Abstract:
Disclosed is a fabric interfacing architecture for a node blade. The fabric interfacing architecture comprises a fabric interface unit and a control unit. The fabric interface unit includes a switch and an E-keying element. The control unit receives control signals from an external web server to control the fabric interface unit. The control unit respectively controls the switch and the E-keying element through different control signals. The fabric interfacing architecture is utilized together with a back plane of a shelf and one or more physical layers of the node blade. This allows flexible PHY-to-Channel/Port routings, thereby achieving the support for multiple topology modes. The invention may on-line adjust the assignments of communication channels and ports according to the needs for physically applied bandwidths, which optimizes the bandwidth utilization.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present disclosure relates generally to a fabric interfacing architecture for a node blade, and can be used in combination with node blade and chassis backplane. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    As a variety of network applications and services grow rapidly, the high speed, predictable, reliable, and interruption-free network service is becoming a requirement for most corporate and individual clients. Therefore, the future network services, such as VoIP, video conferencing, multimedia entertainment, and corporate EDA, is likely to rely on a reliable network architecture to support the stable connection and predictable performance. 
         [0003]    Therefore, it stays as a major challenge for network, facility and service providers to improve the availability of the overall network infrastructure and its constituting components, such as wiring (fiber optical, copper cable, etc.), telecom facility (switch, router, etc.) and administrative systems (configuration management software, bandwidth management software, etc.), even raising the availability to as high as 99.999% as in the telecommunication industry. 
         [0004]      FIG. 1  shows a framework of a telecom-grade network facility or server. As shown in  FIG. 1 , a fiber network facility  101  is connected through a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) terminal  102  to a remote switch  103  of asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) or an IP router  104 . A cable network facility  105  is connected to a cable modem termination system (CMTS) server  106 . A copper loop network facility  107  is connected through a digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM)  108  to a remote network. 
         [0005]    This type of network is usually based on proprietary architecture. Different types of network facilities are connected to different servers. As the demands of short deployment time and cost, and high availability, the open standard architecture is becoming a new trend. One of the hardware specifications for the chassis with an open architecture is the Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (ATCA) defined by PCI Industry Computer Manufactures Group (PICMG). This specification is for high bandwidth, high reliability, next generation communication, and computer platform. 
         [0006]    ATCA covers a series of specifications (PICMG  3 . x ), including PICMG3.0 and other subsidiary specifications. PICMG3.0 is the core specification. PICMG3.0 defines the architecture, power supply, heat dissipation, interconnection, and system administration of the ATCA series. The subsidiary specifications define the transmission method of the interconnection defined in the core specification. Currently, there are five subsidiary specifications, including 3.1 Ethernet, 3.2 InfiniBand, 3.3 Star Fabric, 3.4 PCI Express and 3.5 RapidIO. 
         [0007]    The Open architecture based on ATCA standard is an important trend in the communication industry. For example, the Internet service providers, such as NTT DoCoMo of Japan, KT of South Korea, begin to use ATCA as the common platform for different application services and network infrastructure. However, in many practices, only the network facilities are modified to be ATCA compatible, a real common platform for multiple services and applications is still not yet to be realized. 
         [0008]    In addition to the differences in functionality and interface requirements for various applications and services, the topology and data bandwidth of the system architecture are also different. To make ATCA platform meet the needs of different applications and services, the exchange interface of an ATCA platform can support a plurality of topologies in a hardware case. The ideal situation is that the exchange interface of a node blade of an ATCA can be adjustable to different topology modes for different system topology and bandwidth requirements. 
         [0009]    However, the node blade of a conventional ATCA usually supports only for a single topology interface, such as full-mesh topology, single-star topology, dual-star topology, dual-dual-star topology. Although few ATCA node blades support multi-topology interface, the use of communication channel and port in each topology mode is fixed and not adjustable. 
         [0010]    The definition of “port” and “channel” are as follows. A port includes the minimal differential pairs defined in the specification for interconnect transmission technology. For example, for PICMG3.x specification, a port of a fabric channel includes two differential pairs. The ON/OFF of each port can be controlled by an individual E-keying element. 
         [0011]    A channel includes one or more ports. All these ports in one channel are used for connecting two slots, and are acting as the data transmission path in a physical layer between these two slots. In general, the more ports a channel has, the more bandwidth the channel has, and the channel can transmit more data. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0012]    An exemplary example consistent with the invention provides a fabric interfacing architecture for a node blade. The fabric interfacing architecture for a node blade enables an ATCA node blade to support multi-topology fabric interface, and can be used for adjusting the bandwidth used by each channel of the fabric interface. 
