Runtime adaptable protocol processor

• US 7,631,107 B2
• Filed: 05/12/2004
• Issued: 12/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Memory Access Technologies LLC
• Original Assignee: Protocol Acquisition LLC
• Inventors: Pandya, Ashish A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Flynn; Nathan J
• Assistant Examiner(s): Siddiqi; Mohammad A
• Application Number:
  US10/845,345
• Publication Number:
  US 20040210320A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,036 Days
• Field of Search: 370/395.5, 370/395.52, 370/466, 370/465, 370/366, 370/389, 709238-244, 709/230, 709/250, 709/217, 709/227, 726 11- 15, 713151- 54, 711/161, 711/136
• US Class Current: 709/250
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0227 Filtering policies mail message filtering H04L51/212
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• 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 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 69/168 specially adapted for link layer protocols, e.g. asynchronous transfer mode [ATM], synchronous optical network [SONET] or point-to-point protocol [PPP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/169 Special adaptations of TCP, UDP or IP for interworking of IP based networks with other networks protocols for interworking, protocol conversion H04L69/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A runtime adaptable protocol processor is disclosed. The processor architecture provides capabilities to transport and process Internet Protocol (IP) packets from Layer 2 through transport protocol layer and may also provide packet inspection through Layer 7. Further, a runtime adaptable processor is coupled to the protocol processing hardware and may be dynamically adapted to perform hardware tasks as per the needs of the network traffic being sent or received and/or the policies programmed or services or applications being supported. A set of engines may perform pass-through packet classification, policy processing and/or security processing enabling packet streaming through the architecture at nearly the full line rate. A scheduler schedules packets to packet processors for processing. An internal memory or local session database cache stores a session information database for a certain number of active sessions. The session information that is not in the internal memory is stored and retrieved to/from an additional memory. An application running on an initiator or target can in certain instantiations register a region of memory, which is made available to its peer(s) for access directly without substantial host intervention through RDMA data transfer. A security system is also disclosed that enables a new way of implementing security capabilities inside enterprise networks in a distributed manner using a protocol processing hardware with appropriate security features.

Claims

1. A system for providing protocol processing capability comprising:

a runtime adaptable protocol processor providing adaptable hardware acceleration based on processing network packets presented to said runtime adaptable protocol processor by a network, said network comprising one or more networked systems of one or more types, at least one of said one or more networked systems comprising said runtime adaptable protocol processor, said runtime adaptable protocol processor comprising a programmable content search and rule processing engine configured to search content of the network packets by applying a set of search rules or take actions or matched rules or a combination thereof, and said runtime adaptable protocol processor further comprising;

a configuration controller, when said configuration controller is configured to dynamically map hardware functions to a plurality of hardware elements that are coupled to each other in a first configuration at a first time based on a protocol of a first one of the network packets, wherein one or more of the plurality of hardware elements are coupled to each other in a second configuration at a second time based on a protocol of a second one of the network packets, the second configuration being different from the first configuration.

2. The system of claim 1 providing protocol processing capability, for using Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP), or other transport layers, or a combination of any of the foregoing, over Internet Protocol (IP) networks.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the runtime adaptable protocol processor further comprises a protocol processing capability, for using Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP), other transport layers, or a combination of any of the foregoing, over Internet Protocol (IP) networks.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said runtime adaptable protocol processor further comprises runtime adaptable processor hardware to dynamically select hardware configurations to support application or service processing needs of data received from said network, of data being sent to said network, or of a combination thereof.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the runtime adaptable protocol processor further comprises capability to select:

a. policy based services, applications or policies or a combination there of;

b. user selected services, applications or policies or a combination there of;

c. user defined services, applications or policies or a combination there of;

d. user configured services, applications or policies or a combination there of; and

e. a combination of any of the foregoing, on the network packets received from said network or the on network packets sent to said network or a combination thereof.

