AU2013237722B2 - System and method for identifying multiple paths between network nodes - Google Patents

Abstract

Aspects of the invention pertain to transmitting packet data across a computer network (200) . The packets may be sent via one or more distinct routes (208, 210) from a source to a destination. Each route may employ multiple routers (206) disposed along the network. Non-colliding routes are determined by transmitting pairs of probe packets along the routes. A first f4 probe packet (P1) has a maximal length, and a second probe packet (P2) has a minimal length. Depending on the order of arrival of the probe packets, the system determines whether two transport layer ports at the destination device collide (306). If there is a collision, then the system (202, 206) searches for a set of non-colliding ports (308). Once the non-colliding ports are determined, application data may be sent as packets along the different routes to those ports.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING MULTIPLE PATHS BETWEEN NETWORK NODES The present application is a divisional application from Australian patent Application No. 2010278912, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims priority to United States Patent Application No. 12/533,187, filed July 31, 2009, entitled "System and Method for Identifying Multiple Paths Between Network Nodes," attorney docket number GOOGLE 3.0-075,the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention [0002] The invention relates generally to routing data in computer networks. More particularly, the invention pertains to identifying multiple paths between source and destination nodes in computer networks. Description of Related Art [0003] With a networked computer, it is possible to increase the communication bandwidth or the availability of network connectivity by using multiple interfaces concurrently to aggregate bandwidth. One strategy of bandwidth aggregation is known as Link Aggregation ("LAG") . Another is known as Equal Cost Multiple Path ("ECMP"). [0004] Such strategies allow router or switch nodes in the network to load balance traffic across multiple outgoing links. The outgoing link of a packet is often determined based on the hash value of information (source IP address, destination IP address, source port, destination port) in the packet header. A node may maximize its application throughput to a destination by identifying a set of port pairs (source port, destination port) to send traffic across multiple paths available to the destination. [0005] However, specific implementations of such bandwidth allocation, e.g., the use of hashing functions on switches/routers, are often proprietary. Furthermore, the results of such hashing functions may depend on the seed value -1 of individual switches. It is not feasible for a source node to determine a priori if port pairs are to be hashed to different paths to a destination node, especially in wide area network where end hosts have little knowledge of network topologies and router/switch configurations in between them. [0006] In contrast, the invention provides non-proprietary systems and methods that identify and employ multiple paths between network nodes. [0006a] A reference herein to a patent document or other matter which is given as prior art is not to be taken as an admission that that document or matter was known or that the information it contains was part of the common general knowledge as at the priority date of any of the claims. [0006b] According to a first aspect the present invention provides a method for identifying ports to support data packet traffic between a source device and a destination device in a computer network, the method comprising: setting a set SD of destination ports the destination device is configured to listen to; selecting a subset SkD from the set SD for serving the data packet traffic between the source device and the destination device, wherein k indicates a number of ports in the subset SkD; choosing a port p in the set SD for analysis; determining whether the chosen port p collides with any of the ports in the subset SkD; when there is a collision involving the chosen port p, eliminating the chosen port p from the set SD; and; when there is no collision, modifying the subset SKD to obtain modified subset SKImodified by taking the union of SKD and the chosen port p according to the following equation: SK modified = SKD U {p [0006c] According to a second aspect the present invention provides a method for identifying ports to support data packet traffic between a source device and a destination device in a computer network, the method comprising: setting a set SD of destination ports the destination device is configured to - 2 listen to; selecting a subset SkD from the set SD for serving the data packet traffic between the source device and the destination device, wherein k indicates a number of ports in the subset SkD; choosing a port p in the set SD for analysis; determining whether the chosen port p collides with any of the ports in the subset SkD; when there is a collision involving the chosen port p, eliminating the chosen port p from the set SD; and; when there is no collision, modifying the subset SKD to obtain modified subset SKImodified by taking the union of SKD and the chosen port p according to the following equation: SKDmodified = SKD U {p}; the method further comprising repeating the selecting, choosing, determining and eliminating operations for one or more additional rounds, wherein a new port p is chosen in each additional round. [0006d] According to a third aspect the present invention provides a method for identifying ports to support data packet traffic between a source device and a destination device in a computer network, the method comprising: setting a set SD of destination ports the destination device is configured to listen to; selecting a subset SkD from the set SD for serving the data packet traffic between the source device and the destination device; choosing a port p in the set SD for analysis; determining whether the chosen port p collides with any of the ports in the subset SkD; and if there is a collision involving the chosen port p, eliminating the chosen port p from the set SD; wherein determining whether the chosen port p collides with any of the ports in the subset SkD includes transmitting a pair of probe packets from the source device to the destination device, the collision occurring when the pair of probe packets traverses a same path between the source device and the destination device; and when there is no collision, modifying the subset SKD to obtain modified subset SKDmodified by taking the union of SKD and the chosen port p according to the following equation: SKDmodified = SKD U {p} - 3 - [0006e] According to a fourth aspect the present invention provides a method of determining port collisions when transmitting traffic between a source device and a destination device in a computer network, the method comprising: setting a set SD of destination ports the destination device is configured to listen to; selecting a subset SkD from a set SD for serving the data packet traffic between the source device and the destination device; initializing a test subset of ports Sy to be equal to SKD; choosing a port p' from the set Sy and choosing a port p from the set SD but not in SkD for analysis;sending a pair of probe packets from the source device to the destination device via the port p and the port p'; evaluating arrivals of the pair of the probe packets at the destination device to determine if there is a collision at ports p and p', the collision occurring when the pair of probe packets traverses a same path between the source device and the destination device; and if there is no collision, then identifying the port p as a selected port for transmitting data packets between the source device and the destination device; wherein when there is no collision, modifying the subset SKD to obtain modified subset SKImodified by taking the union of SKD and the chosen port p according to the following equation: SKDmodified = SKD U {p} [0006f] According to a fifth aspect the present invention provides a processing system for transmission of data packets between a source device and a destination device in a computer network, the computer network including a plurality of nodes for routing the data packets between the source and destination devices, the processing system comprising: a memory for storing data; and a processor operatively coupled to the