Intelligent network interface system method for protocol processing

• US 6,226,680 B1
• Filed: 04/27/1998
• Issued: 05/01/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Alacritech, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Alacritech, Inc.
• Inventors: Higgen, David A., Philbrick, Clive M., Boucher, Laurence B., Craft, Peter K., Blightman, Stephen E. J., Starr, Daryl D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Muang, Zarni
• Application Number:
  US09/067,544
• Time in Patent Office: 1,100 Days
• Field of Search: 709/236, 709/243, 709/228, 709/250, 709/230, 709/238
• US Class Current: 709/230
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 5/10 having a sequence of storage locations each being individually accessible for both enqueue and dequeue operations, e.g. using random access memory G06F5/065 takes precedence
• 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 45/245 Link aggregation, e.g. trunking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/90 Buffering arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/901 using storage descriptor, e.g. read or write pointers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/9063 Intermediate storage in different physical parts of a node or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/9094 Arrangements for simultaneous transmit and receive, e.g. simultaneous reading/writing from/to the storage element
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/10 of different types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/25 of the same type
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/12 Protocol engines
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/162 involving adaptations of sockets based mechanisms secure socket layer H04L63/168
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/163 In-band adaptation of TCP data exchange; In-band control procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/165 : Combined use of TCP and UDP protocols; selection criteria therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/166 : IP fragmentation; TCP segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/168 : specially adapted for link layer protocols, e.g. asynchronous transfer mode [ATM], synchronous optical network [SONET] or point-to-point protocol [PPP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/169 : Special adaptations of TCP, UDP or IP for interworking of IP based networks with other networks protocols for interworking, protocol conversion H04L69/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 : Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 : Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/32 : Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 : Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13093 : Personal computer, PC
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13103 : Memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13204 : Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13299 : Bus
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1332 : Logic circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13345 : Intelligent networks, SCP
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0029 : Provisions for intelligent networking

Abstract

A system for protocol processing in a computer network has an intelligent network interface card (INIC) or communication processing device (CPD) associated with a host computer. The INIC provides a fast-path that avoids protocol processing for most large multipacket messages, greatly accelerating data communication. The INIC also assists the host for those message packets that are chosen for processing by host software layers. A communication control block for a message is defined that allows DMA controllers of the INIC to move data, free of headers, directly to or from a destination or source in the host. The context is stored in the IMC as a communication control block (CCB) that can be passed back to the host for message processing by the host. The INIC contains specialized hardware circuits that are much faster at their specific tasks than a general purpose CPU. A preferred embodiment includes a trio of pipelined processors with separate processors devoted to transmit, receive and management processing, with full duplex communication for four fast Ethernet nodes.

Claims

1. A method for communication between a network and a host computer having a processor and a sequential stack of protocol layers, the method comprising:

receiving, by said host from said network, a message packet including data and a plurality of headers corresponding to said stack of protocol layers, said data intended for placement in said host according to protocol processing of said headers,

processing, sequentially as a group, said plurality of headers, including creating a summary of said group of headers, and

choosing, dependent upon said summary, whether to process said packet by said protocol layers or to avoid processing by said protocol layers, for storing said data in a destination in said host.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising transferring said data without said headers to said destination in accordance with said summary of said group, without processing said headers by said protocol layers.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising creating a communication control block for a connection including said packet, wherein transferring said data to said destination includes guiding said data by said communication control block.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said processing of said group of headers occurs during said receiving, by said host from said network, of said message packet.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating a communication control block for a connection including said packet, and matching said summary with said communication control block, for transferring said data to said destination.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising receiving by said host from said network a second message packet, and transferring said second message packet to said destination by referencing said communication control block.

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising transmitting a second message packet containing additional data and additional headers from said host to said network by referencing said communication control block.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said destination is a file cache in said host.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the host is connected to the network with a network interface device, and said receiving occurs in said device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said summary includes information regarding a transport layer header of said headers.

11. A method for network communication by a host computer having a processor, a memory and a sequential stack of protocol layers, the method comprising:

receiving by the host from the network a packet including data and a plurality of headers relating to the stack of protocol layers, said packet destined for said host,

categorizing said packet with a hardware logic sequencer, including classifying said headers and creating a summary of said packet, and

choosing, dependent upon said summary, whether to process said packet to with said stack of protocol layers or to bypass said stack of protocol layers by transferring said data to a destination in said host.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said packet is a part of a message having a plurality of packets, and further comprising:

receiving by said host from said network a second packet of said message, said second packet including additional data and additional headers,

categorizing said second packet with said hardware logic sequencer, including classifying said additional headers and creating a second packet summary,

choosing, dependent upon said second packet summary, whether to send said second packet to said stack of protocol layers or to bypass said stack of protocol layers and send said additional data to said destination, wherein only one of said first and second packets is sent to said stack of protocol layers.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

sending said packet to said stack of protocol layers,

processing said packet with said stack of protocol layers and thereby creating a context including said destination for said message,

receiving by said host from said network a related packet including additional data and additional headers, and

employing said context for sending said additional data to said destination.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising creating a context for a message including said packet, said context defining a connection between said host and a remote host, wherein choosing whether to process said packet with said stack of protocol layers or to bypass said stack of protocol layers includes comparing said summary with said context.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising bypassing said stack of protocol layers by sending said data without said headers to said destination in a form suitable for said destination.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

sending said packet to said stack of protocol layers,

processing said packet with said stack of protocol layers and thereby creating a context for said message,

creating a context for a message including said packet, said context defining a connection between said host and a remote host, and

employing said context for transmitting a reply to said network from said host, including prepending a transmission header to reply data, said transmission header including control information regarding each of said protocol layers.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein said destination is a file cache in said host.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the host is connected to the network with a network interface device, and said receiving occurs in said device.

19. A method for communication between a network and a host computer having a processor and a stack of protocol layers, the method comprising:

a step for receiving, by said host from said network, a message packet including data and a plurality of headers corresponding to said stack of protocol layers, wherein said data has been sent to the host for placement in the host according to protocol processing of said headers, and said headers are made of a series of bytes,

a step for categorizing said series of bytes to obtain a status of said packet, and

a step for choosing whether to process said packet by said protocol layers, said step for choosing dependent on said status.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising transferring said data to a destination in said host without processing said packet by said protocol layers.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein said categorizing said series of bytes includes processing a transport-layer header of said plurality of headers.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the host is connected to the network with a network interface device, and said receiving occurs in said device.

23. The method of claim 19, further comprising transferring said data to a destination in said host according to said status.