System and method for supporting an efficient virtual output queue (VOQ) packet flushing scheme in a networking device

摘要

A system and method can support packet switching in a network environment. The system can include an ingress buffer on a networking device, wherein the ingress buffer, which includes one or more virtual output queues, operate to store one or more incoming packets that are received at an input port on the networking device. Furthermore, the system can include a packet flush engine, which is associated with the ingress buffer, wherein said packet flush engine operates to flush a packet that is stored in a said virtual output queue in the ingress buffer, and notify one or more output schedulers that the packet is flushed, wherein each output scheduler is associated with an output port.