Core-trunking across cores on physically separated processors allocated to a virtual machine based on configuration information including context information for virtual machines

• US 9,274,851 B2
• Filed: 11/25/2009
• Issued: 03/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cheung, David, Kancherla, Mani Prasad, Kothari, Deepak, Hemminger, Gary
• Primary Examiner(s): An, Meng
• Assistant Examiner(s): GHAFFARI, ABU Z
• Application Number:
  US12/626,432
• Publication Number:
  US 20110126196A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,288 Days
• Field of Search: 718/1, 718/104, 370/406, 370352-355, 709/251
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45537 Provision of facilities of other operating environments, e.g. WINE I/O emulation G06F13/105
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/6418 Hybrid transport
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM] H04L51/04; selective video distribution H04N21/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42

Abstract

Techniques for providing core-based virtualization based upon cores provided by one or more processors of a system. A device such as a network device comprising multiple processor cores provides for core-based virtualization. According to one embodiment, a network device is provided comprising a first subsystem for processing packets received by the network device. The first subsystem may comprise a set of one or more processors, the one or more processors providing a plurality of cores. Each core in the plurality of cores may have associated memory resources.

Claims

1. A network system comprising:

a data subsystem comprising a first processor comprising a first core and a second processor comprising a second core,

the first processor being physically separate from the second processor, each core having associated memory resources, the memory resources for each core being accessible by the other core, and

the memory resources for each respective core being associated with the core prior to receiving a request to configure a virtual machine, wherein the virtual machine is one of a plurality of virtual machines; and

a management subsystem coupled to the data subsystem and configured to;

receive the request to configure the virtual machine, the request comprising configuration information including context information for the virtual machine and identifying the first core and the second core to be allocated to the virtual machine; and

configure the virtual machine based upon the request, wherein the virtual machine is configured by allocating the first core and the second core to the virtual machine, and applying core-trunking across the cores on the first and the second processor, and the memory resources pre-associated with the first core and the second core prior to receiving the request.

2. The network system of claim 1 wherein an I/O subsystem is configured to:

extract contents from a packet; and

perform a lookup using the extracted contents to determine a core for processing the packet.

3. The network system of claim 1, further comprising an Input/Output (I/O) subsystem configured to:

receive a packet;

determine a first virtual machine from the plurality of virtual machines by analyzing the packet;

determine a set of one or more cores allocated to the first virtual machine, using configuration information for the first virtual machine; and

determine a core for processing the packet from the set of one or more cores, using the configuration information.

4. The network system of claim 1, further comprising a memory configurable to store the configuration information for the virtual machine, the memory separate from the memory resources associated with the first and the second cores.

5. The network system of claim 1, further comprising a second subsystem configurable to receive a packet and cause the packet to be forwarded to a core from the first and the second cores allocated to the virtual machine.

6. The network system of claim 1, further comprising a second subsystem configurable to receive a packet and cause contents of the packet to be written to the memory resources pre-associated with a core from the first or the second core allocated to the virtual machine.

7. A method performed by a network device comprising:

storing, at the network device, configuration information for a set of virtual machines configured for the network device;

wherein, for at least one virtual machine from a plurality of virtual machines, the configuration information comprises;

context information for the at least one virtual machine, information identifying a first core from a first processor and a second core from a second processor by applying core-trunking across the cores on the first processor and the second processor, the first processor being physically separate from the second processor, the first and second cores allocated to the at least one virtual machine,

each core having associated memory resources,

the memory resources for each core being accessible by at least another core from the plurality of cores, and

the memory resources for each respective core being associated with the core prior to allocation of the core to the at least one virtual machine, and

wherein, for the at least one virtual machine from the plurality of virtual machines, the memory resources pre-associated with the first and the second cores allocated to the at least one virtual machine are allocated for the at least one virtual machine; and

causing, by the network device, a packet to be forwarded to a core from the first and the second cores allocated to the virtual machine from the plurality of virtual machines.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the causing the packet to be forwarded comprises:

extracting contents from the packet; and

determining the core based upon the extracted contents.

