Patent ID: 7328284
Filing Date: 2008-02-05
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. In a shared I/O subsystem coupled to a plurality of servers having a forwarding table and a plurality of I/O interface units, a method comprising: (a) populating the forwarding table with a plurality of entries that correspond to each of the I/O interface units, where the plurality of entries associate a virtual port in each of the I/O interface units with a virtual network interface card executed in each of a plurality of servers coupled to the shared I/O subsystem via a switch fabric; and the forwarding table is executed in each of the I/O interface units that operate as a network line card providing a connection to a different network configuration; wherein each virtual network interface card for the plurality of servers communicate with a virtual port in each of the I/O interface units via a virtual bus; and a plurality of virtual network interface cards share a hardware network interface card to communicate with networks operating in different protocols; (b) receiving a data packet from one of the I/O interface units, the data packet including destination port information; (c) selecting an entry from the forwarding table based on the destination port information received with the data packet, and applying at least one mask to the address bits from the selected forwarding table entry; and (d) discarding the data packet if application of the at least one mask to the address bits of the selected forwarding table entry fails to result in identification of a valid destination.