Abstract: An adapter includes a network interface module configured to interface the adapter to a network and a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) interface module configured to interface the adapter to a PCIe bus. The PCIe interface module comprises registers in PCIe extended configuration space. The registers are configured to receive ioctls from the PCIe bus. The adapter also includes an ioctl processing module configured to receive the ioctls from the registers, to perform the ioctls, and to provide results of the ioctls to the registers for provision by the registers to the PCIe bus. The ioctls comprise commands that relate to transceiving of frames by the adapter on the network. The network interface may be Ethernet, Fibre Channel, Infiniband, etc. Examples of the ioctls include retrieving operation or error statistics, setting virtual channel tag and priorities, and setting a protocol address associated with a port of the adapter.

Abstract: A FCP initiator sends a FCP write command to a FCP target within a second FC Exchange, and the target sends one or more FC write control IUs to the initiator within a first FC Exchange to request a transfer of data associated with the write command. The first and second FC exchanges are distinct from one another. A payload of each write control IU includes an OX_ID value with which the initiator originated the second Exchange and a RX_ID value assigned by the FCP target for the second exchange. The two Exchanges yield a full-duplex communication environment between the initiator and target that enables the reduction or elimination of latencies incurred in a conventional FCP write I/O operation due to the half-duplex nature of a single FC Exchange. The write control IU may be an enhanced FCP_XFER_RDY IU or a new FC IU previously undefined by the FCP standard.

Abstract: An Ethernet node includes a receiver and transmitter for coupling to an Ethernet link for transceiving Ethernet frames with a remote Ethernet node at a remote end of the Ethernet link. The Ethernet node sends to the remote Ethernet node credit information that enables the remote Ethernet node to know an amount of Ethernet frames the remote Ethernet node is allowed to send to the Ethernet node. The credit information may be specified on a VLAN priority basis and may be included in a header piggy-backed on a host Ethernet frame or may be included in an explicit frame. The credit information may incrementally replenish credits or may specify an absolute credit amount and may be sent in response to processing frames, detection of a frame error, receipt of a request from the remote node or other events.

Abstract: One or more modules include a first portion that teams together multiple physical network interface ports of a computing system to appear as a single virtual network interface port to a switch to which the physical ports are linked. A second portion determines a receive port upon which a packet of a TCP session was received. A third portion assigns a transmit port to be the receive port, wherein the transmit port is used by the computing system to transmit packets of the TCP session. The third portion assigns the transmit port prior to a TCP offload engine (TOE) being enabled to offload from the system CPU processing of packets of the TCP session transceived on the assigned transmit/receive port. If a subsequent packet for the TCP session is received on a different second port, the transmit port is reassigned to be the second port.

Abstract: A computer system includes compute nodes coupled through a switch to shared or non-shared I/O devices. The switch includes a pool of bridge headers and virtual bridges coupling a root port of a compute node to each of one or more shared or non-shared I/O devices. The switch is configured to associate each of the virtual bridges with a respective one of the fixed pool of bridge headers, receive a packet including data identifying the root port and a shared or non-shared I/O device, and route the packet in response to comparing data in the packet to data in the bridge headers associated with the virtual bridges. The virtual bridges comprise a hierarchy of virtual bridges in which one virtual bridge connects the root port to the remaining virtual bridges of the hierarchy. The switch may change the associations between virtual bridges and bridge headers.