Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for notifying network control software of new and moved source MAC addresses. In one embodiment, a switch detects packets sent by a new or migrated virtual machine, and sends a copy of a detected packet to the network control software as a notification. The switch further learns the source MAC address, thereby permitting the entry to be used for normal forwarding prior to validation of the entry and the VM associated therewith by the network control software. Until the network control software has validated the VM, the switch may periodically retry the notification to the network control software. “No_Redirect” and “Not_Validated” flags may be used to indicate whether a notification has already been attempted and thus no retry is necessary, and that the VM associated with the VM has not yet been validated, respectively.

Abstract: An approach is described for routing data to a plurality of output terminals via a integrated switch router including a crossbar switch having both a crossbar and a plurality of crossbar bypass lines. Whereas the crossbar may connect each input of the crossbar switch to each output of the crossbar switch, each of the plurality of crossbar bypass lines may connect a single input of the crossbar switch to a corresponding single output of the crossbar switch. According to such approach, a replicated copy of a multicast packet may be forwarded to an output terminal via a crossbar bypass line in parallel with other data forwarded via the crossbar, thus increasing integrated switch router bandwidth.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for notifying network control software of new and moved source MAC addresses. In one embodiment, a switch may redirect a packet sent by a new or migrated virtual machine to the network control software as a notification. The switch does not forward the packet, thereby protecting against denial of service attacks. The switch further adds to a forwarding database a temporary entry which includes a “No_Redirect” flag for a new source MAC address, or updates an existing entry for a source MAC address that hits in the forwarding database by setting the “No_Redirect” flag. The “No_Redirect” flag indicates whether a notification has already been sent to the network control software for this source MAC address. The switch may periodically retry the notification to the network control software, until the network control software validates the source MAC address, depending on whether the “No_Redirect” is set.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for notifying network control software of new and moved source MAC addresses. In one embodiment, a switch may redirect a packet sent by a new or migrated virtual machine to the network control software as a notification. The switch does not forward the packet, thereby protecting against denial of service attacks. The switch further adds to a forwarding database a temporary entry which includes a “No_Redirect” flag for a new source MAC address, or updates an existing entry for a source MAC address that hits in the forwarding database by setting the “No_Redirect” flag. The “No_Redirect” flag indicates whether a notification has already been sent to the network control software for this source MAC address. The switch may periodically retry the notification to the network control software, until the network control software validates the source MAC address, depending on whether the “No_Redirect” is set.

Abstract: A mechanism is provided for sharing a communication used by a parser (parser path) in a network adapter of a network processor for sending requests for a process to be executed by an external coprocessor. The parser path is shared by processors of the network processor (software path) to send requests to the external processor. The mechanism uses for the software path a request mailbox comprising a control address and a data field accessed by MMIO for sending two types of messages, one message type to read or write resources and one message type to trigger an external process in the coprocessor and a response mailbox for receiving response from the external coprocessor comprising a data field and a flag field. The other processors of the network poll the flag until set and get the coprocessor result in the data field.

Abstract: A network fabric may divide a physical connection into a plurality of VLANs as defined by IEEE 802.1Q. Moreover, many network fabrics use Priority Flow Control to identify and segregate network traffic based on different traffic classes or priorities. Current routing protocols define only eight traffic classes. In contrast, a network fabric may contain thousands of unique VLANs. When network congestion occurs, network devices (e.g., switches, bridges, routers, servers, etc.) can negotiate to pause the network traffic associated with one of the different traffic classes. Pausing the data packets associated with a single traffic class may also stop the data packets associated with thousands of VLANs. The embodiments disclosed herein permit a network fabric to individually pause VLANs rather than entire traffic classes.

Abstract: According to one embodiment, a method for handling congestion in a network includes determining that there is congestion on a first device in a network, setting a congestion indicator in a header of a packet to indicate an amount of congestion at the first device, sending the packet to all devices that send traffic to the first device, receiving the packet having the multi-bit indicator in a header thereof at a device that sends traffic to the first device, and reducing a congestion window by a factor of between about 5% and about 50% based on a severity of the congestion indicated by the multi-bit indicator, wherein the congestion window is reduced by a greater factor when the congestion is indicated as being more severe. Other systems and methods for handling congestion in a network are described according to more embodiments.

Abstract: A system to improve a Converged Enhanced Ethernet network may include a controller having a computer processor connected to a layer 2 endpoint buffer. The system may also include a manager executing on the controller to monitor the layer 2 endpoint buffer by determining buffer data packet occupancy and/or rate of change in the buffer data packet occupancy. The system may further include a reporter to notify a congestion source of the layer 2 endpoint buffer based upon the buffer data packet occupancy and/or rate of change in the buffer data packet occupancy.

Abstract: A system to improve a Converged Enhanced Ethernet network may include a controller having a computer processor connected to a layer 2 endpoint buffer. The system may also include a manager executing on the controller to monitor the layer 2 endpoint buffer by determining buffer data packet occupancy and/or rate of change in the buffer data packet occupancy. The system may further include a reporter to notify a congestion source of the layer 2 endpoint buffer based upon the buffer data packet occupancy and/or rate of change in the buffer data packet occupancy.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for hash-based routing table management in a distributed network switch having multiple switch modules. Upon determining that an attempt to insert a first routing entry into a first hash table of the routing table has failed, a second routing entry, which exists in the first hash table, is attempted to be moved to a second hash table of the routing table. If the move attempt is successful, then the first routing entry is added to the location previously occupied by the second routing entry. If the move attempt is unsuccessful, then a third routing entry, which exists in the first hash table, is attempted to be moved.

