Counter functions in an application program interface for network devices

• US 20040025172A1
• Filed: 08/02/2002
• Published: 02/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures Assets 197 LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Null Networks LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Wang, Zhi, Bian, Qiyong B.
• Granted Patent: US 7,509,656 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/328
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/545 where tasks reside in different layers, e.g. user- and kernel-space

Abstract

Application program interface (API) reads a count value from a hardware counter in a network device. Then, the API resets the hardware counter and uses the count value to update a software counter. The software counter is stored in a memory location corresponding to the hardware counter. The memory is accessible both by the API and an application program using the API.

Claims

1. A method performed by an application program interface (API), the method comprising:

reading a count value from a hardware counter in a network device;

resetting the hardware counter; and

updating a software counter with the count value, said software counter being stored in a memory location in a memory, said memory location corresponding to the hardware counter, and said memory being accessible both by the API and an application program using the API.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a function command from the application program prior to reading the count value, said function command to initiate the reading, resetting, and updating.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the function command comprises an index to identify the hardware counter from among a plurality of hardware counters.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

repeating the reading, resetting, and updating at a periodic rate having a period that is shorter than an accumulation period before overflow for the hardware counter.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

receiving a function command from the application program prior to reading the count value, said function command to identify the hardware counter from among a plurality of hardware counters, identify the period for repeating, and initiate the repeating.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein updating the software counter comprises:

adding the count value from the hardware counter to a current value of the software counter.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the software counter has a longer accumulation period before overflow than the hardware counter.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the hardware counter has a bit width equal to one of 16 bits and 32 bits, and the software counter has a bit width equal to 64 bits.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing a pointer for the memory location, and a corresponding index for the hardware counter, to the application program.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the network device comprises a multi-protocol optical networking module having a serial optical interface, a parallel electrical interface, and a control processor interface.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the network device comprises a network protocol processor to perform line-speed network traffic processing, wherein said line-speed network traffic processing includes using the hardware counter to count network traffic events.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the network traffic events comprise one of bits of traffic, bytes of traffic, frames of traffic, packets of traffic, bytes of overhead in traffic, bytes of payload in traffic, and data errors in traffic.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

reading a plurality of additional count values from a plurality of additional hardware counters;

resetting the plurality of additional hardware counters; and

updating a plurality of additional software counters with the plurality of additional count values, said plurality of additional software counters being stored in a plurality of additional memory locations in the memory, each of said additional memory locations corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of additional hardware counters.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

receiving a function command from the application program prior to reading the count value or the plurality of additional count values, said function command to identify the hardware counter and the plurality of additional hardware counters from among a plurality of hardware counters and to initiate the reading, resetting, and updating.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein each of the plurality of hardware counters is individually identified by a mask index, and wherein the application program provides a single index value to identify the hardware counter and the plurality of additional hardware counters by performing a logical OR operation on respective mask indices for the hardware counter and the plurality of additional hardware counters.

16. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

repeating the reading, resetting, and updating at a periodic rate having a period that is shorter than an accumulation period before overflow for any of the hardware counter and the plurality of additional hardware counters.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein the plurality of additional hardware counters have a uniform bit width.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein the plurality of additional hardware counters have a plurality of different bit widths.

19. The method of claim 13 wherein the plurality of additional software counters each have a uniform bit width.

20. The method of claim 13 wherein the hardware counter and the plurality of additional hardware counters are located among a plurality of functional blocks within the network device.

21. The method of claim 13 wherein the network device comprises a first network device, and wherein the hardware counter and the plurality of additional hardware counters are located among a plurality of network devices including the first network device.

22. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a call-back command from the application program, said call back command including an event threshold relative to a current count value of the software counter;

monitoring the software counter to determine when the event threshold is exceeded; and

initiating a call-back to the application program in response to the event threshold being exceeded.

23. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a call-back command from the application program;

detecting a saturation condition at the hardware counter during reading; and

initiating a call-back to the application program in response to the saturation condition.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the saturation condition indicates to the application program that the hardware counter should be read and reset more frequently.

25. An application program interface (API) apparatus comprising:

means for reading a count value from a hardware counter in a network device;

means for resetting the hardware counter; and

means for updating a software counter with the count value, said software counter being stored in a memory location in a memory, said memory location corresponding to the hardware counter, and said memory being accessible both by the API and an application program using the API.

26. The API apparatus of claim 25 further comprising:

means for receiving a function command from the application program prior to reading the count value, said function command to initiate the reading, resetting, and updating.

27. The API apparatus of claim 25 further comprising:

means for repeating the reading, resetting, and updating at a periodic rate having a period that is shorter than an accumulation period before overflow for the hardware counter.