memory for reading the data from and writing the data to the memory, the processor being configured to select a subset SkD from a set SD of ports the destination device is configured to listen to, the subset SkD being configured to serve the data packet traffic - 3a between the source device and the destination device, the processor being further configured to choose a port p in the set SD for analysis, to determine whether the chosen port p collides with any of the ports in the subset SkD, and, if there is a collision involving the chosen port p, to eliminate the chosen port p from the set SD; wherein the processor determines whether the chosen port p collides with any of the ports in the subset SkD by transmitting a pair of probe packets to the destination device, the collision occurring when the pair of probe packets traverses a same path between the source device and the destination device; and when the processor determines there is no collision, modifying the subset SKD to obtain modified subset SKImodified by taking the union of SKD and the chosen port p according to the following equation: SKDmodified SKD U {p [0006g] According to a sixth aspect the present invention provides a method for a identifying ports to support data packet traffic between a source device and a destination device in a computer network, the method comprising: selecting a subset SkD from a set SD of destination ports p the destination device is configured to listen to, the subset SkD for serving the data packet traffic between the source device and the destination device; choosing a port in the set SD for analysis that is not a member of the subset SkD; determining whether the chosen port collides with any of the ports in the subset SkD by analyzing one or more pairs of packets transmitted to the destination device and evaluating whether the packets from at least one of the pairs arrive out of order; and when there is a collision involving the chosen port, eliminating the chosen port from the set SD. [0006h] According to a seventh aspect the present invention provides a processing system for transmission of data packets between a source device and a destination device in a computer network, the computer network including a plurality of nodes - 3b for routing the data packets between the source and destination devices, the processing system comprising: a memory for storing data; and a processor operatively coupled to the memory for reading the data from and writing the data to the memory, the processor being configured to select a subset SkD from a set SD of ports p the destination device is configured to listen to, the subset SkD being configured to serve the data packet traffic between the source device and the destination device, the processor being further configured to choose a port in the set SD for analysis that is not a member of the subset SkD, to determine whether the chosen port collides with any of the ports in the subset SkD by analyzing one or more pairs of packets transmitted to the destination device and evaluating whether the packets from at least one of the pairs arrive out of order, and, when there is a collision involving the chosen port, to eliminate the chosen port from the set SD SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0007] In one embodiment, a method for identifying ports to support data packet traffic between a source device and a destination device in a computer network is provided. The method comprises setting a set SD of destination ports p the destination device is configured to listen to; selecting a subset SkD from the set SD for serving the data packet traffic between the source device and the destination device; choosing a port p in the set SD for analysis; determining whether the chosen port p collides with any of the ports in the subset SkD; and if there is a collision involving the chosen port p, eliminating the chosen port p from the set SD. [0008] In one example, the chosen port p is removed from the set SD prior to determining whether there is a collision. In another example, if there is no collision, the method further comprises modifying the subset SKD according to the following equation: SKDmodified = SKD U {p}. In this case, the method may further comprise repeating the selecting, choosing, determining - 3c and eliminating operations for k rounds, wherein a new port p is chosen in each round. In one alternative, after each port p is identified that does not collide with any of the ports in the subset SDK, the method further comprises sending the data packet traffic from the source device to the destination device via at least two of the non-colliding ports. [0009] In another example, determining whether the chosen port p collides with any of the ports in the subset SkD includes transmitting a pair of probe packets from the source device to the destination device. In one alternative, a first one of the pair of probe packets is of a maximum packet transmission size. In this case, a second one of the pair of probe packets may be of a minimum packet transmission size. And in a further example, the port p is randomly selected from the set SD. [0010] In accordance with another embodiment, a method of determining port collisions when transmitting traffic between a source device and a destination device in a computer network is provided. The method comprises setting a set SD of destination ports p the destination device is configured to listen to; selecting a subset SkD from a set SD for serving the data packet traffic between the source device and the destination device; initializing a test subset of ports SY to be equal to SKD; choosing a port p' from the set SY and choosing a port p from the set SD but not in SkD for analysis; sending a pair of probe packets from the source device to the destination device via p and p'; evaluating arrivals of the pair of the probe packets at the destination device to determine if there is a collision at ports p and p'; and if there is no collision, then identifying port p as a selected port for transmitting data packets between the source device and the destination device. [0011] In one example, the destination device sends an acknowledgement to the source device upon the arrival of the - 3d pair of probe packets. Here, the acknowledgement may identify whether there is a collision between p and p'. [0012] In another example, the port p' is removed from SY upon choosing. In this case, the method may further comprise repeating the choosing, sending, evaluating and identifying operations for each port in SY until all of the ports have been removed from SY. - 3e - [0013] In yet another example, a first one of the pair of probe packets is of a maximum packet transmission size and a second one of the pair of probe packets is of a minimum packet transmission size. In this case, a collision may be determined if the pair of probe packets are received in order of transmission. [0014] In accordance with another embodiment, a processing system for transmission of data packets between a source device and a destination device in a computer network is provided. Here, the computer network includes a plurality of nodes for routing the data packets between the source and destination devices. The processing system comprises a memory for storing data and a processor operatively coupled to the memory for reading the data from and writing the data to the memory. The processor is configured to select a subset SkE from a set SD of ports p the destination device is configured to listen to. The subset SD is configured to serve the data packet traffic between the source device and the destination device. The processor is further configured to choose a port p in the set SD for analysis, to determine whether the chosen port p collides with any of the ports in the subset SE, and, if there is a collision involving the chosen port p, to eliminate the chosen port p from the set SD. [0015] In one example, the processor determines whether the chosen port p collides with any of the ports in the subset SkD by transmitting a pair of probe packets to the destination device. In this case, the processor may determine whether there is a collision based upon an order of arrival of the transmitted probe packets. In an alternative, the processor comprises the source device. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0016] FIG. 1 illustrates a computer network for use with aspects of the invention. [0017] FIG. 2 illustrates aspects of a network having multiple routes in accordance with the invention.

