System and method for supporting partitioned switch forwarding tables in a high performance computing environment

A system for supporting a partitioned switch forwarding table in a high performance computing environment, the system comprising:

• a computer environment comprising:
• a first subnet, the first subnet comprising a first set of network switches, each of networks switches of the first set of the network switches comprising a forwarding table and a plurality of switch ports, wherein at least one of the forwarding tables on a switch of the first set of network switches comprises a partitioned forwarding table;
• and
• a second subnet, the second subnet comprising a second set of network switches, each of the network switches of the second set of network switches comprising a forwarding table and a plurality of switch ports;
• wherein the at least one partitioned forwarding table is used to route packets having a header comprising only a local route header as well as packets comprising a header comprising a local route header and a global route header by:
• receiving a packet at a switch comprising the at least one partitioned forwarding table;
• and
• upon receiving the packet at a switch comprising the at least one partitioned forwarding table, determining whether the packet header comprises only a local route header or a local route header and a global route header;
• wherein a first partition of the partitioned forwarding table is used to route packets comprising a header comprising a local route header;
• and
• wherein a second partition of the partitioned forwarding table is used to route packets comprising a local route header and a global route header.

The system of 12, wherein the inspecting the first portion of the header of the received packet comprises inspecting the local route header of the header of the first packet;

• and
• the determining the condition of the first portion of the header of the first packet comprises comparing a selected portion of the local route header relative to a predetermined value stored at the switch comprising the at least one partitioned forwarding table, and
• selectively determining the first condition in accordance with a mis-match between the selected portion of the local route header and the predetermined value;
• and
• selectively determining the second condition in accordance with a match between the selected portion of the local route header and the predetermined value.

A non-transitory machine readable medium, including instructions stored thereon for supporting a partitioned switch forwarding table in a high performance computing environment, which when read and executed by one or more computers caused the one or more computers to perform steps comprising:

• providing, at one or more computers, including one or more microprocessors,
• a first subnet, the first subnet comprising a first set of network switches, each of networks switches of the first set of the network switches comprising a forwarding table and a plurality of switch ports, wherein at least one of the forwarding tables on a switch of the first set of network switches comprises a partitioned forwarding table;
• and
• a second subnet, the second subnet comprising a second set of network switches, each of the network switches of the second set of network switches comprising a forwarding table and a plurality of switch ports;
• allowing the at least one partitioned forwarding table to route packets having a header comprising only a local route header as well as packets comprising a header comprising a local route header and a global route header;
• receiving a packet at a switch comprising the at least one partitioned forwarding table;
• upon receiving the packet at a switch comprising the at least one partitioned forwarding table, determining whether the packet header comprises only a local route header or a local route header and a global route header;
• wherein a first partition of the partitioned forwarding table is used to route packets comprising a header comprising a local route header;
• and
• wherein a second partition of the partitioned forwarding table is used to route packets comprising a local route header and a global route header.