This paper initiates the study of online algorithms for the maintaining a maximum weight b-matching problem, a generalization of maximum weight matching where each node has at most b ≥ 1 adjacent matching edges. The problem is motivated by emerging optical technologies which allow to enhance datacenter networks with reconfigurable matchings, providing direct connectivity between frequently communicating racks. These additional links may improve network performance, by leveraging spatial and temporal structure in the workload. We show that the underlying algorithmic problem features an intriguing connection to online paging, but introduces a novel challenge. Our main contribution is an online algorithm which is O(b)-competitive; we also prove that this is asymptotically optimal. We complement our theoretical results with extensive trace-driven simulations, based on real-world datacenter workloads as well as synthetic traffic traces.

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