9. The network device of claim 8 wherein the determining comprises:

performing one or more lookups in one or more memories in the network device using the extracted contents to determine the core.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprises:

forwarding the packet to a switch fabric of the network device after determining the core based upon the extracted contents; and

forwarding the packet from the switch fabric to the core.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein the causing the packet to be forwarded comprises writing the packet to the memory resource pre-associated with the core.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein the causing the packet to be forwarded comprises:

determining the at least one virtual machine from the plurality of virtual machines by analyzing the packet;

determining the first and the second cores allocated to the at least one virtual machine; and

determining the first core from the first and the second cores to forward the packet to.

13. A computer-readable memory storing a plurality of instructions for controlling a network device comprising a first processor and a second processor, the plurality of instructions comprising:

instructions that cause the network device to store configuration information by applying core-trunking across cores of the first processor and the second processor for a set of virtual machines configured for the network device;

wherein, for at least one virtual machine in the set of virtual machines, the configuration information comprises;

context information for the at least one virtual machine,

information identifying a set of one or more cores comprising a first core from the first processor and a second core from the second processor, the first processor being physically separate from the second processor, allocated to the at least one virtual machine, the set of one or more cores provided by one or more processors of the network device,

each core in the set of one or more cores having associated memory resources, the memory resources for each core being accessible by at least another core from the set of one or more cores, and

the memory resources for each respective core being associated with the core prior to allocation of the core to the at least one virtual machine, and

wherein, for at least one virtual machine in the set of virtual machines, the memory resources pre-associated with the set of one or more cores allocated to the at least one virtual machine are allocated for the at least one virtual machine;

instructions that cause the network device to cause a packet to be forwarded to a core from a set of one or more cores allocated to the at least one virtual machine from the set of virtual machines.

14. The computer-readable memory of claim 13 wherein the instructions that cause the processor to cause the packet to be forwarded to the core comprise:

instructions that cause the network device to extract contents from the packet; and

instructions that cause the network device to determine the core based upon the extracted contents.

15. The computer-readable memory of claim 14 wherein the instructions that cause the network device to determine the core comprise instructions that cause the network device to perform one or more lookups in one or more memories using the extracted contents to determine the core.

16. The computer-readable memory of claim 14 wherein the instructions that cause the network device to cause the packet to be forwarded to the core comprise:

instructions that cause the network device to forward the packet to a switch fabric of the network device after determining the core based upon the extracted contents; and

instructions that cause the packet to be forwarded from the switch fabric to the core.

17. The computer-readable memory of claim 13 wherein the instructions that cause the network device to cause the packet to be forwarded to the core comprise instructions that cause the packet to be written to the memory resource pre-associated with the core.

18. The computer-readable memory of claim 13 wherein instructions that cause the network device to cause the packet to be forwarded to the core comprise:

instructions that cause the network device to determine the at least one virtual machine from the set of virtual machines by analyzing the packet;

instructions that cause the network device to determine the set of one or more cores allocated to the at least one virtual machine; and

instructions that cause the processor to determine the first core from the set of one or more cores allocated to the at least one virtual machine.

19. A method comprising:

responsive to a request to configure a virtual machine based upon a set of cores provided by a set of processors of a network device, accessing, at the network device, information, derived by applying core-trunking on the set of cores provided by the set of processors, including context information for the virtual machine and identifying a first processor comprising a first core and a second processor comprising a second core from the set of cores to be allocated for the virtual machine to be configured, wherein the first processor and the second processors are physically separate processors;

configuring the virtual machine, the configuring comprising allocating the one or more cores and memory resources associated with each core to the virtual machine,

wherein the memory resources associated with each respective core is accessible by at least another core from the set of cores and are not identified in the request or in the information, the memory resources for a core being associated with the core prior to allocation of the core to a virtual machine.

20. A system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor configured to;

access, responsive to a request to configure a virtual machine based upon a set of cores provided by a set of processors of a network device, configuration information, derived by applying core-trunking on the set of cores provided by the set of processors, including context information for the virtual machine and identifying a first processor comprising a first core and a second processor comprising a second core from the set of cores to be allocated for the virtual machine to be configured, wherein the first processor and the second processors are physically separate processors;

cause the virtual machine to be configured that is allocated the first and the second cores and memory resources associated with the first and the second cores; and

store the configuration information in the memory related to the virtual machine, wherein the memory resources associated with the first and the second cores are not identified in the request or in the configuration information, the memory resources for each core being accessible by at least another core from the plurality of cores, and the memory resources for each respective core being associated with the core prior to allocation of the core to a virtual machine.