System and method for balancing TCP/IP/workload of multi-processor system based on hash buckets

• US 20060085554A1
• Filed: 12/07/2005
• Published: 04/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Shukla, Himanshu, Agrawal, Alka, Sarkar, Subrata, Shah, Vipul, Subramanian, Kumar, Rao, N.S.S. Narasimha
• Granted Patent: US 7,694,009 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/235
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/90 Buffering arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/12 Protocol engines
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers

Abstract

A method and system is provided for balancing work load for a plurality of computer processors in a multiple processor computer system. In such a system, there are a plurality of packets to be processed. First, a plurality of hash buckets are generated and each packet is assigned to a bucket by performing a predetermined hash function. The different hash buckets are then assigned to the processors based on the workload of all the processors. In connection with processing connections with a timer thread, a plurality of connections are processed with a plurality of timer threads. A plurality of hash buckets are provided, and each connection is mapped to one of the hash buckets. Further, each hash bucket is assigned to a processor timer thread based on a workload thereof.

Claims

1. A method for balancing a workload for a plurality of processors in a multiple processor computer system designed for processing a plurality of packets from a plurality of connections, the method comprising:

assigning a packet to a hash bucket determined by performing a predetermined hash function; and

queuing the hash bucket to a processor so that the workloads of all the processors are balanced, wherein the queuing includes applying a queuing model to packets in the hash bucket to prevent packets from a particular connection from utilizing an excessive amount of the processor'"'"'s time;

wherein the hash function relates to a predetermined number of hash buckets, and wherein a plurality of packets from different connections can be assigned to the same hash bucket.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the assigning a packet to a hash bucket includes using a source address, source port, destination address, and destination port parameters from the header section of the packet to identify the hash bucket.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the hash function is designed to assign a plurality of packets from a connection to the same hash bucket.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising monitoring the workload of each processor involved in the system.

5. A method for processing a plurality of connections with a plurality of timer threads by a plurality of computer processors in a multiple processor computer system, the method comprising:

providing a plurality of hash buckets related to a hash function;

mapping a connection to one of the hash buckets; and

assigning one or more hash buckets to a processor timer thread based on a workload thereof so that the processor only processes the connection mapped to the assigned hash buckets, wherein a plurality of timer threads for the computer processors thus process a plurality of connections simultaneously.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising monitoring the workload of each processor.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the mapping is based on four connection parameters, which are local address, local port, remote address, and remote port.

8. A computer program for processing a plurality of connections with a plurality of timer threads by a plurality of computer processors in a multiple processor computer system, the program comprising:

a plurality of hash buckets related to a predetermined hash function;

means for mapping a connection to one of the hash buckets; and

means for assigning a plurality of hash buckets to a processor timer thread based on a workload thereof so that the processor only processes the connection mapped to the assigned hash buckets, wherein a plurality of timer threads for the computer processors thus process a plurality of connections simultaneously.

9. The program of claim 8 further comprising means for monitoring the workload of the each processor.

10. The program of claim 8 wherein the means for mapping is based on four connection parameters, which are local address, local port, remote address, and remote port.