[0018] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram for identifying suitable paths to a given destination port according to aspects of the invention. [0019] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram for determining collisions among ports of a destination node according to aspects of the invention. [0020] FIG. 5 illustrates cross traffic increasing dispersion in a network. [0021] And FIG. 6 illustrates cross traffic decreasing dispersion in a network. DETAILED DESCRIPTION [0022] Aspects, features and advantages of the invention will be appreciated when considered with reference to the following description of preferred embodiments and accompanying figures. The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements. Furthermore, the following description is not limiting; the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims and equivalents. [0023] FIG. 1 presents a schematic diagram of a computer network 100 depicting various computing devices that can be used in a networked configuration in accordance with aspects of the invention. For example, computer network 100 may have a plurality of computers 102, 104, 106 and 108 as well as other types of devices such as portable electronic devices such as a mobile phone 110 and a PDA 112. Such computing devices may be interconnected via a local or direct connection 114 and/or may be coupled via a communications network 116 such as a LAN, WAN, the Internet, etc. The communications network 116 may include multiple nodes comprising switches or routers, as will be discussed below. [0024] Each computing device may include, for example, one or more processing devices (e.g., a CPU) and have user inputs such as a keyboard 118 and mouse 120 and/or various other types of input devices such as pen-inputs, joysticks, buttons, -5touch screens, etc., as well as a display 122, which could include, for instance, a CRT, LCD, plasma screen monitor, TV, projector, etc. Each computer 102, 104, 106 and 108 may be a personal computer, server, etc. By way of example only, computers 102 and 106 may be personal computers while computer 104 may be a server and computer 108 may be a laptop. [0025] Each computer such as computers 102 and 104 contains a processor, memory/storage and other components typically present in a computer. For instance, memory/storage stores information accessible by processor, including instructions that may be executed by the processor and data that may be retrieved, manipulated or stored by the processor. The memory/storage may be of any type or any device capable of storing information accessible by the processor, such as a hard-drive, ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, flash memories, write-capable or read-only memories. The processor may comprise any number processing elements, such as sub-processing units operating in a parallel-processing configuration. Alternatively, the processor may be a dedicated controller for executing operations, such as an ASIC. [0026] The communications network 116 is preferably configured to handle data packets (e.g., packets Pi and P 2 ) using one or more nodes. FIG. 2 illustrates a network configuration 200, where a source device 202 (e.g., computer 102) may send data to a destination device 204 (e.g., computer 104) via one or more nodes 206 in the network. As shown, each node may comprise a router/switch such as router Ro, R 1 , etc. [0027] The routers may include a processor such as a CPU, as well as memory for storing/queuing buffered data packets. The packets are preferably queued in a first-in, first-out ("FIFO") order. The routers may be arranged in the network so that packets from the source device 202 may be passed to the destination device 204 via multiple alternative routes. Identifying such routes enables the system to efficiently route the packets. By way of example, FIG. 2 illustrates a -6first path 208 along the route RO, RL, RLm1 , RM and RMUi, as 2 2 well as a second path 210 along the route RO, RL, RL+1 , R and [0028] In accordance with aspects of the invention, several propositions or requirements regarding analyzing packet routing through the network are set forth. The first proposition is that there is no out of order delivery of packets sent from the source device to the destination device if these packets traverse the same route, unless a link failure occurs and causes a route change at a router in between its transmissions of these packets. [0029] A second proposition is that if two consecutive packets traverse different routes, they may arrive out of order at the destination. The probability of out of order delivery is maximized when the size of first probe packet is maximized and that of second probe packet is minimized. [0030] And a third proposition is that if two consecutive probe packets Pi and P2 of respective lengths Lm. and Lmin (e.g., the largest and smallest packet lengths supported by node RO) traverse different routes yet arrive in order at the destination, the path traversed by P2 experiences much larger queuing and/or transmission delay than Pi. In this case, it may be of little gain to split the data traffic across