Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Michael Konstantinos Papamichael

Adrian Michael Caulfield

Eric S Chung

Douglas Christopher Burger

Vadim Makhervaks

Matthew G Humphrey

Ang Li

Shlomi Alkalay

Prashant Ranjan

Alexey Lavrov

Mohammad Saifee Dohadwala

Techniques and algorithms for monitoring network congestion and for triggering a flow to follow a new path through a network. The network is monitored, and network feedback data is acquired, where that data indicates whether the network is congested. If the network is congested, a feedback-driven algorithm can trigger a flow to follow a new path. By triggering the flow to follow the new path, congestion in the network is reduced. To identify congestion, the feedback data is analyzed to determine whether flows are colliding. The feedback-driven algorithm determines that a network remapping event is to occur in an attempt to alleviate the congestion. A flow is then selected to be remapped to alleviate the congestion.

Feedback-based dynamic network flow remapping

A masked packet checksum is utilized to provide error detection and/or error correction for only discrete portions of a packet, to the exclusion of other portions, thereby avoiding retransmission if transmission errors appear only in portions excluded by the masked packet checksum. A bitmask identifies packet portions whose data is to be protected with error detection and/or error correction schemes, packet portions whose data is to be excluded from such error detection and/or error correction schemes, or combinations thereof. A bitmask can be a per-packet specification, incorporated into one or more fields of individual packets, or a single bitmask can apply equally to multiple packets, which can be delineated in numerous ways, and can be separately transmitted or derived. Bitmasks can be generated at higher layers with lower layer mechanisms deactivated, or can be generated lower layers based upon data passed down.

Masked packet checksums for more efficient digital communication

Systems and methods that provide for transmission of messages among nodes (e.g., acceleration components configurable to accelerate a service) using a time-synchronized transport layer (TSL) protocol are provided. An example method, in a network comprising at least a first node, a second node, and a third node, includes each of the at least the first node, the second node, and the third node synchronizing a respective clock to a common clock. The method further includes each of the at least the first node, the second node, and the third node scheduling data transmission in the network in a manner such that at a particular time in reference to the common clock each of the at least the first node, the second node, and the third node is scheduled to receive data from only one of the first node, the second node, or the third node.

Systems and methods for nodes communicating using a time-synchronized transport layer

Techniques are disclosed for implementing direct memory access in a virtualized computing environment. A new mapping of interfaces between RNIC Consumer and RDMA Transport is defined, which enables efficient retry, a zombie detection mechanism, and identification and handling of invalid requests without bringing down the RDMA connection. Techniques are disclosed for out of order placement and delivery of ULP Requests without constraining the RNIC Consumer to the ordered networking behavior, if it is not required for the ULP (e.g., storage). This allows efficient deployment of an RDMA accelerated storage workload in a lossy network configuration, and reduction in latency jitter.

RDMA transport with hardware integration

RDMA transport with hardware integration and out of order placement

A server system is provided that includes a plurality of servers, each server including at least one hardware acceleration device and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the hardware acceleration device by an internal data bus and executing a host server instance, the host server instances of the plurality of servers collectively providing a software plane, and the hardware acceleration devices of the plurality of servers collectively providing a hardware acceleration plane that implements a plurality of hardware accelerated services, wherein each hardware acceleration device maintains in memory a data structure that contains load data indicating a load of each of a plurality of target hardware acceleration devices, and wherein a requesting hardware acceleration device routes the request to a target hardware acceleration device that is indicated by the load data in the data structure to have a lower load than other of the target hardware acceleration devices.

Hardware implemented load balancing

Systems and methods for monitoring and steering service requests to acceleration components are provided. An example method in a system comprising a host configured to send messages, corresponding to a service, to any of a set of acceleration components may include tracking an input buffer occupancy corresponding to each of the set of acceleration components. The method may further include, upon a first input buffer occupancy of a first acceleration component from among the set of the acceleration components meeting a predetermined criterion, generating a first penalty value for the first acceleration component based at least on the first input buffer occupancy associated with the first acceleration component, and comparing a second value indicative of an availability of the second acceleration component to receive messages from the host to a second dynamically updated value to determine whether the host can send a next message to the second acceleration component.

Monitoring and steering service requests to acceleration components

Active intelligent message filtering can be utilized to provide error resiliency, thereby allowing messages to be received without traditional error detection, and, in turn, avoiding the inefficiency of retransmission of network communications discarded due to network transmission errors detected by such traditional error detection mechanisms. Network transmission errors can result in the receiving application receiving messages that appear to comprise values that differ from the values originally transmitted by the transmitting application. Based on the inaccuracy tolerance applicable to the transmitting and receiving applications, rules can be applied to actively intelligently filter the received messages to replace the received values with the replacement values according to the rules. In such a manner, the receiving application can continue to receive usable data from the transmitting application without any error detection at lower network communication levels.

Active intelligent message filtering for increased digital communication throughput and error resiliency

Systems and methods for flow control and congestion management of messages among acceleration components (ACs) configurable to accelerate a service are provided. An example system comprises a software plane including host components configured to execute instructions corresponding to a service and an acceleration plane including ACs configurable to accelerate the service. In a first mode a sending AC is configured to, in response to receiving a first indication from a receiving AC, send subsequent packets corresponding to a first message associated with the service using a larger inter-packet gap than an inter-packet gap used for previous packets corresponding to the first message associated with the service, and in the second mode the sending AC is configured to, in response to receiving a second indication from the receiving AC, delay a transmission of a next packet corresponding to the first message associated with the service.

Flow control and congestion management for acceleration components configured to accelerate a service

Components, methods, and systems allowing acceleration components to transmit messages are provided. An acceleration component for use among a first plurality of acceleration components, associated with a first top-of-rack (TOR) switch, to transmit messages to other acceleration components in an acceleration plane configurable to provide service acceleration for a service is provided. The acceleration component includes a transport component configured to transmit a first point-to-point message to a second acceleration component, associated with a second TOR switch different form the first TOR switch, and to a third acceleration component, associated with a third TOR switch different from the first TOR switch and the second TOR switch. The transport component may be configured to broadcast a second point-to-point message to all of a second plurality of acceleration components associated with the second TOR switch and to all of a third plurality of acceleration components associated with the third TOR switch.

Growing community of inventors

Redmond, WA, United States of America

Michael Konstantinos Papamichael