System for communicating between network end-points using a payload offset and buffer pool handle

A method for addressing end-points in a network wherein each one of a plurality of ports in the network is coupled to at least one of the end-points, and wherein a transmission is sent between a source end-point and a destination end-point via a respective source port and a destination port connected by a fabric, the method comprising the steps of:

• generating at least one route master for each of said plurality of ports, wherein the route master describes a full route indicating relationships between the source end-point, the destination end-point, the source port, and the destination port;
• including a payload offset, buffer pool handle, and full route handle in a network header sent with the transmission;
• wherein the buffer pool handle includes buffer pool index used to index a specific queue of pool buffers within the destination port;
• receiving the transmission;
• using the full route handle to look up the route master in the destination port's database;
• using information contained in the route master to index a table whose entries include indicia of remote ports, to verify whether the route on which the transmission was sent includes the source port;
• dequeueing a pool buffer descriptor from the queue indicated by the destination end-point and the buffer pool index, wherein the pool buffer descriptor contains indicia of a header buffer and a payload buffer each within the destination end-point;
• and
• decoding the payload offset in the network header to locate a first number of bytes of data in the transmission to be transferred into the header buffer and a second number of bytes of data to be transferred into the payload buffer.

A system for addressing end-points in a network wherein each one of a plurality of ports in the network is coupled to at least one of the end-points, and wherein a transmission is sent between a source end-point and a destination end-point via a respective source port and a destination port connected by a fabric, the system comprising:

• a network header, sent with the transmission, including a payload offset and buffer pool handle, wherein the buffer pool handle is used to determine a specific queue of pool buffers within the destination port;
• a header buffer and a payload buffer;
• and
• a pool buffer descriptor, describing the header buffer and the payload buffer, located in a queue indicated by the buffer pool handle, wherein the pool buffer descriptor is retrieved from the queue indicated by the buffer pool handle;
• wherein the payload offset in the network header is decoded to locate a first number of bytes of data in the transmission to be transferred into the header buffer and a second number of bytes of data to be transferred into the payload buffer.