Network communications for operating system partitions

• US 20060221961A1
• Filed: 04/01/2005
• Published: 10/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Damon, Philippe, Vaidhyanathan, Natarajan, Calvignac, Jean Louis, Verplanken, Fabrice Jean, Basso, Claude, Verrilli, Colin Beaton, Fuhs, Ronald Edward, Chang, Chih-Jen, Willenborg, Scott Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,697,536 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/390
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/90 Buffering arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/32 Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/324 in the data link layer [OSI layer 2], e.g. HDLC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Providing communications between operating system partitions and a computer network. In one aspect, an apparatus for distributing network communications among multiple operating system partitions includes a physical port allowing communications between the network and the computer system, and logical ports associated with the physical port, where each logical port is associated with one of the operating system partitions. Each of the logical ports enables communication between a physical port and the associated operating system partition and allows configurability of network resources of the system. Other aspects include a logical switch for logical and physical ports, and packet queues for each connection and for each logical port.

Claims

1. An apparatus for distributing network communications among multiple operating system partitions provided on a computer system, the apparatus comprising:

at least one physical port coupled to a network, the physical port allowing communications between the network and the computer system; and

a plurality of logical ports associated with the at least one physical port, wherein each of the logical ports is associated with one of the operating system partitions, and wherein each of the logical ports enables communication of information between the associated physical port and the associated operating system partition and allows configurability of network resources of the apparatus.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least one physical port is a plurality of physical ports, and wherein a plurality of logical ports are associated with each physical port.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the physical ports and the plurality of logical ports associated with each physical port are organized into port groups, such that an approximately fixed amount of resources is allocated to each port group.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the distribution of the resources includes bandwidth allocated to the physical ports of each port group that is configurable.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein each port group has a predetermined number of logical ports available, each logical port able to be assigned to any physical port within the same port group.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each logical port is identified by an associated Media Access Control (MAC) address, such each packet arriving at the physical port is assigned to a logical port having a MAC address matching the MAC address in that packet.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each physical port and logical port can be selected for communications by a logical switch.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each logical port is associated with a default logical port queue for storing packets that are transmitted or received by the operating system partition associated with that logical port.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each logical port is associated with an independent set of resources that are used to monitor or control information communicated through that logical port.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the set of resources includes management information base counters for monitoring information passing through the associated logical port and errors occurring at the associated logical port.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the set of resources includes at least one filter table for filtering types of network packets passing through the associated logical port.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein multiple logical ports can be associated with a single operating system partition.

13. A method for distributing network communications among multiple operating system partitions provided on a computer system, the method comprising:

communicating information between an operating system partition and at least one logical port associated with the operating system partition, wherein each one of multiple operating system partitions can communicate with associated at least one logical ports; and

communicating the information between the at least one logical port associated with the operating system partition and at least one physical port associated with the at least one logical port, wherein the physical port is coupled to a network.

14. A method as recited in claim 13 further comprising receiving information at the at least one logical port from the network, and wherein communicating information between the at least one logical port and at least one physical port includes providing the information to at least one of a plurality of logical ports associated with the physical port, and wherein the communicating information between an operating system partition and at least one logical port includes providing the information from the at least one logical port to the operating system partition associated with the at least one logical port.

15. A method as recited in claim 13 wherein the communicating information between an operating system partition and at least one logical port includes receiving information at the at least one associated logical port from the operating system partition, and wherein the communicating information between the at least one logical port and at least one physical port includes providing the information to the at least one physical port from the at least one logical port associated with the physical port, wherein the information provided to the at least one physical port is sent out to the network.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein a plurality of logical ports are associated with each physical port.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the physical ports and the plurality of logical ports associated with each physical port are organized into port groups, such that an approximately fixed amount of bandwidth is allocated to each port group.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein each port group has a predetermined number of logical ports available, each logical port able to be assigned to any physical port within the same port group.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein each logical port is identified by an associated Media Access Control (MAC) address, such each packet received at the physical port includes a MAC address and is assigned to a logical port having a MAC address matching the MAC address in that packet.

20. The method of claim 16 further comprising selecting each physical port and associated logical ports for communications using a logical switch.

