CXL fabric extensions
AssigneeHewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
InventorsDerek Alan Sherlock, Joe P. Cowan, Frank R. Dropps, Gary B. Gostin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
One aspect of the instant application can provide a networking device. The networking device can include a set of Compute Express Link (CXL) ports, a set of non-CXL ports, a set of bridge circuits associated with the set of CXL ports, and an interconnect. A respective bridge circuit can include a packet-conversion subcircuit to convert a CXL packet received at a corresponding CXL port to a customized packet and a protocol-conversion subcircuit to convert a CXL protocol to a customized protocol implemented by the networking device. The interconnect can switch customized packets among the CXL and non-CXL ports based on the customized protocol.
Claims20
A networking device, comprising:
- a set of Compute Express Link (CXL) ports;
- a set of non-CXL ports;
- a set of bridge circuits associated with the set of CXL ports, a respective bridge circuit comprising a packet-conversion subcircuit to convert a CXL packet received at a corresponding CXL port to a customized packet and a protocol-conversion subcircuit to convert a CXL protocol to a customized protocol implemented by the networking device by mapping one or more CXL message classes associated with the CXL packet to a traffic class defined by the customized protocol and mapping CXL ordering rules that specify execution orders of CXL messages to dependency relationships among traffic classes defined by the customized protocol;
- and
- an interconnect to switch customized packets among the CXL and non-CXL ports based on the customized protocol.
A method comprising:
- receiving, at a Compute Express Link (CXL) port of a networking device comprising a plurality of CXL ports and a plurality of non-CXL ports, a CXL packet;
- converting, by the networking device, the received CXL packet to a customized packet;
- converting, by the networking device, a CXL protocol to a customized protocol implemented by the networking device by mapping one or more CXL message classes associated with the CXL packet to a traffic class defined by the customized protocol and mapping CXL ordering rules that specify execution orders of CXL messages to dependency relationships among traffic classes defined by the customized protocol;
- and
- switching, by the networking device, the customized packet to a destination port based on the customized protocol.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform a method, the method comprising:
- receiving, at a Compute Express Link (CXL) port of a networking device comprising a plurality of CXL ports and a plurality of non-CXL ports, a CXL packet;
- converting, by the networking device, the received CXL packet to a customized packet;
- converting, by the networking device, a CXL protocol to a customized protocol implemented by the networking device by mapping one or more CXL message classes associated with the CXL packet to a traffic class defined by the customized protocol and mapping CXL ordering rules that specify execution orders of CXL messages to dependency relationships among traffic classes defined by the customized protocol;
- and
- switching, by the networking device, the customized packet to a destination port based on the customized protocol.
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium 15, wherein the method further comprises:
- in response to the destination port being a CXL port, converting the customized packet back to the CXL packet and transmitting the CXL packet to a CXL-compliant component coupled to the destination port;
- and
- in response to the destination port being a non-CXL port, transmitting the customized packet to a second networking device coupled to the destination port.
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium 15, wherein converting the CXL packet to a customized packet comprises encapsulating the CXL packet with one or more header fields defined by the customized protocol.
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium 15, wherein switching the customized packet comprises one or more of:
- performing enhanced load-balancing;
- applying multipath-routing to all traffic arriving at the networking device;
- performing flow-channel-based congestion management operations;
- or
- implementing an additional transport layer to ensure end-to-end-reliability.
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium 15, wherein switching the customized packet comprises applying a crossbar switch.
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium 15, wherein the CXL packet is received from:
- a CXL host;
- a CXL memory device;
- or
- a CXL accelerator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.