Patent Grant
10353843
Computer networks may typically include a plurality of servers that can host data and provide services to multiple clients or organizations. The clients or organizations can use these services or data to power a wide variety of workloads such as storage, data processing and warehousing, web and mobile applications, archive and many other tasks. Generally, clients request services or data from a host system and the host system responds by executing certain tasks to service the request and/or provide the data over the network.
The data may often be transferred as packets. In some instances, a pipeline may be implemented to process the packets. However, in conventional packet processing systems, the pipeline to process the packets may not be flexible or scalable. For example, if a pipeline is implemented in hardware (e.g., as an integrated circuit), the pipeline may not be altered easily once the hardware is fabricated. In addition, while the packets are flowing through the pipeline, any access to shared memories may slow down the performance of the system as well as bandwidth of the memories available for other tasks. This may result in reduced throughput of the system.
Various embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings, in which:
In the following description, various embodiments will be described. For purposes of explanation, specific configurations and details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will also be apparent to one skilled in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without the specific details. Furthermore, well-known features may be omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the embodiment being described.
Generally speaking, in conventional systems, pipelines for processing packets through a network interface coupled to a host machine may lack flexibility and scalability. For example, if a pipeline is implemented using hardware components, the pipeline may not be altered easily once the hardware is fabricated. In addition, while the packets are flowing through a pipeline, any access to shared memories may slow down the performance of the system as well as bandwidth of the memories available for other tasks. This may result in reduced throughput of the system.
Various embodiments of the disclosed technologies provide a flexible streaming infrastructure that can allow dynamic stitching of a plurality of streaming components in an input/output (I/O) device to form one or more processing pipelines for processing packets by the I/O device. For example, the I/O device may be configured to provide network and compute services for a host device. The plurality of streaming components may include various software and/or hardware streaming components. Each streaming component may be configured to perform one or more packet processing operations. For example, the one or more packet processing operations may include compression, de-compression, encryption, decryption, etc. According to various embodiments of the disclosed technologies, multiple packet processing pipelines can coexist simultaneously within the streaming infrastructure and the components may be shared among multiple packet processing pipelines. Packets can be steered through the appropriate streaming components based on the processing needs of each packet. In some embodiments, “streaming” may refer to packet processing. For example, a streaming component may refer to a packet processing component that can perform one or more packet processing operations on a packet. In this specification, the terms “streaming” and “packet processing” may be used interchangeably in certain contexts, for example, streaming component and packet processing component may be used interchangeably, streaming interconnect and packet processing interconnect may be used interchangeably, streaming buffer and packet processing buffer may be used interchangeably. In some instances, a streaming packet may refer to a sequence of packets. In certain implementations, a streaming packet may have additional information, besides packet header and packet payload, such as packet information header to facilitate the routing and processing of the packet through the offload pipeline.
In some embodiments, a streaming interconnect may be coupled to each of the hardware and software streaming components that can provide connectivity among all the streaming components. The streaming interconnect may be configured to allow for simultaneous connections between multiple pairs of streaming components in different packet processing pipelines. A packet information header can be attached to each packet that can be used by the streaming components to route the packets through the streaming interconnect. The software streaming components may include one or more processors that may be configured to execute instructions for performing packet processing operations. One or more streaming buffers can be coupled to each of the one or more processors that can provide an interface between the processors and the streaming interconnect to present the processors as software streaming components to the streaming interconnect.
Multiple pipelines can be defined based on the type of streaming packets flowing through the streaming interconnect. Various embodiments of the disclosed technologies can allow processing of the streaming packets by directly passing only packet information headers (e.g., without the entire packet including the packet payload) between various streaming components without using any memory bandwidth and without having any central buffering choke point. Further, some embodiments of the disclosed technologies can allow software extensible pipelines that can enable the software to augment hardware packet processing.
Device 100 may be an Input/Output (I/O) adapter device that may be configured to process incoming packets and provide an output data stream that may or may not be in the same format. In some instances, multiple streaming packets may be flowing through the streaming infrastructure supported by the device 100. For example, the device 100 may be a plug-in module, an expansion card or any such electronic circuit, e.g., network interface controller, video card, sound card, USB (Universal Serial Bus) device, Wi-Fi device, etc. In some embodiments, the device 100 may be configured to communicate with a host device to process I/O requests for the host device. For example, in some instances, the device 100 may be configured to process packets to perform network and compute services for the host device. In some cases, at least a portion of the device 100 can be implemented as part of a System on Chip (SoC). An exemplary system including an I/O adapter device in communication with a host device will be described in greater detail with reference to
The device 100 may include software streaming components 106, streaming buffers 104 and hardware streaming components 108. A streaming interconnect 102 may be coupled to the streaming buffers 104 and to the hardware streaming components 108. The device 100 may include one or more configurable packet processing pipelines for processing the packets. Each packet received by the device 100 may include a packet header and a payload. A metadata header called a packet information header may be attached to each incoming packet. In some embodiments, the packet received by the device 100 may produce two streaming packets that may be processed by separate pipelines through the streaming interconnect 102. The packet information header can be used by the streaming components for routing the streaming packets through the streaming interconnect 102. A streaming packet may represent a unit of data in a data stream. In some embodiments, a first streaming packet may include a packet information header and a second streaming packet may include the payload. For example, the payload may include write data. It will be noted that the streaming packet may include additional data, e.g., error correction data, status flags, etc. which are not discussed in this specification for the purposes of simplicity. The packet information header may include a path field that can specify a path through the streaming interconnect 102. The path field information may be used by each streaming component in the streaming interconnect 102 to determine the next destination in the path, e.g., next stage of the pipeline.
The software streaming components 106 may include a plurality of software streaming components, for example, a software streaming component 1106A, a software streaming component 2106B, a software streaming component M-1106C and a software streaming component M 106D. Each of the software streaming components 106 may be configured to perform one or more packet processing operations for the device 100. In some embodiments, each of the software streaming components 106 may include processors 1-K, where K can be an integer with a value equal to or greater than one. Each of the processors 1-K may be configured to write and read from the streaming buffers 104. In some embodiments, each of the processors 1-K may include one or more processor cores such as A57 by ARM®. In some embodiments, each of the processors 1-K may be coupled to a cache or a cache hierarchy, e.g., Level 1, Level 2 cache and/or Level 3 cache. Each of the processors 1-K may be configured to execute instructions (e.g., software) that may be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium may be in the form of a memory (not shown) that may be coupled to the processors 1-K. In some embodiments, the computer-readable storage media may include but are not limited to, parameter random access memory (PRAM), SRAM, DRAM, RAM, read only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact disc (CD)-ROM, digital video disk (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by the processor.
The streaming buffers 104 may be coupled to the software streaming components 106 comprising processors 1-K and to the streaming interconnect 102. The streaming buffers 104 may include a plurality of streaming buffers, for example, buffers 104A-buffers 104H. In some embodiments, each of the streaming buffers 104 may function as a first-in-first-out (FIFO) buffer. For example, each of the streaming buffers 104 may be implemented as a shift register, a list, a circular buffer or using any suitable memory structure to implement the FIFO functionality. The streaming buffers 104 may include control logic to provide read and write access to each of the streaming buffers 104 and buffering storage. For example, in some embodiments, the streaming buffers 104 may be implemented as on-chip memory, e.g., SRAMs (Static Random Access Memory), latches, flip-flops or any other suitable memory form. In some embodiments, buffering storage or memory for the streaming buffers 104 may be off-chip. In some embodiments, each of the streaming buffers 104 may include a component identifier that can be used to route packets to that streaming buffer. In some embodiments, each of the streaming buffers 104 may include a destination table that may be used to determine the next destination in the pipeline through the streaming interconnect 102.
The streaming buffers 104 may provide an interface between the processors 1-K and the streaming interconnect 102. In some embodiments of the technology, each of the software streaming components 106 comprising processors 1-K may be coupled to one or more streaming buffers from the streaming buffers 104. In some embodiments, one or more streaming buffers may be assigned to each processor for each direction of the packet flow, e.g., to and from the processors 1-K. For example, buffers 104A may be configured to queue streaming packets destined to one or more processors in the software streaming component 1106A from the streaming interconnect 102. Buffers 104B may be configured to queue streaming packets destined to the streaming interconnect 102 from the one or more processors in the software streaming component 1106A. Similarly, buffers 104C and buffers 104D may be coupled to the software streaming component 2106B, buffers 104E and buffers 104F may be coupled to the software streaming component M-1106C, and buffers 104G and buffers 104H may be coupled to the software streaming component M 106D. It will be noted that number of streaming buffers in each of buffers 104A-104H may vary for each processor and may be configured dynamically. In some embodiments, the streaming buffers 104 may also provide an interface between memory controllers (not shown) that are coupled to the processors (1-K) and the hardware streaming components 108. It will be noted that other implementations of moving data between the software streaming components 106 and the streaming buffers 104 are possible.
