Abstract: An printed circuit board (PCB) assembly and method of assembling the same for a high-speed, short-reach communication link are described that provide a mechanism for transmitting radio frequency (RF) waves from one digital electronic component of the PCB assembly to another, where the second digital electronic component is located either on the same PCB assembly or on a second PCB assembly. The assembly includes a PCB having multiple layers and a digital electronic component supported by the PCB. At least one of the layers defines a channel that confines RF waves therein. An RF antenna in communication with the digital electronic component extends into the channel, and the RF antenna transmits RF signals generated by the digital electronic component into the channel as RF waves or receives RF waves via the channel and conveys corresponding RF signals to the digital electronic component.

Abstract: A method for communication includes receiving and forwarding packets in multiple flows to respective egress interfaces of a switching element for transmission to a network. For each of one or more of the egress interfaces, in each of a succession of arbitration cycles, a respective number of the packets in each of the plurality of the flows that are queued for transmission through the egress interface is assessed, and the flows for which the respective number is less than a selected threshold to a first group, while assigning the flows for which the respective number is equal to or greater than the selected threshold are assigned to a second group. The received packets that have been forwarded to the egress interface and belong to the flows in the first group are transmitted with a higher priority than the flows in the second group.

Abstract: Power consumption is controlled in a fabric of interconnected network switches in which there are queues for data awaiting transmission through the fabric and a plurality of lanes for carrying the data between ports of the switches, A bandwidth manager iteratively determines current queue byte sizes, and assigns respective bandwidths to the switches according to the current queue byte sizes. Responsively to the assigned bandwidths, the bandwidth manager causes a portion of the lanes of the switches to be disabled so as to maintain a power consumption of the fabric below a predefined limit.

Abstract: A method for packet generation includes designating a group of one or more ports, from among multiple ports of one or more network elements, to perform the packet generation. A circular packet path, which traverses one or more buffers of the ports in the group, is configured. A burst of one or more packets is provided to the group, so as to cause the burst of packets to repeatedly traverse the circular packet path. A packet stream, including the repeated burst of packets, is transmitted from one of the ports.

Abstract: A method for communication includes receiving and forwarding packets in multiple flows to respective egress interfaces of a switching element for transmission to a network. For each of one or more of the egress interfaces, in each of a succession of arbitration cycles, a respective number of the packets in each of the plurality of the flows that are queued for transmission through the egress interface is assessed, and the flows for which the respective number is zero are assigned to a first group, while the flows for which the respective number is non-zero are assigned to a second group. The received packets that have been forwarded to the egress interface and belong to the flows in the first group are transmitted with a higher priority than the flows in the second group.

Abstract: According to an aspect of the presently disclosed subject matter, there is provided a system for managing data in a storage system, the system including a storage layer which provides storage resource, and a snapshot layer that includes: a volume-version data structure, a chunk-version data structure and a IO handler.

Abstract: A method in a network element that includes multiple interfaces for connecting to a communication network includes receiving from the communication network via an ingress interface a flow including a sequence of packets, and routing the packets to a destination of the flow via a first egress interface. A permission indication for re-routing the flow is received in the ingress interface. In response to receiving the permission indication, subsequent packets of the flow are re-routed via a second egress interface that is different from the first egress interface. Further re-routing of the flow is refrained from, until receiving another permission indication.

Abstract: A network switch includes circuitry, multiple ports and multiple hardware-implemented distinct-flow counters. The multiple ports are configured to receive packets from a communication network. Each of the multiple hardware-implemented distinct-flow counters is configured to receive (i) a respective count definition specifying one or more packet-header fields and (ii) a respective subset of the received packets, and to estimate a respective number of distinct flows that are present in the subset, by evaluating, over the packets in the subset, a number of distinct values in the packet-header fields belonging to the count definition. The circuitry is configured to provide each of the distinct-flow counters with the respective subset of the received packets, including providing a given packet to a plurality of the distinct-flow counters, and to identify an event-of-interest based on numbers of distinct flows estimated by the distinct-flow counters.

Abstract: A method for communication includes receiving and forwarding packets in multiple flows to respective egress interfaces of a switching element for transmission to a network. For each of one or more of the egress interfaces, in each of a succession of arbitration cycles, a respective number of the packets in each of the plurality of the flows that are queued for transmission through the egress interface is assessed, and the flows for which the respective number is zero are assigned to a first group, while the flows for which the respective number is non-zero are assigned to a second group. The received packets that have been forwarded to the egress interface and belong to the flows in the first group are transmitted with a higher priority than the flows in the second group.

Abstract: A network element includes circuitry and one or more interfaces. The interfaces are configured to connect to a communication network. The circuitry is configured to assign multiple egress interfaces corresponding to respective different paths via the communication network for routing packets to a given destination-address group, to hold, for the given destination-address group, respective state information for each of multiple sets of hash results, to receive via an ingress interface a packet destined to the given destination-address group, to calculate a given hash result for the packet and identify a given set of hash results in which the given hash result falls, and to forward the packet via one of the multiple egress interfaces in accordance with the state information corresponding to the given destination-address group and the given set of hash results.