         [0013]    An exemplary example consistent with the invention of a fabric interfacing architecture for a node blade used in combination with a chassis backplane and a plurality of physical layers of a node blade is disclosed, the architecture comprising: a fabric interfacing unit; and a control unit, the fabric interfacing unit including a switch and an E-keying element, the switch being connected respectively to each physical layer of the node blade and being coupled to the E-keying element, the E-keying element connected to an interface of the chassis backplane, the control unit connected to the switch and the E-keying element through a plurality of control lines. 
         [0014]    An exemplary example consistent with the invention of a method of using a node blade in combination with a chassis backplane and a plurality of physical layers of the node blade is disclosed, the method comprising: connecting a switch of a fabric interfacing unit respectively to each physical layer of the node blade; connecting an E-keying element of the fabric interfacing unit to an interface of case backplane; and configuring an enabling and disabling of connection between the fabric interfacing unit and the chassis backplane through a control unit. 
         [0015]    It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory examples only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0016]      FIG. 1  shows a framework of a telecom-grade network facility or server. 
           [0017]      FIG. 2  shows an exemplary schematic view of a fabric interfacing architecture for node blade, consistent with the invention. 
           [0018]      FIG. 3  shows a first exemplary example illustrating a node blade, consistent with the invention connected to an ATCA system. 
           [0019]      FIG. 4  shows a second exemplary example illustrating a node blade, consistent with the invention connected to an ATCA system, and the bandwidths among other node blades are unequal. 
           [0020]      FIG. 5  shows a third exemplary example illustrating a node blade, consistent with the invention connected to an ATCA system in a dual-star topology mode. 
           [0021]      FIG. 6  shows a fourth exemplary example illustrating a node blade, consistent with the invention connected to an ATCA system in a hybrid topology mode. 
           [0022]      FIG. 7  shows a diagram of an exemplary method of using a node blade, consistent with the invention in combination with a chassis backplane and a plurality of physical layers of the node blade. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0023]      FIG. 2  shows an exemplary schematic view of a fabric interfacing architecture for node blade, consistent with the invention. As shown in  FIG. 2 , the fabric interfacing architecture for node blade is used in combination with a chassis backplane  211  and a plurality of physical layers  214   a  of a node blade  214 . The fabric interfacing architecture provides the connection mapping between m physical layers  214   a  of node blade  214  and ports P 11 -P 1i , . . . , P n1 -P ni  of n channels CH 1 -CHn of the chassis backplane  211 . 
         [0024]    The fabric interfacing architecture for node blade includes a fabric interfacing unit  203  and a control unit  205 . The fabric interfacing unit  203  includes a switch  203   a , and an E-keying element  203   b . The control unit  205  controls the switch  203   a  and the E-keying element  203   b  through control signals A[1:s] and B[1:e]. 
         [0025]    The switch  203   a  is connected respectively to each physical layer and the E-keying element  203   b  of the node blade  214 . The E-keying element  203   b  is connected to an interface  215  of the chassis backplane  211 . The interface  215  includes at least ports P 11 -P 1i , . . . , P n1 -P ni  of n channels CH 1 -CHn of the chassis backplane  211 . 
         [0026]    The m physical layers  214   a  of the node blade  214  are connected to the switch  203   a  through signals y 1 -y m , respectively. Each signal y j  includes the minimal differential pairs specified by the used interconnection transmission technology, and is mapped to a port. The control unit  205  controls the connection mapping between signals y 1 -y m  of the switch  203   a  and  e   i -e p  through control signals A[1:s], and outputs signals e i -e p  to the E-keying element  203   b.    
         [0027]    Similarly, each signal e k  also includes the minimal differential pairs specified by the used interconnection transmission technology, and is mapped to a port. The E-keying element  203   b  is an ON/OFF control element for enable or disable the interface  215  between the node blade  214  and the chassis backplane  211 , such as an ATCA backplane. The control unit  205  controls the connection mapping between input signals e 1 -e p  and the interface of the chassis backplane  211  through control signals B[1:e]. 
         [0028]    For example, the PICMG3.x specification defines the transmission protocol between the channels, where each channel includes four ports and each port includes two differential pairs. In other words, a port has two differential pairs and four ports make a channel. 
         [0029]    Take ATCA system as an example. PICMG association defines five different specifications, and these five specifications are not identical in terms of transmission protocols used in the data exchange interface. Therefore, the blades of different specifications are not compatible. In system initialization, an ShMC  212  of the system determines whether the data interfaces between the node blades or between the node blade and the exchange card are compatible, in order to decide the enabling of the ports of the channel of the node blade. Furthermore, even if the type of data interfaces is compatible, the numbers of the ports and channels of each blade may not be same. All these determine the enabling or disabling of the port of the channel for the node blade. The control unit receives the control signals from an external shelf manager control unit (ShMC), and controls the switch and the E-keying element through the control signals. 
