Method and system for performing packet integrity operations using a data movement engine

• US 20030097481A1
• Filed: 10/22/2002
• Published: 05/22/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Surgient Networks, Inc. (Quest Software, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Surgient Networks, Inc. (Quest Software, Inc.)
• Inventors: Richter, Roger K.
• Application Number:
  US10/277,626
• Publication Number:
  US 20030097481A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/251
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5022 by giving priorities, e.g. assigning classes of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0864 Round trip delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0888 Throughput
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10015 Access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. using brokers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for an improved TCP/UDP checksum method. The checksum methods described herein may be characterized as utilizing the system data movement engine, such as a direct memory access (DMA) engine, as part of the checksum process. The checksum process may be incorporated within the prescribed interface mechanisms utilized to move data across an interconnection medium. In this manner a TCP/UDP checksum process has been provided in which checksum generation is incorporated within the data movement engine utilized with a high speed interconnect medium (for example a switch fabric). Moreover, the checksum process may be split up and different operations performed at different steps of the packet transmission process. Thus, portions of the checksum process may be performed on either side of the interconnect medium during the transmission process.

Claims

1. A method of performing one or more packet integrity operations, comprising performing said one or more packet integrity operations on at least a portion of the packet data contained in a data packet;

wherein at least one of said packet integrity operations is performed on said packet data by a system data movement engine.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more packet integrity operations comprise at least a portion of a cyclic redundancy check generation or verification process, or at least a portion of a checksum generation or verification process.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein system data movement engine comprises a DMA engine.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said system data movement engine is coupled to a distributed interconnect.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said method further comprises at least one of:

using said system data movement engine to perform said at least one of said packet integrity operations in conjunction with receiving said data packet in said system data movement engine across said distributed interconnect;

or

using said system data movement engine to perform said at least one of said packet integrity operations in conjunction with transmitting said data packet from said system data movement engine across said distributed interconnect.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said distributed interconnect comprises a switch fabric.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said method further comprises performing at least one of said packet integrity operations on at least a portion of said packet data using a first processing engine;

and performing at least one other of said packet integrity operations on at least a portion of said packet data using a second processing engine;

wherein said first process engine comprises said system data movement engine.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said method further comprises performing at least one of a first TCP packet integrity operation or a first UDP packet integrity operation on at least a portion of said packet data using said first processing engine;

and performing at least one of a second TCP packet integrity operation or a second UDP packet integrity operation on at least a portion of said packet data using said second processing engine.

9. A method of performing one or more packet integrity operations, comprising using a DMA engine to perform at least one packet integrity operation on at least a portion of the packet data contained in a data packet.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said at least one packet integrity operation comprises at least a portion of a cyclic redundancy check generation or verification process.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein said packet integrity operation comprises at least a portion of a checksum generation or verification process.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said data packet comprises at least one of a TCP checksum operation or a UDP checksum operation.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said DMA engine is coupled to a distributed interconnect.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said distributed interconnect comprises a switch fabric.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said method further comprises performing at least one first packet integrity operation on at least a portion of said packet data using a first processing engine;

and performing at least one second packet integrity operation on at least a portion of said packet data using a second processing engine;

wherein said first process engine comprises said DMA engine; and

wherein said first and second processing engines are communicatively coupled by said distributed interconnect.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said first and second processing engines comprise a part of a computing system having a plurality of processing engines communicating in a peer to peer environment across said distributed interconnect.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said method further comprises performing said at least one first packet integrity operation on at least a portion of said packet data before or in conjunction with transmitting said data packet from said first processing engine across said distributed interconnect to said second processing engine;

and performing said at least one second packet integrity operation on at least a portion of said packet data after or in conjunction with receiving said data packet in said second processing engine from said first processing engine.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said at least one first packet integrity operation comprises at least one of a TCP checksum accumulation operation or a UDP checksum accumulation operation;

and wherein said at least one second packet integrity operation comprises at least one of a TCP checksum store operation or a UDP checksum store operation.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said at least one second packet integrity operation further comprises an IP checksum operation.

