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) is an effective mechanism for managing network congestion by marking packets instead of dropping them. It is an extension of the IP and TCP protocols, enhancing the way congestion is managed by marking packets instead of discarding them. It helps improve network performance, reduce packet loss, and maintain high throughput, making it especially valuable in data centers and for real-time applications.

Dynamic Load Balance

Dynamic Load Balancing is a network management technique used to distribute network traffic across multiple paths or resources dynamically. Unlike static load balancing, which assigns fixed routes or resources to handle traffic, dynamic load balancing adjusts traffic distribution in real-time based on current network conditions.

It is a vital network management technique that optimizes performance, scalability, and reliability by dynamically distributing traffic across multiple paths or resources. By adapting to changing network conditions in real-time, dynamic load balancing ensures efficient resource utilization and enhances overall network performance and resilience.

In the following sections, we will explain the details of what they are, how they work, and how to configure.