         [0030]    Therefore, the ShMC  212  controls the control unit  205  of the node blade  214  in an online and real-time way through IPMB  213  to determine the connection mapping between the physical layer element  214   a  of the node blade  214  and the ports P 11 -P 1i , . . . . P n1 -P ni  of n channels CH 1 -CHn of the chassis backplane  211 , and decides which ports are enabled. Therefore, the channel bandwidth for data exchange between the node blades or between the node blade and the exchange card can be dynamically adjusted. The bandwidth of each channel depends on the transmission protocol, and the bandwidth range is between 1 Gbps and 10 Gbps. 
         [0031]    By using the ShMC  212  through the IPMB  213  to adjust and control the configuration of the control unit  205  of the node blade  214  so that the configuration of the control unit  205  is highly flexible. Therefore, the control unit  205  can control fabric interfacing unit  203  through software, and the configuration of the node blade  214  can be changed online to support multi-topology modes without rebooting or manual replacement. 
         [0032]    With the fabric interfacing unit  203  and the control unit  205  of the node blade  214 , the flexibility of the route connection between the physical layer  214   a  of the node blade  214  and the physical layer of ports P 11 -P 1i , . . . , P n1 -P ni  of channels CH 1 -CHn is improved, as well as supports the communication servers connected by using multi-topology modes, including full mesh, dual-star, dual-dual star, replicate mesh or hybrid topologies. Furthermore, the distribution of the ports of the channels of the chassis backplane  214  to optimize the bandwidth utilization according to the bandwidth demand is adjusted. 
         [0033]    The following examples consistent with the invention describe how to apply the invention to a chassis backplane and a node blade to support multi-topology modes. Without loss of generality, the facilities are integrated on an ATCA platform, including the node blade being an ATCA card, and the chassis backplane being an ATCA backplane. 
         [0034]      FIG. 3  shows a first exemplary example illustrating a node blade consistent with the invention connected to an ATCA system. The ATCA chassis supports a full mesh topology of five slots, slot 1 -slot 5 . The full mesh topology for the chassis backplane includes four channels Ch 1 -Ch 4 , with each channel having four ports, P 11 -P 14 , P 21 -P 24 , P 31 -P 34 , and P 41 -P 44 , respectively. Node blade  301  is in slot 3  of the chassis backplane  311 . The node blade  301  includes 8 Ethernet physical layers  302 , and the fabric interfacing unit  203  and the control unit  205 . 
         [0035]    In the first exemplary example, the node blade  301  is connected to the ATCA backplane  311  in a full mesh topology mode, and controls the control unit  205  of the node blade  301  through ATCA ShMC  312  and IPMB  313  so that the eight Ethernet physical layers  302  of the node blade  301  can connect respectively to CH 1 /P 11 -P 12 , CH 2 /P 21 -P 22 , CH 3 /P 31 -P 32 , and CH 4 /P 41 -P 42  through the fabric interfacing unit  203 . 
         [0036]    As each channel of the five slots of ATCA system uses two ports, the bandwidth between the node blade  301  of slot 3  and the node blades  321 - 324  in other slots (slot 1 , slot 2 , slot 4 , slot 5 ) are equally distributed. The bandwidth of the node blade in the ATCA slot and the other slots can also be non-equally distributed, and can be adjusted according to the bandwidth demands. The following two examples describe the scenarios. 
         [0037]      FIG. 4  shows a second exemplary example illustrating a node blade consistent with the invention connected to an ATCA system, and the bandwidths among other node blades are unequal. The architecture of the node blade and ATCA is identical to that of  FIG. 3 . In this example, when an application, such as real-time video service, needs more communication bandwidth between the node blade  301  and the node blade in slot 1 . The control unit  205  of the node blade  301  uses software to control the fabric interfacing unit  203  so that the eight Ethernet physical layers  302  on the node blade  301  are connected through the fabric interfacing unit  203  to CH 1 /P 11 -P 14 , CH 2 /P 21 -P 22 , CH 3 /P 31 , and CH 4 /P 41 , respectively. Hence, the node blade  301  has four ports on channel CH 1  with bandwidth as high as 10 Gbps. Also, the node blade on slot 1  may execute the corresponding configuration. 
         [0038]    As each channel of the five slots of ATCA system uses two ports, the eight Ethernet physical layers  302  of the node blade on slot 3  uses 4 ports in CH 1 , 2 ports in CH 2 , 1 port in CH 3 , and 1 port in CH 4  to connect to the ATCA backplane. Therefore, the bandwidth distribution of the external interfaces of node blade  301  of slot 3  is very different among blade nodes  321 - 324  of other slots. 