20. A computing system, comprising a system data movement engine configured to perform one or more packet integrity operations on at least a portion of the packet data contained in a data packet.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein said one or more packet integrity operations comprise at least a portion of a cyclic redundancy check generation or verification process, or at least a portion of a checksum generation or verification process.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein system data movement engine comprises a DMA engine.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein said packet integrity operation comprises at least a portion of a checksum generation or verification process.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein said DMA engine is coupled to a distributed interconnect.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein said distributed interconnect comprises a switch fabric.

26. The system of claim 25, further comprising a plurality of processing engines communicating in a peer to peer environment across said distributed interconnect, said plurality of processing engines comprising a first processing engine and a second processing communicatively coupled by said distributed interconnect;

wherein said first processing engine comprises said DMA engine and is configured to perform at least one first packet integrity operation on at least a portion of said packet data; and

wherein said second processing engine is configured to perform at least one second packet integrity operation on at least a portion of said packet data.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein said at least one first packet integrity operation comprises at least one of a TCP checksum accumulation operation or a UDP checksum accumulation operation;

and wherein said at least one second packet integrity operation comprises at least one of a TCP checksum store operation or a UDP checksum store operation.

28. A method of performing packet integrity operations using a plurality of processing engines, comprising:

using a first processing engine to perform at least one first packet integrity operation of a packet integrity process on at least a portion of the packet data contained in a data packet;

transmitting said data packet from said first processing engine to at least one second processing engine; and

using said at least one second processing engine to perform at least one second packet integrity operation of said packet integrity process on at least a portion of packet data contained in said data packet.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein said method further comprises using said first processing engine to perform said first packet integrity operation on a selected portion of the packet data contained in said data packet

30. The method of claim 28, wherein said first and second packet integrity operations comprise respective first and second portions of a cyclic redundancy check process.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein said first and second packet integrity operations comprise respective first and second portions of a checksum process.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein said checksum operations comprise at least one of a TCP checksum operation or a UDP checksum operation.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein said first and second processing engines are communicatively coupled by a distributed interconnect;

wherein said first processing engine comprises a system data movement engine; and

wherein said at least one first packet integrity operation is performed by said system data movement engine in conjunction with data movement across said distributed interconnect.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein said system data movement engine comprises a DMA engine.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein said distributed interconnect comprises a switch fabric.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein said method further comprises using said DMA engine to perform said at least one first packet integrity operation on at least a portion of said packet data before or in conjunction with transmitting said data packet from said first processing engine across said distributed interconnect to said second processing engine;

and using said second processing engine to perform said at least one second packet integrity operation on at least a portion of said packet data after or in conjunction with receiving said data packet in said second processing engine from said first processing engine.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein said first and second processing engines comprise a part of a network connected computing system having a plurality of processing engines communicating in a peer to peer environment across said distributed interconnect.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein said at least one first packet integrity operation comprises at least one of a TCP checksum accumulation operation or a UDP checksum accumulation operation;

and wherein said at least one second packet integrity operation comprises at least one of a TCP checksum store operation or a UDP checksum store operation.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein said performing said at least one first packet integrity operation comprises obtaining an intermediate TCP or UDP checksum value and appending said intermediate TCP or UDP checksum value to the end of a packet transmission buffer of said data packet;

and wherein said performing said at least one second packet integrity operation comprises obtaining a final TCP or UDP checksum value and storing said final TCP or UDP checksum value in the header checksum field of said data packet.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein said performing said at least one first packet integrity operation comprises obtaining said intermediate TCP or UDP checksum value on a payload portion of said packet data.

41. The method of claim 39, wherein said network connected computing system comprises a network connected content delivery system;

wherein said first processing engine comprises a transport processing engine;

wherein said second processing engine comprises a network interface processing engine; and

wherein said network interface processing is coupled to said network.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein said at least one second packet integrity operation further comprises an IP checksum operation.

