Communication between and within multi-processor clusters of multi-cluster computer systems
First Claim
1. An interconnection controller, comprising:
- an intra-cluster interface configured for coupling with intra-cluster links to a plurality of local processors arranged in a point-to-point architecture in a local cluster;
an inter-cluster interface configured for coupling with an inter-cluster link to a non-local interconnection controller in a non-local cluster;
a transceiver configured to receive an intra-cluster packet from the local processors via the intra-cluster links of the coherent interface and encapsulate the intra-cluster packet as a high-speed link packet by adding a sequence identifier and a packet type identifier to the intra-cluster packet; and
a serializer/deserializer configured to serialize the high-speed link packet and forward the serialized high-speed link packet to the inter-cluster interface for transmission to the non-local interconnection controller via an inter-cluster link.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Improved techniques are provided for detecting and correcting errors and skew in inter-cluster communications within computer systems having a plurality of multi-processor clusters. The local nodes of each cluster include a plurality of processors and an interconnection controller. Intra-cluster links are formed between the local nodes, including the interconnection controller, within a cluster. Inter-cluster links are formed between interconnection controllers of different clusters. Intra-cluster packets may be serialized and encapsulated as inter-cluster packets for transmission on inter-cluster links, preferably with link-layer encapsulation. Each inter-cluster packet may include a sequence identifier and error information computed for that packet. Clock data may be embedded in symbols sent on each bit lane of the inter-cluster links. Copies of transmitted inter-cluster packets may be stored until an acknowledgement is received. The use of inter-cluster packets on an inter-cluster link is preferably transparent to other links and to the protocol layer.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. An interconnection controller, comprising:
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an intra-cluster interface configured for coupling with intra-cluster links to a plurality of local processors arranged in a point-to-point architecture in a local cluster;
an inter-cluster interface configured for coupling with an inter-cluster link to a non-local interconnection controller in a non-local cluster;
a transceiver configured to receive an intra-cluster packet from the local processors via the intra-cluster links of the coherent interface and encapsulate the intra-cluster packet as a high-speed link packet by adding a sequence identifier and a packet type identifier to the intra-cluster packet; and
a serializer/deserializer configured to serialize the high-speed link packet and forward the serialized high-speed link packet to the inter-cluster interface for transmission to the non-local interconnection controller via an inter-cluster link. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A computer system comprising a plurality of processor clusters interconnected by a plurality of point-to-point inter-cluster links, each processor cluster comprising nodes including a plurality of local processors and an interconnection controller interconnected by a plurality of point-to-point intra-cluster links, communications within a cluster being made via an intra-cluster protocol that uses intra-cluster packets, wherein the interconnection controller in each cluster is operable to map locally-generated communications directed to others of the clusters to the point-to-point inter-cluster links and to map remotely-generated communications directed to the local nodes to the point-to-point intra-cluster links, communications between clusters being made via an inter-cluster protocol that uses inter-cluster packets, an inter-cluster packet encapsulating at least one intra-cluster packet, each interconnection controller configured to:
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receive an intra-cluster packet from the local processors via the intra-cluster links of the coherent interface;
encapsulate the intra-cluster packet as a high-speed link packet by adding a sequence identifier and a packet type identifier to the intra-cluster packet;
serialize the high-speed link packet; and
forward the serialized high-speed link packet to the inter-cluster interface for transmission to another processor cluster via an inter-cluster link.
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Specification