6. A system for providing Remote Direct Memory Access capability comprising:

a runtime adaptable protocol processor providing adaptable hardware acceleration based on processing network packets presented to said runtime adaptable protocol processor by a network, said network comprising one or more networked systems of one or more types, at least one of said one or more networked systems comprising said runtime adaptable protocol processor providing remote direct memory access (RDMA) capability, said system providing multiple protocol layers in said network, said runtime adaptable protocol processor comprising a programmable content search and rule processing engine configured to a search content of network packets by applying a set of search rules or take actions on matched rules or a combination thereof, said runtime adaptable processor comprising;

a configuration controller, wherein said configuration controller is configured to dynamically map hardware functions to a plurality of hardware elements that are coupled to each other in a first configuration at a first time based on a protocol of a first one of the network packets;

wherein one or more of the plurality of hardware elements are coupled to each other in a second configuration at a second time, the second configuration being different from the first configuration based on a protocol of a second one of the network packets.

7. The system of claim 6 providing protocol processing capability, for using Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP), or other transport layers, or a combination of any of the foregoing, over Internet Protocol (IP) networks.

8. The system of claim 6 wherein said runtime adaptable protocol processor further comprises protocol processing capability for using Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP), other transport layers, or a combination of any of the foregoing, over Internet Protocol (IP) networks.

9. The system of claim 6 wherein said runtime adaptable protocol processor further comprises runtime adaptable processor hardware to dynamically select hardware configurations to support application or service processing needs of data received from the said network, of data being sent to the said network, or of a combination thereof.

10. The system of claim 6 wherein said runtime adaptable protocol processor further comprises capability to select:

a. policy based services, applications or policies or a combination there of;

b. user selected services, applications or policies or a combination there of;

c. user defined services, applications or policies or a combination there of;

d. user configured services, applications or policies or a combination there of; and

e. a combination of any of the foregoing, on the network packets received from said network or on the network packets sent to said network, or on a combination thereof.

11. A system for providing protocol processing capability enabling Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP), other session oriented protocols, User Datagram Protocol (UDP), or a combination of any of the foregoing, over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, and system comprising a processor for dynamically adapting hardware comprising:

a. a runtime adaptable processor for dynamically adapting hardware configuration to process information, wherein the runtime adaptable processor comprises at least one configuration controller for dynamic configuration control, wherein said configuration controller is configured to dynamically map hardware functions to one or more of a plurality of hardware elements that are coupled to each other in a first configuration at a first time based on a protocol of a first one of a plurality of network packets and are coupled to each other in a second configuration at a second time based on a protocol of a second one of the plurality of network packets, the second configuration being different from the first configuration;

b. at least one packet processor for processing the plurality of network packets;

c. a memory controller for controlling memory accesses;

d. a first network interface for coupling to a first network; and

e. a host interface for coupling to a host, a fabric interface for coupling to a fabric, or a second network interface for coupling to a second network.

12. The system of claim 11 further comprising at least one of:

a. a session memory for storing Internet Protocol (IP) session information;

b. an IP Storage session memory for storing IP Storage session information;

c. a classification processor for classifying IP packets;

d. a flow controller for controlling data flow;

e. a policy processor for applying policies;

f. a security processor for performing security operations;

g. a controller for control plane processing;

h. a packet scheduler for scheduling operations;

i. an adaptation controller for adaption the runtime adaptable processor;

j. a configuration memory for configuration information;

k. a runtime adaptable processor extension interface to couple to another runtime adaptable processor;

l. at least one data buffer for storing data;

m. a packet memory for storing the IP packets; and

n. a combination of any of the foregoing.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein and combination of said recited elements a-e or parts thereof are implemented in a single element.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein any combination of said recited elements a-m or parts thereof are implemented in a single element.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein the runtime adaptable processor further comprises:

a. at least one dynamically adaptable interconnect network; and

b. at least one dynamically adaptable computational logic element for processing information.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein said runtime adaptable processor further comprises at least one of the following:

a. at least one compute cluster providing computational logic;

b. a global configuration controller for global configuration control;

c. a configuration memory controller for controlling accesses to a configuration memory;

d. an inter cluster routing switch for controlling routing between compute clusters;

e. at least one inter cluster routing channel for routing information for said at least one compute cluster;

f. a global memory for providing memory storage;

g. a global memory controller for controlling accesses to at least said global memory; and

h. a combination of any of the foregoing.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein said at least one compute cluster comprises:

a. a cluster configuration controller for dynamic configuration control;

b. at least one dynamically adaptable computational element for processing information; and

c. a configurable cluster interconnect network for connecting dynamically adaptable computational elements.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein said at least one compute cluster further comprises at least one of the following:

a. a cluster memory for providing memory storage;

b. a cluster memory controller for controlling at least said cluster memory;

c. a cluster routing switch for interconnecting said at least one dynamically adaptable computational element internal to said at least one compute cluster or external to said at least one compute cluster, or a combination thereof;

d. a memory access interconnect network for accessing said cluster memory; and

e. a combination of any of the foregoing.