the two paths traversed by Pi and P2, since the throughput improvement is marginal. [0031] Assume source device 202 is configured to initiate a data intensive application (such as a file transfer) that sends a large amount of traffic (e.g., 10 Mbytes) from its port X to destination device 204. According to one aspect, SD is defined as a set of destination ports p the destination device 204 is listening to and can receive data from the source device 202. In this embodiment, the invention allows the source device 202 or other associated device to discover N paths each served by a destination port in SND D D) of the destination device 201. The source device 202 thus can split -7its traffic across these N paths, for example by establishing N TCP/UDP sessions, one to each destination port in SNE. [0032] In one embodiment, a process is executed iteratively to arrive at a solution. FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram 300 for identifying multiple paths to a given destination device and a set of ports on the destination serving these paths. The process desirably executes iteratively for up to N - 1 rounds. As shown in block 302, a counter k of the rounds is incremented (and which may be initialized to 0) . In the k h round, the process starts with SD, which is a subset of k ports in SI to serve traffic from the source device to the destination device over k unique paths. This is done to discover the (k+1) path from the source to the destination, as well as a port p in SD to serve packets traversing this path. This process is desirably done by exchanging at least one probe pair or acknowledgement ("ACK") packet between the source device and the destination device. [0033] In one example, two destination ports, namely p, and P2, "collide" if packets destined to p, traverse the same path as those destined to P2. The source device (e.g., router RO or source 202) searches for a port p in SI that does not collide with any ports in SD, and eliminates ports from Se that collide with ports in Sk. First, in block 304 a port p is removed from SD. Preferably, the port p is randomly selected for removal in block 304. Then, in block 306, it is determined if the port p just removed from SD collides with any port in SD. If so, the removed port p is not added back to SD such that it is skipped in the next round k+1, and the process returns to block 302. If there is no collision, the process proceeds to block 308, where Sk. is assigned to be Ski Sfup. Here, port p is added to Sj. The "u" symbol in this equation is a union or addition operator. -8- [0034] As shown in block 310, if the counter k is less than N-1, then the process returns to block 302; otherwise it ends at block 312. [0035] To determine if a given port p collides with any port in SD without modifying SD, the process 400 shown in FIG. 4 may be employed. First, as shown in block 401, a set of ports Sy is initialized to be the same as the set of ports in SK'. As shown in block 402, a port p' is removed from the set Sy. The port p' is preferably randomly selected for removal from S,. [0036] Next, as shown in block 404, for each port p' in SDa pair of probe packets is sent back to back via ports p' and p respectively. The size of the first probe packet is preferably a maximum transmission unit (LAx) supportable by the network between the source 202 and the destination 204, while the second probe is preferably of a minimum packet length (LMIN) supported by the network between the source 202 and destination 204. The destination device 204 may send an acknowledgement ACK back to the source device 202, as shown in block 406. [0037] As shown in block 408, the ACK may indicate whether the ports p and p' collide. In particular, if the destination device 204 received the two probe packets out of order, it is determined that ports p' and p do not collide at block 410. If the packets are received in order, it is determined that p' and p collide (e.g., port p collides with port p' in SiE) as shown in block 412. [0038] As shown in block 414 if Sy is not empty, the process preferably returns to block 402 and repeats until a port p' is found in Sy that collides with p, or until it is determined that no ports in Sy collides with p. If Sy is empty or a collision is found, the process terminates at bock 416. [0039] One of the propositions discussed above was that if two consecutive packets traverse different routes, they -9could arrive out of order at the destination. The probability of out of order delivery is maximized when the size of first probe is maximized and that of second probe is minimized. [0040] To prove this observation, consider the following network model depicting two routes between a source node and a destination node. In this example, two probe packets, Pi of length LI, and P 2 of length L 2 , are sent back to back from the source node to the destination node. The probe packets each traverses one of two routes, which may initially share certain routers, e.g., Ro, R 1 , ... R 1 . In this example, the two routes branch off after R 1 and re-merge at R,. The transmission rate of a router R (Re{RJ|0i 1}u{R1<ism u{R2l<ism) is r(R), and