According to various embodiments of the disclosed technologies, assignment of the streaming buffers 104 to each processor for each direction of the packet flow can be defined dynamically by the software and may depend on a number of factors. In some embodiments, the streaming buffers may be assigned based on the type of traffic that may be flowing in to a particular streaming buffer. For example, the streaming packets may include different packet types that may vary based on the protocol or the functionalities (e.g., high performance computing, high performance networking, heavy block storage, etc.) supported by the device 100. Accordingly, certain streaming buffers may be assigned for certain types of streaming packets. In some embodiments, the streaming buffers may be assigned based on different quality levels serviced by each streaming buffer. For example, some streaming packet types may have high priority for processing as compared to other streaming packet types. Thus, in some instances, a first set of streaming buffers may be assigned for high priority packets for processing by certain processors and a second set of streaming buffers may be assigned for low priority packets for processing by other processors. In some embodiments, different streaming buffers may be assigned for different stages in the pipeline. For example, the end of pipeline may utilize different set of streaming buffers as compared to the beginning of the pipeline. In some embodiments, a particular set of streaming buffers from the streaming buffers 104 may be assigned by the software to be connected between a particular processor from the processors 1-K and a particular hardware streaming component from the hardware streaming components 108.
In some instances, the software streaming components 106 may provide more flexibility in processing the streaming packets as compared to the hardware streaming components 108. For example, in some embodiments, a packet processing pipeline may be dynamically reconfigured by the software to replace a software streaming component with another software streaming component, e.g., for bug fixes, software upgrades, to add new features, for protocol revisions, etc. In some embodiments, the software streaming components 106 may include general purpose processors. Further, in some instances, the software streaming components 106 may be capable of performing more complex packet processing operations as compared to the hardware streaming components 108.
The hardware streaming components 108 may include a plurality of hardware streaming components, e.g., a hardware streaming component 1108A, a hardware streaming component 2108B, a hardware streaming component 3108C and a hardware streaming component N 108D. Each of the hardware streaming components 108 may be configured to perform one or more packet processing operations for the device 100. In some embodiments, each of the hardware streaming components 108 may include a component identifier that can be used to route packets to that hardware streaming component. In some embodiments, each of the hardware streaming components 108 may include a destination table that can include routing options for the next streaming component in the pipeline. Some non-limiting examples of the hardware streaming components 108 may include networking components (e.g., network accelerators, network interface controllers, network co-processors, etc.), storage components (e.g., Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) controllers), crypto accelerator components, Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express interface components, Ethernet interface components, wireless interface components (e.g., Wi-Fi), Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface components, etc.
In some instances, some of the hardware streaming components 108 may perform faster packet processing as compared to their software streaming components 106 substitute. According to some embodiments of the disclosed technology, streaming packets can be steered among hardware streaming components through the streaming interconnect 102 based on the packed information headers without any processor intervention or system memory bandwidth. The hardware streaming components 108 may include hardwired or burned logic (e.g., logic that cannot be reconfigured dynamically) and some configurable logic. In some embodiments, the hardware streaming components 108 may include ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), ASSPs (Application Specific Standard Parts), SoC components, etc.
The streaming interconnect 102 may allow routing the streaming packets through one or more configurable packet processing pipelines simultaneously. The streaming interconnect 102 may function as a fabric that can provide connectivity among all the streaming components, e.g., the software streaming components 106 and the hardware streaming components 108. For example, in some embodiments, the streaming interconnect 102 may be implemented as a packet switched network that can allow for simultaneous connections between multiple pairs of streaming components. The streaming interconnect 102 may be implemented as an interconnect fabric, a ring, a switch, buses, cross bars, mesh or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the streaming interconnect 102 may include a unified interface with each of the software streaming components 106 and the hardware streaming components 108. In some embodiments, the streaming interconnect 102 may include a plurality of routers that can steer the streaming packets from one streaming component to another in each packet processing pipeline based. For example, in some embodiments, each streaming packet may include a packet information header that may include a path or a sequence of streaming components for a pipeline through the streaming interconnect 102 to process that streaming packet.
In some embodiments of the technology, each of the software streaming components 106 and hardware streaming components 108 may include unified input/output ports or streaming ports, i.e., interface between any of the streaming components and the streaming interconnect 102 may be the same. The unified streaming ports can allow the streaming interconnect 102 to be agnostic to the type of the streaming component communicating with the streaming interconnect 102 for each of the packet processing pipelines through the streaming interconnect 102. For example, a packet processing pipeline can be dynamically reconfigured to replace a hardware streaming component with a software streaming component or vice-versa without affecting the operation of the streaming interconnect 102. Thus, in different embodiments, having unified input/output ports can enable optimum configuration of the packet processing pipelines by the software for efficient processing of the streaming packets.
In some embodiments of the technology, one or more packet processing pipelines can be configured dynamically at boot time. For example, configuration of the pipelines can be part of boot software that may be executed when the device 100 is powered on. For example, software can dynamically define multiple packet processing pipelines that can integrate a plurality of software streaming components 106 and/or a plurality of hardware streaming components 108. The multiple packet processing pipelines can coexist simultaneously through the streaming interconnect 102. For example, a first pipeline may include only hardware streaming components and a second pipeline may include only software streaming components. In some embodiments, one or more streaming components can be shared among multiple pipelines flowing through the streaming interconnect 102 simultaneously. In some embodiments, different packet processing pipelines may be defined based on the type of packets, content of packets, different protocol versions and functionalities (e.g., high performance computing, high performance networking, heavy block storage, etc.) supported by the device 100, priority level desired for processing the packets, quality level desired for processing the packets and any other suitable criteria. For example, in some embodiments, a first packet processing pipeline may include a first sequence of streaming components for a first type of packet and a second packet processing pipeline may include a second sequence of streaming components for a second type of packet.
Further, some embodiments of the disclosed technologies may allow paths for future software extensibility by providing the ability to insert software streaming components within the pipelines. In some instances, the streaming interconnect 102 may be dynamically reconfigured to include additional software streaming components to augment hardware packet processing by pipelines comprising hardware streaming components. For example, software streaming components may be inserted for particular packet processing operations, e.g., operations that may involve complex computations but may not be speed sensitive.
Various embodiments of the disclosed technologies can provide a flexible streaming infrastructure by allowing dynamic stitching of hardware and software streaming components to form multiple packet processing pipelines that can coexist simultaneously. Embodiments of the technology can allow the software to not only define potential streaming performance but also build the pipelines from a bag of parts, i.e., a set of hardware and software streaming components that can be mixed, matched, and configured to be optimized for different use cases.
The device 200 may include an ingress processing unit 202, an egress processing unit 204 and a coherent interconnect 206 in addition to the software streaming components 106, streaming buffers 104, hardware streaming components 108 and streaming interconnect 102 as discussed with reference to
The ingress processing unit 202 may be configured to receive incoming packets and prepend a metadata header onto each packet. The incoming packet may include an original packet header and a payload. In some embodiments, the ingress processing unit 202 may split the incoming packet into two or more streaming packets and attach a metadata header to each of the streaming packets. For example, a first streaming packet may include a first metadata header and the original packet header and the second streaming packet may include a second metadata header and the payload. The first and the second streaming packets may be processed separately by different pipelines through the streaming interconnect 102, which may allow multiple streaming components to process different parts of the packet simultaneously. In some embodiments, the packet headers may be processed differently than the payload. For example, processing for the packet headers may be associated with encapsulation, network related functionalities, etc., and processing for the payload may be associated with encryption, compression, etc. In some embodiments, each metadata header may include a packet information header that may be used by the streaming components for steering the streaming packet through one or more packet processing pipelines within the streaming interconnect 102. Further, in some embodiments, each streaming component may be configured to modify the original packet header of a packet, e.g., to update routing of the packet through the streaming interconnect, to encapsulate or decapsulate the packet, etc. In some embodiments, a packet parser may decode the packet to determine a type of the packet. For example, the packet type can be used to determine a protocol version, a slow or a fast path for the packet, or any other relevant information that can be used for configuring the pipelines for that packet.
In some embodiments, the packet 602 may be split into two streaming packets in order to process the original packet header 602A and the payload 602B separately, as described with reference to
In some embodiments, the path field 604AA may specify a path or a sequence of streaming components through the streaming interconnect 102 for a first packet processing pipeline. The hash result 604AB may specify a hash value that may be used by each streaming component to determine the next destination for the pipeline path through the streaming interconnect 102. Thus, the packet information header 604A may be used by the streaming components for routing the first streaming packet 604 through the streaming interconnect 102 for processing the information in the original packet header 602A.
In some embodiments, a packet information header may be attached to the original packet without splitting the packet, as described with reference to
Each streaming component may include a destination table that can be used to determine the next streaming component in the pipeline based on the path field in the respective packet information header. For example, each of the hardware streaming component 108 may include a destination table to determine the next destination. For example, the next destination may be another hardware streaming component or a streaming buffer coupled to a software streaming component. Similarly, each of the streaming buffers 104 may include a destination table to determine the next destination. For example, the next destination may be another streaming buffer coupled to another software streaming component or a hardware streaming component. In some embodiments, each packet type may correspond to a different destination table that may result in different sequence of streaming components through the streaming interconnect 102. For example, the other packet information from each respective packet information header may include one or more packet types that may vary based on the processing needs for each packet, protocol versions, functionalities supported by the I/O adapter device or a combination of different factors.
In some instances, when the path field 610A information in a streaming packet is missing or is irrelevant, the path of the pipeline may be dynamically altered by steering the pipeline to the processor for further processing. In some other instances, if a hardware streaming component cannot perform the packet processing operation for some reason (e.g., insufficient information, malfunction, etc.), path of the pipeline may be dynamically altered by steering the pipeline to the processor for further processing.
In various embodiments of the disclosed technologies, selection of the destination routing option 610B for each streaming component may be dynamically configurable. For example, in some instances, the fixed destination routing option (e.g., path field 610A value equal to one) may be defined for hardware streaming components and the multiple destinations routing option (e.g., path field 610A value greater than one) may be defined for software streaming components. In some embodiments, the path field 610A value may be changed by any streaming component along the path to dynamically alter the path. For example, in some instances, a software streaming component may change the fixed destination to replace one streaming component with another for the path field 610A value of one. In some embodiments, a hardware streaming component may be replaced by a software streaming component or vice-versa.
Referring back to
The coherent interconnect 206 may be configured to provide connectivity between the streaming buffers 104 and the software streaming components 106. In some embodiments, one or more memories may be coupled to the coherent interconnect 206 via memory controllers (not shown). For example, the memories may be configured to store instructions that may be used by the processors 1-K, e.g., for processing the streaming packets. In some embodiments, the coherent interconnect 206 may be configured to maintain coherency between the caches (e.g., associated with the processors 1-K), memories and the streaming buffers 104. According to various embodiments of the disclosed technologies, only the streaming packets that are routed to and from the software streaming components 106 may consume coherent interconnect 206 bandwidth and the streaming packets that are steered only among the hardware streaming components 108 leveraging integrated routers in the streaming interconnect 102 may not utilize the coherent interconnect 206 bandwidth or processor intervention. Further, in some embodiments, processing of the payload by the streaming components through the packet processing pipeline in the streaming interconnect 102 may avoid any accesses to external memory via memory controllers (not shown) coupled to the coherent interconnect 206. Thus the streaming infrastructure according to various embodiments of the disclosed technologies can provide more efficient bandwidth utilization of the processors and the system memory.
As illustrated in
The packet processing pipeline 212 may include a first sequence of streaming components comprising a software streaming component 2106B, a hardware streaming component 2108B and a software streaming component M 106D. The packet processing pipeline 214 may include a second sequence of streaming components comprising a hardware streaming component 1108A, a hardware streaming component 2108B, a hardware streaming component 3108C, a software streaming component M-1106C and a hardware streaming component N 108D. Note that
The first packet 208 may be of a first packet type and a second packet 210 may be of a second packet type. The ingress processing unit 202 may attach a first packet information header to the first packet 208 to provide a first streaming packet for processing and a second packet information header to the second packet 210 to provide a second streaming packet for processing. The packet information header for each packet may include a corresponding path field. In some embodiments, the packet information headers may be configured by the software at boot time or dynamically. For example, the packet information header may be configured based on the packet type, protocol version, functionality supported by the device or any suitable criteria for each streaming packet. For example, in some instances, certain packet processing tasks may have faster processing time requirement that can be efficiently performed by certain hardware streaming components as compared to certain packet processing tasks that may be highly complex but not as timing critical, thus suitable for processing by software streaming components.
In step 212A, the ingress processing unit 202 may determine that the first streaming packet is destined for the software streaming component 2106B based on the first packet information header. The ingress processing unit 202 may forward the first streaming packet with the first packet information header via the streaming interconnect 102 to the buffers 104C coupled to the software streaming component 2106B. The buffers 104C may queue the first streaming packet for processing by the software streaming component 2106B.
In step 212B, the buffers 104C may access its destination table (e.g., similar to the destination table 610) and determine the destination routing option based on the path field in the first streaming packet. For example, the buffers 104C may determine the destination to be one or more processors in the software streaming component 2106B. The buffers 104C may send the streaming packet to the software streaming component 2106B based on the order of the queue. For example, in some instances, the buffers 104C may store other streaming packets that may need to be processed first by the one or more processors in the software streaming component 2106B.
In step 212C, the one or more processors from the processors 1-K in the software streaming component 2106B may perform the packet processing operation on the streaming packet received from the buffers 104C. The software streaming component 2106B may send the streaming packet to the buffers 104D. The buffers 104D may queue the streaming packet based on the order of the queue.
In step 212D, the buffers 104D may access its destination table and determine the destination routing option based on the path field in the first streaming packet. For example, the buffers 104D may determine the destination to be the hardware streaming component 2108B. The buffers 104D may forward the first streaming packet to the hardware streaming component 2108B via the streaming interconnect 102.
In step 212E, the hardware streaming component 2108B may perform the packet processing operation on the first streaming packet received from the buffers 104D. Next, the hardware streaming component 2108B may access its destination table and determine the destination routing option based on the path field in the first streaming packet. Based on the destination routing option, the hardware streaming component 2108B may determine the next destination in the first packet processing pipeline 212 to be the software streaming component M 106D. The hardware streaming component 2108B may forward the streaming packet via the streaming interconnect 102 to the buffers 104G coupled to the software streaming component M 106D. The buffers 104G may queue the first streaming packet based on the order of the queue.
In step 212F, the buffers 104G may access its destination table and determine the destination routing option based on the path field in the first streaming packet. For example, the buffers 104G may determine the destination to be one or more processors in the software streaming component M 106D. The buffers 104G may send the streaming packet to the software streaming component M 106D based on the order of the queue. For example, in some instances, the buffers 104G may store other streaming packets that may need to be processed first by the one or more processors in the software streaming component M 106D.
In step 212G, the one or more processors from the processors 1-K in the software streaming component M 106D may perform the packet processing operation on the first streaming packet received from the buffers 104G. The software streaming component M 106D may send the first streaming packet to the buffers 104H. The buffers 104H may queue the first streaming packet based on the order of the queue.
In step 212H, the buffers 104H may decode the path field information in the packet information header and determine that the first streaming packet is destined to the egress processing unit 204. The buffers 104D may forward the first streaming packet to the egress processing unit 204 via the streaming interconnect 102. The egress processing unit 204 may detach the packet information header from the first streaming packet. In some embodiments, the egress processing unit 204 may determine if the first streaming packet is a packet header for a packet and may attach the payload to the first streaming packet before sending it out for further processing, e.g., the first streaming packet may be the original packet header 602A or a modified packet header and the second streaming packet may be the payload 602B, as discussed with reference to
The streaming interconnect 102 may allow multiple pipelines to flow through the streaming interconnect 102 simultaneously for processing multiple streaming packets. For example, while the first packet processing pipeline 212 is flowing through the streaming interconnect 102, the second packet processing pipeline 214 can flow through the streaming interconnect 102 as described below.
In step 214A, the ingress processing unit 202 may determine that the second streaming packet is destined for the hardware streaming component 1108A based on the second packet information header. The ingress processing unit 202 may forward the second streaming packet with the second packet information header to the hardware streaming component 1108A via the streaming interconnect 102.
In step 214B, the hardware streaming component 1108A may perform the packet processing operation on the second streaming packet received from the ingress processing unit 202. Next, the hardware streaming component 1108A may access its destination table and determine the destination routing option based on the path field in the second streaming packet. Based on the destination routing option, the hardware streaming component 1108A may determine the next destination in the second packet processing pipeline 214 to be the hardware streaming component 2108B. The hardware streaming component 1108A may forward the second streaming packet to the hardware streaming component 2108B via the streaming interconnect 102. Note that the hardware streaming component 2108B may be shared between the first packet processing pipeline 212 and the second packet processing pipeline 214 but may or may not be used by both the pipelines simultaneously.
In step 212C, the hardware streaming component 2108B may perform the packet processing operation on the second streaming packet received from the hardware streaming component 1108A. Next, the hardware streaming component 2108B may access its destination table and determine the destination routing option based on the path field in the second streaming packet. Based on the destination routing option, the hardware streaming component 2108B may determine that the second streaming packet is destined to the hardware streaming component 3108C. The hardware streaming component 2108B may forward the second streaming packet via the streaming interconnect 102 to the hardware streaming component 3108C.
In step 214D, the hardware streaming component 3108C may perform the packet processing operation on the second streaming packet received from the hardware streaming component 2108B. Next, the hardware streaming component 3108C may access its destination table and determine the destination routing option based on the path field in the second streaming packet. Based on the destination routing option, the hardware streaming component 3108C may determine that the second streaming packet is destined to the software streaming component M-1106C. The hardware streaming component 3108C may forward the second streaming packet via the streaming interconnect 102 to the buffers 104E coupled to the software streaming component M-1106C. The buffers 104E may queue the second streaming packet based on the order of the queue.
In step 214E, the buffers 104E may access its destination table and determine the destination routing option based on the path field in the second streaming packet. For example, the buffers 104E may determine the destination to be one or more processors in the software streaming component M-1106C. The buffers 104E may send the streaming packet to the software streaming component M-1106C based on the order of the queue. For example, in some instances, the buffers 104E may store other streaming packets that may need to be processed first by the one or more processors in the software streaming component M-1106C.
In step 214F, the one or more processors from the processors 1-K in the software streaming component M-1106C may perform the packet processing operation on the second streaming packet received from the buffers 104E. The software streaming component M-1106C may send the second streaming packet to the buffers 104F. The buffers 104F may queue the second streaming packet based on the order of the queue.
In step 214G, the buffers 104F may access its destination table and determine the destination routing option based on the path field in the second streaming packet. For example, the buffers 104F may determine the destination to be the hardware streaming component N 108D. The buffers 104F may forward the second streaming packet to the hardware streaming component N 108D via the streaming interconnect 102.
In step 214H, the hardware streaming component N 108D may perform the packet processing operation on the second streaming packet received from the buffers 104F. Next, the hardware streaming component N 108D may access its destination and determine the destination routing option based on the path field in the second streaming packet. Based on the destination routing option, the hardware streaming component N 108D may determine that the second streaming packet is destined to the egress processing unit 204. The hardware streaming component N 108D may forward the second streaming packet to the egress processing unit 204 via the streaming interconnect 102. The egress processing unit 204 may detach the packet information header from the second streaming packet. In some embodiments, the egress processing unit 204 may determine if the second streaming packet is a payload for a packet and may attach the packet header to the second streaming packet before sending it out for further processing, e.g., the first streaming packet may be the original packet header 602A and the second streaming packet may be the payload 602B, as discussed with reference to
In some embodiments, the path field in a streaming packet may be updated along the path of the packet processing pipeline to dynamically alter the path by the preceding streaming component. For example, the path may be altered due to missing or irrelevant destination routing option in a hardware streaming component, malfunction of a hardware streaming component, software update, live updates, bug fixes, use of a software streaming component in place of the hardware streaming component or in addition to the hardware streaming component, use of a hardware streaming component in place of the software streaming component, etc.
The device 300 may include components similar to device 200 as described with reference to
In some embodiments, one of the packet processing pipelines may include a sequence of hardware streaming components, e.g. the hardware streaming component 1108A, hardware streaming component 2108B and the hardware streaming component N 108D. Note that in some instances, the hardware streaming component 3108C and the software streaming components 1-M may be part of other pipelines that can coexist simultaneously with the packet processing pipeline 302 and are not shown here for the purpose of simplicity.
As illustrated in
In step 302A, the ingress processing unit 202 may determine the hardware streaming component 1108A as the first destination in the sequence based on the packet information header 606A. The ingress processing unit 202 may forward the streaming packet with the packet information header 606A to the hardware streaming component 1108A via the streaming interconnect 102. The hardware streaming component 1108A may perform the packet processing operation after receiving the streaming packet.
In step 302B, the hardware streaming component 1108A may perform the packet processing operation on the streaming packet received from the ingress processing unit 202. Next, the hardware streaming component 1108A may access its destination table (e.g., similar to the destination table 610) and determine the destination routing option 610B based on the path field 610A in the streaming packet. Based on the destination routing option 610B, the hardware streaming component 1108A may determine the next destination in the packet processing pipeline 302 to be the hardware streaming component 2108B. The hardware streaming component 1108A may forward the streaming packet to the hardware streaming component 2108B via the streaming interconnect 102.
In step 302C, the hardware streaming component 2108B may perform the packet processing operation on the streaming packet received from the hardware streaming component 1108A. Next, the hardware streaming component 2108B may access its destination table (e.g., similar to the destination table 610) and determine the destination routing option 610B based on the path field 610A in the streaming packet. Based on the destination routing option 610B, the hardware streaming component 2108B may determine the next destination in the packet processing pipeline 302 to be the hardware streaming component N 108D. The hardware streaming component 2108B may forward the streaming packet to the hardware streaming component N 108D via the streaming interconnect 102.
In step 302D, the hardware streaming component N 108D may perform the packet processing operation on the streaming packet received from the hardware streaming component 2108B. Next, the hardware streaming component N 108D may access its destination table (e.g., similar to the destination table 610) and determine the destination routing option 610B based on the path field 610A in the streaming packet. Based on the destination routing option 610B, the hardware streaming component N 108D may determine that the packet is destined to the egress processing unit 204. The hardware streaming component N 108D may forward the streaming packet to the egress processing unit 204 via the streaming interconnect 102. The egress processing unit 204 may detach the packet information header 606A from the streaming packet and attach the original packet header or a modified packet header to the streaming packet (e.g., the payload 602B) before sending it out for further processing. For example, in some embodiments, the streaming packet may include a packet header that has been modified by one or more streaming components in the packet processing pipeline 302 to encapsulate/decapsulate the streaming packet or to alter the path of the streaming packet through the streaming interconnect 102.
As discussed above with reference to
The device 400 can include a packet processing pipeline 402 comprising a sequence of software streaming components. The ingress processing unit 202 may receive a packet for processing. The packet may be similar to the packet 602 as described with reference to
In step 402A, the ingress processing unit 202 may determine the software streaming component 1106A as the first destination in the sequence based on the packet information header 604A. The ingress processing unit 202 may forward the streaming packet with the packet information header 604A via the streaming interconnect 102 to the buffers 104A that are coupled to the software streaming component 1106A. The buffers 104A may queue the streaming packet for processing by the software streaming component 1106A. For example, in some embodiments, the buffers 104A may be implemented as a set of FIFOs and may include other streaming packets that may be part of other pipelines that are being routed through the streaming interconnect 102 simultaneously.
In step 402B, the buffers 104A may access its destination table (e.g., similar to the destination table 610) and determine the destination routing option 610B based on the path field 610A in the streaming packet. For example, the buffers 104A may determine the destination to be the software streaming component 1106A. The buffers 104A may send the streaming packet to the software streaming component 1106A based on the order of the queue. For example, in some instances, the buffers 104A may store other streaming packets that may need to be processed first by the one or more processors in the software streaming component 1106A.
In step 402C, the one or more processors from the processors 1-K in the software streaming component 1106A may perform the packet processing operation on the streaming packet received from the buffers 104A. The software streaming component 1106A may send the streaming packet to the buffers 104B. The buffers 104B may queue the streaming packet based on the order of the queue.
In step 402D, the buffers 104B may access its destination table (e.g., similar to the destination table 610) and determine the destination routing option 610B based on the path field 610A in the streaming packet. For example, the buffers 104B may determine the destination to be the software streaming component 2106B. The buffers 104B may forward the streaming packet to the buffers 104C coupled to the software streaming component 2106B via the streaming interconnect 102. The buffers 104C may queue the streaming packet for processing by the software streaming component 2106B.