43. A computing system, comprising:

a first processing engine and at least one second processing engine;

wherein said first processing engine is configured to perform at least one first packet integrity operation of a packet integrity process on at least a portion of the packet data contained in a data packet, and to transmit said data packet from said first processing engine to at least one second processing engine; and

wherein said at least one second processing engine is configured to perform at least one second packet integrity operation of said packet integrity process on at least a portion of packet data contained in said data packet.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein said first processing engine is configured to perform said first packet integrity operation on a selected portion of the packet data contained in said data packet.

45. The system of claim 43, wherein said first and second packet integrity operations comprise respective first and second portions of a checksum process.

46. The system of claim 45, wherein said first and second processing engines are communicatively coupled by a distributed interconnect;

wherein said first processing engine comprises a system data movement engine; and

wherein said system data movement engine is configured to perform said at least one first packet integrity operation in conjunction with data movement across said distributed interconnect.

47. The system of claim 46, wherein said system data movement engine comprises a DMA engine.

48. The system of claim 47, wherein said distributed interconnect comprises a switch fabric.

49. The system of claim 48, wherein said first and second processing engines comprise a part of a network connectable computing system having a plurality of processing engines communicating in a peer to peer environment across said distributed interconnect.

50. The system of claim 49, wherein said at least one first packet integrity operation comprises at least one of a TCP checksum accumulation operation or a UDP checksum accumulation operation;

and wherein said at least one second packet integrity operation comprises at least one of a TCP checksum store operation or a UDP checksum store operation.

51. The system of claim 50, wherein said network connectable computing system comprises a network connectable content delivery system;

wherein said first processing engine comprises a transport processing engine;

wherein said second processing engine comprises a network interface processing engine; and

wherein said network interface processing is coupled to said network.

52. The system of claim 51, wherein said at least one second packet integrity operation further comprises an IP checksum operation.

53. A method of performing one or more packet integrity operations, comprising at least one of:

using a first processing engine to perform at least one packet integrity operation of a packet integrity generation process on at least a portion of the packet data contained in a first data packet, and transmitting said first data packet from said first processing engine to at least one other processing engine, wherein said at least one packet integrity operation of said packet integrity generation process is performed by said first processing engine in conjunction with movement of said data packet from said first processing engine to said at least one other processing engine;

or

receiving a second data packet in a second processing engine from at least one other processing engine, and using said second processing engine to perform at least one packet integrity operation of a packet integrity verification process on at least a portion of the packet data contained in said second data packet, wherein said at least one packet integrity operation of said packet integrity verification process is performed by said second processing engine in conjunction with movement of said data packet from said at least one other processing engine to said second processing engine;

or

a combination thereof.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein said packet integrity generation process comprises a cyclic redundancy check process, and wherein said packet integrity verification process comprises a cyclic redundancy check process.

55. The method of claim 53, wherein said packet integrity generation process comprises a checksum generation process, and wherein said packet integrity verification process comprises a checksum verification process.

56. The method of claim 55, wherein said first processing engine comprises a system data movement engine;

wherein said method comprises using said system data movement engine to perform at least one packet integrity operation of said checksum generation process on at least a portion of the packet data contained in said first data packet in conjunction with outbound movement of said first data packet from said first processing engine.

57. The method of claim 56, wherein said system data movement engine comprises a DMA engine;

and wherein said at least one packet integrity operation of said checksum generation process comprises obtaining a checksum value and appending said checksum value to the end of a packet transmission buffer of said first data packet.

58. The method of claim 55, wherein said second processing engine comprises a system data movement engine;

and wherein said method comprises using said system data movement engine to perform at least one packet integrity operation of said checksum verification process on at least a portion of the packet data contained in said second data packet in conjunction with inbound movement of said data packet to said second processing engine.

59. The method of claim 58, wherein said system data movement engine comprises a DMA engine;

and wherein said at least one packet integrity operation of said checksum verification process comprises receiving a checksum value appended to the end of a packet transmission buffer of said second data packet, and verifying the checksum value on the remaining packet data.

