Abstract:
A method, system or product that identifies data packets with a common characteristic and routes all data packets having the same characteristic to the same thread of execution or device in a system which processes data packets in parallel.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
   This description relates to computer networks. 
   BACKGROUND 
   Users of computer networks often want a rich variety of network services while also demanding high-speed data access. But network services take processing time that tends to slow the data delivery rate. 
   One way to achieve both high-speed and high-performance data packet processing is through parallelism or multi-threading in which network devices execute more than one thread simultaneously. Multi-threading is useful when a single task takes so long to complete that processing packets serially would slow down the overall packet throughput of a system too much. 
   During multi-threading, data packets sometimes flow into a multi-threaded task in one order (for example, P 1 , then P 2 ) and flow out of the multi-threaded task in a different order (P 2 , then P 1 ). This reordering can occur when the task is performed on P 1  in one thread more slowly than the performance of the task on packet P 2  in another thread. The different speeds of processing can result from the contention between threads for shared resources, such as memory bus access. Packet reordering is undesirable if the two data packets, P 1  and P 2 , are bound for the same host. 
   Techniques that have been proposed to prevent packet reordering include adding hardware support, using only single-threaded processing, guaranteeing execution time per thread or using barrier or other synchronization mechanisms to ensure sequential processing of packets. 

   
     DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a flow chart of a basic thread routing mechanism. 
       FIG. 2  is a flow chart of a thread routing mechanism with a series of network tasks. 
       FIG. 3  is a flow chart of another thread routing mechanism. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   A basic mechanism for avoiding per-host packet reordering in a multi-threaded system ensures that packets en route to or from the same host will not be reordered even in the presence of semi-random (or even random) per-thread and per-task completion times. 
   As shown in  FIG. 1 , in some implementations, a number of hosts  10  provide a stream of data packets, P 1 , P 2 , P 3 , P 4 , to a network. A number of tasks,  40 ,  50 , including a multi-threaded task,  60 – 63 , are performed on the data packets within a network device  70  as they travel across the network. Eventually, the data packets are delivered to their respective destination end hosts  80 . 
   Referring again to  FIG. 1 , in a basic mechanism to avoid reordering of packets destined for a host, a first function  40  identifies a characteristic about each packet and a second function  50  routes all packets having the given characteristic to the same thread  60 ,  61 ,  62 ,  63 . This ensures that packets having the given characteristic will be processed serially by the same thread and thus remain in order with respect to one another. 
   The characteristic identified by the first function  40  should distinguish which packets within the overall stream of packets  30  should not be reordered with respect to one another. For example, the first function  40  may characterize each data packet according to its destination address, thereby ensuring serial processing of all data packets bound for the same destination. Similarly, the first function  40  may characterize each data packet according to its source address, which, again, ensures that data packets delivered to an end host from any one source will remain in order. 
   In the example implementation of  FIG. 2 , source hosts,  11 ,  12 ,  13  and  14  provide a stream of data packets, P 1 , P 2 , P 3 , P 4 , P 5  and P 6  destined for transmission over the Internet. The stream of data packets, P 1 , P 2 , P 3 , P 4 , P 5  and P 6 , flow through a series of tasks, Tasks A–E, including a six-threaded task, Task D, in a network device  71 . After completing the series of tasks, Tasks A–E, the data packets flow out of the network device  71  and are eventually delivered to the end-host,  81 ,  82 ,  83 ,  84 ,  85 , corresponding to the destination Internet Protocol address contained in each data packet. 
   Task A performs a four-bit masking of the least significant bits of the destination Internet Protocol (IP) address in each data packet. The four-bit mask produces a data packet identifier, H. Note that in this example, the data packet identifier, H, is an integer valued between 0 and 15, that effectively organizes the packets into 16 groups according to their destination addresses. The groups can then be distributed to the threads of any of the tasks according to the identifier H. To utilize all threads that make up any of the tasks in the processing of the packets, the number of bits chosen for the mask should correspond to at least the maximum value of the number of threads used for any one task. In the example of  FIG. 2 , there are 16 possible H values and only 6 threads in Task D. 
   Task A also stores the packet identifier, H, as an addendum to each packet by adding a byte of data containing H between each data packet in the stream of data packets. Therefore, the data packets may flow into Task A as P 1 , P 2 , P 3 , P 4 , P 5 , and P 6  and leaving Task A as P 1 , H 1 , P 2 , H 2 , P 3 , H 3 , P 4 , H 4 , P 5 , H 5 , and P 6 , H 6 , where H 1  is the data packet identifier for packet P 1 , H 2  is the data packet identifier to P 2  and so on. While the example illustrated in  FIG. 2  shows each data packet identifier stored AFTER its respective packet as an addendum, another embodiment may store each data packet identifier BEFORE its respective packet as a predendum. By storing the data packet identifier, H, for each packet, it can be looked up as the packets flow through a series of multi-threaded tasks within the network device  80 . 
   After completing Task A, the data packets continue to flow to other tasks within the network device such as Task B. When the packets reach a task that immediately precedes a multithreaded task, for example, Task C, the task routes the packets to thread H Modulo K of the next Task D, where K is the number of threads in Task D. Threads 0–5 of Task D execute the same task (Task D) on several data packets at the same time. The data packets then flow out of the threads in an order determined by how fast the respective threads complete the task, and continue to the next task, Task E. After completing the series of tasks, Tasks A–E, the data packets are delivered to the end-host,  81 ,  82 ,  83 ,  84 ,  85 , at the destination Internet Protocol address contained in each data packet. 
   The following chart illustrates the operation of the thread routing mechanism depicted in  FIG. 2  as data packets P 1 -P 6  flow through the network: 
   
