Packet processing system, method and device utilizing memory sharing

摘要

A packet processing system having a control path memory of a control path subsystem and a datapath memory of a datapath subsystem. The datapath subsystem stores packet data of incoming packets and the control path subsystem performs matches of a subset of packet data, or a hash of the packet data, against the contents of a the control path memory in order to process the packets. The packet processing system enabling a portion of the datapath memory to be used by the control subsystem if needed or a portion of the control path memory to be used by the datapath subsystem if needed.

主权项

1. A packet processing system on a packet processing device, the system comprising:
a datapath subsystem including datapath logic and a non-transitory computer-readable datapath memory that is communicatively coupled with the datapath logic and logically organized into a plurality of memory banks, wherein the datapath logic controls the writing of datapath packet data into and the reading of the datapath packet data out of the datapath memory; a control path subsystem including control path logic and a non-transitory computer-readable control path memory that is communicatively coupled with the control path logic and logically organized into a plurality of control memory pools that each comprise a plurality of tiles, wherein the control path logic controls the writing of control path packet data into and the reading of the control path packet data out of the control path memory; and a memory allocation element having a datapath unit communicatively coupled with the datapath subsystem and a control path unit communicatively coupled with the control path subsystem, wherein the control path unit is configured to allocate a portion of the datapath memory to the control path subsystem such that the portion of the datapath memory is used by the control path subsystem to store the control path packet data and the datapath unit is configured to allocate a portion of the control path memory to the datapath subsystem such that the portion of the control path memory is used by the datapath subsystem to store the datapath packet data, wherein the memory allocation element ensures that the portion of the control path memory and the portion of the datapath memory are never both allocated concurrently.