# US 8,542,689 B2 · LAN emulation over infiniband fabric apparatus, systems, and methods > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 8,542,689 B2 - Document ID: US8542689B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 13/184,230 - Filed: 2011-07-15 - Published: 2011-11-03 - Granted: 2013-09-24 - Earliest claimed: 2000-12-28 - Assignees: Intel Corporation - Applicants: Arlin R. Davis - Inventors: Arlin R. Davis - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8542689B2 ## CPC - H04L 12/4608: {LAN interconnection over ATM networks} - H04L 12/4604: {LAN interconnection over a backbone network, e.g. Internet, Frame Relay} - H04L 49/358: {Infiniband Switches} - H04L 61/00: Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming - H04L 61/10: of different types - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) ## Abstract A method and device for local area network (LAN) emulation over an Infiniband (IB) fabric. An IB LAN driver at a first node on an IB fabric receives the port and associated local identifier (LID) of one or more remote peer nodes on the IB fabric. An IEEE 802.3 Ethernet MAC address with one LID imbedded is generated. The imbedded LID is for one or more remote peer nodes. The IB LAN driver sends the Ethernet MAC address to an Address Resolution Protocol (ARP). A logical address of a remote peer node is generated by a network protocol. The logical address is mapped to an Ethernet MAC address. The IB LAN driver sends the Ethernet MAC address onto the IB fabric to the one or more remote peer nodes. The remote peer nodes appear to reside on an Ethernet network to the network protocol. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method, including: at a local Infiniband (IB) node on an IB subnet, interfacing an IB protocol driver to a network protocol driver associated with a network protocol stack using a local Infiniband local area network (IBLAN) driver by emulating an Ethernet network interface card (NIC) driver at an interface between the local IBLAN driver and the network protocol driver; receiving an outbound Ethernet frame from the network protocol driver; embedding the outbound Ethernet frame in at least one outbound IB request packet to tunnel the outbound Ethernet frame across the IB subnet; and causing the at least one outbound IB request packet to be sent to at least one remote IB node on the IB subnet, wherein the at least one remote IB node is configured with a remote IBLAN driver. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the network protocol driver comprises a transport control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) driver. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further including: generating a local Ethernet media access control (MAC) address at the local IBLAN driver to be used by the local IBLAN driver to emulate the NIC driver, wherein the local Ethernet MAC address includes a local IB local identifier (LID) associated with the IB protocol driver. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein the local IB LID is received at the local IBLAN driver from a name service component of the IB protocol driver. ### Claim 5 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein a low-order bit field associated with the local Ethernet MAC address comprises the local IB LID. ### Claim 6 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one outbound IB request packet is sent from a local IB port on the local IB node, and wherein the local IB LID is assigned to the local IB port by a subnet manager. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein a network protocol datagram is embedded in the outbound Ethernet frame, wherein a destination Ethernet address in the outbound Ethernet frame corresponds to a remote Ethernet address extracted from a local address resolution protocol (ARP) table by the network protocol driver, and wherein the remote Ethernet address and a destination network address embedded in the network protocol datagram are associated in the local ARP table. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, further including: upon receiving the outbound Ethernet frame at the local IBLAN driver, extracting a destination IB local identifier (LID) embedded in the destination Ethernet address in the outbound Ethernet frame; and populating a destination IB LID field in a local route header associated with the at least one outbound IB request packet with the destination IB LID, wherein the destination IB LID corresponds to the at least one remote IB node. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further including: querying a subnet manager associated with the IB subnet from the local IBLAN driver to obtain a list of IB local identifiers (LIDs), each of the IB LIDs associated with an active port on the at least one remote IB node. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein the outbound Ethernet frame comprises at least one of a broadcast frame or a multicast frame to be broadcast to the at least one remote IB node by tunneling the outbound Ethernet frame to each IB LID on the list of IB LIDs. ### Claim 11 An article including a machine-accessible, non-transitory medium having stored therein associated information, wherein the information, when accessed, results in a machine performing: at a local Infiniband (IB) node on an IB subnet, interfacing an IB protocol driver to a network protocol driver associated with a network protocol stack using a local Infiniband local area network (IBLAN) driver by emulating an Ethernet network interface card (NIC) driver at an interface between the local IBLAN driver and the network protocol driver; receiving an outbound Ethernet frame from the network protocol driver; embedding the outbound Ethernet frame in at least one outbound IB request packet to tunnel the outbound Ethernet frame across the IB subnet; and causing the at least one outbound IB request packet to be sent to at least one remote IB node on the IB subnet, wherein the at least one remote IB node is configured with a remote IBLAN driver. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The article of claim 11, wherein the information, when accessed, results in a machine performing: generating a local Ethernet media access control (MAC) address at the local IBLAN driver to be used by the local IBLAN driver to emulate the NIC driver, wherein the local Ethernet MAC address includes a local IB local identifier (LID) associated with the IB protocol driver. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The article of claim 11, wherein a network protocol datagram is embedded in the outbound Ethernet frame, wherein a destination Ethernet address in the outbound Ethernet frame corresponds to a remote Ethernet address extracted from a local address resolution protocol (ARP) table by the network protocol driver, and wherein the remote Ethernet address and a destination network address embedded in the network protocol datagram are associated in the local ARP table. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The article of claim 13, wherein the information, when accessed, results in a machine performing: upon receiving the outbound Ethernet frame at the local IBLAN driver, extracting a destination IB local identifier (LID) embedded in the destination Ethernet address in the outbound Ethernet frame; and populating a destination IB LID field in a local route header associated with the at least one outbound IB request packet with the destination IB LID, wherein the destination IB LID corresponds to the at least one remote IB node. ### Claim 15 (depends on 11) The article of claim 11, wherein the information, when accessed, results in a machine performing: querying a subnet manager associated with the IB subnet from the local IBLAN driver to obtain a list of IB local identifiers (LIDs), each IB LID associated with an active port on the at least one remote IB node. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The article of claim 15, wherein the outbound Ethernet frame comprises at least one of a broadcast frame or a multicast frame to be broadcast to the at least one remote IB node, wherein the broadcast is effected by tunneling the outbound Ethernet frame to each IB LID on the list of IB LIDs. ### Claim 17 A system, including: at least one local IBLAN driver module coupled between an IB protocol driver module and a network protocol driver module associated with a network protocol stack at a local IB node on an IB subnet, the IBLAN driver module to emulate an Ethernet network interface card (NIC) driver at an interface between the at least one local IBLAN driver module and the network protocol driver module; a connection services component within the IBLAN driver module to receive an outbound Ethernet frame from the network protocol driver module, to embed the outbound Ethernet frame in at least one outbound IB request packet in order to tunnel the outbound Ethernet frame across the IB subnet, and to forward the at least one outbound IB request packet to the IB protocol driver module for transmission to at least one remote IB node on the IB subnet, wherein the at least one remote IB node is configured with a remote IBLAN driver; and a fiber optic cable to connect the local IB node to the IB subnet. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The system of claim 17, wherein a subnet manager associated with the IB subnet is queried from the local IBLAN driver to obtain a list of local IB identifiers (LIDs), each IB LID associated with an active port on the at least one remote IB node. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The system of claim 18, wherein the outbound Ethernet frame comprises at least one of a broadcast frame or a multicast frame to be broadcast to the at least one remote IB node, and wherein the broadcast is effected by tunneling the outbound Ethernet frame to each IB LID on the list of IB LIDs. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one of the broadcast frame or the multicast frame comprises an address resolution protocol (ARP) request.