Rackmount switch devices for peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10747701-B2
Application number	US-201815914081-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 7, 2018
Priority date	Mar 7, 2017
Publication date	Aug 18, 2020
Grant date	Aug 18, 2020

Abstract

Rackmount Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) switch assemblies are provided herein. One example PCIe switch assembly includes an enclosure that encases elements of the PCIe switch assembly, a first plurality of PCIe interconnect ports positioned on a front side of the PCIe switch assembly, and a second plurality of PCIe interconnect ports positioned on a rear side of the PCIe switch assembly. One or more redundancy cross-link ports are provided to handle failover traffic with at least another PCIe switch assembly. PCIe switch circuitry is communicatively coupled to the first plurality of PCIe interconnect ports and the second plurality of PCIe interconnect ports that form a cluster interconnect PCIe fabric. A control processor is configured to control operation of at least the PCIe switch circuitry and the one or more redundancy cross-link ports.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) switch assembly, comprising:
an enclosure that encases elements of the PCIe switch assembly;
one or more removable fans positioned in the enclosure and proximate to a front side of the PCIe switch assembly that provide airflow to the elements of the PCI switch assembly;
a first plurality of PCIe interconnect ports positioned on a front side of the PCIe switch assembly and below front ventilation features associated with the one or more removable fans;
a second plurality of PCIe interconnect ports positioned on a rear side of the PCIe switch assembly and below rear ventilation features associated with the one or more removable fans;
one or more redundancy cross-link ports configured to handle failover traffic with at least another PCIe switch assembly;
PCIe switch circuitry communicatively coupled to the first plurality of PCIe interconnect ports and the second plurality of PCIe interconnect ports that form a cluster interconnect PCIe fabric; and
a control processor configured to control operation of at least the one or more removable fans, the PCIe switch circuitry, and the one or more redundancy cross-link ports.

2. The PCIe switch assembly of claim 1 , wherein the one or more redundancy cross-link ports comprise at least a first port configured to couple the control processor of the PCIe switch assembly to PCIe switch circuitry of the other PCIe switch assembly; and
wherein the one or more redundancy cross-link ports further comprise at least a second port configured to couple the PCIe switch circuitry of the PCIe switch assembly to a control processor of the other PCIe switch assembly.

3. The PCIe switch assembly of claim 2 , wherein responsive to failure of at least the control processor of the PCIe switch assembly, the control processor of the other PCIe switch assembly controls operation of at least the PCIe switch circuitry of the PCIe switch assembly via the one or more redundancy cross-link ports.

4. The PCIe switch assembly of claim 1 , wherein the one or more redundancy cross-link ports comprise at least a first port configured to couple the control processor of the PCIe switch assembly to a control processor of the other PCIe switch assembly.

5. The PCIe switch assembly of claim 4 , wherein responsive to failure of at least the control processor of the PCIe switch assembly, the control processor of the other PCIe switch assembly controls operation of at least the PCIe switch circuitry of the PCIe switch assembly via the one or more redundancy cross-link ports.

6. The PCIe switch assembly of claim 1 , wherein the one or more redundancy cross-link ports comprise ×4 PCIe ports.

7. The PCIe switch assembly of claim 1 , wherein the PCIe switch assembly and the other PCIe switch assembly fit side-by-side into a rackmount configuration.

8. The PCIe switch assembly of claim 1 , further comprising:
a fan service cover coupled on a top side of the enclosure and configured to provide service access to the one or more removable fans via the top side of the enclosure.

9. The PCIe switch assembly of claim 1 , further comprising:
a power supply assembly removeable from the rear side of the PCIe switch assembly and configured to provide power to at least the elements of the PCIe switch assembly.

10. The PCIe switch assembly of claim 1 , comprising:
the control processor configured to monitor for a failure of one or more PCIe switch elements among the PCIe switch circuitry; and
responsive to the failure, the control processor configured to disable the one or more PCIe switch elements associated with the failure, and instruct at least a backup PCIe switch element among the PCIe switch circuitry to handle corresponding PCIe traffic instead of the one or more PCIe switch elements associated with the failure.

11. The PCIe switch assembly of claim 10 , comprising:
the control processor configured to reset the one or more PCIe switch elements associated with the failure; and
responsive to determining that the one or more PCIe switch elements associated with the failure no longer experience the failure, the control processor configured to instruct the one or more PCIe switch elements associated with the failure to handle the corresponding PCIe traffic.

12. The PCIe switch assembly of claim 10 , comprising:
the control processor configured to store configuration information for the one or more PCIe switch elements in a non-volatile memory device;
responsive to determining that the one or more PCIe switch elements associated with the failure no longer experience the failure, the control processor configured to retrieve the configuration information from the non-volatile memory device and instruct the one or more PCIe switch elements associated with the failure to handle the corresponding PCIe traffic based at least on the configuration information.

13. The PCIe switch assembly of claim 1 , further comprising:
a display element positioned on the front side of the PCIe switch assembly and configured to display at least status of the PCIe switch assembly; and
a front portion of the enclosure configured to provide for airflow from a fan assembly of the PCIe switch assembly around the display element on the front side of the PCIe switch assembly.

14. A method of operating a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) switch assembly, the method comprising:
providing one or more removable fans positioned in an enclosure of the PCIe switch assembly proximate to a front side of the PCIe switch assembly that provide airflow to the elements of the PCI switch assembly;
forming a cluster interconnect PCIe fabric among at least a first plurality of PCIe interconnect ports, and a second plurality of PCIe interconnect ports, wherein the first plurality of PCIe interconnect ports are positioned on a front side of the PCIe switch assembly and below front ventilation features associated with the one or more removable fans, and the second plurality of PCIe interconnect ports are positioned on a rear side of the PCIe switch assembly and below rear ventilation features associated with the one or more removable fans;
providing one or more redundancy cross-link ports to handle failover traffic with at least another PCIe switch assembly; and
controlling, with a control processor, operations of at least the one or more removable fans, PCIe switch circuitry associated with the first plurality of PCIe interconnect ports and the second plurality of PCIe interconnect ports, and the one or more redundancy cross-link ports.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more redundancy cross-link ports comprise at least a first port configured to couple the control processor of the PCIe switch assembly to PCIe switch circuitry of the other PCIe switch assembly; and
wherein the one or more redundancy cross-link ports further comprise at least a second port configured to couple PCIe switch circuitry of the PCIe switch assembly to a control processor of the other PCIe switch assembly.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein responsive to failure of at least the control processor of the PCIe switch assembly, the control processor of the other PCIe switch assembly controls operation of at least the PCIe switch circuitry of the PCIe switch assembly via the second port.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more redundancy cross-link ports comprise at least a first port configured to couple the control processor of the PCIe switch assembly to a control processor of the other PCIe switch assembly, and wherein responsi

Assignees

• Liqid Inc

Inventors

• Long Christopher R
• Breakstone Jason
• Heyd Andrew Rudolph
• Rust Brenden Michael
• Walsh Seth
• Schramm Bryan

Classifications

• H10W40/22

  characterised by their shape, e.g. having conical or cylindrical projections · CPC title

• G06F11/2005

  using redundant communication controllers · CPC title

• G06F13/4295

  using an embedded synchronisation · CPC title

• G06F13/4282

  on a serial bus, e.g. I2C bus, SPI bus (on daisy chain buses G06F13/4247) · CPC title

• G06F2213/0026

  PCI express · CPC title