21. The method of claim 13 wherein each logical port is associated with a default logical port queue, and further comprising storing packets that are transmitted or received by the operating system partition associated with a logical port.

22. The method of claim 13 further comprising providing resources at each of a plurality of logical ports for monitoring information passing through the associated logical port and monitoring errors occurring at the associated logical port.

23. The method of claim 13 further comprising providing resources at each of a plurality of logical ports for filtering types of network packets passing through the associated logical port.

24. A method for distributing network communications on a computer system, the method comprising:

receiving a data packet at a logical switch in the computer system, the computer system running multiple operating system partitions;

wrapping the data packet from one operating system partition of the computer system to another operating system partition of the computer system through a hardware path internal to the computer system when information in the packet indicates a wrap path; and

sending the data packet received from an operating system partition to a physical port coupled to an external network, or received from the external network to an operating system partition, when information in the data packet indicates a non-wrap path.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the computer system includes at least one physical port coupled to the external network, and wherein each operating system partition has one or more logical ports for sending and receiving data, such that the logical ports and an associated physical port act as virtual ports which are selected by the logical switch to send the data packet therethrough.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein the information in the data packet includes a destination address and a packet control descriptor.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the data packet is one of a unicast packet, a multicast packet, and a broadcast packet.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein if the data packet is a unicast packet, the destination address of the data packet is checked to determine whether to send the data packet to an internal operating system partition or to a destination on the external network.

29. The method of claim 27 wherein if the data packet is a multicast packet or a broadcast packet, the data packet is sent to a multicast/broadcast manager implemented on the computer system.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the multicast/broadcast manager duplicates the data packet for any additional destinations for the packet, and changes the packet control descriptor for the data packet and for any duplicated data packets to indicate that they have been processed by the multicast/broadcast manager, and outputs the data packet and any duplicated data packets such that they are sent to appropriate destinations of the computer system and the external network.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein if a data packet received by the multicast/broadcast manager is to be sent to an operating system partition of the computer system, the multicast/broadcast manager adds a tag to the data packet indicating the particular operating system partition to which to send the data packet.

32. The method of claim 29 wherein if the received data packet is a multicast packet or a broadcast packet and the packet control descriptor indicates the data packet is a force out packet as designated by the multicast/broadcast manager, the data packet is sent to a destination on the external network.

33. The method of claim 29 wherein if the received data packet is a multicast packet or a broadcast packet and the packet control descriptor indicates the data packet is a recirculate packet as designated by the multicast/broadcast manager, the data packet is sent to an operating system partition of the computer system as indicated by a tag associated with the data packet and provided by the multicast/broadcast manager.

34. An apparatus for distributing network communications among multiple operating system partitions provided on a computer system, the apparatus comprising:

at least one physical port coupled to an external network, the physical port allowing communications between the external network and the computer system;

a plurality of logical ports, wherein each of the logical ports is associated with one of the operating system partitions; and

a logical switch implemented internally to the computer system that selects the physical port and the logical ports and enables communication of information to the operating system partitions and the physical port.

35. The apparatus of claim 34 wherein when the logical switch receives a data packet, the logical switch wraps the data packet from one of the operating system partitions to another of the operating system partitions through a hardware path internal to the computer system when information in the packet indicates a wrap path, and wherein the logical switch sends the data packet from an operating system partition to a destination on the external network, or from the external network to one of the operating system partitions, when information in the data packet indicates a non-wrap path.

36. The apparatus of claim 35 wherein the information in the data packet includes a destination address and a packet control descriptor.

37. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein the data packet is one of a unicast packet, a multicast packet, and a broadcast packet.

38. The apparatus of claim 37 wherein if the data packet is a unicast packet, the logical switch checks the destination address of the data packet to determine whether to send the data packet to an operating system partition or to a destination on the external network.

39. The apparatus of claim 37 wherein if the data packet is a multicast packet or a broadcast packet, the logical switch sends the data packet to a multicast/broadcast manager implemented on the computer system.

40. The apparatus of claim 39 wherein the multicast/broadcast manager duplicates the data packet for any additional destinations for the packet, and changes the packet control descriptor for the data packet and for any duplicated data packets to indicate that they have been processed by the multicast/broadcast manager, and outputs the data packet and any duplicated data packets such that they are sent to appropriate destinations of the computer system and the external network.

