In some embodiments, a data packet may be received at a leaf switch. A port-channel associated with a destination port for the data packet may be identified, and the data packet may be transmitted to the destination port via the identified port-channel.

Method, apparatus, and systems for implementing Quality of Service (QoS) within high performance fabrics. A multi-level QoS scheme is implemented including virtual fabrics, Traffic Classes, Service Levels (SLs), Service Channels (SCs) and Virtual Lanes (VLs). SLs are implemented for Layer 4 (Transport Layer) end-to-end transfer of fabric packets, while SCs are used to differentiate fabric packets at the Link Layer. Fabric packets are divided into flits, with fabric packet data transmitted via fabric links as flits streams. Fabric switch input ports and device receive ports detect SC IDs for received fabric packets and implement SC-to-VL mappings to determine VL buffers to buffer fabric packet flits in. An SL may have multiple SCs, and SC-to-SC mapping may be implemented to change the SC for a fabric packet as it is forwarded through the fabric, while maintaining its SL. A Traffic Class may include multiple SLs, enabling request and response traffic for an application to employ separate SLs.

System and method for supporting scalable bitmap based P_Key table in a high performance computing environment. A method can provide, at least one subnet comprising one or more switches, a plurality of host channel adapters, and a plurality of end nodes. The method can associate the plurality of end nodes with at least one of a plurality of partitions, wherein each of the plurality of partitions are associated with a P_Key value. The method can associate each of the one or more switches with a bitmap based P_Key table of a plurality of bitmap based P_Key tables. The method can associate each of the host channel adapters with a bitmap based P_Key table of the plurality of bitmap based P_Key tables.

One networking device includes a switch module, a server, and a switch controller. The switch module has ports with a communications interface of a first type (CI1) and ports with a communications interface of a second type (CI2). The server, coupled to the switch module via a first CI2 coupling, includes a virtual CI1 driver, which provides a CI1 interface in the server, defined to exchange CI1 packets with the switch module via the first CI2 coupling. The virtual CI1 driver includes a first network device operating system (ndOS) program. The switch controller, in communication with the switch module via a second CI2 coupling, includes a second ndOS program controlling, in the switch module, a packet switching policy defining the switching of packets through the switch module or switch controller. The first and second ndOS programs exchange control messages to maintain a network policy for the switch fabric.

System and method for supporting scalable bitmap based P_Key table in a high performance computing environment. A method can provide, at least one subnet comprising one or more switches, a plurality of host channel adapters, and a plurality of end nodes. The method can associate the plurality of end nodes with at least one of a plurality of partitions, wherein each of the plurality of partitions are associated with a P_Key value. The method can associate each of the one or more switches with a bitmap based P_Key table of a plurality of bitmap based P_Key tables. The method can associate each of the host channel adapters with a bitmap based P_Key table of the plurality of bitmap based P_Key tables.

In some embodiments, a data packet may be received at a leaf switch. A port-channel associated with a destination port for the data packet may be identified, and the data packet may be transmitted to the destination port via the identified port-channel.

Method, apparatus, and systems for implementing Quality of Service (QoS) within high performance fabrics. A multi-level QoS scheme is implemented including virtual fabrics, Traffic Classes, Service Levels (SLs), Service Channels (SCs) and Virtual Lanes (VLs). SLs are implemented for Layer 4 (Transport Layer) end-to-end transfer of fabric packets, while SCs are used to differentiate fabric packets at the Link Layer. Fabric packets are divided into flits, with fabric packet data transmitted via fabric links as flits streams. Fabric switch input ports and device receive ports detect SC IDs for received fabric packets and implement SC-to-VL mappings to determine VL buffers to buffer fabric packet flits in. An SL may have multiple SCs, and SC-to-SC mapping may be implemented to change the SC for a fabric packet as it is forwarded through the fabric, while maintaining its SL. A Traffic Class may include multiple SLs, enabling request and response traffic for an application to employ separate SLs.

A switching device in a network system for transferring data includes one or more source line cards, one or more destination line cards and a switching fabric coupled to the source line cards and the destination line cards to enable data communication between any source line card and destination line card. Each source line card includes a request generator to generate a request signal to be transmitted in order to obtain an authorization to transmit data. Each destination line card includes a grant generator to generate and send back a grant signal to the source line card in response to the request signal received at the destination line card to authorize the source line card to transmit a data cell to the destination line card.

One networking device includes a switch module, a server, and a switch controller. The switch module has ports with a communications interface of a first type (CI1) and ports with a communications interface of a second type (CI2). The server, coupled to the switch module via a first CI2 coupling, includes a virtual CI1 driver, which provides a CI1 interface in the server, defined to exchange CI1 packets with the switch module via the first CI2 coupling. The virtual CI1 driver includes a first network device operating system (ndOS) program. The switch controller, in communication with the switch module via a second CI2 coupling, includes a second ndOS program controlling, in the switch module, a packet switching policy defining the switching of packets through the switch module or switch controller. The first and second ndOS programs exchange control messages to maintain a network policy for the switch fabric.

Implementations of the present disclosure involve an apparatus, device, component, and/or method for a hardware efficient flow to port affinity management table for link aggregation for a network fabric switch with Ethernet Gateway functionality. Rather than maintaining a state per traffic flow list, the present disclosure utilizes a handle or hash value derived from the traffic flow and associates an output port state to the hash value. The output port state for the hash value is further associated with a portlist that is based on at least a traffic flow policy of the server or group of servers associated with the traffic flow. In addition, the management table may be adjusted based on state changes to one or more of the output ports such that, if a port becomes unavailable, the management table may be adjusted to account for the unavailability of the port.