Emulated telemetry interfaces for fabric-coupled computing units

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11294839-B2
Application number	US-202016866000-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 4, 2020
Priority date	Aug 12, 2016
Publication date	Apr 5, 2022
Grant date	Apr 5, 2022

Abstract

Disaggregated computing architectures, platforms, and systems are provided herein. In one example, a method of operating compute units is presented that includes forming compute units among a plurality of physical computing components coupled over a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) fabric configured to communicatively couple the plurality of physical computing components and isolate the compute unit using logical partitioning within the PCIe fabric. The method also includes initiating a software component deployed to at least associated CPUs within the compute units, reporting telemetry to the management processor related to operation of the compute unit, and emulating operation of at least one among an Ethernet and InfiniBand interface to an operating system of the associated CPU for transfer of communications comprising at least the telemetry to the management processor over the PCIe fabric.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A compute unit, comprising:
a plurality of physical computing components coupled over a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) fabric that is configured to communicatively couple the plurality of physical computing components and form the compute unit using logical partitioning within the PCIe fabric; and
a software component deployed by a management processor to at least an associated CPU within the compute unit responsive to formation of the compute unit, the software component comprising:
a monitoring function configured to report telemetry to the management processor related to operation of the compute unit; and
a driver function configured to emulate operation of at least one among an Ethernet and InfiniBand interface to an operating system of the associated CPU for transfer of communications comprising at least the telemetry to the management processor over the PCIe fabric.

2. The compute unit of claim 1 , wherein the driver function is further configured to transfer the communications over the PCIe fabric for delivery to the management processor without processing the communications through a network stack.

3. The compute unit of claim 1 , wherein based at least on the logical partitioning, the compute unit has visibility over the PCIe fabric to only the plurality of physical computing components assigned to the compute unit using the logical partitioning within the PCIe fabric, and lacks visibility over the PCIe fabric to other physical computing components that are communicatively coupled over the PCIe fabric.

4. The compute unit of claim 1 , wherein the management processor is configured to instruct the PCIe fabric to establish the logical partitioning within the PCIe fabric by at least forming domain-based PCIe segregation among ports of PCIe switches that comprise the PCIe fabric.

5. The compute unit of claim 1 , wherein the management processor is configured to instruct the PCIe fabric to establish the logical partitioning within the PCIe fabric by at least forming non-transparent (NT) port-based PCIe segregation among ports of PCIe switches that comprise the PCIe fabric.

6. The compute unit of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of physical computing components includes at least the associated CPU and one or more among a storage module, graphics processing unit (GPU), and network interface module.

7. The compute unit of claim 1 , wherein the compute unit is a member of a cluster comprising at least one further compute unit coupled over the PCIe fabric and logically isolated on the PCIe fabric from other clusters of a clustered environment.

8. The compute unit of claim 6 , comprising:
responsive to alteration of the logical partitioning by the management processor, the compute unit configured to comprise an altered composition of the plurality of physical computing components within the compute unit.

9. The compute unit of claim 8 , wherein the altered composition of the plurality of physical computing components within the compute unit comprises at least one more physical computing component selected among a CPU, storage module, GPU, and network interface module.

10. A method of operating a compute unit, the method comprising:
forming the compute unit among a plurality of physical computing components coupled over a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) fabric that is configured to communicatively couple the plurality of physical computing components and isolate the compute unit using logical partitioning within the PCIe fabric;
initiating a software component deployed by a management processor to at least an associated CPU within the compute unit responsive to formation of the compute unit;
in a monitoring function of the software component, reporting telemetry to the management processor related to operation of the compute unit; and
in a driver function of the software component, emulating operation of at least one among an Ethernet and InfiniBand interface to an operating system of the associated CPU for transfer of communications comprising at least the telemetry to the management processor over the PCIe fabric.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
in the driver function, transferring the communications over the PCIe fabric for delivery to the management processor without processing the communications through a network stack.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein based at least on the logical partitioning, the compute unit has visibility over the PCIe fabric to only the plurality of physical computing components assigned to the compute unit using the logical partitioning within the PCIe fabric, and lacks visibility over the PCIe fabric to other physical computing components that are communicatively coupled over the PCIe fabric.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the management processor is configured to instruct the PCIe fabric to establish the logical partitioning within the PCIe fabric by at least forming domain-based PCIe segregation among ports of PCIe switches that comprise the PCIe fabric.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the management processor is configured to instruct the PCIe fabric to establish the logical partitioning within the PCIe fabric by at least forming non-transparent (NT) port-based PCIe segregation among ports of PCIe switches that comprise the PCIe fabric.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of physical computing components includes at least the associated CPU and one or more among a storage module, graphics processing unit (GPU), and network interface module.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein responsive to alteration of the logical partitioning by the management processor, the compute unit is configured to comprise an altered composition of the plurality of physical computing components within the compute unit.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the altered composition of the plurality of physical computing components within the compute unit comprises at least one more physical computing component selected among a CPU, storage module, GPU, and network interface module.

18. A computing apparatus comprising:
one or more computer readable storage media;
a processing system operatively coupled with the one or more computer readable storage media; and
program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media, that when executed by the processing system, direct the processing system to at least:
form a compute unit among a plurality of physical computing components coupled over a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) fabric that is configured to communicatively couple the plurality of physical computing components and isolate the compute unit using logical partitioning within the PCIe fabric;
initiate a software component deployed by a management processor to at least an associated CPU within the compute unit responsive to formation of the compute unit;
in a monitoring function of the software component, report telemetry to the management processor related to operation of the compute unit; and
in a driver function of the software component, emulate operation of at least one among an Ethernet and InfiniBand interface to an operating system of the associated CPU for transfer of communications comprising at least the telemetry to the management processor over the PCIe fabric without processing the communications through a network stack.

19. The computing apparatus of claim 18 , wherein based at least on the logical partitioning, the compute unit has visibility over the PCIe fabric to o

Assignees

• Liqid Inc

Inventors

• Long Christopher R
• Cannata James Scott
• Breakstone Jason

Classifications

• G06F13/4221

  being an input/output bus, e.g. ISA bus, EISA bus, PCI bus, SCSI bus · CPC title

• G06F13/105

  where the program performs an input/output emulation function · CPC title

• G06F9/541

  via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications · CPC title

• G06F2213/0026

  PCI express · CPC title

• G06F9/5077

  Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources (specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455) · CPC title