Queueing Network Models of Credit -Based Flow Control

Keywords--Forkjom queues, Bulk-arrival process, Credit-based flow control, Performance evaluation, InfiniBand, Fibre Channel. 1. I N T R O D U C T I O N Credit-based flow control management schemes are becoming increasingly popular in high-speed networks that span a local area. Fibre Channel [1], the technology used to realize storage area networks, employs credit-based methods for both end-to-end and link-level flow control. Creditbased methods are also used for link-level and end-to-end flow in InfiniBand [2], a new system area network technology for interconnecting processors, IO nodes, controllers, and adapters. Creditbased virtual circuit flow control has also been proposed as an efficient means of implementing flow-controlled ATM networks [3]. Credit-based flow control management operates as follows. Before the sender transmits packets, it receives credits from the receiving node. Credits sent by the receiving or destination node indicate the availability of buffer space at the receiver. Once the sender has received credits from 0898-1221/05/$ see front matter (~) 2005 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved. doi'1