Patent Publication Number: US-11038816-B2

Title: Low level provisioning of network fabrics

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This Application is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/595,724 filed on Jan. 13, 2015, entitled “LOW LEVEL PROVISIONING OF NETWORK FABRICS”, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application 61/927,297 filed on Jan. 14, 2014, entitled “LOW LEVEL PROVISIONING OF NETWORK FABRICS”. The entire contents of these applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The field of the invention is management and provisioning of network fabrics. 
     BACKGROUND 
     The background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art. 
     Computer networks continue to grow in size and complexity to service the ever growing communication demands of their users. Recent developments in network fabrics have allowed dramatic increase in data throughput and reduction of transmission latency over conventional network topologies (or infrastructures). A network fabric is a type of network infrastructure that is formed by connecting at least two devices (e.g., edge devices) via multiple network nodes (or switches). These network nodes are usually connected with one another via optical links (e.g., optical fibers). In addition, the interconnected network nodes can form more than one physical path between each pair of edge devices, allowing data to be transmitted among the multiple physical paths in parallel to generate better total data throughput (i.e., the amount of data being transmitted from one edge device to another edge device within a period of time) and lower transmission latency (i.e., the amount of time for data to be transmitted from one device to another). Therefore, network fabrics have become the preferred network structure for organizations with offices that are spread out geographically and that demand high data transfer speed. 
     The greater throughput of network fabrics also allow them to provide a network for distributed computers. Example computing fabrics include Beowulf clusters and parallel virtual machine (PVM) developed by the University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Emory University. U.S. Pat. No. 6,779,016 to Aziz et al. titled “Extensible Computing System” also describes using a networking fabric to create a virtual server farm out of a collection of processors and storage elements. 
     While network fabrics generally have better data throughput and lower latency than conventional network structure, the data transmission efficiency is far from being optimized. Specifically, it has been found that the channels within each physical network link are not optimally utilized most of the time. In addition, as the number of network elements increases, it is becoming more difficult to provide efficient data transmission due to the lack of a world view within each network node. Network fabrics supporting multiple logical data paths through the fabric from one host to another exacerbates communication latency issues because of the numerous logical structures (e.g., routes or data paths), which may potentially be a part of the data flow path of the network bus. 
     Efforts have been made to improve the utilization efficiency of network fabrics. For example, InfiniBand® (http://www.infinibandta.org/home) provides high speed fabric connectivity among High Performance Computing (HPC) systems while having moderately low latency. Unfortunately, InfiniBand and other HPC networks are limited to communicating over a distance less than several hundred meters rendering them unsuitable for network environments spanning across geographically significant distances. Additionally, such networks at best can only connect computer systems or some peripherals, but not all network elements. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 6,105,122 to Muller et al. titled “I/O Protocol for Highly Configurable Multi-Node Processing System” discusses transferring data from computer nodes to I/O nodes through a fabric of switch nodes. While useful for communicating among edge nodes, the configuration described by Muller still does not address the desire for having an efficient port-to-port network communication. 
     E.P. 1,236,360 to Sultana et al. titled “Integrating Signaling System Number 7 (SS7) Networks with Networks Using Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS)” describes a label switching technique that provides for an abstraction layer between network layer protocols and link layer protocols. Although Sultana provides for reducing the amount of time and computational resources of forwarding data packets among fabric nodes, Sultana does not provide for application layer control over or flexibility in allocating data packets among network nodes. 
     U.S. patent publication 2003/0005039 to Craddock et al. titled “End Node Partition Using Local Identifiers” discloses a distributed computing system having components including edge nodes, switches, and routers that form a fabric that interconnects the edge nodes. The disclosed fabric employs InifinBand to form the fabric. However, Craddock also does not address the need to provide application layer control over data flow allocation among the elements of a network fabric. 
     Thus, there is still a need for further improving on the efficiency of network fabrics. 
     All publications identified herein are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply. 