60. The method of claim 55, wherein said first processing engine comprises a system data movement engine;

wherein said method comprises using said system data movement engine to perform at least one packet integrity operation of said checksum generation process on at least a portion of the packet data contained in said first data packet, and transmitting said first data packet from said first processing engine to said at least one other processing engine

61. The method of claim 55, wherein said second processing engine comprises a system data movement engine;

wherein said method comprises receiving said second data packet in said second processing engine from said at least one other processing engine, and using said system data movement engine to perform at least one packet integrity operation of a checksum verification process on at least a portion of the packet data contained in said second data packet.

62. The method of claim 53, further comprising:

using said first processing engine to perform at least one packet integrity operation of a packet integrity generation process on at least a portion of the packet data contained in a first data packet, and transmitting said first data packet from said first processing engine to said at least one other processing engine, wherein said at least one packet integrity operation of said packet integrity generation process is performed by said first processing engine in conjunction with transmission of said data packet from said first processing engine; and

receiving said second data packet in said second processing engine from said at least one other processing engine, and using said second processing engine to perform at least one packet integrity operation of a packet integrity verification process on at least a portion of the packet data contained in said second data packet in conjunction with receipt of said second data packet in said second processing engine.

63. The method of claim 55, wherein said method further comprises at least one of:

transmitting said first data packet from said first processing engine to said at least one other processing engine across a distributed interconnect;

or

receiving said second data packet in said second processing engine from said at least one other processing engine across a distributed interconnect.

64. The method of claim 63, wherein said distributed interconnect comprises a switch fabric.

65. The method of claim 63, wherein said first and second processing engines each comprise a part of a network connected computing system having a plurality of processing engines communicating in a peer to peer environment across said distributed interconnect.

66. The method of claim 65, wherein said network connected computing system comprises a network connected content delivery system.

67. A computing system, comprising at least one of:

a first processing engine configured to perform at least one packet integrity operation of a packet integrity generation process on at least a portion of the packet data contained in a first data packet, and to transmit said first data packet from said first processing engine to at least one other processing engine, wherein said first processing engine is further configured to perform said at least one packet integrity operation of said packet integrity generation process in conjunction with movement of said data packet from said first processing engine to said at least one other processing engine;

or

a second processing engine configured to receive a second data packet from at least one other processing engine, and to perform at least one packet integrity operation of a packet integrity verification process on at least a portion of the packet data contained in said second data packet, wherein said second processing engine is further configured to perform said at least one packet integrity operation of said packet integrity verification process in conjunction with movement of said data packet from said at least one other processing engine to said second processing engine;

or

a combination thereof.

68. The system of claim 67, wherein said packet integrity generation process comprises a checksum generation process, and wherein said packet integrity verification process comprises a checksum verification process.

69. The system of claim 68, wherein said first processing engine comprises a system data movement engine configured to perform at least one packet integrity operation of said checksum generation process on at least a portion of the packet data contained in said first data packet in conjunction with outbound movement of said first data packet from said first processing engine.

70. The system of claim 68, wherein said second processing engine comprises a system data movement engine;

and wherein said method comprises using said system data movement engine to perform at least one packet integrity operation of said checksum verification process on at least a portion of the packet data contained in said second data packet in conjunction with inbound movement of said data packet to said second processing engine.

71. The system of claim 67, wherein said system comprises said first and second processing engines;

and

wherein said first processing engine is configured to perform at least one packet integrity operation of a packet integrity generation process on at least a portion of the packet data contained in a first data packet, and to transmit said first data packet from said first processing engine to said at least one other processing engine, and wherein said first processing engine is further configured to perform said at least one packet integrity operation of said packet integrity generation process in conjunction with transmission of said first data packet from said first processing engine; and

wherein said second processing engine is configured to receive said second data packet from at least one other processing engine, and to perform at least one packet integrity operation of a packet integrity verification process on at least a portion of the packet data contained in said second data packet in conjunction with receipt of said second data packet in said second processing engine.

72. The system of claim 68, wherein said distributed interconnect comprises a switch fabric.

73. The system of claim 68, wherein said first and second processing engines each comprise a part of a network connectable computing system having a plurality of processing engines communicating in a peer to peer environment across said distributed interconnect.

74. The system of claim 73, wherein said network connectable computing system comprises a network connectable content delivery system.