US 2003/0229702 A1 · Server network controller including packet forwarding and method therefor

Abstract

A network controller including a packet forwarding mechanism and method therefor improve load-balancing within a network system without requiring an intelligent switch having TCP splicing capability. If the network controller node is becoming overloaded (for example as indicated by a full output FIFO), the network controller forwards connections directly to alternate servers. The network controller and method further provide improved fail-safe operation, as the network controller can more easily detect failure of the coupled server than can a remote switch being monitored for failure of a connected server node. The packet forwarding mechanism can be implemented very compactly within the firmware of the network controller, providing a load-balancing solution with little incremental cost (as opposed to an intelligent switch solution) and with tight coupling to the server, providing a redirection solution from the point that has the most information available regarding the status of the associated server node.

Claims23

Dependent claims

A method for forwarding connections at a server, comprising:

receiving a packet at a network controller of said server, wherein said packet is destined for an original destination node of said server and was provided by an originating source;
within said network controller, selecting an alternate destination node for said packet;
modifying a destination address of said packet within said network controller to produce a modified packet containing an address of said alternate destination node and an origin address containing a response node of said network controller;
and
transmitting said modified packet from said network controller to said alternate destination node.

2 more elements

A server system, comprising:

a processing unit, including a server memory for storing server program instructions for execution by a server processor within said processing unit;
a bus for interconnecting said processing unit with peripheral devices;
and
a network controller coupled to said bus for coupling said server system to a network, said network controller including a controller processor and a controller memory coupled to said controller processor for storing controller program instructions for execution by said controller processor, and wherein said controller program instructions include instructions for
receiving a packet at a network controller of said server, wherein said packet is destined for an original destination node of said server and was provided by an originating source;
selecting an alternate destination node for said packet;
modifying a destination address of said packet within said network controller to produce a modified packet containing a address of said alternate destination node and an origin address containing a response node of said network controller;
and
transmitting said modified packet from said network controller to said alternate destination node.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Server network controller including packet forwarding and method therefor

Life of this patent

Server network controller including packet forwarding and method therefor

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims23