Method and apparatus for enforcing packet destination specific priority using threads

• US 7,499,457 B1
• Filed: 04/22/2005
• Issued: 03/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Droux, Nicolas G., Tripathi, Sunay
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah; Chirag G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mahmoudzadeh; Nima
• Application Number:
  US11/112,584
• Time in Patent Office: 1,411 Days
• Field of Search: 370/422, 370/389, 370/338, 370/400, 370412-418, 370/396, 370/347, 370/395.53, 370/401, 370/403, 370/404, 370/405, 370/406, 370/409, 370/395.7, 370/399
• US Class Current: 370/395.7
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2458 Modification of priorities while in transit

Abstract

A method for processing a plurality of packets that includes receiving the plurality of packets from a network, analyzing each of the plurality of packets by a classifier to determine to which of a plurality of temporary data structures each of the plurality of packet is to be forwarded, forwarding each of the plurality of packets to one of the plurality of temporary data structures as determined by the classifier, forwarding a plurality of packets from the one of the plurality of temporary data structures to a virtual serialization queue associated with the one of the plurality of temporary data structures, wherein the virtual serialization queue is bound to a thread having a processing priority, and processing the plurality of packets on the virtual serialization queue using at least one processor bound to the virtual serialization queue and the processing priority.

Claims

1. A method for processing a plurality of packets, comprising:

creating a virtual network stack prior to receiving the plurality of packets from a network wherein a virtual serialization queue is associated with the virtual network stack;

receiving the plurality of packets from the network;

analyzing each of the plurality of packets by a classifier to determine to which of a plurality of temporary data structures each of the plurality of packet is to be forwarded;

forwarding each of the plurality of packets to one of the plurality of temporary data structures as determined by the classifier;

forwarding a plurality of packets from the one of the plurality of temporary data structures to the virtual serialization queue associated with the one of the plurality of temporary data structures, wherein the virtual serialization queue is bound to a thread having a processing priority; and

processing the plurality of packets on the virtual serialization queue using at least one processor bound to the virtual serialization queue and the processing priority,

wherein creating the virtual network stack comprises;

creating the virtual serialization queue;

binding the virtual serialization queue to the processor;

binding the virtual serialization queue to a packet destination;

binding the virtual serialization queue to the thread;

creating a virtual network interface card (NIC); and

binding the virtual serialization queue to the virtual NIC and a virtual protocol stack to obtain the virtual network stack.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet destination is at least one selected from the group consisting of a container and a service.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

setting the processing priority of the thread prior to receiving the plurality of packets from the network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing priority of the thread is changed dynamically.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of temporary data structures comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of a virtual network interface card queue and a receive ring.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the classifier is one selected from the group consisting of a hardware classifier and a software classifier.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein forwarding the plurality of packets to the virtual serialization queue associated with the packet destination comprises:

forwarding the plurality of packets from the one of the plurality of temporary data structures to a virtual protocol stack associated with the packet destination for processing of the plurality of packets to obtain processed packets; and

forwarding the processed packets from the virtual protocol stack to the virtual serialization queue.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual serialization queue comprises at least one sub-virtual serialization queue and a packet scheduler.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet scheduler uses one selected from the group consisting of fair-share scheduling and time-share scheduling.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual serialization queue comprises functionality to operate in polling mode and in interrupt mode.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is a member of a processor set.

12. A system, comprising:

a network interface configured to receive a plurality of packets from a network;

a classifier operatively connected to the network interface configured to analyze each of the plurality of packets and determine to which of a plurality of temporary data structures each of the plurality of packet is forwarded;

the plurality of temporary data structures configured to receive packets from the classifier, wherein each of the plurality of temporary data structures is associated with at least one of a plurality of virtual serialization queues; and

the plurality of virtual serialization queues each configured to queue a plurality of packets from at least one of the plurality of temporary data structures, wherein each of the plurality of virtual serialization queues is associated with one of a plurality of threads, wherein each of the plurality of threads is associated with a processing priority,

wherein the virtual serialization queue is bound to a processor,

wherein at least one of the plurality of virtual serialization queues is bound to one of a plurality of packet destinations,

wherein the each of the plurality of virtual serialization queues is associated with a virtual network stack, and

wherein the virtual network stack comprises a virtual network interface card, a virtual protocol stack and one of the plurality of virtual serialization queues.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of packets on each of the plurality of virtual serialization queues are processed based on the processing priority of each of the plurality threads associated with each of the plurality of virtual serialization queues.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein processing priority of each of the plurality of threads is changed dynamically.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of packet destinations is at least one selected from the group consisting of a container and a service.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of temporary data structures comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of a virtual network interface card queue and a receive ring.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the classifier is one selected from the group consisting of a hardware classifier and a software classifier.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of virtual serialization queues comprises functionality to operate in polling mode and in interrupt mode.