System and method for a shared I/O subsystem

• US 7,447,778 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2002
• Issued: 11/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: QLogic Corporation (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Inventors: Tamarkin, Vladimir, Matters, Todd, McCrory, Duane, Rimmer, Todd, Murphy, Philip
• Primary Examiner(s): Avellino; Joseph E
• Application Number:
  US10/185,212
• Publication Number:
  US 20030208531A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,321 Days
• Field of Search: 709/238, 709217-219, 709227-229, 710 36- 38, 710/104, 710/5, 711111-114
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1616 where the redundant component is an I/O device or an adapter therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2002 where interconnections or communication control functionality are redundant flexible arrangements for bus networks involving redundancy H04L12/40176
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2015 Redundant power supplies power supply failure G06F1/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/742 Route cache; Operation thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/3009 Header conversion, routing tables or routing tags
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/358 Infiniband Switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/602 Multilayer or multiprotocol switching, e.g. IP switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/90 Buffering arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols
• 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 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A computer system that includes a plurality of servers, and a shared I/O subsystem coupled to each of the servers and to one or more I/O interfaces. The shared I/O subsystem services I/O requests made by two or more of the servers. Each I/O interface may couple to a network, appliance, or other device. The I/O requests serviced by the shared I/O subsystem may alternatively include software initiated or hardware initiated I/O requests. Different servers coupled to the shared I/O subsystem may use different operating systems, and each I/O interface may be used by two or more servers.

Claims

1. A network system comprising:

a plurality of servers, where each server includes a host channel adapter (HCA); and

a shared input/output (I/O) subsystem directly connected to each of said plurality of servers via each of said HCA, wherein each HCA communicates with the shared I/O subsystem by sending I/O requests through a switching fabric and the shared I/O subsystem processes the I/O requests, obviating a need for a dedicated I/O subsystem for each of the plurality of servers; and

wherein the shared I/O subsystem includes;

(a) a plurality of I/O interface unit for providing a connection to the plurality of servers to a different type of network;

wherein each I/O interface unit executing code for a link layer, a transport layer and an application protocol, individually provides all the functions of the shared I/O subsystem; and

connecting two or more I/O interface units provides a larger scalable shared I/O subsystem;

wherein each I/O interface unit includes;

(i) a hardware controller that provides a physical interface between the I/O interface unit and an I/O management link;

wherein the hardware controller sends and receives frames over the I/O management link; and

(ii) a software driver executed by a processor for the I/O interface unit, the software driver interfacing with the hardware controller which allows multiple protocols to interface with the software driver via a multiplexing interface; and

(b) a switch card for operationally coupling the plurality of I/O interface units, wherein the switch card receives a data packet from one I/O interface unit and directs the data packet to another I/O interface unit, with the two I/O interface units being coupled to different computing systems following different network protocols; and

the switch card includes a controller for implementing functions of an I/O management unit, a module management unit that facilitates communication between the I/O management unit and a switching unit.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of said I/O interface units couples to an appliance.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said shared I/O subsystem is a scalable infrastructure that is independently scalable from said appliance.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of said I/O interface units couples to a device.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein said shared I/O subsystem is a scalable infrastructure that is independently scalable from said device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said network is a Storage Area Network.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said network is an InterProcess Communications Network.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said network is a Local Area Network.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein said network is a Wide Area Network.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein said network is a Metropolitan Area Network.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein said I/O requests include software initiated I/O requests.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein said I/O requests include hardware initiated I/O requests.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of said servers uses an operating system that is different from an operating system used by one other of said servers.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of said I/O interface units is used by two or more of said servers.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein said switching fabric includes a plurality of dedicated circuits, and wherein each of said servers communicates with any one of said servers via said dedicated circuits.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein said switching fabric uses an InfiniBand protocol.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein said shared I/O subsystem is a scalable infrastructure that is independently scalable from said servers.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein said shared I/O subsystem is a scalable infrastructure that is independently scalable from said switching fabric.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein said shared I/O subsystem comprises a scalable infrastructure that is independently scalable from said network.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller of each of said I/O interface units processes said I/O requests made by said servers.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of said I/O interface units provides a redundant connection to at least one of said servers.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one of said I/O interface units follows an InfiniBand protocol.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein said I/O management unit performs at least one of:

a configuration function, a management function, and a monitoring function.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein said shared I/O subsystem comprises two or more of said I/O management units to provide fault tolerant operation.

25. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of said I/O interface units includes a processing element.

26. The system of claim 1, wherein said shared I/O subsystem includes a backplane having a plurality of I/O slots, and wherein at least one of said I/O slots has at least one of a switching unit and a PCI bus disposed therein.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein said switching unit provides interconnection for each of said servers coupled to said shared I/O subsystem.

28. The system of claim 1, wherein said shared I/O subsystem includes a backplane having a plurality of I/O slots, and wherein at least one of said I/O slots has at least one of said I/O interface units disposed therein.

29. The system of claim 1, wherein said servers are clustered via said shared I/O subsystem to provide parallel processing.

30. The system of claim 1, wherein said servers are clustered via said shared I/O subsystem to provide InterProcess Communications.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein said servers use said InterProcess Communications to provide clustered applications.

32. The system of claim 1, wherein said servers are clustered via said shared I/O subsystem to provide load balancing.

33. The system of claim 1, wherein said servers are clustered via said shared I/O subsystem to provide fault tolerant operation.

34. The system of claim 1, wherein said servers are coupled to two or more of said shared I/O subsystems to provide fault tolerant operation.