In step 402E, the buffers 104C may access its destination table (e.g., similar to the destination table 610) and determine the destination routing option 610B based on the path field 610A in the streaming packet. For example, the buffers 104C may determine the destination to be the software streaming component 2106B. The buffers 104C may send the streaming packet to the software streaming component 2106B based on the order of the queue. For example, in some instances, the buffers 104C may store other streaming packets that may need to be processed first by the one or more processors in the software streaming component 2106B.
In step 402F, the one or more processors from the processors 1-K in the software streaming component 2106B may perform the packet processing operation on the streaming packet received from the buffers 104C. The software streaming component 2106B may send the streaming packet to the buffers 104D. The buffers 104D may queue the streaming packet based on the order of the queue.
In step 402G, the buffers 104D may access its destination table (e.g., similar to the destination table 610) and determine the destination routing option 610B based on the path field 610A in the streaming packet. For example, the buffers 104D may determine the destination to be the software streaming component M 106D. The buffers 104D may forward the streaming packet to the buffers 104D coupled to the software streaming component M 106D via the streaming interconnect 102. The buffers 104G may queue the streaming packet for processing by the software streaming component M 106D.
In step 402H, the buffers 104G may access its destination table (e.g., similar to the destination table 610) and determine the destination routing option 610B based on the path field 610A in the streaming packet. For example, the buffers 104G may determine the destination to be one or more processors in the software streaming component M 106D. The buffers 104G may send the streaming packet to the software streaming component M 106D based on the order of the queue. For example, in some instances, the buffers 104G may store other streaming packets that may need to be processed first by the one or more processors in the software streaming component M 106D.
In step 402I, the one or more processors from the processors 1-K in the software streaming component M 106D may perform the packet processing operation on the streaming packet received from the buffers 104G. The software streaming component M 106D may send the streaming packet to the buffers 104H. The buffers 104H may queue the streaming packet based on the order of the queue.
In step 402J, the buffers 104H may decode the path field information in the packet information header and determine that the packet is destined to the egress processing unit 204. The buffers 104D may forward the streaming packet to the egress processing unit 204 via the streaming interconnect 102. The egress processing unit 204 may detach the packet information header from the streaming packet and attach the payload to the streaming packet before sending it out for further processing.
In some embodiments, the path field 604AA in the streaming packet may be updated along the path of the packet processing pipeline 402 to dynamically alter the path by the preceding streaming component. For example, the path may be altered based on a number of factors such as missing or irrelevant destination routing option 610B in a software streaming component, software updates, use of a hardware streaming component in place of the software streaming component or in addition to the software streaming component, e.g., to gain speed in certain packet processing operations.
In some embodiments, the packet processing pipeline 402 may be implemented only by one of the software streaming component or by one of the processors. For example, in one embodiment, the ingress processing unit 202 may send the streaming packet including the packet information header to the buffers 104A, as discussed with reference to step 402A. The buffers 104A may forward the streaming packet to the software streaming component 1106A for processing by the one or more processors 1-K, as discussed with reference to step 402B. One or more processors 1-K may perform one or more packet processing operations on the streaming packet and forward to the buffers 104B, as discussed with reference to step 402C. The buffers 104B may alter the path field of the streaming packet to indicate the next destination as the egress processing unit 204, as shown in step 402K. The egress processing unit 204 may detach the packet information header from the streaming packet and attach the payload to the streaming packet before sending it out for further processing.
In some embodiments, a packet processing pipeline using only the software streaming components may be implemented using the coherent interconnect 206. For example, a streaming packet may be routed from one software streaming component to another software streaming component via the coherent interconnect 206 without going through the streaming buffers 104 or the streaming interconnect 102. For example, in some embodiments, a field in the packet information header (e.g., other packet information) may indicate routing the streaming packets via the coherent interconnect only. This may allow for a faster low latency path for processing the packets as compared to going through the streaming buffers 104 and the streaming interconnect 102.
As discussed above with reference to
The processor 704 may be configured to execute instructions stored in the computer readable medium 706. The computer readable medium 706 may be non-transitory. The processor 704 may include one or more processor cores such as A57 by ARM®. In some embodiments, the processor 704 may also be coupled to one or more caches, e.g., L1 cache, L2 cache, L3 cache, etc. The computer readable medium 706 may be in the form of a memory, e.g., SRAM, DRAM, DDRx SDRAM, etc., and may be internal or external to the device 100. In some embodiments, the computer readable medium 706 may include a streaming buffers interface 708 and a packet processing module 710.
The streaming buffers interface 708 may be configured to provide an interface with the streaming buffers 104. For example, the streaming buffers interface 708 may include a first interface for writing into a first set of streaming buffers from the streaming buffers 104 and a second interface for reading from a second set of streaming buffers from the streaming buffers 104. In some embodiments, the streaming buffers interface 708 may be configured to provide an interface with the streaming buffers 104 through the coherent interconnect 206 as discussed with reference to
The packet processing module 710 may be configured to perform one or more packet processing operations on each streaming packet. For example, the one or more packet processing operations may be performed by one or more processor cores for each software streaming component. The one or more packet processing operations may include operations related to data processing (e.g., compression, de-compression, encryption, decryption, etc.), storage processing, network processing, classifications, firewalls, computing, virtualization, offloading (e.g., network or checksum offloads) or any protocol specific processing.
A configuration module 714 may be coupled to a processor 704. For example, the processor 704 may include one or more processors 1-K as discussed with reference to
The configuration module 714 may be configured for configuring one or more packet processing pipelines to process the incoming packets. For example, the configuration module 714 may configure packet information header for each incoming packet that can define the packet processing pipeline paths through the streaming interconnect 102. Referring back to
In some embodiments, the configuration module 714 may also configure the destination table for each software and hardware streaming component that can define the routing options for the next stage in the pipeline. For example, referring back to
In some embodiments, the configuration module 714 may also be configured to assign a plurality of streaming buffers to provide an interface between the software streaming components 106 and the streaming interconnect 102. For example, the configuration module 714 may assign the streaming buffers based on different quality of service provided by each streaming buffer, priority level serviced by each streaming buffer, type of traffic handled by each streaming buffer or any other suitable criteria.
The software streaming component interface 804 may include an interface to the software streaming components, e.g., the software streaming components 106. For example, the software streaming component interface 804 may allow one or more processors 1-K in each software streaming component to access the streaming buffer 802 for read and write operations. In some embodiments, the software streaming component interface 804 may be coupled to the software streaming components 106 via the coherent interconnect 206 as discussed with reference to
The streaming interconnect interface 806 may include an interface to the streaming interconnect 102. The streaming interconnect interface 806 may be configured to provide an interface between one or more processors 1-K and the streaming interconnect 102 (e.g., via the software streaming component interface 804) for each software streaming component. According to some embodiments of the disclosed technologies, the streaming interconnect interface 806 may be based on a unified interface that may be similar for each hardware streaming component to enable the streaming interconnect 102 to be agnostic to the type of streaming component coupled to the streaming interconnect 102.
The component identifier module 808 may include a component identifier. The component identifier module 808 may be used by the streaming interconnect 102 for routing streaming packets to the streaming buffer 802. In some embodiments, the component identifier module 808 may identify the software streaming component coupled to the streaming buffer 802.
The control module 810 may include controls for read and write accesses to the streaming buffer 802. For example, the one or more processors 1-K may perform reads and writes to the streaming buffer 802 for performing packet processing operations by the software streaming component coupled to the streaming buffer 802.
The buffering module 812 may include buffer memory or storage for buffering the streaming packets and other relevant information. In some embodiments, the buffering module 812 may be implemented as on-chip memory (e.g., SRAMs). In some embodiments, the buffer module 812 may be implemented as off-chip memory (e.g., Double Data Rate (DDR) SDRAM, SRAM, etc.). For example, in some embodiments, the buffer module 812 may be accessed via memory controllers (not shown) that may be coupled to the coherent interconnect 206. Thus, some embodiments of the disclosed technology may provide a faster low latency path by routing the packets through the coherent interconnect 206 for packet processing by the software streaming components only.
The destination table 814 may include various destination routing options for the streaming buffer 802. For example, the destination table 814 may be similar to the destination table 610 as discussed with reference to
The destination determining module 816 may be configured to determine the next destination for the packet processing pipeline. For example, the destination determining module 816 may determine the next destination based on the destination table 814 and the path field in the packet information header of the streaming packet. In some embodiments, the destination determining module 816 may allow altering the path of the pipeline by changing the path field in the streaming packet.