Q

2 (R) and Q' (R) represent the queuing delays experienced by Pi and P 2 at R, respectively. [0041] Assume there is no cross traffic and the queuing delay is zero for P 1 and P 2 at RD to R 1 . It is straightforward to prove that: T 2 -T|,1 min r(R, )10 1i LJ [0042] T 1 2 and T 1 2 are the arrival times of P and P 2 at

R

1 , and nin{r(RJ)Osi:lj is the bandwidth of bottleneck link 2 1 between Ro and R 1 . When there is cross traffic, T 1 - T, , the dispersion of Pi and P 2 , can expand or compress. To express this phenomena, we let: [0043] T 2 -T1 L + minjr(R)O i:lj [0044] Cross traffic, such as a packet P,, may be serviced in between P 1 and P 2 . As shown in FIG. 5, if this occurs, then the dispersion between P 1 and P 2 increases. The probability of such cross traffic expanding the dispersion of Pi and P 2 decreases with the length L2 of packet P 2 . Thus, if the length L2 of packet P 2 is minimized, the probability of cross traffic packet P3 increasing the dispersion between P 1 and P 2 is minimized. -10- [0045] If cross traffic P3 is serviced before Pi as shown in FIG. 6, the dispersion of P- and P 2 is decreased. The probability of such cross-traffic P3 decreasing the dispersion of Pi and P 2 increases with the length L, of packet P 1 . Furthermore, it can be proved that: T 2 -T|1> L iaxjr(R, )0 j Oi Il [0046] Hence: L L <T-T1<2 maxfr(R 0 ! i 1 m inr(Rj)10 i l [0047] Thus T,2 _ Ti' is minimized if L2 is minimized and L, is maximized. Next, T, and Tm 2 , the arrival times of P- and

