Virtual port mappings for non-blocking behavior among physical ports

摘要

The disclosed embodiments provide a system that operates a switch fabric. During operation, the system creates a set of virtual links for a first set of physical ports in the switch fabric. Next, the system uses a set of virtual port numbers to create a set of mappings between the set of virtual links and a second set of physical ports in the switch fabric, wherein the second set of physical ports is connected to the first set of physical ports using a single physical link. The system then uses the mappings to provide non-blocking behavior in traffic from the first set of physical ports to the second set of physical ports.

主权项

1. A computer-implemented method for operating a switch fabric, comprising:
creating a set of virtual links for a set of InfiniBand ports in the switch fabric; using a set of virtual port numbers to create a set of mappings between the set of virtual links and a set of Ethernet ports in the switch fabric, wherein the set of Ethernet ports is connected to the set of InfiniBand ports using a single physical link; creating a first mapping from a unique destination identifier associated with one or more ports in the set of Ethernet ports to a virtual port number; creating a second mapping from a service level associated with a packet to a virtual link from the set of virtual links; associating the virtual port number and the virtual link with a virtual output queue (VOQ) of a physical port from the set of Ethernet ports; using the mappings to provide non-blocking behavior in traffic from the set of InfiniBand ports to the set of Ethernet ports; using the first and second mappings to place a packet comprising the unique destination identifier and the service level in the VOQ; and removing the packet from the VOQ based on a fullness of an output buffer for the physical port.