Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for managing multicast data transmission in a network having a plurality of switches arranged in a Dragonfly network topology, including: receiving a multicast transmission at an edge port of a switch and identifying the transmission as a network multicast transmission; creating an entry in a multicast table within the switch; routing the multicast transmission across the network to a plurality of destinations via a plurality of links, wherein at each of the links the multicast table is referenced to determine to which ports the multicast transmission should be forwarded; and changing, when necessary, the virtual channel used by each copy of the multicast transmission as the copy progresses through the network.

Abstract: Systems and methods of routing a data communication across a network having a plurality switches are provided by monitoring the operation of the plurality of global links to determine which of the plurality of global links provide working paths. A routing table indicative of a status for the plurality of links is maintained, where the routing table provides weighting for each of the working paths. When routing, a link using a weighted pseudo-random selection from the choices available in the routing table is selected. Routing along one of the working paths commensurate with the selected link is performed, and the weighting is updated based upon the operation of the plurality of links.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for “on the fly” routing of data transmissions in the presence of errors. Switches can establish flow channels corresponding to flows in the network. In response to encountering a critical error on a network link along a transmission path, a switch can generate an error acknowledgement. The switch can transmit the error acknowledgements to ingress ports upstream from the network link via the plurality of flow channels. By transmitting the error acknowledgement, it indicates that the network link where the critical error was encountered is a failed link to ingress ports upstream from the failed link. Subsequently, each ingress port upstream from the failed link can dynamically update the path of the plurality of flows that are upstream from the failed link such that the plurality of flows that are upstream from the failed link are routed in a manner that avoids the failed link.

Abstract: A network interface controller (NIC) capable of efficient event management is provided. The NIC can be equipped with a host interface, a first memory device, and an event management module. During operation, the host interface can couple the NIC to a host device. The event management module can identify an event associated with an event queue stored in a second memory device of the host device. The event management module can insert, into a buffer, an event notification associated with the event. The buffer can be associated with the event queue and stored in the first memory device. If the buffer has met a release criterion, the event management module can insert, via the host interface, the aggregated event notifications into the event queue.

Abstract: Systems and methods of routing a data communication across a network having a plurality switches are provided by monitoring the operation of the plurality of global links to determine which of the plurality of global links provide working paths. A routing table indicative of a status for the plurality of links is maintained, where the routing table provides weighting for each of the working paths. When routing, a link using a weighted pseudo-random selection from the choices available in the routing table is selected. Routing along one of the working paths commensurate with the selected link is performed, and the weighting is updated based upon the operation of the plurality of links.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for managing a data communication within a multi-level network having a plurality of switches organized as groups, with each group coupled to all other groups via global links, including: at each switch within the network, maintaining a global fault table identifying the links which lead only to faulty global paths, and when the data communication is received at a port of a switch, determine a destination for the data communication and, route the communication across the network using the global fault table to avoid selecting a port within the switch that would result in the communication arriving at a point in the network where its only path forward is across a global link that is faulty; wherein the global fault table is used for both a global minimal routing methodology and a global non-minimal routing methodology.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for efficiently routing data through a network having a plurality of switches configured in a fat-tree topology, including: receiving a data transmission comprising a plurality of packets at an edge port of the network, and routing the data transmission through the network with routing decisions based upon a routing table, wherein the routing table includes entries to effect routing decisions based upon a destination based hash function.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for managing multicast data transmission in a network having a plurality of switches arranged in a Dragonfly network topology, including: receiving a multicast transmission at an edge port of a switch and identifying the transmission as a network multicast transmission; creating an entry in a multicast table within the switch; routing the multicast transmission across the network to a plurality of destinations via a plurality of links, wherein at each of the links the multicast table is referenced to determine to which ports the multicast transmission should be forwarded; and changing, when necessary, the virtual channel used by each copy of the multicast transmission as the copy progresses through the network.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for “on the fly” routing of data transmissions in the presence of errors. Switches can establish flow channels corresponding to flows in the network. In response to encountering a critical error on a network link along a transmission path, a switch can generate an error acknowledgement. The switch can transmit the error acknowledgements to ingress ports upstream from the network link via the plurality of flow channels. By transmitting the error acknowledgement, it indicates that the network link where the critical error was encountered is a failed link to ingress ports upstream from the failed link. Subsequently, each ingress port upstream from the failed link can dynamically update the path of the plurality of flows that are upstream from the failed link such that the plurality of flows that are upstream from the failed link are routed in a manner that avoids the failed link.

Abstract: A network interface controller (NIC) capable of efficient event management is provided. The NIC can be equipped with a host interface, a first memory device, and an event management module. During operation, the host interface can couple the NIC to a host device. The event management module can identify an event associated with an event queue stored in a second memory device of the host device. The event management module can insert, into a buffer, an event notification associated with the event. The buffer can be associated with the event queue and stored in the first memory device. If the buffer has met a release criterion, the event management module can insert, via the host interface, the aggregated event notifications into the event queue.