The hardware streaming component 902 may be part of the hardware streaming components 108 as discussed with reference to
In some embodiments, the component identifier 904 may identify the hardware streaming component coupled to the streaming interconnect 102. For example, the component identifier 904 may be used by the streaming interconnect 102 for routing streaming packets to the hardware streaming component 902.
The destination table 906 may include various destination routing options for the hardware streaming component 902. For example, the destination table 906 may be similar to the destination table 610 as discussed with reference to
The destination determining module 908 may be configured to determine the next destination for the packet processing pipeline. For example, the destination determining module 908 may determine the next destination based on the destination table 906 and the path field in the packet information header of the streaming packet. In some embodiments, the destination determining module 908 may alter the path by changing the path field in the streaming packet.
The streaming interconnect interface 910 may be configured to provide an interface between the hardware streaming component 902 and the streaming interconnect 102. According to some embodiments of the disclosed technologies, the streaming interconnect interface 910 may be based on a unified interface that may be similar to the interface between the streaming buffer and the streaming interconnect 102 to enable the streaming interconnect 102 to be agnostic to the type of streaming component coupled to the streaming interconnect 102.
The packet processing logic 912 may be configured to perform one or more packet processing operations on each streaming packet. For example, the one or more packet processing operations may include operations related to data processing (e.g., compression, encryption, decryption, etc.), storage processing, network processing, classifications, firewalls, computing, virtualization, offloading (e.g., network or checksum offloads) or any protocol specific processing.
The component interface logic 1002 may include interface logic to interface with various streaming components, e.g., software streaming components 106 and hardware streaming components 108. According to various embodiments of the disclosed technologies, the component interface logic 1002 may be configured to interface with a software streaming component from the software streaming components 106 or a hardware streaming component from the hardware streaming components 108 using a unified interface. Having a unified interface may allow swapping a streaming component (hardware or software) with another streaming component (hardware or software) without any changes to the streaming interconnect 102.
The interconnect logic 1004 may provide connectivity among the streaming components along the path of each packet processing pipeline through the streaming interconnect 102. The interconnect logic 1004 may be implemented as busses, mesh, matrix, ring or a combination thereof.
The routers 1006 may include one or more routers for routing one or more streaming packets among different streaming components through the interconnect logic 1004. In some embodiments, each of the routers 1006 may use the information in the packet information header to route the streaming packets through the streaming interconnect 102. For example, the address of the next streaming component may be determined from the destination table of the previous streaming component based on the packet information header. In some embodiments, the interconnect logic 1004 and the routers 1006 may be integrated.
In step 1102, one or more configurable packet processing pipelines can be configured for processing the packets. The one or more configurable packet processing pipelines may include a first configurable packet processing pipeline and a second configurable packet processing pipeline. Each of the one or more packet processing pipelines can comprise a sequence of a plurality of streaming components. Each streaming component can be configured to perform one or more packet processing operations, e.g., encryption, de-cryption, compression, de-compression, etc. As discussed with reference to
In step 1104, the first type of streaming packet can be routed through a first sequence of streaming components in the first configurable packet processing pipeline via a streaming interconnect, wherein the streaming interconnect is coupled to each of the plurality of streaming components. As discussed with reference to
In step 1106, the second type of streaming packet can be routed simultaneously through a second sequence of streaming components in a second configurable packet processing pipeline via the streaming interconnect 102. For example, the second streaming packet may be routed through the second sequence of streaming components in the second packet processing pipeline 214 using the component identifier of each streaming component in the second sequence. As illustrated in
In some embodiments, the device 100 may be an I/O adapter device that may be configured to communicate with a host device. For example, in some instances, the I/O adapter device may be configured to process packets associated with the I/O requests for the host device. An exemplary system including an I/O adapter device in communication with a host device is described with reference to
As illustrated in the figure, a host device 1200 may be communicatively coupled to an I/O adapter device 1202. For example, the I/O adapter device 1202 may be similar to the device 100, device 200, device 300 or the device 400 as described previously with reference to
Also in communication with the I/O adapter device 1202 may be an external communication port 1204 for establishing communication channels between the host device 1200 and one or more network based services or other computing devices. Illustratively, the external communication port 1204 can correspond to a network switch, sometimes known as a Top of Rack (“TOR”) switch. The I/O adapter device 1202 can utilize the external communication port 1204 to maintain communication channels between one or more services and the host device 1200, such as health check services, financial services, and the like.
The I/O adapter device 1202 can also be in communication with a System Basic Input/Output System (SBIOS) component 1200C. The SBIOS component 1200C can include non-transitory executable code, often referred to as firmware, which can be executed by one or more processors and used to cause components of the host device 1200 to initialize and identify system devices such as the video display card, keyboard and mouse, hard disk drive, optical disc drive and other hardware. The SBIOS component 1200C can also include or locate boot loader software that can be utilized to boot the host device 1200.
The SBIOS component 1200C can be connected to (or in communication with) a number of additional computing device resources components, such as processors 1200A, memory 1200B (e.g., RAM), and the like. In one embodiment, such computing device resource components may be physical computing device resources in communication with other components via the communication channel 1200F. The communication channel 1200F can correspond to one or more communication buses, such as a shared bus (e.g, a front side bus, a memory bus), a point-to-point bus such as a PCI or PCI Express bus, etc.
Also in communication with the I/O adapter device 1202 via the communication channel 1200F may be one or more controller components 1200D for managing hard drives or other forms of memory. An example of a controller component 1200D can be a SATA hard drive controller that can communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1206, such as hard disks or other storage devices.
In some embodiments, the I/O adapter device 1202 may be configured to perform network processing for the host device 1200. For example, the host device 1200 may communicate with a network (e.g., Ethernet, Wi-Fi, etc.) via the I/O adapter device 1202 and the external control communication port 1204. In some instances, the host device 1200 may send packets to the I/O adapter device 1202 via the communication channel 1200F for network processing. As discussed previously with reference to
Various embodiments of the disclosed technologies can provide a flexible streaming infrastructure by allowing dynamic stitching of hardware and software streaming components to form multiple packet processing pipelines that can coexist simultaneously in a streaming interconnect. Embodiments of the technology can allow the software to not only define potential streaming performance but also build the pipelines from a bag of parts, i.e., a set of hardware and software streaming components that can be mixed, matched, and configured to be optimized for different use cases.
In some examples, network(s) 1308 may include any one or a combination of many different types of networks, such as cable networks, the Internet, wireless networks, cellular networks and other private and/or public networks. While the illustrated example represents user(s) 1302 accessing application 1306 over network(s) 1308, the described techniques may equally apply in instances where user(s) 1302 interact with service provider computer(s) 1310 via user device(s) 1304 over a landline phone, via a kiosk or in any other manner. It is also noted that the described techniques may apply in other client/server arrangements (e.g., set-top boxes, etc.), as well as in non-client/server arrangements (e.g., locally stored applications, etc.).
As described briefly above, application 1306 may allow user(s) 1302 to interact with service provider computer(s) 1310 such as to access web content (e.g., web pages, music, video, etc.). Service provider computer(s) 1310, perhaps arranged in a cluster of servers or as a server farm, may host application 1306 and/or cloud-based software services. Other server architectures may also be used to host application 1306. Application 1306 may be capable of handling requests from many users 1302 and serving, in response, various item web pages. Application 1306 can provide any type of website that supports user interaction, including social networking sites, online retailers, informational sites, blog sites, search engine sites, news and entertainment sites and so forth. As discussed above, the described techniques can similarly be implemented outside of application 1306, such as with other applications running on user device(s)1304.
User device(s) 1304 may be any type of computing device such as, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a thin-client device, a tablet PC, an electronic book (e-book) reader, etc. In some examples, user device(s) 1304 may be in communication with service provider computer(s) 1310 via network(s) 1308, or via other network connections. Additionally, user device(s) 1304 may be part of the distributed system managed by, controlled by or otherwise part of service provider computer(s) 1310 (e.g., a console device integrated with service provider computers 1310).
In one illustrative configuration, user device(s) 1304 may include at least one memory 1314 and one or more processing units (or processor(s)) 1316. Processor(s) 1316 may be implemented as appropriate in hardware, computer-executable instructions, firmware, or combinations thereof. Computer-executable instruction or firmware implementations of processor(s) 1316 may include computer-executable or machine-executable instructions written in any suitable programming language to perform the various functions described. User device(s) 1304 may also include geo-location devices (e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) device or the like) for providing and/or recording geographic location information associated with user device(s) 1304.