41. The apparatus of claim 40 wherein if a data packet received by the multicast/broadcast manager is to be sent to an operating system partition of the computer system, the multicast/broadcast manager adds a tag to the data packet indicating the particular operating system partition to which to send the data packet.

42. The apparatus of claim 39 wherein if the data packet received by the logical switch is a multicast packet or a broadcast packet and the packet control descriptor indicates the data packet is a force out packet as designated by the multicast/broadcast manager, the data packet is sent to a destination on the external network.

43. The apparatus of claim 39 wherein if the data packet received by the logical switch is a multicast packet or a broadcast packet and the packet control descriptor indicates the data packet is a recirculate packet as designated by the multicast/broadcast manager, the data packet is sent to an operating system partition of the computer system as indicated by a tag associated with the data packet and provided by the multicast/broadcast manager.

44. An apparatus for providing network communications for a computer system, the apparatus comprising:

at least one physical port coupled to a network, the physical port allowing communications between the network and the computer system;

a plurality of connection queues for storing data packets that are to be sent from or received by at least one process in at least one user space of the computer system, wherein each connection queue is associated with a different network connection between one of the at least one processes and the network; and

a default operating system queue for storing data packets that are to be sent from or received by a kernel of an operating system partition implemented by the computer system.

45. The apparatus of claim 44 further comprising multiple operating system partitions and a logical port associated with each of the operating system partitions, wherein each logical port has an associated default operating system queue such that data packets stored in a default operating system queue are to be sent from or received by a kernel of the associated operating system partition.

46. The apparatus of claim 45 further comprising a logical switch implemented internally to the computer system that selects the physical port and the logical ports and enables communication of information to the operating system partitions and the physical port.

47. The apparatus of claim 44 wherein the default operating system queue stores a data packet when a network connection cannot be found for that data packet.

48. The apparatus of claim 44 wherein at least one process in the user space has a plurality of network connections and is serviced by the connection queues associated with those network connections.

49. The apparatus of claim 44 further comprising a special default queue for storing data packets that are not stored in the connection queues or default operating system queues.

50. The apparatus of claim 44 further comprising special multicast and broadcast default queues for storing multicast and broadcast data packets, respectively.

51. The apparatus of claim 50 wherein the data packets in the multicast and broadcast special default queues are provided to a multicast/broadcast manager implemented on the computer system, wherein the multicast/broadcast manager duplicates the data packet and outputs the data packet and duplicate data packets to be sent to a plurality of destinations.

52. A method for providing network communications for a computer system, the method comprising:

receiving a data packet at a network adapter;

storing the data packet in one of a plurality of connection queues, the connection queues for storing data packets that are to be sent from or received by at least one process in at least one user space of the computer system via associated network connections; and

storing the data packet in a default operating system queue if no network connection can be found for the data packet, the default operating system queue for storing data packets that are to be sent from or received by a kernel of an operating system partition implemented by the computer system.

53. The method of claim 52 wherein the network connections are provided between the at least one process and a network, wherein at least one physical port of the computer system is coupled to the network, the at least one physical port allowing communications between the network and the computer system.

54. The method of claim 52 wherein the computer system provides multiple operating system partitions and a logical port associated with each of the operating system partitions, wherein each logical port has an associated default operating system queue such that data packets stored in a default operating system queue are to be sent from or received by a kernel of the associated operating system partition.

55. The method of claim 52 further comprising storing the data packet in a special default queue if the data packet cannot be stored in a connection queue or default operating system queue.

56. The method of claim 52 further comprising storing the data packet in a special multicast or broadcast default queue if the data packet is a multicast or broadcast packet, respectively.

57. The method of claim 56 wherein the data packets in the multicast and broadcast special default queues are provided to a multicast/broadcast manager implemented on the computer system, wherein the multicast/broadcast manager duplicates the data packet and outputs the data packet and duplicate data packets to be sent to a plurality of destinations.

58. The method of claim 52 wherein at least one process in the user space has a plurality of network connections and is serviced by the connection queues associated with those network connections.