Abstract: A network interface controller (NIC) capable of efficient command management is provided. The NIC can be equipped with a host interface, an arbitration logic block, and a command management logic block. During operation, the host interface can couple the NIC to a host device. The arbitration logic block can select a command queue of the host device for obtaining a command. The command management logic block can determine whether an internal buffer associated with the command queue includes a command. If the internal buffer includes the command, the command management logic block can obtain the command from the internal buffer. On the other hand, if the internal buffer is empty, the command management logic block can obtain the command from the command queue via the host interface.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for managing a data communication within a multi-level network having a plurality of switches organized as groups, with each group coupled to all other groups via global links, including: at each switch within the network, maintaining a global fault table identifying the links which lead only to faulty global paths, and when the data communication is received at a port of a switch, determine a destination for the data communication and, route the communication across the network using the global fault table to avoid selecting a port within the switch that would result in the communication arriving at a point in the network where its only path forward is across a global link that is faulty; wherein the global fault table is used for both a global minimal routing methodology and a global non-minimal routing methodology.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for efficiently routing data through a network having a plurality of switches configured in a fat-tree topology, including: receiving a data transmission comprising a plurality of packets at an edge port of the network, and routing the data transmission through the network with routing decisions based upon a routing table, wherein the routing table includes entries to effect routing decisions based upon a destination based hash function.

Abstract: Systems and methods are described for providing per traffic class routing of data within a network. A network switch has the capability to classify traffic data based on High Performance Computing (HPC) related characteristics. Traffic classes are defined based on aspects of HPC, such as routing, ordering, redirection, quiesce, HPC protocol configuration, and telemetry. A switch can receive packets at an ingress port of a switch fabric, and determine traffic classifications for the packets. The traffic classification is selected from a group of defined traffic classes. Then, the switch can generate a fabric specific flag for the at least one packet that indicates the determined traffic classification, where the fabric specific flag is used for routing packets based on their assigned traffic classification. Examples of traffic classes include: low latency class; dedicated access class; bulk data class; best efforts class; and scavenger class.

Abstract: A switch architecture for a data-driven intelligent networking system is provided. The system can accommodate dynamic traffic with fast, effective congestion control. The system can maintain state information of individual packet flows, which can be set up or released dynamically based on injected data. Each flow can be provided with a flow-specific input queue upon arriving at a switch. Packets of a respective flow are acknowledged after reaching the egress point of the network, and the acknowledgement packets are sent back to the ingress point of the flow along the same data path. As a result, each switch can obtain state information of each flow and perform flow control on a per-flow basis.

Abstract: A network interface controller (NIC) capable of efficient command management is provided. The NIC can be equipped with a host interface, an arbitration logic block, and a command management logic block. During operation, the host interface can couple the NIC to a host device. The arbitration logic block can select a command queue of the host device for obtaining a command. The command management logic block can determine whether an internal buffer associated with the command queue includes a command. If the internal buffer includes the command, the command management logic block can obtain the command from the internal buffer. On the other hand, if the internal buffer is empty, the command management logic block can obtain the command from the command queue via the host interface.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for passing data amongst a plurality of switches having a plurality of links attached between the plurality of switches. At a switch, a plurality of load signals are received from a plurality of neighboring switches. Each of the plurality of load signals are made up of a set of values indicative of a load at each of the plurality of neighboring switches providing the load signal. Each value within the set of values provides an indication for each link of the plurality of links attached thereto as to whether the link is busy or quiet. Based upon the plurality of load signals, an output link for routing a received packet is selected, and the received packet is routed via the selected output link.

Abstract: A switch architecture for a data-driven intelligent networking system is provided. The system can accommodate dynamic traffic with fast, effective congestion control. The system can maintain state information of individual packet flows, which can be set up or released dynamically based on injected data. Each flow can be provided with a flow-specific input queue upon arriving at a switch. Packets of a respective flow are acknowledged after reaching the egress point of the network, and the acknowledgement packets are sent back to the ingress point of the flow along the same data path. As a result, each switch can obtain state information of each flow and perform flow control on a per-flow basis.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for passing data amongst a plurality of switches having a plurality of links attached between the plurality of switches. At a switch, a plurality of load signals are received from a plurality of neighboring switches. Each of the plurality of load signals are made up of a set of values indicative of a load at each of the plurality of neighboring switches providing the load signal. Each value within the set of values provides an indication for each link of the plurality of links attached thereto as to whether the link is busy or quiet. Based upon the plurality of load signals, an output link for routing a received packet is selected, and the received packet is routed via the selected output link.

Abstract: A switch is provided, which can receive a data communication at an edge of a network. The network may be made up of a plurality of switches. The switch may generate a flow channel based upon an identified source and destination for the data communication. The data communication can be routed across the plurality of switches based on minimizing a number of hops between a subset of the plurality of switches and in accordance with the flow channel.