| 摘要 |
An apparatus and method bridges frames between entities running on the same server. The server has a physical network interface that supports I/O virtualization. The physical network interface has an IOV device with a bridging function capable of bridging frames between entities running on the server. A network switch has a physical port coupled to the server by a physical link and a switching fabric in communication with the physical port for transmitting and receiving Ethernet data frames to and from the IOV device. A control processor, in communication with the IOV device, configures the bridging function of the IOV device to bridge some frames locally within the server between the entities running on the server and to pass other frames through the IOV device over the physical link to the physical port and the switching fabric, so that the switching fabric bridges these other frames between the entities. |
