Part of the Network software glossary:

Flow control is the management of data flow between computers or devices or between nodes in a network so that the data can be handled at an efficient pace. Too much data arriving before a device can handle it causes data overflow, meaning the data is either lost or must be retransmitted. For serial data transmission locally or in a network, the Xon/Xoff protocol can be used. For modem connections, either Xon/Xoff or CTS/RTS (Clear to Send/Ready to Send) commands can be used to control data flow.

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In a network, flow control can also be applied by refusing additional device connections until the flow of traffic has subsided.

This was last updated in April 2005
Posted by: Margaret Rouse

Related Terms

Definitions

  • OpenFlow controller

    - An OpenFlow controller is an application that manages flow control in a software-defined networking (SDN) environment. (searchSDN.com)

  • FlowVisor

    - FlowVisor is an experimental software-defined networking controller that enables network virtualization by slicing a physical network into multiple logical networks. (searchSDN.com)

  • Trema

    - Trema is an open source framework for developing OpenFlow controllers for software-defined networking in the Ruby and C programming languages. (searchSDN.com)

Glossaries

  • Network software

    - Terms related to network software, including definitions about network monitoring and words and phrases about network administration.

  • Internet applications

    - This WhatIs.com glossary contains terms related to Internet applications, including definitions about Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery models and words and phrases about web sites, e-commerce ...

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