Matching Items (2)
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- All Subjects: PCI bus (Computer bus)
- Creators: Hui, Joseph
- Creators: Chen, Caiyi
Description
Data centers connect a larger number of servers requiring IO and switches with low power and delay. Virtualization of IO and network is crucial for these servers, which run virtual processes for computing, storage, and apps. We propose using the PCI Express (PCIe) protocol and a new PCIe switch fabric for IO and switch virtualization. The switch fabric has little data buffering, allowing up to 512 physical 10 Gb/s PCIe2.0 lanes to be connected via a switch fabric. The switch is scalable with adapters running multiple adaptation protocols, such as Ethernet over PCIe, PCIe over Internet, or FibreChannel over Ethernet. Such adaptation protocols allow integration of IO often required for disjoint datacenter applications such as storage and networking. The novel switch fabric based on space-time carrier sensing facilitates high bandwidth, low power, and low delay multi-protocol switching. To achieve Terabit switching, both time (high transmission speed) and space (multi-stage interconnection network) technologies are required. In this paper, we present the design of an up to 256 lanes Clos-network of multistage crossbar switch fabric for PCIe system. The switch core consists of 48 16x16 crossbar sub-switches. We also propose a new output contention resolution algorithm utilizing an out-of-band protocol of Request-To-Send (RTS), Clear-To-Send (CTS) before sending PCIe packets through the switch fabric. Preliminary power and delay estimates are provided.
ContributorsLuo, Haojun (Author) / Hui, Joseph (Thesis advisor) / Song, Hongjiang (Committee member) / Reisslein, Martin (Committee member) / Zhang, Yanchao (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
A new type of Ethernet switch based on the PCI Express switching fabric is being presented. The switch leverages PCI Express peer-to-peer communication protocol to implement high performance Ethernet packet switching. The advantages and challenges of using the PCI Express as the switching fabric are addressed. The PCI Express is a high-speed short-distance communication protocol largely used in motherboard-level interconnects. The total bandwidth of a PCI Express 3.0 link can reach as high as 256 gigabit per second (Gb/s) per 16 lanes. Concerns for PCI Express such as buffer speed, address mapping, Quality of Service and power consumption need to be considered. An overview of the proposed Ethernet switch architecture is presented. The switch consists of a PCI Express switching fabric and multiple adaptor cards. The thesis reviews the peer-to-peer (P2P) communication protocol used in the switching fabric. The thesis also discusses the packet routing procedure in P2P protocol in detail. The Ethernet switch utilizes a portion of the Quality of Service provided with PCI Express to ensure guaranteed transmission. The thesis presents a method of adapting Ethernet packets over the PCI Express transaction layer packets. The adaptor card is divided into the following two parts: receive path and transmit path. The commercial off-the-shelf Media Access Control (MAC) core and PCI Express endpoint core are used in the adaptor. The output address lookup logic block is responsible for converting Ethernet MAC addresses to PCI Express port addresses. Different methods of providing Quality of Service in the adaptor card include classification, flow control, and error detection with the cooperation of the PCI Express switch are discussed. The adaptor logic is implemented in Verilog hardware description language. Functional simulation is conducted in ModelSim. The simulation results show that the Ethernet packets are able to be converted to the corresponding PCI Express transaction layer packets based on their destination MAC addresses. The transaction layer packets are then converted back to Ethernet packets. A functionally correct FPGA logic of the adaptor card is ready for implementation on real FPGA development board.
ContributorsChen, Caiyi (Author) / Hui, Joseph (Thesis advisor) / Reisslein, Martin (Committee member) / Zhang, Yanchao (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012