flow
A sequence of network packets sharing common attributes, fundamental for traffic management and optimization in modern networks.
In networking, a flow is defined as a series of data packets sent from a specific source to a specific destination, typically identified by parameters such as source and destination IP addresses, ports, and protocol type. Flows are the basic units for analyzing, managing, and optimizing network traffic.
Effective flow management is crucial in AI cloud environments, where large volumes of data must be transmitted efficiently between distributed components. Techniques such as flow scheduling and flow spraying help balance network loads, reduce congestion, and ensure quality of service (QoS) for demanding applications like real-time inference or distributed training.
Understanding and controlling flows enables organizations to maximize resource utilization, maintain predictable performance, and support the scalability required by advanced AI workloads and cloud-native architectures.