35. The system of claim 1, wherein said servers are coupled to two or more of said shared I/O subsystems to provide load balancing.

36. The system of claim 1, further comprising a switching unit for coupling at least one of said I/O interface units to at least one of a network, an appliance, and a device.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein said switching unit uses an InfiniBand protocol.

38. The system of claim 1, further comprising two or more of said shared I/O subsystems, wherein each of said shared I/O subsystems is coupled to at least another one of said shared I/O subsystems, and wherein each of said servers is coupled to at least one of said shared I/O subsystems.

39. A shared input/output (I/O) subsystem for processing I/O requests received from a plurality of servers, each server communicating with the shared I/O subsystem via a host channel adapter (HCA), the shared I/O subsystem, comprising:

(a) a plurality of I/O interface units for providing a connection to the plurality of servers to a different type of network;

wherein each I/O interface unit provides all the functions of the shared I/O subsystem; and

connecting two or more I/O interface units provides a larger scalable shared I/O subsystem;

wherein each I/O interface unit includes;

(i) a hardware controller that provides a physical interface between the I/O interface unit and an I/O management link; and

(ii) a software driver executed by a processor for the I/O interface unit, the software driver interfacing with the hardware controller, which allows multiple protocols, including a link layer, to interface with the software driver via a multiplexing interface;

(b) a switch card for operationally coupling the plurality of I/O interface units, wherein the switch card receives a data packet from one I/O interface unit and directs the data packet to another I/O interface unit, with the two I/O interface units being coupled to different computing systems following different network protocols;

wherein the switch card includes;

(i) an I/O management unit that provides a configuration function, a management function and a monitoring function for communication between the plurality of I/O interface units;

(ii) a switching unit for receiving and filtering I/O requests and identifying an I/O interface unit on which to send the I/O requests, wherein the switching unit includes a plurality of ports connecting to the plurality of servers; and

(iii) a module management unit for facilitating communication between the I/O management unit and the switching unit;

wherein a hardware controller for the switch card implementing a plurality of physical interfaces also implements the functionality of the I/O management unit, the module management unit and the switching unit; and

wherein each HCA communicates I/O requests to the shared I/O subsystem via a switching fabric for reading and writing data to a storage device, the shared I/O subsystem processing the I/O requests and obviating a need for a dedicated I/O subsystem for each of the plurality of servers.

40. The shared I/O subsystem of claim 39, wherein the network is a Storage Area Network, an InterProcess Communication network;

a Local Area Network and a Metropolitan Area Network.

41. The shared I/O subsystem of claim 39, wherein at least one of the I/O interface units follows an InfiniBand Protocol.

42. The shared I/O subsystem of claim 39, wherein the shared I/O subsystem is centralized, which obviates a need for a dedicated host bus adapter and a dedicated network interface card for each of the plurality of servers.

43. The shared I/O subsystem of claim 39, wherein the switching fabric is an InfiniBand Fabric.

44. A shared input/output (I/O) subsystem for processing I/O requests received from a plurality of servers, each server communicating with the shared I/O subsystem via a host channel adapter (HCA), the shared I/O subsystem, comprising:

(a) a plurality of I/O interface units for providing a connection to the plurality of servers to a different type of network;

wherein each I/O interface unit provides all the functions of the shared I/O subsystem; and

connecting two or more I/O interface units provides a larger scalable shared I/O subsystem;

wherein each I/O interface unit includes;

(i) a hardware controller that provides a physical interface between the I/O interface unit and an I/O management link; and

(ii) a software driver executed by a processor for the I/O interface unit, the software driver interfacing with the hardware controller, which allows multiple protocols including a link layer, to interface with the software driver via a multiplexing interface;

(b) a switch card for operationally coupling the plurality of I/O interface units, wherein the switch card receives a data packet from one I/O interface unit and directs the data packet to another I/O interface unit, with the two I/O interface units being coupled to different computing systems following different network protocols;

wherein the switch card includes;

(i) an I/O management unit that provides a configuration function, a management function and a monitoring function for communication between the plurality of I/O interface units;

(ii) a switching unit for receiving and filtering I/O requests and identifying an I/O interface unit on which to send the I/O requests, wherein the switching unit includes a plurality of ports connecting to the plurality of servers; and

(iii) a module management unit for facilitating communication between the I/O management unit and the switching unit;

wherein a hardware controller for the switch card implementing a plurality of physical interfaces also implements the functionality of the I/O management unit, the module management unit and the switching unit; and

(c) a target channel adapter (TCA) coupled to each I/O interface unit and communicating with each HCA via a switching fabric;

wherein the TCA acts as a layer between the plurality of servers and the I/O interface unit for handling all I/O requests; and

wherein each HCA communicates I/O requests to the TCA via the switching fabric for reading and writing data to a storage device, the TCA processing the I/O requests obviating a need for a dedicated I/O subsystem for each of the plurality of servers.

45. The shared I/O subsystem of claim 44, wherein the network is a Storage Area Network, an InterProcess Communication network;

a Local Area Network and a Metropolitan Area Network.

46. The shared I/O subsystem of claim 44, wherein at least one of the I/O interface units follows an InfiniBand Protocol.

47. The shared I/O subsystem of claim 44, wherein the shared I/O subsystem is centralized, which obviates a need for a dedicated host bus adapter and a dedicated network interface card for each of the plurality of servers.

48. The shared I/O subsystem of claim 44, wherein the switching fabric is an InfiniBand Fabric.