Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.p.

Michael Justin O'Sullivan

John Wilkes

Troy Alexander Shahoumian

Julie Ann Ward

Dirk Manfred Beyer

Julie Ward Drew

Li-Shiuan Peh

A technique for generating interconnect fabric requirements. The technique programmatically generates an interconnect design problem based on criteria specified by a user. In one aspect, a computer implemented method is provided for generating an interconnect fabric design problem. The problem includes requirements for a plurality of flows among a set of network nodes. A source node and a terminal node are selected, from among the set of network nodes, for a flow to be added to the requirements. A maximum capacity available at the selected source node and the selected terminal node is determined. The flow is generated having a capacity less than or equal to the lower of the maximum capacity of the source node and the terminal node. Depending upon the input criteria, the invention may generate problems with greater flexibility than prior techniques.

Generating interconnect fabric requirements

Disclosed is a method for designing a network with a given set of network flow requirements, each flow requirement having a source, a destination and a bandwidth. The method comprises the steps of assigning each flow to a port on its associated source and destination, determining the partition of source and destination ports into port groups which are disjoint sets, and generating network modules to support the assignment of flows by using an appropriate interconnected combination of links, hubs and switches. The design of the module accounts for the relative costs of the links, hubs and switches and finds the allocation and subsequent module design that produces a cost effective interconnection fabric that supports all flow requirements.

Module-building method for designing interconnect fabrics

A technique is disclosed for reprovisioning an interconnect fabric design for interconnecting a plurality of network nodes. A design for the interconnect fabric specifies an arrangement of elements of the fabric and flow requirements among the network nodes. The invention programmatically reprovisions the design. This may include determining whether the flow requirements are satisfied by the design and whether the design violates constraints on the elements, such as bandwidth capacity and number of available ports. If the design does not satisfy the flow requirements, then the design is modified until the flow requirements are satisfied. Modifications are performed systematically by first attempting those that are least disruptive to the design and, then, attempting modifications that are increasingly more disruptive. As a result, the design is efficiently and cost-effectively reprovisioned to meet the flow the requirements.

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Auckland, New Zealand

Michael Justin O'Sullivan