Abstract: Technologies for dynamically allocating acceleration units of a network device include a network device configured to determine a present compute usage value associated with a workload of the virtual machine, determine whether to accelerate the virtual machine as a function of the present compute usage and a compute capability usage limit, and select, in response to a determination to accelerate the virtual machine, an acceleration unit from one or more acceleration units, as a function of a type of the workload. Additionally, the network device is configured to allocate the identified acceleration unit. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to enhanced virtual function capabilities in a virtualized network environment. In general, devices may comprise physical and virtualized resources. The physical resources may comprise at least a network adaptor that may handle incoming data from a network and outgoing data to the network. The virtualized resources may comprise at least one virtual machine (VM) and a corresponding interface. The corresponding interface may be one of a physical interface, a virtual interface or a “super” virtual interface. The physical interface may provide a first set of capabilities allowing the VM to access (e.g., control) at least the network adaptor. The virtual interface may provide a second set of capabilities that is a subset of the first set. The super virtual interface may provide a third set of capabilities including the second set of capabilities and at least one additional capability from the first set of capabilities.

Abstract: Examples may include techniques to coordinate the sharing of resources among virtual elements, including service chains, supported by a shared pool of configurable computing resources based on relative priority among the virtual element and service chains. Information including indications of the performance of the service chains and also the relative priority of the service chains may be received. The resource allocation of portions of the shared pool of configurable computing resources supporting the service chains can be adjusted based on the received performance and priority information.

Abstract: Technologies for reprogramming/updating non-volatile memory (NVM) for a peripheral, such as a network interface controller (NIC). Communications are provided in the NIC for communicating data to and from a network from a computer node, along with a controller operatively coupled to the communications for controlling the communication of data. A NIC access redirection agent module is configured to accesses a NVM firmware image from the network via the communications to reprogram and/or update the NIC, wherein the accessed NVM firmware image is utilized by the computer node NIC for operation. A network node may include a firmware manager for selecting one of a plurality of NVM firmware images and provide access to the selected NVM firmware image for the computer node to update computer node firmware for the computing device over the computer network.

Abstract: The present disclosure describes embodiments of apparatuses and methods related to a moveable server rack in a data center. The server rack may include a chassis with a plurality of servers and a receptacle to couple with a mobile robot. The mobile robot may move the server rack from a first location to a second location in a data center. The server rack may include indices of alignment to provide an indication of docking alignment of the server rack to at least the second docking location, a power connector system to connect a main power source to the plurality of servers at the second location, and an input/output connector to connect a data center network to the plurality of servers at the second location. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Abstract: Technologies for dynamically allocating acceleration units of a network device include a network device configured to determine a present compute usage value associated with a workload of the virtual machine, determine whether to accelerate the virtual machine as a function of the present compute usage and a compute capability usage limit, and select, in response to a determination to accelerate the virtual machine, an acceleration unit from one or more acceleration units, as a function of a type of the workload. Additionally, the network device is configured to allocate the identified acceleration unit. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for accelerating VM-to-VM Network Traffic using CPU cache. A virtual queue manager (VQM) manages data that is to be kept in VM-VM shared data buffers in CPU cache. The VQM stores a list of VM-VM allow entries identifying data transfers between VMs that may use VM-VM cache “fast-path” forwarding. Packets are sent from VMs to the VQM for forwarding to destination VMs. Indicia in the packets (e.g., in a tag or header) is inspected to determine whether a packet is to be forwarded via a VM-VM cache fast path or be forwarded via a virtual switch. The VQM determines the VM data already in the CPU cache domain while concurrently coordinating with the data to and from the external shared memory, and also ensures data coherency between data kept in cache and that which is kept in shared memory.

Abstract: Technologies for monitoring service level agreement (SLA) performance in an end-to-end SLA monitoring architecture include a network functions virtualization (NFV) SLA controller configured to manage SLA agents initialized in various network processing components of the end-to-end SLA monitoring architecture. To do so, the NFV SLA controller is configured to provide instruction to the SLA agents indicating which types of telemetry data to monitor and receive the requested telemetry data, as securely collected and securely packaged by the SLA agents. The NFV SLA controller is further configured to securely analyze the received telemetry data to determine one or more performance metrics and compare performance benchmarks against the performance metrics to generate an SLA report that includes the results of the comparison. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: Examples may include techniques to coordinate the sharing of resources among virtual elements, including service chains, supported by a shared pool of configurable computing resources based on relative priority among the virtual element and service chains. Information including indications of the performance of the service chains and also the relative priority of the service chains may be received. The resource allocation of portions of the shared pool of configurable computing resources supporting the service chains can be adjusted based on the received performance and priority information.

Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to enhanced virtual function capabilities in a virtualized network environment. In general, devices may comprise physical and virtualized resources. The physical resources may comprise at least a network adaptor that may handle incoming data from a network and outgoing data to the network. The virtualized resources may comprise at least one virtual machine (VM) and a corresponding interface. The corresponding interface may be one of a physical interface, a virtual interface or a “super” virtual interface. The physical interface may provide a first set of capabilities allowing the VM to access (e.g., control) at least the network adaptor. The virtual interface may provide a second set of capabilities that is a subset of the first set. The super virtual interface may provide a third set of capabilities including the second set of capabilities and at least one additional capability from the first set of capabilities.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for implementing Power over Ethernet (PoE) for auxiliary power in computer systems. Under aspects of the methods, one or more voltage inputs comprising standard power input is employed by a power control component in a network interface in an apparatus such as a network adaptor board, a System on a Chip (SoC), computer server or server blade to supply power to a network controller on the apparatus when the apparatus is operating at a normal power state. To enable the apparatus to maintain network communication when operating at a reduced power state, a PoE power input derived from at least one PoE signal received at at least one Ethernet jack of the apparatus is employed to provide power to the network controller absent use or availability of the standard power input. Accordingly, the PoE power input facilitates an auxiliary power function that may be used alone or in combination with existing (as applicable) auxiliary power input when apparatus are operated in reduced power states.

Abstract: Methods and Apparatus for Multi-Stage VM Virtual Network Function and Virtual Service Function Chain Acceleration for NFV and needs-based hardware acceleration. Compute platform hosting virtualized environments including virtual machines (VMs) running service applications performing network function virtualization (NFV) employ Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) to provide a hardware-based fast path for performing VM-to-VM and NFV-to-NFV transfers. The FPGAs, along with associated configuration data are also configured to support dynamic assignment and performance of hardware-acceleration to offload processing tasks from processors in virtualized environments, such as cloud data centers and the like.

Abstract: Methods for implementing mini-mezzanine Open Compute Project (OCP) plug-and-play Network PHY Cards and associated apparatus. In accordance with one aspect, the MAC (Media Access Channel) and PHY (Physical) layer functions in one or more communication protocol stacks are split between a MAC block in a Platform Controller Hub (PCH) or processor SoC and a PHY card installed in a mezzanine slot of a platform and including one or more ports. During platform initialization operations, configuration parameters are read from the PHY card including a PHY card ID, and a corresponding configuration script is selected and executed to configure the PHY card for use in the platform. The configuration parameters are also used to enumerate PCIe devices associated with physical functions and ports supported by the PHY card.

Abstract: Network interface devices with remote storage control. In some embodiments, a network interface device may include receiver circuitry and remote storage device control circuitry. The remote storage device control circuitry may be coupled to the receiver circuitry and may share a physical support with the receiver circuitry. The remote storage device control circuitry may be configured to control writing of data from the receiver circuitry to a remote storage device that does not share a physical support with the remote storage device control circuitry.

Abstract: Devices and techniques for out-of-band platform tuning and configuration are described herein. A device can include a telemetry interface to a telemetry collection system and a network interface to network adapter hardware. The device can receive platform telemetry metrics from the telemetry collection system, and network adapter silicon hardware statistics over the network interface, to gather collected statistics. The device can apply a heuristic algorithm using the collected statistics to determine processing core workloads generated by operation of a plurality of software systems communicatively coupled to the device. The device can provide a reconfiguration message to instruct at least one software system to switch operations to a different processing core, responsive to detecting an overload state on at least one processing core, based on the processing core workloads. Other embodiments are also described.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a system comprises platform logic comprising a plurality of processor cores and resource allocation logic. The resource allocation logic may receive a processing request and direct the processing request to a processor core of the plurality of processor cores, wherein the processor core is selected based at least in part on telemetry data associated with the platform logic, the telemetry data indicating a topology of at least a portion of the platform logic.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed toward techniques and configurations for an optical apparatus to control optical power of the light source. In one embodiment, the apparatus may include a transmitter and receiver to transmit and receive optical signals over an optical communication channel, and a controller to cause the transmitter to transmit pulse signals at a first power level and detect a change in optical power in the channel, indicating a presence of a signal from another optical apparatus. The controller may confirm that the detected apparatus is capable of communications at a second power level (greater than the first level) and initiate data transmission at the second level. Upon detection of a failure in the channel, the controller may cause the transmitter to halt the data transmission and restart the pulse signals at the first power level. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Abstract: The present disclosure describes embodiments of apparatuses and methods related to a moveable server rack in a data center. The server rack may include a chassis with a plurality of servers and a receptacle to couple with a mobile robot. The mobile robot may move the server rack from a first location to a second location in a data center. The server rack may include indices of alignment to provide an indication of docking alignment of the server rack to at least the second docking location, a power connector system to connect a main power source to the plurality of servers at the second location, and an input/output connector to connect a data center network to the plurality of servers at the second location. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Abstract: One embodiment provides a network adapter. The network adapter includes a network adapter controller, a medium access controller (MAC) and a physical layer (PHY) including at least one port. The network adapter further includes optical communication logic to at least one of receive and/or acquire a local alert and generate a local alert message related to the local alert, the local alert message including an alert identifier (ID) and a network adapter ID. The network adapter further includes a first light emitting diode (LED) to convert the local alert message to a corresponding optical local alert message and to transmit the optical local alert message to an optical communication path.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for collection of Netflow data and export offload using network silicon. In accordance with aspects of the embodiments, the Netflow export and collection functions are offloaded to the network silicon in the chipset, System on a Chip (SoC), backplane switch, disaggregated switch, virtual switch (vSwitch) accelerator, and Network Interface Card/Controller (NIC) level. For apparatus implementing virtualized environments, one or both of the collection and export functions are implemented at the Physical Function (PF) and/or Virtual Function (VF) layers of the apparatus.