US 2009/0154472 A1 · Packet Forwarding Apparatus And Method For Virtualization Switch

Abstract

Disclosed is a packet forwarding apparatus and method for virtualization switch, applicable to switch environments built by Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) connections. The packet forwarding apparatus comprises a header extractor, a dispatcher, and a forwarding unit. After completion of the authorization for iSCSI session connections, the header extractor receives at least an iSCSI packet and extracts the header for the at least an iSCSI packet. The dispatcher decides the flow directions for the received packets. The forwarding unit forwards the packets between the client-side connection and the storage-side connection, including converting the virtual address into physical address for the received iSCSI packets, building the mapping between the client-side interface and the storage-side interface, and delivering the payload associated with the connections.

Claims21

Dependent claims

A packet forwarding apparatus for virtualization switch, in the virtualization switch, a target at the front end establishing a connection with at least a client, and an initiator at the rear end establishing connection with at least a storage device, said packet forwarding apparatus comprising:

a header extractor receiving at least a packet from said established front connection and extracting the header from said at least a packet;
a dispatcher determining the flow direction for said received at least a packet;
and
a forwarding unit for direct packet forwarding between said front connection and said rear connection, said direct packet forwarding at least including translating virtual access address of said received packet from said dispatcher into physical address, constructing mapping relation between client-side and storage-side, and transmitting associated payload on said connections.

1 more element

A packet forwarding method for virtualization switch, in the virtualization switch, a target at the front end establishing a connection with at least a client, and an initiator at the rear end establishing connection with at least a storage device, said packet forwarding method comprising:

receiving at least a packet from said established front connection and extracting the header from each of said at least a packet;
for each of said at least a packet, determining whether it has a qualified type for forwarding;
determining whether said qualified type being a command type;
if so, translating virtual access address of the packet having said command type into physical address and entering a new mapping relation entry into a dynamic session mapping table (DSMT);
searching said DSMT to find a corresponding storage-side session ID and initiator task tag (dst_ITT) field for each of said qualified packets;
and
modifying the header of each of said qualified packets and transmitting said modified header and payload on the connection of an associated source side.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Packet Forwarding Apparatus And Method For Virtualization Switch

Life of this patent

Packet Forwarding Apparatus And Method For Virtualization Switch

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims21