METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR A CONVERGED INFINIBAND OVER ETHERNET NETWORK

• US 20090141734A1
• Filed: 12/04/2007
• Published: 06/04/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Brown, Aaron C., Pfister, Gregory F., Recio, Renato J., Hill, Jimmy R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,165,138 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/419
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/742 Route cache; Operation thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/103 across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2521 Translation architectures other than single NAT servers

Abstract

A method of providing a converged InfiniBand over Ethernet (IBOE) network. An IBOE switch receives a data packet. If the data packet is received by the IBOE switch from the InfiniBand network, a translation utility looks up an Ethernet media access control (MAC) address corresponding to an LID of the packet in a translation table. The translation utility generates an Ethernet packet and encapsulates an InfiniBand link layer packet before sending the packet. If the data packet is received by the IBOE switch from the Ethernet network, the translation utility removes the Ethernet header from the packet and looks up a LID corresponding to the MAC address. The translation utility calculates an outbound port number and sends the packet.

Claims

1. In a computer network switch, a method comprising:

receiving a data packet;

in response to a determination that a data packet is received by an InfiniBand over Ethernet (IBOE) switch from an InfiniBand network;

looking up an Ethernet media access control (MAC) address that corresponds to an InfiniBand Local Identifier (LID) of said data packet in a translation table;

generating an Ethernet packet corresponding to said data packet; and

encapsulating an InfiniBand link layer packet in said Ethernet packet;

in response to a determination that said data packet is received by said IBOE switch from an Ethernet network;

removing an Ethernet header from said data packet;

looking up an LID that corresponds to a MAC address of said Ethernet header in said translation table; and

calculating an outbound port number of said data packet from said IBOE switch; and

sending said data packet to a destination in said computer network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said translation table comprises:

a plurality of Ethernet MAC addresses corresponding to devices in said Ethernet network;

a plurality of InfiniBand LIDs corresponding to devices in said InfiniBand network;

a plurality of port numbers of said IBOE switch; and

wherein each of said Ethernet MAC addresses translates to one of said InfiniBand LIDs.

3. A computer network comprising:

an Ethernet network;

an InfiniBand network; and

an InfiniBand over Ethernet (IBOE) switch coupled to both said Ethernet network and said InfiniBand network, wherein said IBOE switch includes;

a processor unit;

an Input/Output (I/O) interface coupled to said processor unit; and

a memory coupled to said processor unit; and

an executable utility within said memory, wherein said executable utility provides the functions of;

in response to a determination that a data packet is received by an InfiniBand over Ethernet (IBOE) switch from an InfiniBand network;

looking up an Ethernet media access control (MAC) address that corresponds to an InfiniBand Local Identifier (LID) of said data packet in a translation table;

generating an Ethernet packet corresponding to said data packet; and

encapsulating an InfiniBand link layer packet in said Ethernet packet;

in response to a determination that said data packet is received by said IBOE switch from an Ethernet network;

removing an Ethernet header from said data packet;

looking up an LID that corresponds to a MAC address of said Ethernet header in said translation table; and

calculating an outbound port number of said data packet from said IBOE switch; and

sending said data packet to a destination in said computer network.

4. The computer network of claim 3, wherein said IBOE switch comprises the translation table which includes:

a plurality of Ethernet MAC addresses corresponding to devices in said Ethernet network;

a plurality of InfiniBand LIDs corresponding to devices in said InfiniBand network;

a plurality of port numbers of said IBOE switch; and

an identifier that matches each of said Ethernet MAC addresses to one of said InfiniBand LIDs.

5. A computer program product comprising:

a computer storage medium; and

program code on said computer storage medium that that when executed provides the functions of;

in response to a determination that a data packet is received by an InfiniBand over Ethernet (IBOE) switch from an InfiniBand network;

looking up an Ethernet media access control (MAC) address that corresponds to an InfiniBand Local Identifier (LID) of said data packet in a translation table;

generating an Ethernet packet corresponding to said data packet; and

encapsulating an InfiniBand link layer packet in said Ethernet packet;

in response to a determination that said data packet is received by said IBOE switch from an Ethernet network;

removing an Ethernet header from said data packet;

looking up an LID that corresponds to a MAC address of said Ethernet header in said translation table; and

calculating an outbound port number of said data packet from said IBOE switch; and

sending said data packet to a destination in said computer network.

6. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein said translation table comprises:

a plurality of Ethernet MAC addresses corresponding to devices in said Ethernet network;

a plurality of InfiniBand LIDs corresponding to devices in said InfiniBand network;

a plurality of port numbers of said IBOE switch; and

an identifier that matches each of said Ethernet MAC addresses to one of said InfiniBand LIDs.