VIRTUAL OUTPUT QUEUE LINKED LIST MANAGEMENT SCHEME FOR SWITCH FABRIC

摘要

Implementations of the present disclosure involve an apparatus, device, component, and/or method for a virtual output queue linked list management scheme for a high-performance network switch. In general, the linked list management scheme utilizes one or more look-ahead links associated with one or more descriptors in the linked list of descriptors that describe the storage of the incoming data packets to the switch. The look-ahead links allow the switch to schedule reads of memory locations included in the descriptors at the same speed at which the data packets are stored in memory.

主权项

1. A method for managing a virtual output queue for a network fabric switch, the method comprising:
maintaining a linked list of a plurality of descriptors, wherein each of the plurality of descriptors comprises:
a memory address location at which at least a portion of data from an input data packet is stored;a next descriptor pointer indicating a next descriptor in the linked list of the plurality of descriptors; anda look ahead pointer indicating a look ahead descriptor in the linked list of the plurality of descriptors, the look ahead descriptor the next descriptor in the linked list following the next descriptor; wherein obtaining the at least a portion of data from the input data packet comprises scheduling a read of the next descriptor based at least on the next descriptor pointer and a read of the look ahead descriptor based at least on the look ahead pointer.