     
       
             
             
             
             
             
           
             
             
             
             
             
           
         
             
                 
             
             
                 
                 
                 
                 
               Thread where 
             
             
                 
               Destination 
               Last 4 bits 
                 
               packet is 
             
             
               Packet 
               IP address 
               of IP 
               Value of H 
               sent (using H 
             
             
               Number 
               of packet 
               address 
               (in base 10) 
               Mod K) 
             
             
                 
             
           
           
             
                 
             
           
        
         
             
               P1 
               123.5.17.6 
               0110 
               6 
               0 
             
             
               P2 
               255.0.35.122 
               1010 
               10 
               4 
             
             
               P3 
               5.100.72.11 
               1011 
               11 
               5 
             
             
               P4 
               123.5.17.6 
               0110 
               6 
               0 
             
             
               P5 
               72.151.2.97 
               0001 
               1 
               1 
             
             
               P6 
               67.225.1.255 
               1111 
               15 
               3 
             
             
                 
             
           
        
       
     
   
   In the above illustration, packets P 1  and P 4  in the data stream are bound for the same IP address (i.e., 123.5.17.6). Task A, the four-bit masking of the IP address, produces the same data packet identifier, H, for both packet P 1  and P 4 . By having the same packet identifier, H, Task C will send P 1  and P 4  to the same thread, Thread 0 in this case. Since P 1  and P 4  are sent to the same thread, they are processed in series, and, therefore, will not be reordered relative to each other. This process ensures that the end-host will receive its data packets in the correct order assuming that no other intervening processing causes reordering. 
   Using a mask of the destination IP address, as illustrated by the four-bit mask in  FIG. 2 , to produce the packet identifier, H, gives reasonably good randomness for any system where there are a relatively large number of end hosts. However, another implementation might use a hash of the IP address and/or port numbers to distinguish the packets in systems in which the number of end hosts is relatively small. 
   In the alternate embodiment shown in  FIG. 3 , source hosts,  15 ,  16 ,  17 , provide a stream of data packets, P 1 , P 2 , P 3 , P 4 , P 5  and P 6  destined for transmission over an Ethernet local area network. The stream of data packets, P 1 , P 2 , P 3 , P 4 , P 5  and P 6 , flow through a series of tasks, Tasks A–C, including a six-threaded task, Task B, in a network device  72 . After completing the tasks within the network device  72 , the data packets are eventually delivered to their respective end-hosts,  86 ,  87 ,  88 . In this embodiment, H is calculated as a six-bit lower order mask of the Source Media Access Control (SMAC) in an Ethernet network immediately prior to being routed through a multi-threaded task. 
   In addition to the implementation described above. Other implementations are also within the scope of the following claims. 
   For example, many other functions besides a mask or hash of the destination IP address may be used to produce a packet identifier. A mask or hash of some bits at any appropriate protocol layer could be used to distinguish packets and direct them to a particular thread. In the case of a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network, the label at the top of the stack could be used. In the case of an Ethernet network, the Media Access Control (source or destination) address associated with each data packet could be used. In the case of an system which uses the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) protocol, the Virtual Path Identifier (VPI) or Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI) may be used. Again, a mask or hash of some bits at any appropriate protocol layer could be used to distinguish packets and direct them to a particular thread and the technique described should not be limited to only internet, MPLS, Ethernet, or ATM networks. 
   Other techniques besides the modulo function may be used to route packets with the same identifier to the same thread. For example, a series of binary AND or other logic gates may be used. 
   H may be handled in a variety of ways. For example, it may be stored as an addendum to the data packet by adding a byte of data containing H in between each data packet (as described in the example illustrated in  FIG. 2 ), stored in a field within each data packet, stored in a register, or simply calculated immediately prior to being routed through a multi-threaded task. 
   The data processing technique described may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or a combination of them in network devices capable of parallel processing such as Network Processors with multiple microengines, multiple Network Processors, or multiple Application Specific Integrated Circuits.