System and method for network interfacing in a multiple network environment

• US 8,631,162 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2003
• Issued: 01/14/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Elzur, Uri, Fan, Frankie, Lindsay, Steven B., McDaniel, Scott S.
• Primary Examiner(s): HOANG, HIEU T
• Application Number:
  US10/652,327
• Publication Number:
  US 20040044798A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,791 Days
• Field of Search: 709/229, 709/230, 709/250, 709/253
• US Class Current: 709/250
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/102 where the programme performs an interfacing function, e.g. device driver G06F13/105 takes precedence; scheduling within device drivers G06F9/52; contention policies within device drivers G06F9/4881
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4027 using bus bridges G06F13/4022 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2213/0024 Peripheral component interconnect [PCI]
• 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 69/163 In-band adaptation of TCP data exchange; In-band control procedures
• 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

Abstract

Systems and methods that network interface in a multiple network environment are provided. In one embodiment, the system includes, for example, a network connector, a processor, a peripheral component interface (PCI) bridge and a unified driver. The processor may be coupled to the network connector and to the PCI bridge. The processor may be adapted, for example, to process a plurality of different types of network traffic. The unified driver may be coupled to the PCI bridge and may be adapted to provide drivers associated with the plurality of different types of network traffic.

Claims

1. A server, comprising:

a network connector;

a processor coupled to the network connector, the processor operable to process a plurality of different types of network traffic, wherein each of said plurality of different types of network traffic corresponds to a different network protocol;

a peripheral component interface (PCI) bridge coupled to the processor;

a unified driver coupled to the PCI bridge, the unified driver operable to provide drivers associated with the plurality of different types of network traffic; and

a plurality of services coupled to the unified driver.

2. The server according to claim 1, wherein the network connector comprises an Ethernet connector.

3. The server according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of different types of network traffic comprises two or more of common Ethernet traffic, offload traffic, storage traffic, interprocess communication (IPC) traffic, management traffic or remote direct memory access (RDMA) traffic.

4. The server according to claim 1, wherein the processor comprises a single integrated chip.

5. The server according to claim 1, wherein the processor comprises a layer 2 network interface card (L2 NIC), a transmission control protocol (TCP) processor and a ULP processor.

6. The server according to claim 5, wherein the TCP processor provides layer 3 processing and layer 4 processing.

7. The server according to claim 5, wherein the TCP processor is shared by two or more of TCP offload traffic, Internet small computer system interface (iSCSI) traffic and/or RDMA traffic.

8. The server according to claim 5, wherein the ULP processor provides iSCSI processing.

9. The server according to claim 5, wherein the ULP processor provides RDMA processing.

10. The server according to claim 1, comprising:

a server management agent coupled to the processor.

11. The server according to claim 10, wherein the server management agent is coupled to a keyboard service, a video service or a mouse service.

12. The server according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of services comprises two or more of a socket service, a SCSI miniport service, an RDMA service, a keyboard service, a video service or a mouse service.

13. The server according to claim 1,

wherein the unified driver is coupled to a software TCP processor and to a socket service switch,

wherein the software TCP processor is coupled to the socket service switch, and

wherein the socket service switch is coupled to a socket service.

14. The server according to claim 1, wherein the processor or the PCI bridge determines which of the different types of network traffic accesses a particular service provided by the server.

15. The server according to claim 14, wherein the particular service comprises one or more of a socket service, a SCSI miniport service, an RDMA service, a keyboard service, a video service or a mouse service.

16. The server according to claim 1, wherein the processor, the PCI bridge or the unified driver provides a unified data and control path.

17. A server, comprising:

a network connector;

a processor coupled to the network connector, the processor operable to process a plurality of different types of network traffic, wherein each of said plurality of different types of network traffic corresponds to a different network protocol;

a peripheral component interface (PCI) bridge coupled to the processor; and

a unified driver coupled to the PCI bridge, the unified driver operable to provide drivers associated with the plurality of different types of network traffic,

wherein the unified driver is coupled to a software TCP processor and to a socket service switch,

wherein the software TCP processor is coupled to the socket service switch, and

wherein the socket service switch is coupled to a socket service.

18. The server according to claim 17, wherein the network connector comprises an Ethernet connector.

19. The server according to claim 17, wherein the plurality of different types of network traffic comprises two or more of common Ethernet traffic, offload traffic, storage traffic, interprocess communication (IPC) traffic, management traffic or remote direct memory access (RDMA) traffic.

20. The server according to claim 17, wherein the processor comprises a single integrated chip.

21. The server according to claim 17, wherein the processor comprises a layer 2 network interface card (L2 NIC), a transmission control protocol (TCP) processor and a ULP processor.

22. The server according to claim 21, wherein the TCP processor provides layer 3 processing and layer 4 processing.

23. The server according to claim 21, wherein the TCP processor is shared by two or more of TCP offload traffic, Internet small computer system interface (iSCSI) traffic or RDMA traffic.

24. The server according to claim 21, wherein the ULP processor provides iSCSI processing.

25. The server according to claim 21, wherein the ULP processor provides RDMA processing.

26. The server according to claim 17, comprising:

a server management agent coupled to the processor.

27. The server according to claim 26, wherein the server management agent is coupled to a keyboard service, a video service or a mouse service.

28. The server according to claim 17, wherein the processor or the PCI bridge determines which of the different types of network traffic accesses a particular service provided by the server.

29. The server according to claim 28, wherein the particular service comprises one or more of a socket service, a SCSI miniport service, an RDMA service, a keyboard service, a video service or a mouse service.

30. The server according to claim 17, wherein the processor, the PCI bridge or the unified driver provides a unified data and control path.