Memory 1314 may store program instructions that are loadable and executable on processor(s) 1316, as well as data generated during the execution of these programs. Depending on the configuration and type of user device(s) 1304, memory 1314 may be volatile (such as random access memory (RAM)) and/or non-volatile (such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, etc.). User device(s) 1304 may also include additional removable storage and/or non-removable storage including, but not limited to, magnetic storage, optical disks and/or tape storage. The disk drives and their associated computer-readable media may provide non-volatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the computing devices. In some implementations, memory 1314 may include multiple different types of memory, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), or ROM.
Turning to the contents of memory 1314 in more detail, memory 1314 may include an operating system and one or more application programs or services for implementing the features disclosed herein including at least a user provided input element or electronic service web page, such as via browser application 1306 or dedicated applications (e.g., smart phone applications, tablet applications, etc.). Browser application 1306 may be configured to receive, store and/or display a website or other interface for interacting with service provider computer(s) 1310. Additionally, memory 1314 may store access credentials and/or other user information such as, but not limited to, user IDs, passwords and/or other user information. In some examples, the user information may include information for authenticating an account access request such as, but not limited to, a device ID, a cookie, an IP address, a location or the like. In addition, the user information may include a user-provided response to a security question or a geographic location obtained by the user device 1304.
In some aspects, service provider computer(s) 1310 may also be any type of computing devices such as, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a server computer, a thin-client device, a tablet PC, etc. Additionally, it should be noted that in some embodiments, service provider computer(s) 1310 are executed by one or more virtual machines implemented in a hosted computing environment. The hosted computing environment may include one or more rapidly provisioned and released computing resources, which computing resources may include computing, networking and/or storage devices. A hosted computing environment may also be referred to as a cloud computing environment. In some examples, service provider computer(s) 1310 may be in communication with user device(s) 1304 and/or other service providers via network(s) 1308, or via other network connections. Service provider computer(s) 1310 may include one or more servers, perhaps arranged in a cluster, as a server farm, or as individual servers not associated with one another. These servers may be configured to implement the keyword classification and rating feature services described herein as part of an integrated, distributed computing environment.
In one illustrative configuration, service provider computer(s) 1310 may include at least one memory 1318 and one or more processing units (or processor(s)) 1320. Processor(s) 1320 may be implemented as appropriate in hardware, computer-executable instructions, firmware or combinations thereof. Computer-executable instruction or firmware implementations of processor(s) 1320 may include computer-executable or machine-executable instructions written in any suitable programming language to perform the various functions described.
In some instances, hardware processor(s) 1320 may be a single core processor or a multi-core processor. A multi-core processor may include multiple processing units within the same processor. In some embodiments, the multi-core processors may share certain resources, such as busses and second or third level of cache between multiple-cores. In some instances, each core in a single or multi-core processor may also include multiple executing logical processors (or threads). In such a core (that supports multiple logical processors), several stages of the execution pipeline and also lower level caches may also be shared.
Memory 1318 may store program instructions that are loadable and executable on processor(s) 1320, as well as data generated during the execution of these programs. Depending on the configuration and type of service provider computer(s) 1310, memory 1318 may be volatile (such as RAM) and/or non-volatile (such as ROM, flash memory, etc.). Service provider computer(s) 1310 or servers may also include additional storage 1322, which may include removable storage and/or non-removable storage. The additional storage 1322 may include, but is not limited to, magnetic storage, optical disks and/or tape storage. The disk drives and their associated computer-readable media may provide non-volatile storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the computing devices. In some implementations, memory 1318 may include multiple different types of memory, such as SRAM, DRAM, or ROM.
Memory 1318, the additional storage 1322, both removable and non-removable are all examples of computer-readable storage media. For example, computer-readable storage media may include volatile or non-volatile, removable or non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Memory 1318 and the additional storage 1322 are all examples of computer storage media. Additional types of computer storage media that may be present in service provider computer(s) 1310 may include, but are not limited to, PRAM, SRAM, DRAM, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, DVD or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by service provider computer(s) 1310. Combinations of any of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.
Alternatively, computer-readable communication media may include computer-readable instructions, program modules or other data transmitted within a data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transmission. However, as used herein, computer-readable storage media does not include computer-readable communication media.
Service provider computer(s) 1310 may also contain communications connection(s) 1324 that allow service provider computer(s) 1310 to communicate with a stored database, another computing device or server, user terminals and/or other devices on network(s) 1308. Service provider computer(s) 1310 may also include I/O device(s) 1326, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, a voice input device, a touch input device, a display, speakers, a printer and the like.
Memory 1318 may include an operating system 1328, one or more data stores 1330 and/or one or more application programs or services for implementing the features disclosed herein, including optionally a streaming components module 1332 and a streaming interconnect module 1334. For example, the streaming components module 1332 may include software streaming components 106 and hardware streaming components 108 as described with reference to
The illustrative environment includes at least one application server 1408 and a data store 1410. It should be understood that there can be several application servers, layers, or other elements, processes or components, which may be chained or otherwise configured, which can interact to perform tasks such as obtaining data from an appropriate data store. As used herein the term “data store” refers to any device or combination of devices capable of storing, accessing and retrieving data, which may include any combination and number of data servers, databases, data storage devices and data storage media, in any standard, distributed or clustered environment. The application server can include any appropriate hardware and software for integrating with the data store as needed to execute aspects of one or more applications for the client device, handling a majority of the data access and business logic for an application. The application server provides access control services in cooperation with the data store and is able to generate content such as text, graphics, audio and/or video to be transferred to the user, which may be served to the user by the Web server in the form of HyperText Markup Language (“HTML”), Extensible Markup Language (“XML”) or another appropriate structured language in this example. The handling of all requests and responses, as well as the delivery of content between the client device 1402 and the application server 1408, can be handled by the Web server. It should be understood that the Web and application servers are not required and are merely example components, as structured code discussed herein can be executed on any appropriate device or host machine as discussed elsewhere herein.
The data store 1410 can include several separate data tables, databases or other data storage mechanisms and media for storing data relating to a particular aspect. For example, the data store illustrated includes mechanisms for storing production data 1412 and user information 1416, which can be used to serve content for the production side. The data store also is shown to include a mechanism for storing log data 1414, which can be used for reporting, analysis or other such purposes. It should be understood that there can be many other aspects that may need to be stored in the data store, such as for page image information and to access right information, which can be stored in any of the above listed mechanisms as appropriate or in additional mechanisms in the data store 1410. The data store 1410 is operable, through logic associated therewith, to receive instructions from the application server 1408 and obtain, update or otherwise process data in response thereto. In one example, a user might submit a search request for a certain type of item. In this case, the data store might access the user information to verify the identity of the user and can access the catalog detail information to obtain information about items of that type. The information then can be returned to the user, such as in a results listing on a Web page that the user is able to view via a browser on the user device 1402. Information for a particular item of interest can be viewed in a dedicated page or window of the browser.
Each server typically will include an operating system that provides executable program instructions for the general administration and operation of that server and typically will include a computer-readable storage medium (e.g., a hard disk, random access memory, read only memory, etc.) storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of the server, allow the server to perform its intended functions. Suitable implementations for the operating system and general functionality of the servers are known or commercially available and are readily implemented by persons having ordinary skill in the art, particularly in light of the disclosure herein.
The environment in one embodiment is a distributed computing environment utilizing several computer systems and components that are interconnected via communication links, using one or more computer networks or direct connections. However, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that such a system could operate equally well in a system having fewer or a greater number of components than are illustrated in
The various embodiments further can be implemented in a wide variety of operating environments, which in some cases can include one or more user computers, computing devices or processing devices which can be used to operate any of a number of applications. User or client devices can include any of a number of general purpose personal computers, such as desktop or laptop computers running a standard operating system, as well as cellular, wireless and handheld devices running mobile software and capable of supporting a number of networking and messaging protocols. Such a system also can include a number of workstations running any of a variety of commercially-available operating systems and other known applications for purposes such as development and database management. These devices also can include other electronic devices, such as dummy terminals, thin-clients, gaming systems and other devices capable of communicating via a network.
Most embodiments utilize at least one network that would be familiar to those skilled in the art for supporting communications using any of a variety of commercially-available protocols, such as Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (“TCP/IP”), Open System Interconnection (“OSI”), File Transfer Protocol (“FTP”), Universal Plug and Play (“UpnP”), Network File System (“NFS”), Common Internet File System (“CIFS”) and AppleTalk. The network can be, for example, a local area network, a wide-area network, a virtual private network, the Internet, an intranet, an extranet, a public switched telephone network, an infrared network, a wireless network and any combination thereof.
