GRID ROUTER

• US 20090109968A1
• Filed: 10/30/2007
• Published: 04/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Contextream Ltd.
• Inventors: Sidi, Ron, NOY, Ariel, Barkai, Sharon
• Granted Patent: US 8,929,372 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/58 Association of routers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/60 Router architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/7453 using hashing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/355 Application aware switches, e.g. for HTTP

Abstract

A grid router includes a plurality of external interface units to receive packets of services from one point and to provide packets of services to another point and a second plurality of mailbox units to store and forward the packets associated with mailboxes, one per service. Each mailbox unit is connected to each external interface unit. The units are implemented on PCs (personal computers) having memory controllers and move the packets through the router close to or at the IPO (input/output) rate of the memory controllers.

Claims

1. A grid router comprising:

a plurality of external interface units to receive packets of services from one point and to provide packets of services to another point; and

a second plurality of mailbox units to store and forward said packets associated with mailboxes, one per service, each mailbox unit connected to said external interface units in a CLOS-like network,

wherein each said external interface unit has an input portion and an output portion, and

wherein said input and output portions and said mailbox units write to each other in a non-synchronous manner.

2. The grid router according to claim 1 and wherein said input portions comprise means to write to said mailbox units as per information in said packets, said mailbox units comprise means to write packets to output portions associated with said mailboxes in which said packets are stored and said output portions comprise means to write packets to said another point.

3. The grid router according to claim 1 and wherein each said portion and each mailbox unit comprises:

an incoming section to store said packets and related headers;

a processor to process only said headers at least to make routing decisions; and

an outgoing section, storing at least one pointer to said incoming section, to organize said packets for transfer to said next unit.

4. The grid router according to claim 3 and wherein said incoming section of said input portion is connected to a plurality of network interface cards, each writing directly into said incoming section.

5. The grid router according to claim 4 and wherein each said network interface card comprises a user space library and a scatter-gather DMA unit to write said packets from said library to said incoming section.

6. The grid router according to claim 1 and wherein each said outgoing section comprises at least one queue storing said at least one pointer to locations in said incoming section.

7. The grid router according to claim 6 and wherein each said outgoing section comprises one write queue per unit to be written to.

8. The grid router according to claim 3 and wherein said mailbox unit additionally comprises a mailbox section storing mailbox queues, each associated with a mailbox, wherein each said mailbox queue stores pointers to locations in its said incoming section where its data is stored.

9. The grid router according to claim 8 and wherein said processor of said mailbox unit also comprises a scheduler for scheduling and controlling the output of said packets.

10. The grid router according to claim 8 and wherein said processor of said mailbox unit comprises:

a hasher to hash a header of a packet to determine to which mailbox said packet belongs;

a rater to control input to said mailbox according to requirements previously defined for said mailbox;

a mailbox selector to store pointers to said header and said packet in a mailbox queue associated with said determined mailbox upon instruction from said rater; and

a dispatcher to shape an output stream from said mailbox and to store said pointers in a write queue previously defined for said mailbox.

11. The grid router according to claim 3 and wherein said processor of said input portion comprises:

a header creator to create a new header with a pointer to the storage location of the packet;

a hasher to read said new header and to determine in which mailbox unit to store said packet; and

a mailbox unit selector to write pointers to said new header and to said storage location in a write queue for said determined mailbox unit.

12. The grid router according to claim 3 and wherein said processor of said output portion comprises:

a write requester to update a header of a packet with a destination address of said packet and to write a pointer to said packet into a transmit queue.

13. A grid router comprising:

a plurality of external interface units to receive packets of services from one point and to provide packets of services to another point; and

a second plurality of mailbox units to store and forward said packets associated with mailboxes, one per service, each mailbox unit connected to each said external interface unit,

wherein said units are implemented on PCs (personal computers) having memory controllers and move said packets therethrough close to or at the I/O (input/output) rate of said memory controllers.

14. The grid router according to claim 13 and wherein each said personal computer comprises:

an incoming section to store said packets and related headers;

a processor to process only said headers at least to make routing decisions; and

an outgoing section, storing at least one pointer to said incoming section, to organize said packets for transfer to said next personal computer.

15. The grid router according to claim 14 and wherein said incoming section of an input portion of each of said external interface units is connected to a plurality of network interface cards, each writing directly into said incoming section and wherein said processor of said input portion determines the routing of said packets to one of said mailbox units.

16. The grid router according to claim 14 and also comprising a direct data placement unit to transfer packets from one unit to another.

17. The grid router according to claim 16 and wherein said direct data placement unit is one of:

an rDMA unit, a TCP offload engine, an RDMA enabled network interface card and a DDP enabled network interface card.

18. The grid router according to claim 14 and wherein said mailbox unit additionally comprises a mailbox section storing mailbox queues, each associated with a mailbox, wherein each said mailbox queue stores pointers to locations in its said incoming section where its data is stored.

19. The grid router according to claim 14 and wherein each said external interface unit has an input portion to write to each said mailbox unit and an output portion to receive said packets from said mailbox unit, and wherein said input and output portions and said mailbox units write to each other in an asynchronous manner.

20. A method comprising:

converting a non-reliable network of computers into a reliable network by transporting aggregated service traffic with a direct data placement unit.

21. The method according to claim 20 and wherein said direct data placement unit is one of:

an rDMA unit, a TCP offload engine, an RDMA enabled network interface card and a DDP enabled network interface card.

22. A method comprising:

transferring packets and headers, stored in separate memory areas of one personal computer and pointed to in a write queue of said personal computer to separate memory areas of another personal computer via a direct data placement unit at or close to the input/output rate of memory controllers of said computers.

23. The method according to claim 22 and wherein said direct data placement unit is one of:

an rDMA unit, a TCP offload engine, an RDMA enabled network interface card and a DDP enabled network interface card.

24. The method according to claim 22 and also comprising:

processing each said header to determine into which write queue to place a pointer to said header and its associated packet.

25. A method comprising:

storing packets and headers of a plurality of mailboxes of a mailbox unit in a general storage area;

processing each said header to determine to which mailbox each packet and associated header belong;

placing pointers to said packet and its associated header into a mailbox queue for said mailbox; and

processing said mailbox queue to control the input and output of said mailbox.