Polling for and transfer of protocol data units in a data processing network
First Claim
1. A data processing network, comprising:
- first and second servers each connected to a central switch, wherein each server includes a network interface card (NIC) comprising a processor and a buffer;
wherein the second server NIC is configured to store management information generated by the second server in the second server buffer;
wherein the first server NIC is configured to send a low level polling request to the second server NIC; and
wherein the second server NIC is configured to respond to the polling request with a low level transfer of the buffered information to the first server NIC.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A data processing network and associated method of transferring protocol data units (PDU) is disclosed. The network comprises a first server including a first network interface card (NC) connecting the first server to a central switch and a second server including a second NIC that connects the second server to the switch. The first server NIC is configured to send a low level polling request to the second server NIC and the second server MC is configured to respond to the polling request with a low level transfer of buffered information to the first server. The first server may comprise a management server and the second server may comprise a server appliance that receives processing requests from an external network. The first server may broadcast the polling request to a set of server appliances on the network. The polling request may be issued responsive to the expiration of a timer.
51 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A data processing network, comprising:
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first and second servers each connected to a central switch, wherein each server includes a network interface card (NIC) comprising a processor and a buffer;
wherein the second server NIC is configured to store management information generated by the second server in the second server buffer;
wherein the first server NIC is configured to send a low level polling request to the second server NIC; and
wherein the second server NIC is configured to respond to the polling request with a low level transfer of the buffered information to the first server NIC. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of managing a data processing network comprising a first server and a second server each connected to a switch, the method comprising:
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buffering management information generated by the second server;
periodically issuing a polling request at a low level of the network communication protocol from the first server to the second server;
responsive to each polling request, sending the buffered information from the second server to the first server with at the low level of the communication protocol; and
buffering the transferred information in a buffer of the first server. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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15. A network interface card (NIC) suitable for use in a first server of a data processing network, comprising:
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a NIC processor;
a NIC buffer accessible to the processor;
wherein the NIC processor is enabled to issue a low level polling request to a NIC of a second server that is locally connected to the first server; and
wherein the NIC processor is further configured to buffer management information sent from the second server NIC responsive to the polling request.
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Specification