System and method for detection of elephant flows

摘要

A system and method for detection of elephant flows includes a switching device. The switching device includes one or more ports, a memory, and a control unit coupled to the ports and the memory. The control unit is configured to detect storage locations information included in one or more first messages. The storage locations information identifies a storage node and is forwarded to a computing device. The control unit is further configured to detect opening of a connection between the computing device and the storage node based one or more second messages received for forwarding on one or more of the ports and determine identifying characteristics of an elephant flow based on information associated with the connection. In some embodiments, the control unit is further configured to forward network packets using an altered forwarding strategy when the network packets are associated with the elephant flow.