Method and apparatus for a shared I/O network interface controller

• US 9,015,350 B2
• Filed: 05/09/2012
• Issued: 04/21/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mellanox Technologies Limited (NVIDIA Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mellanox Technologies Limited (NVIDIA Corporation)
• Inventors: Pettey, Christopher J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Chirag R
• Application Number:
  US13/467,143
• Publication Number:
  US 20120221705A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,077 Days
• Field of Search: 710/305, 710/316, 709217-219
• US Class Current: 709/253
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• 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 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1017 based on a round robin mechanism
• 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 69/18 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]

Abstract

A shared network interface controller (NIC) interfaces a plurality of operating system domains as part of the load-store architecture of the operating system domains. A bus interface couples the NIC to a load-store domain bus (such as PCI-Express), using header information to associate data on the bus with an originating operating system domain. Transmit/receive logic connects the NIC to the network. Association logic allows the NIC to designate, and later lookup which destination MAC address (on the Ethernet side) is associated with which operating system domain. Descriptor register files and Control Status Registers (CSR'"'"'s) specific to an operating system domain are duplicated and made available for each domain. Several direct memory access (DMA) engines are provided to improve throughput. Packet replication logic, filters (perfect and hash) and VLAN tables are used for looping back packets originating from one operating system domain to another and other operations.

Claims

1. A shared network interface controller (NIC) to allow a plurality of computer servers running multiple operating system domains to interface to an Ethernet network, the controller comprising:

a bus interface to couple the controller to a packet based load-store serial link, said load-store serial link coupling each of the plurality of computer servers to the controller such that the controller is in a load-store domain of each of the computer servers;

server identification logic, coupled to said bus interface, including a plurality of registers used for identifying packets received by said bus interface with ones of the plurality of computer servers;

buffering logic, coupled to said server identification logic, to store said packets received by said bus interface, along with tags which associate said packets with ones of the plurality of computer servers;

association logic, coupled to said buffering logic, for determining MAC addresses for said packets utilizing said tags; and

transmit/receive logic, coupled to the Ethernet network, and to said association logic, for transmitting said packets to the Ethernet network, and for receiving packets from said Ethernet network;

wherein by associating packets with ones of the plurality of computer servers, and buffering the packets between the plurality of computer servers and the Ethernet network, the shared network interface controller provides an Ethernet interface for all of the plurality of computer servers via said packet based load-store serial link,

wherein said server identification logic including the plurality of registers comprises respective control status registers for each of the operating system domains, the control status registers of each operating system domain being addressable by the respective operating system domain.

2. The shared network interface controller as recited in claim 1 wherein said packet based load-store serial link comprises:

PCI-Express; and

a computer server identifier.

3. The shared network interface controller as recited in claim 1 wherein said packet based load-store serial link comprises:

PCI-Express+.

4. The shared network interface controller as recited in claim 1 wherein said buffering logic comprises:

a virtual fifo, for storing packets transmitted from the plurality of computer servers, and for storing packets received from the Ethernet network.

5. The shared network interface controller as recited in claim 1 wherein said association logic comprises a lookup table for associating the plurality of computer servers with MAC addresses.

6. The shared network interface controller as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

a switch, locating in between the plurality of computer servers and the shared network interface controller, for coupling the plurality of computer servers to said load-store serial link.

12. The shared network interface controller as recited in claim 1 wherein said server identification logic including the plurality of registers comprises a plurality of control status registers which are addressable by each of the multiple operating system domains.

7. A method for sharing a network interface controller by a plurality of operating system domains, the method comprising:

providing a load-store domain link between the controller and the plurality of operating system domains, such that the controller is in a load-store domain of the operating system domains;

providing operating system domain (OSD) identification for data transmitted over the load-store domain link;

providing an interface between the controller and a network;

buffering data between the load-store domain link and the network;

associating the buffered data with the plurality of operating system domains, said associating utilizing association logic to associate MAC addresses within the buffered data with ones of the plurality of operating system domains; and

managing respective control status registers for each of the operating system domains, the control status registers of each operating system domain being addressable by the respective operating system domain.

8. The method for sharing a network interface controller as recited in claim 7 wherein the load-store domain link comprises PCI-Express, including header information for designating an operating system domain for packets transferred over the load-store domain link.

9. The method for sharing a network interface controller as recited in claim 7 wherein said buffering is provided by a virtual fifo.

10. The method for sharing a network interface controller as recited in claim 9 wherein the virtual fifo further comprises tags which correlate the buffered data with ones of the plurality of operating system domains.

11. The method for sharing a network interface controller as recited in claim 7 wherein the association logic comprises a lookup table containing MAC addresses and OSD headers.

13. A shared network interface controller (NIC) to allow a plurality of computer servers running multiple operating system domains to interface to an Ethernet network, the controller comprising:

a bus interface to couple the controller to a packet based load-store serial link, said load-store serial link coupling each of the plurality of computer servers to the controller such that the controller is in a load-store domain of each of the computer servers;

server identification logic, coupled to said bus interface, including a plurality of registers used for identifying packets received by said bus interface with ones of the plurality of computer servers;

buffering logic, coupled to said server identification logic, to store said packets received by said bus interface, along with tags which associate said packets with ones of the plurality of computer servers;

association logic, coupled to said buffering logic, for determining MAC addresses for said packets utilizing said tags; and

transmit/receive logic, coupled to the Ethernet network, and to said association logic, for transmitting said packets to the Ethernet network, and for receiving packets from said Ethernet network;

wherein by associating packets with ones of the plurality of computer servers, and buffering the packets between the plurality of computer servers and the Ethernet network, the shared network interface controller provides an Ethernet interface for all of the plurality of computer servers via said packet based load-store serial link,

wherein said server identification logic including the plurality of registers comprises a plurality of control status registers which are addressable by each of the multiple operating system domains.

14. The shared network interface controller as recited in claim 13 wherein said packet based load-store serial link comprises:

PCI-Express; and

a computer server identifier.

15. The shared network interface controller as recited in claim 13 wherein said packet based load-store serial link comprises:

PCI-Express+.

16. The shared network interface controller as recited in claim 13 wherein said buffering logic comprises:

a virtual fifo, for storing packets transmitted from the plurality of computer servers, and for storing packets received from the Ethernet network.

17. The shared network interface controller as recited in claim 13 wherein said association logic comprises a lookup table for associating the plurality of computer servers with MAC addresses.

18. The shared network interface controller as recited in claim 13 further comprising:

a switch, locating in between the plurality of computer servers and the shared network interface controller, for coupling the plurality of computer servers to said load-store serial link.