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US 2003/0208631 A1Published application
System and method for dynamic link aggregation in a shared I/O subsystem
AssigneeQLOGIC, Corporation
InventorsTodd Matters, Todd Rimmer
Life of this patent
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AssigneeQLOGIC, Corporation
InventorsTodd Matters, Todd Rimmer
Estimating the term…
A shared I/O subsystem for a plurality of computer systems. The shared I/O subsystem includes a plurality of physical I/O interfaces and a plurality of virtual I/O interfaces where each of the computer systems is communicatively coupled to one or more of the virtual I/O interfaces. The shared I/O subsystem also includes a forwarding function having a forwarding table that logically arranges the shared I/O subsystem into one or more logical LAN switches. Each of the logical LAN switches communicatively couples one or more of the virtual I/O interfaces to at least one of the physical I/O interfaces. For each of the logical LAN switches, the forwarding function receives a data packet from any one from the group of the physical I/O interfaces and the virtual I/O interfaces, and directs the data packet to at least one from the group of the physical I/O interfaces and the virtual I/O interfaces. Two or more of the physical I/O interfaces may be aggregated to form a logical I/O interface by selectively altering entries in the forwarding table without reconfiguring the computer systems.
A shared I/O subsystem for a plurality of computer systems comprising:
The shared I/O subsystem of claim 11, wherein the computer systems are communicatively coupled to one of the logical LAN switches.
The shared I/O subsystem of claim 14, wherein the switching fabric comprises a high speed, high bandwidth, and low latency fabric.
The shared I/O subsystem of claim 15, wherein the switching fabric includes a plurality of dedicated circuits, and wherein each of the computer systems communicates with any one of the computer systems via the dedicated circuits.
The shared I/O subsystem of claim 16, wherein the switching fabric uses an InfiniBand protocol.
In a shared I/O subsystem comprising a plurality of physical I/O interfaces for a plurality of computer systems, a plurality of virtual I/O interfaces, and a forwarding function having a forwarding table, a method comprising:
A shared I/O subsystem comprising a plurality of physical I/O interfaces for a plurality of computer systems, a plurality of virtual I/O interfaces, and a forwarding function having a forwarding table, comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.