19. The system of claim 15 wherein said at least one dynamically adaptable computational logic element comprises at least one of the following:

a. Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)-like combinational logic blocks providing configurable logic and logic to connect said configurable logic;

b. at least one programmable processor dynamically configurable to perform operations; and

c. a combination of any of the foregoing.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein at least one of said at least one programmable processor comprises:

a. at least one arithmetic logic unit to perform arithmetic or logic operations or a combination thereof; and

b. a storage unit to store data.

21. The system of claim 19 wherein said at least one programmable processor further comprises at least one of the following:

a. a hardware avatar or configuration, and avatar selection logic therefore;

b. an instruction decoder for decoding avatar instructions;

c. at least one functional unit to perform operations other than Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) operations;

d. an instruction memory for instructions;

e. input selection logic to select inputs to said at least one programmable processor;

f. output selection logic to select output from said at least one programmable processor;

g. bypass logic to provide a data path from selected inputs to selected outputs without processing said data by said processor; and

h. a combination of any of the foregoing.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein said hardware avatar comprises a hardware configuration selected by executing one of said instructions or a set of said instructions.

23. A system comprising:

a network, said network comprising one or more networked systems of one or more types, said system providing multiple protocol layers in said network, at least one of said one or more networked systems comprising a protocol processor, said protocol processor comprising a programmable content search and rile processing engine configured to search content of network packets within said network by applying a set of search rules, or take actions on matched rules, or a combination thereof, and said protocol processor further comprising;

a runtime adaptable processor to provide adaptable hardware acceleration based on processing the network packets presented to said protocol processor, said runtime adaptable processor comprising a configuration controller, wherein said configuration controller is configured to dynamically map hardware functions to one or more of a plurality of hardware elements that are coupled to each other in a first configuration at a first time based on a protocol of a first one of the network packets and are coupled to each other in a second configuration at a second time based on a protocol of a second one of the network packets, the second configuration being different from the first configuration.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein the runtime adaptable processor further comprises protocol processing capabilities for using Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP), other transport layers, or a combination of any of the foregoing, over Internet Protocol (IP) networks.

25. The system of claim 23 wherein said runtime adaptable protocol processor further comprises runtime adaptable processor hardware to dynamically select hardware configurations to support application or service processing needs of data received from said network, or of data being sent to said network, or of a combination thereof.

26. The system of claim 23 wherein said runtime adaptable protocol processor further comprises capability to select:

a. policy based services, applications or policies or a combination there of;

b. user selected services, applications or policies or a combination there of;

c. user defined services, applications or policies or a combination there of;

d. user configured services, applications or policies or a combination there of; and

e. a combination of any of the forgoing, on the network packets received from said network or on the network packets sent to said network, or a combination thereof.

27. The system comprising:

a network, said network comprising one or more networked systems of one or more types, said system providing multiple protocol layers in said network, at least one of said one or more networked systems comprising a protocol processor, said protocol processor comprising a programmable content search and rule processing engine configured to search content of network packets within said network by applying a set of search riles, or take actions on matched rules, or a combination thereof, and said protocol processor further comprising;

a programmable rules processing engine based on content addressable memory (CAM) architecture to provide rule searching and protocol processing to the network packets presented to said protocol processor, wherein the network packets comprise a first one of the network packets and a second one of the network packets, wherein a state of the search rules applied to said second one or the network packets are stored in a memory, and said programmable rules processing engine is configured to determine a protocol of the first one of the network packets based on determining whether the first one of the network packets belongs to a connection of the second one of the network packets and on the stored state of the search rules applied to the second one of the network packets.