Communication in multiprocessor using proxy sockets

• US 20050278460A1
• Filed: 05/27/2004
• Published: 12/15/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Jacobson, Michael, Brame, Richard, Shin, George
• Granted Patent: US 8,090,837 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2089 Redundant storage control functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals

Abstract

Systems and methods for implementing communication in a multiprocessor are disclosed. In one exemplary implementation a first processor receives a request to provide a communication resource for an application executing on the first processor to communicate with a remote application. In response to the communication request, the first processor opens a communication resource on a second processor, and manages communication operations between the application executing on the first processor and the remote application using the communication resource on the second processor.

Claims

1. A method of computing, comprising:

receiving, at a first processor, a request to open a communication resource for communicating with a device external to the first processor, wherein the request includes a proxy flag that identifies a first communication resource managed by the first processor or a second communication resource managed by a second processor;

selecting one of the first communication resource or the second communication resource based on information contained in the proxy flag; and

mapping the request to a selected communication resource.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting one of the first communication resource or the second communication resource based on information contained in the proxy flag further comprises determining whether at least one of the first communication resource or the second resource is accepting communication requests.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the proxy flag is received in a shared memory function call parameter.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein mapping the request to the selected communication resource comprises instantiating a first data table that includes a pointer to an entry point for communication operations with the selected communication resource.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising setting, in the first data table, a data field that indicates the value of the proxy flag.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising opening the selected communication resource.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising returning a descriptor the selected communication resource.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a communication request for further communication operations, wherein the communication request identifies the selected communication resource; and

sending the communication request to the selected communication resource.

9. A computing system, comprising:

a first processor and a second processor;

first network communication resources operable on the first processor that enable network communication operations;

second network communication resources operable on the second processor that enable network communication operations;

inter-processor communication resources operable on the first processor and the second processor that enable communication between the first processor and the second processor; and

a demultiplexer module operable on the first processor that enables network communication operations between an application executing on the first processor and a remote application using the second network communication resources.

10. The computing system of claim 9, wherein the first network communication resources comprises a local socket I/O API that provides an interface with an underlying communication protocol stack executing on the first processor.

11. The computing system of claim 9, wherein the second network communication resources comprises a local socket I/O API that provides an interface with an underlying communication protocol stack executing on the second processor.

12. The computing system of claim 9, wherein the inter-processor communication resources implement remote procedure calls to communicate via a shared memory module.

13. The computing system of claim 9, wherein the demultiplexer module assigns communication resources to communication requests.

14. The computing system of claim 9, wherein the demultiplexer module manages a plurality of data tables that provide a mapping between a communication resource and specific communication operations that may be implemented by the communication resource.

15. A method of computing, comprising:

receiving, at a first processor, a request to provide a communication resource for an application executing on the first processor to communicate with a remote application;

in response to the communication request, opening a communication resource on a second processor; and

implementing communication operations between the application executing on the first processor and the remote application using the communication resource on the second processor.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein opening a communication resource on a second processor comprises creating a data table that maps communication requests to an application programming interface method that creates a communication resource on the second processor.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the communication resource comprises a network socket, and wherein opening a communication resource on a second processor comprises binding the network socket to a network connection managed by the second processor.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein opening a communication resource on the second processor further comprises passing a socket descriptor from the second processor to the first processor.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein communication operations between the application executing on the first processor and the remote application using the communication resource on the second processor comprise information about the socket descriptor.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising closing the communication resource on the second processor.

21. A multiprocessor computing system, comprising:

a first processor and a second processor;

means for managing communication operations between an application executing on the first processor and a remote application using communication resources of the second processor.

22. The multiprocessor computing system of claim 21, further comprising means for implementing inter-processor communication between the first processor and the second processor.

23. The multiprocessor computing system of claim 21, further comprising means for selecting between communication resources on the first processor and communication resources on the second processor.

24. The multiprocessor computing system of claim 21, wherein the communication resources comprise network sockets.