Network proxy for high-performance, low-power data center interconnect fabric

• US 9,977,763 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2016
• Issued: 05/22/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: III Holdings 2, LLC
• Original Assignee: III Holdings 2, LLC
• Inventors: Davis, Mark B, Borland, David James, Volpe, Thomas A, Goss, Kenneth S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Khirodhar, Maharishi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hunt, Kenneth P
• Application Number:
  US15/078,115
• Publication Number:
  US 20160202752A1
• Time in Patent Office: 790 Days
• Field of Search: 713300-340
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3209 Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3234 Power saving characterised by the action undertaken
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3293 by switching to a less power-consuming processor, e.g. sub-CPU
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/00 Interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units interface circuits for specific input/output devices G06F3/00 ; multiprogram control therefor G06F9/46; multiprocessor systems G06F15/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/24 using interrupt G06F13/32 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/40 Bus structure for computer networks G06F15/163; for optical bus networks H04B10/25
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4022 using switching circuits, e.g. switching matrix, connection or expansion network G06F13/4009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/177 Initialisation or configuration control processor initialisation G06F9/4405
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/60 Router architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/109 Integrated on microchip, e.g. switch-on-chip
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/25 Routing or path finding in a switch fabric
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/3009 Header conversion, routing tables or routing tags
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/351 for local area network [LAN], e.g. Ethernet switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/356 for storage area networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/00 Reducing energy consumption in communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

A system and method are provided for network proxying. The network proxying may occur in a node of a fabric or across nodes in the fabric. In the network proxying, the node has a processor with a low power mode and the system remaps, by a management processor of the node, a port identifier for a processor that is in a low power mode to the management processor. The management processor then processes a plurality of packets that contain the port identifier for the processor that is in the low power mode to maintain a network presence of the node.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

associating a node with a node ID, wherein the node is connected to a plurality of nodes to form a switching fabric;

setting up a node proxy component which indicates that the node ID is proxied to a proxy node, wherein the proxy node is configured to be a proxy for the node in response to the node being in a low power state; and

receiving, by the proxy node, traffic destined for the node via the node proxy component and in response to the node being in a low power state;

wherein the node proxy component includes a routing table with a proxy field that determines if a node ID is being proxied to the proxy node.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the proxy node is further configured to respond to an incoming packet, remapped to the proxy node, if required for a particular protocol.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the incoming packet is an ARP packet, a NetBIOS datagram, or an ICMP ping.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the incoming packet is a broadcast packet or a unicast packet.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the incoming packet is a TCP SYN packet or a magic packet.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the proxy node is further configured to wake up a proxied node for an incoming packet that is to be processed by the proxied node.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the proxy node is further configured to:

reset the proxy node component to cancel the proxy; and

resend the incoming packet back to the proxied node.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the proxy node is further configured to respond to a keep alive message.

9. An apparatus comprising:

a node connected to a plurality of nodes to form a switching fabric, wherein the node is associated with a node ID in the switching fabric;

a proxy node configured to be a proxy for the node in response to the node entering a low power state; and

a node proxy component configured to indicate that the node ID is proxied to the proxy node;

wherein the proxy node is further configured to receive traffic destined for the node via the node proxy component and in response to the node being in a low power state; and

wherein the routing table proxy component includes a routing table with a proxy field configured to determine if a node ID is being proxied to the proxy node.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the proxy node is further configured to respond to an incoming packet, remapped to the proxy node, if required for a particular protocol.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the incoming packet is an ARP packet, a NetBIOS datagram, or an ICMP ping.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the incoming packet is a broadcast packet or a unicast packet.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the incoming packet is a TCP SYN packet or a magic packet.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the proxy node is further configured to wake up a proxied node for an incoming packet that is to be processed by the proxied node.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium on which is stored instructions, the instructions comprising:

instructions to associate a node with a node ID, wherein the node is connected to a plurality of nodes to form a switching fabric;

instructions to set up a node proxy component which indicates that the node ID is proxied to a proxy node, wherein the proxy node is configured to be a proxy for the node in response to the node being in a low power state; and

instructions to receive, by the proxy node, traffic destined for the node via the node proxy component and in response to the node being in a low power state;

wherein the node proxy component includes a routing table with a proxy field that determines if a node ID is being proxied to the proxy node.