28. The API apparatus of claim 27 further comprising:

means for receiving a function command from the application program prior to reading the count value, said function command to identify the hardware counter from among a plurality of hardware counters, identify the period for repeating, and initiate the repeating.

29. The API apparatus of claim 25 wherein said means for updating the software counter comprises:

means for adding the count value from the hardware counter to a current value of the software counter.

30. The API apparatus of claim 25 further comprising:

means for providing a pointer for the memory location, and a corresponding index for the hardware counter, to the application program.

31. The API apparatus of claim 25 wherein the network device comprises a network protocol processor to perform line-speed network traffic processing, wherein said line-speed network traffic processing includes using the hardware counter to count network traffic events.

32. The API apparatus of claim 25 wherein:

said means for reading is further for reading a plurality of additional count values from a plurality of additional hardware counters;

said means for resetting is further for resetting the plurality of additional hardware counters; and

said means for updating is further for updating a plurality of additional software counters with the plurality of additional count values, said plurality of additional software counters being stored in a plurality of additional memory locations in the memory, each of said additional memory locations corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of additional hardware counters.

33. The API apparatus of claim 32 further comprising:

means for receiving a function command from the application program prior to reading the count value or the plurality of additional count values, said function command to identify the hardware counter and the plurality of additional hardware counters from among a plurality of hardware counters and to initiate the reading, resetting, and updating.

34. The API apparatus of claim 32 further comprising:

means for repeating the reading, resetting, and updating at a periodic rate having a period that is shorter than an accumulation period before overflow for any of the hardware counter and the plurality of additional hardware counters.

35. The API apparatus of claim 25 further comprising:

means for receiving a call-back command from the application program, said call back command including an event threshold relative to a current count value of the software counter;

means for monitoring the software counter to determine when the event threshold is exceeded; and

means for initiating a call-back to the application program in response to the event threshold being exceeded.

36. The API apparatus of claim 25 further comprising:

means for detecting a saturation condition at the hardware counter during reading; and

means for notifying the application program of the saturation condition.

37. A machine readable medium having stored thereon machine executable instructions that when executed implement a method comprising:

reading a count value from a hardware counter in a network device;

resetting the hardware counter; and

updating a software counter with the count value, said software counter being stored in a memory location in a memory, said memory location corresponding to the hardware counter, and said memory being accessible both by the API and an application program using the API.

38. The machine readable medium of claim 37, the method further comprising:

receiving a function command from the application program prior to reading the count value, said function command to initiate the reading, resetting, and updating.

39. The machine readable medium of claim 38 wherein the function command comprises an index to identify the hardware counter from among a plurality of hardware counters.

40. The machine readable medium of claim 37, the method further comprising:

repeating the reading, resetting, and updating at a periodic rate having a period that is shorter than an accumulation period before overflow for the hardware counter.

41. The machine readable medium of claim 40, the method further comprising:

receiving a function command from the application program prior to reading the count value, said function command to identify the hardware counter from among a plurality of hardware counters, identify the period for repeating, and initiate the repeating.

42. The machine readable medium of claim 37, wherein updating the software counter comprises:

adding the count value from the hardware counter to a current value of the software counter.

43. The machine readable medium of claim 37, the method further comprising:

providing a pointer for the memory location, and a corresponding index for the hardware counter, to the application program.

44. The machine readable medium of claim 37, the method further comprising:

reading a plurality of additional count values from a plurality of additional hardware counters;

resetting the plurality of additional hardware counters; and

updating a plurality of additional software counters with the plurality of additional count values, said plurality of additional software counters being stored in a plurality of additional memory locations in the memory, each of said additional memory locations corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of additional hardware counters.

45. The machine readable medium of claim 44, the method further comprising:

receiving a function command from the application program prior to reading the count value or the plurality of additional count values, said function command to identify the hardware counter and the plurality of additional hardware counters from among a plurality of hardware counters and to initiate the reading, resetting, and updating.

46. The machine readable medium of claim 44, the method further comprising:

repeating the reading, resetting, and updating at a periodic rate having a period that is shorter than an accumulation period before overflow for any of the hardware counter and the plurality of additional hardware counters.

47. The machine readable medium of claim 37, the method further comprising:

receiving a call-back command from the application program, said call back command including an event threshold relative to a current count value of the software counter;

monitoring the software counter to determine when the event threshold is exceeded; and

initiating a call-back to the application program in response to the event threshold being exceeded.

48. The machine readable medium of claim 37, the method further comprising:

detecting a saturation condition at the hardware counter during reading; and

notifying the application program of the saturation condition.