Abstract: A method is provided for supporting device sharing between hosts via a bus fabric. A master host owns a device tree and provides IO services to at least one client host. The client host comprises generic device drivers and subscribes to IO services provided by the master host.

Abstract: An interconnect apparatus, for example a switch, supports PCI-Express. The apparatus has a first plurality of ports configurable as upstream ports, each connectable to a respective host, and at least one port configurable as a downstream port connectable to a device. The apparatus is operable to support sharing of the device resources between hosts.

Abstract: In an interconnect apparatus for interconnecting at least one host to at least a plurality of presentation registers provide a presentation interface for the device to the host. The interconnect apparatus includes memory for holding the presentation registers and a governor operable to manage the presentation registers in the memory.

Abstract: An infrastructure element can receive a first DMA request including a first address and the data, generate a meta request that comprises a resource key value and a doorbell address, and transmit the meta request via the infrastructure using the doorbell address. A remote DMA adapter can receive the meta request at the doorbell address and generate a remote direct memory access request message using the resource key, the first address and the data from the received meta request.

Abstract: PCI Express transactions can be transmitted via a shared PCI Express infrastructure. At an infrastructure ingress point an additional header comprising at least a source identifier and a target identifier is generated for a transaction packet that comprises a header portion, a data portion and an end-to-end CRC portion. The transaction packet is then transmitted with the additional header from the ingress point to an egress point. At the egress point the additional header is removed. The additional header can further include a resource key. It can further include protection information such as a CRC.

Abstract: In an apparatus and method for providing device sharing, a first plurality of upstream ports are each connectable to a respective host and at least one downstream port is connectable to a device. A virtual port is defined that is associated a routing table to effect device virtualization by redirection of information packets received by the virtual port.

Abstract: In order to monitor connectivity status associated with an interconnect cable from the end-points to which either end of the cable is attached, a storage device storing a field replaceable unit identifier is provided to uniquely identify a cable end-point, which identifier can then be accessed to determine the connectivity status.

Abstract: In a switch system L groups of the line switch elements are connectable to cables that include L links such that each of the L links within a cable connect to a switch element of a respective one of the L groups. Fabric switch elements are connected such that a fabric switch element is connected to the line switch elements of one of the group of line switch elements.

Abstract: A loopback connector for a system can include a connector arrangement connectable to connector of a system component and/or a cable. The loopback connector can include loopback logic for simulating cable and/or system component functionality. In an example implementation the loopback connector can also operate to protect a system component and/or cable connector during shipping.

Abstract: In order to monitoring connectivity of cabling in a system comprising chassis components and cables interconnecting the chassis components, machine readable labels are applied to cable connectors and chassis component connectors, the machine readable labels on a cable connector and a chassis component to which the cable connector is connected are scanned, and the scanned connectivity information is recorded.

Abstract: In a system having a cluster of system components interconnected by a cluster interconnect fabric, the system components include out-of-band management network interfaces to an out-of-band management network. The system is configured to use the cluster interconnect fabric and the out-of-band management network interfaces to determine the overall connectivity and status of the cluster.

Abstract: A switch system comprises a switch matrix providing a configurable, protocol agnostic, packet switching core, the switch matrix providing a non-blocking switch connecting a configurable number of ports together.

Abstract: One embodiment of the invention provides a method of handling an incoming packet at a node in a network. The method includes associating at least one source identifier with a link into the node. A packet is then received at the node over the link, and a source identifier is extracted from the received packet. The extracted source identifier is compared with the source identifier(s) associated with the link in order to authenticate the packet.

Abstract: An Infiniband device is provided. The device has a plurality of input/output ports. Each port has associated therewith an input buffer for storage of a packet received at that port. Each port also has associated therewith a plurality of output buffers for storage of a packet transmitted from an input buffer via a switching matrix. Each port is arranged to share its associated plurality of output ports with at least one other port. Each input buffer is also associated with a single output buffer of each shared plurality of output buffers. A packet received at an input buffer is transmitted to all associated output buffers via the switching matrix in parallel with an output buffer select signal. The output buffer select signal is sent to less than all of the associated output buffers, any output buffer not receiving the output buffer select signal is configured to discard the packet transmitted from the input buffer.

Abstract: An Infiniband device can be provided. The device can have an input port for receiving a packet. The port can be operable to extract a destination descriptor and a quality of service requirement descriptor for the packet and simultaneously to determine an output port of the device for onward transmission of the packet on the basis of the destination descriptor and to determine an output port virtual lane for each output port of the device on the basis of the quality of service requirement descriptor. The port can additionally be operable subsequently to use the determined output port to select between the determined output port virtual lanes.

Abstract: A switch chassis includes a plane having pass-through vias. An array of connector pairs is provided. A connector pair includes a first multi-path connector on first side of the plane and a second multi-path connector on the second side of the plane interconnected through the pass-through vias in the plane. Fabric cards can be connected to respective columns of first connectors and line cards can be connected respective rows of second connectors of the connector pairs to orient the fabric and lines cards orthogonally with respect to each other.

Abstract: One embodiment of the invention provides apparatus and a method for handling an incoming packet at a port in a network. The port belongs to one or more partitions, and at least one service level is associated with each of the partitions. When a packet is received at the port, a partition key and a service level are extracted from the packet. The extracted partition key is used to determine the partition to which the received packet belongs. The service level extracted from the packet is then compared against the service level(s) associated with the determined partition in order to authenticate the packet. In another embodiment, the service level is correlated against a destination identifier from the packet instead of the partition key.

Abstract: A PCI-Express interconnect device is provided. The device comprises: first and second upstream ports; first and second downstream ports; and a management entity. The management entity is operable to logically partition the device such that the first upstream port is operable to communicate with the first downstream port and the second upstream port is operable to communicate with the second downstream port. In one example, the management device is additionally operable to migrate the first downstream port from a partition in which the first downstream port is operable to communicate with the first upstream port into a partition in which the first downstream port is operable to communicate with the second upstream port.

Abstract: At an ingress point to a shared transaction infrastructure, for example a shared PCI Express infrastructure, an entry in a segment table maps an address in a transaction packet to a target for the transaction packet. The entry in the segment table identifies one of a plurality of channel descriptors providing one or more of forwarding information for the transaction packet and information for constructing an additional header for the transaction packet.