Choke packet

A specialized packet that is used for flow control along a network. A router detects congestion by measuring the percentage of buffers in use, line utilization and average queue lengths. When it detects congestion, it sends choke packets across the network to all the data sources associated with the congestion. The sources respond by reducing the amount of data they are sending.

The picture of an irate system administrator trying to choke their router is what comes to mind when you see this term. While we think this should be used in anger management seminars for network administrators, sadly the term choke packet is already taken and being used to describe a specialized packet that is used for flow control along a network.

A packet sent from a receiving router if the router has too much data to process. The sending router slows its data rate to the receiving router until it no longer receives choke packets from that router. At that point, it increases its data rate again.