SHARING BUFFER SPACE IN LINK AGGREGATION CONFIGURATIONS

摘要

In link aggregation configurations, a data packet may be copied into a buffer space of a first NIC. Load balancing techniques may determine that the packet should be transmitted by a second NIC. The packet exists in memory that the second NIC cannot access. The data packet is copied into memory accessible to the second NIC or the memory location of the packet is registered with the NIC. A copy penalty is incurred if a packet is copied from a first buffer space to a second buffer space. A registration penalty is incurred if the location within the first buffer space is registered with the second NIC. Functionality can be implemented within a link aggregation configuration to register buffer space shared among interconnected NICs. Sharing of buffer space between interconnected NICs allows any one of the NICs to access data within the shared buffer space without incurring a penalty.