P

2 at R,, respectively, and the condition for T 1 > TV, that is

P

2 arrives at R. and eventually at the destination node before Pi are derived. In particular: T =T|'+Q'(R,)+-L- + Q (Ril)+ -L1 r(R) 1-< ,, r(RJk T= T+Q'2(R,)+ L + Q2 L2 r(R,) i1 ,m r(R) [0048] T < Tm' if and only iff: T. -T|< Q '(R ,)- 2 (R,)+ + Q R )+ - Q 2(R ) - L r _Cs~j 1+11n (I7j [0049] In the above formula, when Li is maximized and L2 is minimized, T2-T' is minimized, and ,-L2 ___ - __L2 r( R,) , r(R>) /+,jis. r(R/) is maximized. Assume the sum of queuing delays experienced by

P

1 and P2, Q 1 (R,)+ ZQ1(RJ), and Q2(R,)+ ZQ2(R2), are independent of L, and L2. The probably of T2 < T,' is maximized when Li is maximized and L2 is minimized. [0050] It can be further proved that if between Rm and the destination node, P 1 and P, traverse on different routes, the lead time of P2 over P 1 is also maximized when is L, maximized and L, is minimized. -11- [0051] With regard to the third proposition, if two consecutive probe packets Pi and P 2 of length Lmax and Le, (denoting the largest and smallest packet length supported by the network's nodes) traverse different routes yet arrive in order at the destination, the path traversed by P 2 experience much larger queuing and/or transmission delay than P 1 . It is thus of little gain to split the application traffic across the two paths traversed by Pi and P 2 , since the throughput improvement is marginal. [0052] When Li = Lmax and L2 = Lmin, the probability of cross traffic in between Pi and P 2 is close to zero, and it may be assumed that: LT 2 T1< max tr(R) O ! i l min Jr(R )0 i 11

T-T|

1 + I Q2(R Q(R1)+Q2(R,)-Q(R,)+ z L2 _ L L 2 -L i<;m < i<m r(R ) <;m r(R ) + r(R, ) L2 2+ Q2(R-2) Q1 (R )+ Q2(R,)- Q'(R,)+ L2 L+ L 2 - L minr(R 1 h± R J r (R J r(R, [0053] If the queuing delays of Pi and P 2 are equal, L____, L 1 + _+ 2 I L >0 mintr(R)0 il1 i<;r(R|) r(R,) t<r(RJ) r(R,) [0054] Once a pair of non-colliding ports has been found, the system may configure packet transmission to send one or more packets along the different routes from the source node to the destination node. In one alternative, the system evaluates the network to determine whether more than two non colliding destination ports are present. If so, the packet traffic may be split among all non-colliding routes. [0055] Furthermore, the processes discussed herein, such as the operations discussed with regard to FIGS. 3 and 4, may be performed by one or more processors in the system. By way of example only, processing may be performed by the source device 202, destination device 204 or one of the routers 206 of FIG. 2. The processor(s) may execute a program -12recorded/stored on a computer-readable recording medium, such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or the like. [0056] Although aspects of the invention herein have been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is to be understood that these embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and applications of the present invention. It is therefore to be understood that numerous modifications may be made to the illustrative embodiments and that other arrangements may be devised without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY [0057] The present invention enjoys wide industrial applicability including, but not limited to, computer network management and operation, including identifying multiple paths between source and destination nodes in computer networks to support data packet traffic. [0058] Throughout the description and claims of this specification the word "comprise" and variations of that word, such as "comprises" and "comprising", are not intended to exclude other additives, components, integers or steps. -13-

Claims (34)

