Network proxy for high-performance, low-power data center interconnect fabric

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9977763-B2
Application number	US-201615078115-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 23, 2016
Priority date	Oct 30, 2009
Publication date	May 22, 2018
Grant date	May 22, 2018

Abstract

A system and method are provided for network proxying. The network proxying may occur in a node of a fabric or across nodes in the fabric. In the network proxying, the node has a processor with a low power mode and the system remaps, by a management processor of the node, a port identifier for a processor that is in a low power mode to the management processor. The management processor then processes a plurality of packets that contain the port identifier for the processor that is in the low power mode to maintain a network presence of the node.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
associating a node with a node ID, wherein the node is connected to a plurality of nodes to form a switching fabric;
setting up a node proxy component which indicates that the node ID is proxied to a proxy node, wherein the proxy node is configured to be a proxy for the node in response to the node being in a low power state; and
receiving, by the proxy node, traffic destined for the node via the node proxy component and in response to the node being in a low power state;
wherein the node proxy component includes a routing table with a proxy field that determines if a node ID is being proxied to the proxy node.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the proxy node is further configured to respond to an incoming packet, remapped to the proxy node, if required for a particular protocol.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the incoming packet is an ARP packet, a NetBIOS datagram, or an ICMP ping.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the incoming packet is a broadcast packet or a unicast packet.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the incoming packet is a TCP SYN packet or a magic packet.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the proxy node is further configured to wake up a proxied node for an incoming packet that is to be processed by the proxied node.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the proxy node is further configured to:
reset the proxy node component to cancel the proxy; and
resend the incoming packet back to the proxied node.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the proxy node is further configured to respond to a keep alive message.

9. An apparatus comprising:
a node connected to a plurality of nodes to form a switching fabric, wherein the node is associated with a node ID in the switching fabric;
a proxy node configured to be a proxy for the node in response to the node entering a low power state; and
a node proxy component configured to indicate that the node ID is proxied to the proxy node;
wherein the proxy node is further configured to receive traffic destined for the node via the node proxy component and in response to the node being in a low power state; and
wherein the routing table proxy component includes a routing table with a proxy field configured to determine if a node ID is being proxied to the proxy node.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the proxy node is further configured to respond to an incoming packet, remapped to the proxy node, if required for a particular protocol.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the incoming packet is an ARP packet, a NetBIOS datagram, or an ICMP ping.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the incoming packet is a broadcast packet or a unicast packet.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the incoming packet is a TCP SYN packet or a magic packet.

14. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the proxy node is further configured to wake up a proxied node for an incoming packet that is to be processed by the proxied node.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium on which is stored instructions, the instructions comprising:
instructions to associate a node with a node ID, wherein the node is connected to a plurality of nodes to form a switching fabric;
instructions to set up a node proxy component which indicates that the node ID is proxied to a proxy node, wherein the proxy node is configured to be a proxy for the node in response to the node being in a low power state; and
instructions to receive, by the proxy node, traffic destined for the node via the node proxy component and in response to the node being in a low power state;
wherein the node proxy component includes a routing table with a proxy field that determines if a node ID is being proxied to the proxy node.

Assignees

• Iii Holdings 2 Llc

Inventors

• Davis Mark B
• Borland David James
• Volpe Thomas A
• Goss Kenneth S

Classifications

• Y02B60/121

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02B60/41

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• G06F1/3234

  Power saving characterised by the action undertaken · CPC title

• G06F1/3209

  Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections · CPC title

• Y02B60/1235

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic