SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR OFFLOADING LINK AGGREGATION TO A HOST BUS ADAPTER (HBA) IN SINGLE ROOT I/O VIRTUALIZATION (SRIOV) MODE

摘要

A new approach is proposed to offload of link aggregation from a host to a HBA in SRIOV mode. The HBA first creates one or more link aggregation offload engines each having one or more physical ports and to establish a first link between a VM running on the host and one of the link aggregation offload engines for network data transmission with the VM. Once a data packet is received from the VM over the first link, the link aggregation offload engine chooses a first physical port based on its link aggregation method and establish a second link with the chosen first physical port to transmit the packet out of the HBA. If the second link fails, the link aggregation offload engine then chooses a second physical ports and establish a third link with the chosen second physical port to transmit the packet out of the HBA device instead.

主权项

1. A system to support offloading of link aggregation from a host to a host bus adapter (HBA) in single root I/O virtualization (SRIOV) mode, comprising:
said HBA, which in operation, is configured to:
create one or more link aggregation offload engines within the HBA, wherein each of the link aggregation offload engines includes one or more physical ports and their associated plurality of physical functions (PFs) and virtual functions (VFs) provided by the HBA;establish a first link between a virtual machine (VM) running on the host coupled to the HBA and one of the link aggregation offload engines having an VF assigned to the VM; said link aggregation offload engine of the HBA configured to
accept a network data packet from the VM over the first link via the VF assigned to the VM;select a first physical port of the link aggregation offload engine based on its link aggregation method and establish a second link with the selected first physical port to transport the data packet out of the HBA;dynamically select a second physical port of the link aggregation offload engine and establish a third link with the selected second physical port if the second link fails to transport the data packet out of the HBA;transmit the network data packet out of the HBA over the third link without changing the first link or requiring additional VF for a new link between the VM and the link aggregation offload engine.