1. A method for identifying ports to support data packet traffic between a source device and a destination device in a computer network, the method comprising: setting a set SD of destination ports the destination device is configured to listen to; selecting a subset SkD from the set SD for serving the data packet traffic between the source device and the destination device, wherein k indicates a number of ports in the subset SkD; choosing a port p in the set SD for analysis; determining whether the chosen port p collides with any of the ports in the subset SkD; when there is a collision involving the chosen port p, eliminating the chosen port p from the set SD; and; when there is no collision, modifying the subset SKD to obtain modified subset SKDmodified by taking the union of SKD and the chosen port p according to the following equation: SK modified = SKD U {p}

2. A method for identifying ports to support data packet traffic between a source device and a destination device in a computer network, the method comprising: setting a set SD of destination ports the destination device is configured to listen to; selecting a subset SkD from the set SD for serving the data packet traffic between the source device and the destination device, wherein k indicates a number of ports in the subset SkD; choosing a port p in the set SD for analysis; determining whether the chosen port p collides with any of the ports in the subset SkD; -14 - when there is a collision involving the chosen port p, eliminating the chosen port p from the set SD; and; when there is no collision, modifying the subset SKD to obtain modified subset SKDmodified by taking the union of SKD and the chosen port p according to the following equation: SKDmodified = SKD U {p}; the method further comprising repeating the selecting, choosing, determining and eliminating operations for one or more additional rounds, wherein a new port p is chosen in each additional round.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein after each port p is identified that does not collide with any of the ports in the subset SDK, the method further comprises sending the data packet traffic from the source device to the destination device via at least two of the non-colliding ports.

4. A method for identifying ports to support data packet traffic between a source device and a destination device in a computer network, the method comprising: setting a set SD of destination ports the destination device is configured to listen to; selecting a subset SkD from the set SD for serving the data packet traffic between the source device and the destination device; choosing a port p in the set SD for analysis; determining whether the chosen port p collides with any of the ports in the subset SkD; and if there is a collision involving the chosen port p, eliminating the chosen port p from the set SD; wherein determining whether the chosen port p collides with any of the ports in the subset SkD includes transmitting a pair of probe packets from the source device -15 - to the destination device, the collision occurring when the pair of probe packets traverses a same path between the source device and the destination device; and when there is no collision, modifying the subset SKD to obtain modified subset SKDmodified by taking the union of SKD and the chosen port p according to the following equation: SKDmodified = SKD U {p}

5. The method of claim 4, wherein a first one of the pair of probe packets is of a maximum packet transmission size.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein a second one of the pair of probe packets is of a minimum packet transmission size.

7. A method of determining port collisions when transmitting traffic between a source device and a destination device in a computer network, the method comprising: setting a set SD of destination ports the destination device is configured to listen to; selecting a subset SkD from a set SD for serving the data packet traffic between the source device and the destination device; initializing a test subset of ports Sy to be equal to SKD) choosing a port p' from the set Sy and choosing a port p from the set SD but not in SkD for analysis; sending a pair of probe packets from the source device to the destination device via the port p and the port p'; evaluating arrivals of the pair of the probe packets at the destination device to determine if there is -16 - a collision at ports p and p', the collision occurring when the pair of probe packets traverses a same path between the source device and the destination device; and if there is no collision, then identifying the port p as a selected port for transmitting data packets between the source device and the destination device; wherein when there is no collision, modifying the subset SKD to obtain modified subset SKDmodified by taking the union of SKD and the chosen port p according to the following equation: SKDmodified = SKD U {p}.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the destination device sends an acknowledgement to the source device upon the arrival of the pair of probe packets.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the acknowledgement identifies whether there is a collision between the port p and the port p'.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the port p' is removed from Sy upon choosing.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises repeating the choosing, sending, evaluating and identifying operations for each port in Sy until all of the ports have been removed from Sy.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein a first one of the pair of probe packets is of a maximum packet transmission size and a second one of the pair of probe packets is of a minimum packet transmission size. -17 -

13. The method of claim 12, wherein a collision is determined if the pair of probe packets are received in order of transmission.