         [0039]      FIG. 5  shows a third exemplary example illustrating a node blade consistent with the invention connected to an ATCA system in a dual-star topology mode. The architecture of the node blade and ATCA is identical as that of  FIG. 3 . In  FIG. 3 , the exemplary node blade  301  is connected to ATCA backplane in a full mesh topology mode; that is, the eight Ethernet physical layers  302  of the node blade  301  can connect respectively to CH 1 /P 11 -P 12 , CH 2 /P 21 -P 22 , CH 3 /P 31 -P 32 , and CH 4 /P 41 -P 42  through the fabric interfacing unit  203 . 
         [0040]    In the third exemplary example, the ATCA ShMC  312  controls the control unit  205  of the node blade  301  through the IPMB  313 . The control unit  205  may real-time changes the configuration of the fabric interfacing unit  203  via software method. The eight Ethernet physical layers  302  of the node blade  301  change to connect respectively to CH 1 /P 11 -P 14 , CH 2 /P 21 -P 24  without rebooting ATCA system. Hence, the node blade can change from supporting full mesh topology mode to supporting dual-star topology mode. 
         [0041]      FIG. 6  shows a fourth exemplary example illustrating a node blade consistent with the invention connected to an ATCA system in a hybrid topology mode. As shown in  FIG. 6 , the ATCA chassis supports an 8-slot full mesh topology connection. The chassis backplane includes 7 channels CH 1 -CH 7  in a full mesh topology, with each channel using four ports. Therefore, the 7 channels use ports P 11 -P 14 , P 21 -P 24 , P 31 -P 34 , P 41 -P 44 , P 51 -P 54 , P 61 -P 64 , and P 71 -P 74 , respectively. The node blade  601  is in slot 5  of ACTA backplane  611 , and has eight Ethernet physical layers  302 , and the fabric interfacing unit  203  and the control unit  205 . 
         [0042]    In the fourth exemplary example, the ATCA ShMC  612  controls the control unit  205  of the node blade  601  through the IPMB  613 . The control unit  205  may real-time changes the configuration of the fabric interfacing unit  203  via software method. The eight Ethernet physical layers  302  of the node blade  601  change to connect respectively to CH 1 /P 11 -P 12 , CH 2 /P 21 -P 22 , CH 5 /P 51 -P 52 , CH 6 /P 61 , and CH 7 /P 71  without rebooting ATCA system. 
         [0043]    In this ATCA system, the node blade is in slot 5 . Therefore, the node blade  601  in slot 5  and the node blades  621 - 624  in slot 1 -slot 4  are connected in a dual-star topology mode. The node blade  601  in slot 5  and the node blades  625 - 627  in slot 6 -slot 8  are connected in a full mesh topology mode. Hence, the node blade  601  achieves the object of supporting a hybrid topology mode. In other words, the exemplary architecture can support multi-topology modes and optimize the bandwidth utilization. 
         [0044]    According to exemplary examples consistent with the invention, when the system is initialized, the ShMC of the system may control the control unit of the node blade in an online and real-time way through the Intelligent Platform Management Bus (IPMB). The control unit controls the fabric interfacing unit to determine the interconnection relation between the physical layer elements of the node blade and the ports of the channels of the chassis backplane interface. Hence, the data path and its bandwidth between the node blade and others are adjusted dynamically. 
         [0045]    The exemplary embodiment uses ShMC through IPMB to adjust and control the configuration of the control unit of the node blade so that the configuration of the control unit could be very flexible. The node blade configuration can be changed online to support multi-topology modes without rebooting or manual replacement. 
         [0046]      FIG. 7  shows a diagram of an exemplary method of using a node blade, consistent with the invention in combination with a chassis backplane and a plurality of physical layers of the node blade. Referring now to  FIG. 7 , the exemplary method may connect a switch of a fabric interfacing unit respectively to each of the plurality of physical layers of the node blade (step  710 ), and may connect an E-keying element of the fabric interfacing unit to an interface of said case backplane (step  715 ). The exemplary method may configure both a connection mapping between the plurality of physical layers of the node blade and the ports of the channels of the chassis backplane, and an enabling or disabling of connections through a control unit (step  720 ). 
         [0047]    As discussed above, the control unit may be connected to the switch and the E-keying element through a plurality of control lines. A connection mapping may further be provided between said physical layers of the node blade and the ports of the channels of the chassis backplane through the fabric interfacing unit. The bandwidth of the node blade can be adjusted dynamically. 
         [0048]    Although exemplary examples have been described consistent with the invention, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details described thereof. Various substitutions and modifications have been suggested in the foregoing description, and others will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, all such substitutions and modifications are intended to be embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.