System and method for high-performance, low-power data center interconnect fabric with addressing and unicast routing

摘要

A system and method are provided that support a routing using a tree-like or graph topology that supports multiple links per node, where each link is designated as an Up, Down, or Lateral link, or both, within the topology. The system may use a segmented MAC architecture which may have a method of re-purposing MAC IP addresses for inside MACs and outside MACs, and leveraging what would normally be the physical signaling for the MAC to feed into the switch.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
generating an escape route from a first node to a second node in a switch fabric, wherein the escape route is an alternate, non-desirable route from the first node to the second node that has a lower priority weight than a desirable route, wherein the escape route violates routing rules of the desirable route, and wherein the switch fabric includes a plurality of nodes and a plurality of links to form a plurality of routes; and misrouting data from the first node to the second node in response to a link between the first and second nodes being inactive, wherein the escape route and misrouting provide fault tolerance to the switch fabric, and wherein said misrouting includes:
setting, when a node in a data path does not have a link path to the second node, a misrouting bit in a header associated with the data, wherein the misrouting bit indicates an identity of the node in the data path that does not have the link path to the second node.