Emulex Corporation

Emulex Design & Manufacturing Corporation

Avago Technologies General IP (singapore) Pte. Ltd.

David Bradley Baldwin

David Brewer

Karl M Henson

Hossein Hashemi

Allen Russell Andrews

Qiang Liu

Sam S Su

Qing Xue

Gregory John Scherer

Disclosed herein is a method for improving Input/Output (I/O) performance in a host system having multiple CPUs. Under this method, various interrupt affinity schemes are provided, which associate multiple processors, interrupts, and I/O channels for sending the interrupts, thereby allowing the interrupts to be almost evenly loaded among the multiple I/O channels and processors. Also, data locality ('warm cache') can be achieved through the interrupt affinity schemes that associate each interrupt to its source processor, namely, the processor originating the I/O request that results in the interrupt.

Enhanced I/O performance in a multi-processor system via interrupt affinity schemes

A loop network hub including a hub port with a loop initialization insertion mechanism. The loop initialization insertion mechanism causes a hub port which detects a new node port connection to automatically begin generating loop initialization data. A hub port continues to generate loop initialization data until that hub port receives a loop initialization sequence. The loop initialization data propagates around the loop of the hub, halting ordinary processing. In this way, the entire loop is cleared. Upon receiving a loop initialization sequence, the hub port originating the loop initialization data inserts the new node port into the loop. At this point, loop initialization begins and each node port in the loop network obtains a unique loop network address.

Loop network hub using loop initialization insertion

A loop network hub port with an automatic bypass feature. The automatic bypass feature causes the hub port to enter a bypass mode upon detection of a specified loop failure initialization sequence from a node port attached to the hub port. The hub port does not propagate loop failure initialization data generated by the attached node port upon the failure of a data channel from the hub port to the node port. The hub port replaces loop failure initialization data received from the node port with buffer data and conceals the node port failure from the remainder of the loop. Upon detection of the loop failure initialization sequence received from the attached node port, the hub port enters a bypass mode and maintains that bypass mode until a recovery sequence is received from the node port. At that point, the hub port reinserts the node port into the loop.

Automatic isolation in loops

A hub port in a Fibre Channel loop for detecting and bypassing attached node ports in an OLD-PORT state is disclosed. The hub port includes a hub data source, a detect circuits, and an output control circuit. The hub data source supplies data to the hub port from a Fibre Channel loop. The detect circuit is configured to detect a valid non-Arbitrated Loop sequence from an attached node port indicating that the node port is in an OLD-PORT state. The output control circuit operates to bypass the node port from the loop when the valid non-Arbitrated Loop sequence is detected.

Old-port node detection and hub port bypass

A hub port in a hub of a loop network which detects and replaces invalid data and invalid control signals in the datastream of the loop. The hub port detects invalid data and invalid control signals or primitives received from an attached node port and substitutes buffer data or valid primitives. The hub port substitutes buffer data or primitives which have correct running disparity for the datastream at the point of substitution. In another implementation, an error detection device is included in a loop network and monitors the datastream of the loop network. The error detection device detects invalid data and invalid control signals or primitives received from an upstream node in the loop and substitutes buffer data or valid primitives. The error detection device substitutes buffer data or primitives which have correct running disparity for the datastream at the point of substitution.

Elimination of invalid data in loop network

Methods and apparatus for implementing a technique for inserting and removing a node in a network loop. In a preferred implementation, a hub port includes a detect element which monitors data from the node and from an upstream node. The detect element sets a first flag when a primitive is received at the port, and sets a second flag when a primitive which is a frame termination primitive is received at the port. A frame termination generator generates frame termination primitives and a buffer data generator generates buffer data. A switching element has a control input, an output, and a plurality of data inputs. One data input is connected to each of an output of the node, the upstream node, the frame termination generator, and the buffer data generator. A control element is connected to the detect element and the control input of the switching element. The control element selects, according to the first flag and the second flag, one of the data inputs of the switching element to connect to the output of the switching element to be output by the port to a downstream node.

Node insertion and removal in a loop network

A hub port in a hub of a loop network which automatically bypasses a node port which is generating a particular loop failure initialization sequence. The hub port contains a detection circuit which enables the hub port to detect loop failure initialization data received from its attached node port. Upon detecting such data from an attached node port, the hub port replaces such data with buffer data to be passed to the next hub port. Upon detecting the completion of a loop failure initialization sequence from an attached node port, the hub port enters a bypass mode. The hub port no longer passes on output from its attached node port and instead forwards along the internal hub link data received from the previous hub port in the hub loop. The bypass is maintained until the hub port receives a primitive sequence indicating the recovery of the attached node port. The hub port periodically sends at least one recovery sequence to the node port. When the hub port receives the same recovery sequence back from the node port, the hub port ends the bypass and reinserts the node port back into the hub loop.

Growing community of inventors

Irvine, CA, United States of America

David Bradley Baldwin