One embodiment provides a network interface controller (NIC). The NIC can include a storage device, a network interface, a hardware list-processing engine (LPE), and a message state table (MST) logic block. The storage device can store an MST. The network interface can couple the NIC to a network. The LPE can perform message matching on a first packet of a message received via the network interface. The MST logic block can store results of the message matching in the MST and receive a request to read the results of the message matching from the MST if the NIC receives a second packet associated with the message.

Systems and methods are described for providing per traffic class routing of data within a network. A network switch has the capability to classify traffic data based on High Performance Computing (HPC) related characteristics. Traffic classes are defined based on aspects of HPC, such as routing, ordering, redirection, quiesce, HPC protocol configuration, and telemetry. A switch can receive packets at an ingress port of a switch fabric, and determine traffic classifications for the packets. The traffic classification is selected from a group of defined traffic classes. Then, the switch can generate a fabric specific flag for the at least one packet that indicates the determined traffic classification, where the fabric specific flag is used for routing packets based on their assigned traffic classification. Examples of traffic classes include: low latency class; dedicated access class; bulk data class; best efforts class; and scavenger class.

Roughly described: a network interface device has an interface. The interface is coupled to first network interface device circuitry, host interface circuitry and host offload circuitry. The host interface circuitry is configured to interface to a host device and has a scheduler configured to schedule providing and/or receiving of data to/from the host device. The interface is configured to allow at least one of: data to be provided to said host interface circuitry from at least one of said first network device interface circuitry and said host offload circuitry; and data to be provided from said host interface circuitry to at least one of said first network interface device circuitry and said host offload circuitry.

A network interface controller (NIC) capable of efficiently utilizing an output buffer is provided. The NIC can be equipped with an output buffer, a host interface, an injector logic block, and an allocation logic block. The output buffer can include a plurality of cells, each of which can be a unit of storage in the output buffer. If the host interface receives a command from a host device, the injector logic block can generate a packet based on the command. The allocation logic block can then determine whether the packet is a multi-cell packet. If the packet is a multi-cell packet, the allocation logic block can determine a virtual index for the packet. The allocation logic block can then store, in an entry in a data structure, the virtual index, and a set of physical indices of cells storing the packet.

A switch equipped with a self-managing reduction engine is provided. During operation, the reduction engine can use a timeout mechanism to manage itself in different latency-induced or error scenarios. As a result, the network can facilitate an efficient and scalable environment for high performance computing.

Systems and methods are provided for managing multicast data transmission in a network having a plurality of switches arranged in a Dragonfly network topology, including: receiving a multicast transmission at an edge port of a switch and identifying the transmission as a network multicast transmission; creating an entry in a multicast table within the switch; routing the multicast transmission across the network to a plurality of destinations via a plurality of links, wherein at each of the links the multicast table is referenced to determine to which ports the multicast transmission should be forwarded; and changing, when necessary, the virtual channel used by each copy of the multicast transmission as the copy progresses through the network.

A network interface controller (NIC) capable of on-demand paging is provided. The NIC can be equipped with a host interface, an operation logic block, and an address logic block. The host interface can couple the NIC to a host device. The operation logic block can obtain from a remote device, a request for an operation based on a virtual memory address. The address logic block can obtain, from the operation logic block, a request for an address translation for the virtual memory address and issue an address translation request to the host device via the host interface. If the address translation is unsuccessful, the address logic block can send a page request to a processor of the host device via the host interface. The address logic block can then determine that a page has been allocated in response to the page request and reissue the address translation request.

Systems and methods are provided for “on the fly” routing of data transmissions in the presence of errors. Switches can establish flow channels corresponding to flows in the network. In response to encountering a critical error on a network link along a transmission path, a switch can generate an error acknowledgement. The switch can transmit the error acknowledgements to ingress ports upstream from the network link via the plurality of flow channels. By transmitting the error acknowledgement, it indicates that the network link where the critical error was encountered is a failed link to ingress ports upstream from the failed link. Subsequently, each ingress port upstream from the failed link can dynamically update the path of the plurality of flows that are upstream from the failed link such that the plurality of flows that are upstream from the failed link are routed in a manner that avoids the failed link.

A switch equipped with a reduction engine capable of being dynamically allocated in a network is provided. During operation, the reduction engine can be dynamically armed based on a multicast frame. As a result, the network can facilitate an efficient and scalable environment for high performance computing.

Systems and methods are provided for efficiently routing data through a network having a plurality of switches configured in a fat-tree topology, including: receiving a data transmission comprising a plurality of packets at an edge port of the network, and routing the data transmission through the network with routing decisions based upon a routing table, wherein the routing table includes entries to effect routing decisions based upon a destination based hash function.