Abstract: A network packet includes a packet key that includes one or more source-destination field pairs. Each source-destination field pair that is included in the one or more source-destination field pairs includes a source field and a destination field. For each selected source-destination field pair, included in the one or more source-destination field pairs, a first section and a second section are selected in the packet key. A source field value is extracted from the source field and a destination field value is extracted from the destination field of the selected source-destination field pair.

Abstract: A distributed switch may include a hierarchy with one or more levels of surrogate sub-switches (and surrogate bridge elements) that enable the distributed switch to scale bandwidth based on the size of the membership of a multicast group. Moreover, each surrogate may optimize the hierarchy according to one or more optimization criteria. For example, each surrogate in the hierarchy may have the necessary information to ensure that if the next surrogate in the hierarchy is unavailable, the data may be routed to a backup surrogate. The selected hierarchy may be further optimized by skipping surrogates (or a surrogate level) such that the data intended for a skipped surrogate is sent to a surrogate in a lower-level of the hierarchy. This may better utilize the connection interfaces in the transmitting sub-switches and eliminate any unnecessary surrogate-to-surrogate transfers.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for processing of data packets by a data processing component comprising a plurality of processing resources. A metric value for a current configuration of the processing resources that are processing the data packets is identified. A new configuration of the processing resources is selected using the metric value. The current configuration of the processing resources is changed to the new configuration and data packets are distributed to the new configuration for processing as the data packets are received.

Abstract: A distributed switch may include a hierarchy with one or more levels of surrogate sub-switches (and surrogate bridge elements) that enable the distributed switch to scale bandwidth based on the size of the membership of a multicast group. Moreover, each surrogate may optimize the hierarchy according to one or more optimization criteria. For example, each surrogate in the hierarchy may have the necessary information to ensure that if the next surrogate in the hierarchy is unavailable, the data may be routed to a backup surrogate. The selected hierarchy may be further optimized by skipping surrogates (or a surrogate level) such that the data intended for a skipped surrogate is sent to a surrogate in a lower-level of the hierarchy. This may better utilize the connection interfaces in the transmitting sub-switches and eliminate any unnecessary surrogate-to-surrogate transfers.

Abstract: A mechanism is provided for merging in a network processor results from a parser and results from an external coprocessor providing processing support requested by said parser. The mechanism enqueues in a result queue both parser results needing to be merged with a coprocessor result and parser results which have no need to be merged with a coprocessor result. An additional queue is used to enqueue the addresses of the result queue where the parser results are stored. The result from the coprocessor is received in a simple response register. The coprocessor result is read by the result queue management logic from the response register and merged to the corresponding incomplete parser result read in the result queue at the address enqueued in the additional queue.

Abstract: A method, a system, and a computer program product is disclosed for identifying a quality of service (QoS) classification of a packet in a network by a network processor. The method comprising: providing a table wherein a priority value with a maximum of N values is used as an index into the table to retrieve a QoS classification having a maximum of M values with M less than N; receiving a data packet in a stream of data packets; extracting at least two priority indicator values from the packet; converting the at least two priority indicator values into a priority value; utilizing the priority value as an index into the table; extracting the entry in the table corresponding to the priority value as the QoS classification of the packet; and utilizing the QoS classification for subsequent processing of the data packet.

Abstract: A distributed switch may include a hierarchy with one or more levels of surrogate sub-switches (and surrogate bridge elements) that enable the distributed switch to scale bandwidth based on the size of the membership of a multicast group. When a sub-switch receives a multicast data frame, it forwards the packet to one of the surrogate sub-switches. Each surrogate sub-switch may then forward the packet to another surrogate in a different hierarchical level or to a destination computing device. Because the surrogates may transmit the data frame in parallel using two or more connection interfaces, the bandwidth used to forward the multicast packet increases for each surrogate used.

Abstract: Techniques are provided for routing table synchronization for a distributed network switch. In one embodiment, a first frame having a source address and a destination address is received. If no routing entry for the source address is found in a routing table of a first switch module, routing information is determined for the source address and a routing entry is generated. An indication is sent to a second switch module, to request a routing entry for the source address to be generated in the second switch module, based on the routing information.

Abstract: A distributed switch may include a hierarchy with one or more levels of surrogate sub-switches (and surrogate bridge elements) that enable the distributed switch to scale bandwidth based on the size of the membership of a multicast group. When a sub-switch receives a multicast data frame, it forwards the packet to one of the surrogate sub-switches. Each surrogate sub-switch may then forward the packet to another surrogate in a different hierarchical level or to a destination computing device. Because the surrogates may transmit the data frame in parallel using two or more connection interfaces, the bandwidth used to forward the multicast packet increases for each surrogate used.

Abstract: Translating between an Ethernet protocol used by a first network component and a Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) protocol used by a second network component, the first and second components coupled through a CEE Converter that translates by: for data flow from the first network component to the second network component: receiving, by the CEE converter, traffic flow definition parameters for a single CEE protocol data flow; calculating, by a credit manager, available buffer space in an outbound frame buffer of the CEE converter for the data flow; communicating, by the credit manager to a CEE credit driver of the first component, the calculated size of the buffer space together with a start sequence number and a flow identifier; and responding, by the CEE credit driver to the CEE converter, with Ethernet frames comprising a private header that includes the flow identifier and a sequence number.