14. A processing system for transmission of data packets between a source device and a destination device in a computer network, the computer network including a plurality of nodes for routing the data packets between the source and destination devices, the processing system comprising: a memory for storing data; and a processor operatively coupled to the memory for reading the data from and writing the data to the memory, the processor being configured to select a subset SkD from a set SD of ports the destination device is configured to listen to, the subset SkD being configured to serve the data packet traffic between the source device and the destination device, the processor being further configured to choose a port p in the set SD for analysis, to determine whether the chosen port p collides with any of the ports in the subset SkD, and, if there is a collision involving the chosen port p, to eliminate the chosen port p from the set SD; wherein the processor determines whether the chosen port p collides with any of the ports in the subset SkD by transmitting a pair of probe packets to the destination device, the collision occurring when the pair of probe packets traverses a same path between the source device and the destination device; and when the processor determines there is no collision, modifying the subset SKD to obtain modified subset SKDmodified by taking the union of SKD and the chosen port p according to the following equation: SKDmodified = SKD U {p}. -18 -

15. The processing system of claim 14, wherein the processor determines whether there is a collision based upon an order of arrival of the transmitted probe packets.

16. The processing system of claim 15, wherein the processor determines that there is a collision when the transmitted probe packets arrive in order, and determines that there is no collision when the transmitted probe packets arrive out of order.

17. The processing system of claim 14, wherein a first one of the pair of probe packets is of a maximum packet transmission size and a second one of the pair of probe packets is of a minimum packet transmission size.

18. A method for identifying ports to support data packet traffic between a source device and a destination device in a computer network, the method comprising: selecting a subset SkD from a set SD of destination ports p the destination device is configured to listen to, the subset SkD for serving the data packet traffic between the source device and the destination device; choosing a port in the set SD for analysis that is not a member of the subset SkD; determining whether the chosen port collides with any of the ports in the subset SkD by analyzing one or more pairs of packets transmitted to the destination device and evaluating whether the packets from at least one of the pairs arrive out of order; and when there is a collision involving the chosen port, eliminating the chosen port from the set SD. -19 -

19. The method of claim 18, wherein when it is determined that there is no collision, the method further comprises modifying the subset SKD according to the following equation: SK modified = SKD U {chosen port}.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising repeating the selecting, choosing, determining and eliminating operations for one or more rounds, wherein a new port is chosen in each of the one or more rounds.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein after each port that does not collide with any of the ports in the subset SDK is identified, the method further comprises sending the data packet traffic from the source device to the destination device via at least two of the non-colliding ports.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein for a given one of the one or more pairs of packets, a first packet of the given pair is of a maximum packet transmission size.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein a second packet of the given pair of packets is of a minimum packet transmission size.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein the chosen port is randomly selected from the set SD.

25. The method of claim 18, wherein the destination device sends an acknowledgement to the source device upon the arrival of the one or more pairs of packets.

26. A processing system for transmission of data packets between a source device and a destination device in -20 - a computer network, the computer network including a plurality of nodes for routing the data packets between the source and destination devices, the processing system comprising: a memory for storing data; and a processor operatively coupled to the memory for reading the data from and writing the data to the memory, the processor being configured to select a subset SkD from a set SD of ports p the destination device is configured to listen to, the subset SkD being configured to serve the data packet traffic between the source device and the destination device, the processor being further configured to choose a port in the set SD for analysis that is not a member of the subset SkD, to determine whether the chosen port collides with any of the ports in the subset SkD by analyzing one or more pairs of packets transmitted to the destination device and evaluating whether the packets from at least one of the pairs arrive out of order, and, when there is a collision involving the chosen port, to eliminate the chosen port from the set SD

27. The processing system of claim 26, wherein the processor comprises the source device.

28. The processing system of claim 26, wherein when the processor determines that there is no collision, the processor modifies the subset SKD according to the following equation: SKDmodified SKD U {chosen port}.

29. The processing system of claim 28, wherein the processor is further configured to repeating the selecting, choosing, determining and eliminating operations for one or more rounds, wherein a new port is chosen in each of the one or more rounds. -21 -

30. The processing system of claim 29, wherein after each port that does not collide with any of the ports in the subset SDK is identified, the system is configured to send the data packet traffic from the source device to the destination device via at least two of the non-colliding ports.

31. The processing system of claim 26, wherein for a given one of the one or more pairs of packets, a first packet of the given pair is of a maximum packet transmission size.

32. The processing system of claim 31, wherein a second packet of the given pair of packets is of a minimum packet transmission size.

33. The processing system of claim 26, wherein the chosen port is randomly selected from the set SD

34. The processing system of claim 26, wherein the source device is configured to receive an acknowledgement from the destination device upon the arrival of the one or more pairs of packets. -22 -