Abstract: Systems and methods are described that provide for distributively storing and accessing data across multiple hash tables, such that utilization of the hash tables is optimized. In particular, a key associated with a value is split into two or more sub-keys and the sub-keys are inserted into respective hash tables with associated values. For each sub-key except the final sub-key derived from a particular key, the value paired with the sub-key is an identifier that points to the location of the next sub-key and its associated value, which may be stored in the other hash tables. The final sub-key derived from the original key is paired with the value associated with the key, such as an action to be performed. Thus, rather than using a single key (which may be very large) to access or store a particular value, multiple (smaller) sub-keys are used to ultimately access the same value via multiple, smaller hash tables.

Abstract: Communication apparatus includes multiple interfaces configured for connection to a packet data network. A memory, coupled to the interfaces, is configured as a shared buffer to contain packets in multiple sets of queues for transmission to the network. Each set of queues receives in the shared buffer a respective allocation having an allocation size that varies over time in response to an amount of space in the shared buffer that is unused at any given time. A controller is configured to apply congestion control to a respective fraction of the packets that are queued for transmission from each set of queues in the shared buffer to the network, such that the respective fraction is set for each set of queues at any given time in response to a relation between a length of the queues in the set and the allocation size of the respective allocation at the given time.

Abstract: A method for communication includes, in a first network switch that is part of a communication network having a topology, detecting a compromised ability to forward a flow of packets originating from a source endpoint to a destination endpoint. In response to detecting the compromised ability, the first network switch identifies, based on the topology, a second network switch that lies on a current route of the flow, and also lies on one or more alternative routes from the source endpoint to the destination endpoint that do not traverse the first network switch. A notification, which is addressed individually to the second network switch and requests the second network switch to reroute the flow, is sent from the first network switch.

Abstract: A method in a network element includes processing input packets using a set of two or more functions that are defined over parameters of the input packets. Each function in the set produces respective interim actions applied to the input packets and the entire set produces respective end-to-end actions applied to the input packets. An end-to-end mapping, which maps the parameters of at least some of the input packets directly to the corresponding end-to-end actions, is cached in the network element. The end-to-end mapping is queried with the parameters of a new input packet. Upon finding the parameters of the new input packet in the end-to-end mapping, an end-to-end action mapped to the found parameters is applied to the new input packet, without processing the new input packet using the set of functions.

Abstract: A method in a network element that includes multiple interfaces for connecting to a communication network includes receiving via an ingress interface packets that are not allowed to undergo re-routing and that are addressed to a destination via a first egress interface. The packets are forwarded via the first egress interface when there is a valid path from the first egress interface to the destination. When there is no valid path from the first egress interface to the destination, a second egress interface is selected from a group of multiple egress interfaces that have respective paths to the destination and are assigned to packets for which re-routing is allowed, and the packets are forwarded via the second egress interface until recovering a path to the destination.

Abstract: A communication network includes multiple nodes, which are arranged in groups such that the nodes in each group are interconnected in a bipartite topology and the groups are interconnected in a mesh topology. The nodes are configured to convey traffic between source hosts and respective destination hosts by routing packets among the nodes on paths that do not traverse any intermediate hosts other than the source and destination hosts.

Abstract: A method for communication includes providing multiple chassis. Each chassis includes a plurality of slots, which are arranged in at least an outer tier and a middle tier, and which are configured for insertion therein of respective switches. In at least a first chassis among the multiple chassis, first internal interconnects are connected between the slots in the middle tier and the slots in the outer tier, so as to connect each of the slots in the middle tier to multiple slots in the outer tier. In at least a second chassis among the multiple chassis, second internal interconnects are connected directly between the slots in the outer tier. External interconnects are connected between at least some of the slots in the outer tier of the first chassis and at least some of the slots in the outer tier of the second chassis in order to define a network.

Abstract: A storage system, including: (a) a primary storage entity utilized for storing a data-set of the storage system; (b) a secondary storage entity utilized for backing-up the data within the primary storage entity; (c) a flushing management module adapted to identify within the primary storage entity two groups of dirty data blocks, each group is comprised of dirty data blocks which are arranged within the secondary storage entity in a successive sequence, and to further identify within the primary storage entity a further group of backed-up data blocks which are arranged within the secondary storage entity in a successive sequence intermediately in-between the two identified groups of dirty data blocks; and (d) said flushing management module is adapted to combine the group of backed-up data blocks together with the two identified groups of dirty data blocks to form a successive extended flush sequence and to destage it to the secondary storage entity.

Abstract: According to an aspect of the presently disclosed subject matter, there is provided a system for managing data in a storage system, the system including a storage layer which provides storage resource, and a snapshot layer that includes: a volume-version data structure, a chunk-version data structure and a IO handler.

Abstract: A method for communication, includes routing unicast data packets among nodes in a network using respective Layer-3 addresses that are uniquely assigned to each of the nodes. Respective Layer-2 unicast addresses are assigned to the nodes in accordance with an algorithmic mapping of the respective Layer-3 addresses. The unicast data packets are forwarded within subnets of the network using the assigned Layer-2 addresses.