In embodiments utilizing a Web server, the Web server can run any of a variety of server or mid-tier applications, including Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”) servers, FTP servers, Common Gateway Interface (“CGI”) servers, data servers, Java servers and business application servers. The server(s) also may be capable of executing programs or scripts in response requests from user devices, such as by executing one or more Web applications that may be implemented as one or more scripts or programs written in any programming language, such as Java®, C, C# or C++, or any scripting language, such as Perl, Python or TCL, as well as combinations thereof. The server(s) may also include database servers, including without limitation those commercially available from Oracle®, Microsoft®, Sybase® and IBM®.
The environment can include a variety of data stores and other memory and storage media as discussed above. These can reside in a variety of locations, such as on a storage medium local to (and/or resident in) one or more of the computers or remote from any or all of the computers across the network. In a particular set of embodiments, the information may reside in a storage-area network (“SAN”) familiar to those skilled in the art. Similarly, any necessary files for performing the functions attributed to the computers, servers or other network devices may be stored locally and/or remotely, as appropriate. Where a system includes computerized devices, each such device can include hardware elements that may be electrically coupled via a bus, the elements including, for example, at least one central processing unit (“CPU”), at least one input device (e.g., a mouse, keyboard, controller, touch screen or keypad) and at least one output device (e.g., a display device, printer or speaker). Such a system may also include one or more storage devices, such as disk drives, optical storage devices and solid-state storage devices such as random access memory (“RAM”) or read-only memory (“ROM”), as well as removable media devices, memory cards, flash cards, etc.
Such devices also can include a computer-readable storage media reader, a communications device (e.g., a modem, a network card (wireless or wired), an infrared communication device, etc.) and working memory as described above. The computer-readable storage media reader can be connected with, or configured to receive, a computer-readable storage medium, representing remote, local, fixed and/or removable storage devices as well as storage media for temporarily and/or more permanently containing, storing, transmitting and retrieving computer-readable information. The system and various devices also typically will include a number of software applications, modules, services or other elements located within at least one working memory device, including an operating system and application programs, such as a client application or Web browser. It should be appreciated that alternate embodiments may have numerous variations from that described above. For example, customized hardware might also be used and/or particular elements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portable software, such as applets) or both. Further, connection to other computing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed.
Storage media and computer readable media for containing code, or portions of code, can include any appropriate media known or used in the art, including storage media and communication media, such as but not limited to volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage and/or transmission of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data, including RAM, ROM, Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (“EEPROM”), flash memory or other memory technology, Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (“CD-ROM”), digital versatile disk (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by the a system device. Based on the disclosure and teachings provided herein, a person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate other ways and/or methods to implement the various embodiments.
The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereunto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the disclosure as set forth in the claims.
Other variations are within the spirit of the present disclosure. Thus, while the disclosed techniques are susceptible to various modifications and alternative constructions, certain illustrated embodiments thereof are shown in the drawings and have been described above in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the disclosure to the specific form or forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions and equivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the disclosure, as defined in the appended claims.
The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in the context of describing the disclosed embodiments (especially in the context of the following claims) are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. The terms “comprising,” “having,” “including,” and “containing” are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning “including, but not limited to,”) unless otherwise noted. The term “connected” is to be construed as partly or wholly contained within, attached to, or joined together, even if there is something intervening. Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate embodiments of the disclosure and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the disclosure unless otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice of the disclosure.
Disjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y, or Z,” unless specifically stated otherwise, is intended to be understood within the context as used in general to present that an item, term, etc., may be either X, Y, or Z, or any combination thereof (e.g., X, Y, and/or Z). Thus, such disjunctive language is not generally intended to, and should not, imply that certain embodiments require at least one of X, at least one of Y, or at least one of Z to each be present.
Various embodiments of this disclosure are described herein, including the best mode known to the inventors for carrying out the disclosure. Variations of those embodiments may become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the foregoing description. The inventors expect skilled artisans to employ such variations as appropriate and the inventors intend for the disclosure to be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein. Accordingly, this disclosure includes all modifications and equivalents of the subject matter recited in the claims appended hereto as permitted by applicable law. Moreover, any combination of the above-described elements in all possible variations thereof is encompassed by the disclosure unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.
This application claims priority to and is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/673,474, filed Mar. 30, 2015, and titled “STREAMING INTERCONNECT ARCHITECTURE,” the contents of which are incorporated herein their its entirety.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5577213 | Avery et al. | Nov 1996 | A |
| 6298370 | Tang et al. | Oct 2001 | B1 |
| 6925641 | Elabd et al. | Aug 2005 | B1 |
| 7657891 | Jensen et al. | Feb 2010 | B2 |
| 7835380 | Aloni et al. | Nov 2010 | B1 |
| 7992144 | Hendel et al. | Aug 2011 | B1 |
| 8427347 | Chai et al. | Apr 2013 | B1 |
| 8850288 | Lazier et al. | Sep 2014 | B1 |
| 9378049 | Johnson | Jun 2016 | B1 |
| 9864538 | Johnson et al. | Jan 2018 | B1 |
| 9886405 | Johnson et al. | Feb 2018 | B1 |
| 9946307 | Lutz, III et al. | Apr 2018 | B2 |
| 20030090702 | Trelewicz et al. | May 2003 | A1 |
| 20080320476 | Wingard et al. | Dec 2008 | A1 |
| 20090055826 | Bernstein et al. | Feb 2009 | A1 |
| 20090150748 | Egner et al. | Jun 2009 | A1 |
| 20090245097 | Takakuwa et al. | Oct 2009 | A1 |
| 20120297039 | Acuna et al. | Nov 2012 | A1 |
| 20130198571 | Brewerton et al. | Aug 2013 | A1 |
| 20130262958 | Ruggiero et al. | Oct 2013 | A1 |
| 20140115423 | Cooke et al. | Apr 2014 | A1 |
| 20150039577 | Talagala et al. | Feb 2015 | A1 |
| 20150178161 | Burd et al. | Jun 2015 | A1 |
| 20150212844 | Tsirkin et al. | Jul 2015 | A1 |
| 20150349805 | Tsai et al. | Dec 2015 | A1 |
| Entry |
|---|
| U.S. Appl. No. 14/620,764, Servicing I/O Requests in an I/O Adapter Device, Feb. 12, 2015. |
| U.S. Appl. No. 14/672,658, Low Latency Write Requests, Mar. 30, 2015. |
| U.S. Appl. No. 14/673,474, “Non-Final Office Action”dated Aug. 25, 2017, 3 pages. |
| U.S. Appl. No. 14/673,474, “Notice of Allowance”, dated Dec. 15, 2017, 9 pages. |
| U.S. Appl. No. 14/673,474, Streaming Interconnect Architecture, Mar. 30, 2015. |
| U.S. Appl. No. 14/750,926, Data Size Reduction, Jun. 25, 2015. |
| U.S. Appl. No. 15/189,231, Titled: Servicing I/O Requests in an I/O Adapter Device, Jun. 22, 2016. |
| Bolla et al., “DROPv2: energy efficiency through network function virtualization”, IEEE Network 28.2, 2014, pp. 26-32. |
| Han et al., “Network function virtualization: Challenges and opportunities for innovations”, IEEE Communications Magazine 53.2, 2015, pp. 90-97. |
| Kornaros et al., “Pipelined multi-queue management in a vlsi atm switch chip with credit-based flow-control”, Advanced Research in VLSI, 1997. Proceedings., Seventeenth Conference on. IEEE, 1997, pp. 127-144. |
| Ridenour et al., “Low-power buffer management for streaming data”, Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, IEEE Transactions, 2007, pp. 143-157. |
| Tzeng et al., “Task management for irregular-parallel workloads on the GPU”, Proceedings of the Conference on High Performance Graphics. Eurographics Association, 2010, pp. 29-37. |
| Xavier et al., “Performance Evaluation of Container-Based Virtualization for High Performance Computing Environments View Document”, Parallel, Distributed and Network-Based Processing (PDP), 21st Euromicro International Conference on IEEE, 2013, pp. 233-240. |
| U.S. Appl. No. 14/671,800, Payload Checksum Interval, Mar. 27, 2015. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 14673474 | Mar 2015 | US |
| Child | 15946683 | US |