     In some embodiments, the numbers expressing quantities of ingredients, properties such as concentration, reaction conditions, and so forth, used to describe and claim certain embodiments of the invention are to be understood as being modified in some instances by the term “about.” Accordingly, in some embodiments, the numerical parameters set forth in the written description and attached claims are approximations that can vary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained by a particular embodiment. In some embodiments, the numerical parameters should be construed in light of the number of reported significant digits and by applying ordinary rounding techniques. Notwithstanding that the numerical ranges and parameters setting forth the broad scope of some embodiments of the invention are approximations, the numerical values set forth in the specific examples are reported as precisely as practicable. The numerical values presented in some embodiments of the invention may contain certain errors necessarily resulting from the standard deviation found in their respective testing measurements. 
     Unless the context dictates the contrary, all ranges set forth herein should be interpreted as being inclusive of their endpoints and open-ended ranges should be interpreted to include only commercially practical values. Similarly, all lists of values should be considered as inclusive of intermediate values unless the context indicates the contrary. 
     As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, the meaning of “a,” “an,” and “the” includes plural reference unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Also, as used in the description herein, the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. 
     The recitation of ranges of values herein is merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range. Unless otherwise indicated herein, each individual value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g. “such as”) provided with respect to certain embodiments herein is intended merely to better illuminate the invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element essential to the practice of the invention. 
     Groupings of alternative elements or embodiments of the invention disclosed herein are not to be construed as limitations. Each group member can be referred to and claimed individually or in any combination with other members of the group or other elements found herein. One or more members of a group can be included in, or deleted from, a group for reasons of convenience and/or patentability. When any such inclusion or deletion occurs, the specification is herein deemed to contain the group as modified thus fulfilling the written description of all Markush groups used in the appended claims. 
     SUMMARY 
     The inventive subject matter provides for apparatus, systems and methods of provisioning a network fabric by an application that is coupled to a data link layer within the Open System Interconnect (OSI) model. In an exemplary embodiment, a method of provisioning a network fabric is presented. The method comprising the step of providing an application that couples with the data link layer, access to network elements that are connected via fiber optic connections. The method also comprises the step of defining, by the application, a network fabric configuration of at least a subset of the network elements. The method comprises the step of provisioning, by the application, at the data link layer the subset of network elements according to network fabric configuration to operate as a network fabric. In some embodiments, the network fabric provisioned according to the network fabric configuration forms a multi-path communication network among network devices. The method also comprises the step of configuring the network fabric to transmit data among the networked devices within the network fabric along the multi-path communication network. 
     Various objects, features, aspects and advantages of the inventive subject matter will become more apparent from the following detailed description, along with the accompanying drawing figures in which like numerals represent like components. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
       In the following description, various aspects are described with reference to the following drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a network of elements distributed over a geographical region. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary network fabric that is provisioned from multiple network elements according to a network fabric configuration. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates exemplary network nodes connected with each other via a link. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates an exemplary network node that comprises an integrated device having hardware and software that implements functionalities and features according to the physical layer (layer  0 / 1 ) and the aggregate layer (layers  2 / 3 / 4 ) of the OSI models. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates an exemplary software architecture. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates an exemplary connection object that is created by an abstraction layer. 
         FIG. 7  is a two-dimensional graph that illustrates exemplary physical channels of a link. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     It should be noted that any language directed to a computer should be read to include any suitable combination of computing devices, including servers, interfaces, systems, databases, agents, peers, engines, modules, controllers, or other types of computing devices operating individually or collectively. One should appreciate the computing devices comprise a processor configured to execute software instructions stored on a tangible, non-transitory computer readable storage medium (e.g., hard drive, solid state drive, RAM, flash, ROM, etc.). The software instructions preferably configure the computing device to provide the roles, responsibilities, or other functionality as discussed below with respect to the disclosed apparatus. In exemplary embodiments, the various servers, systems, databases, or interfaces exchange data using standardized protocols or algorithms, possibly based on HTTP, HTTPS, AES, public-private key exchanges, web service APIs, known financial transaction protocols, or other electronic information exchanging methods. Data exchanges preferably are conducted over a packet-switched network, the Internet, LAN, WAN, VPN, or other type of packet switched network. 
     The following discussion provides many example embodiments of the inventive subject matter. Although each embodiment represents a single combination of inventive elements, the inventive subject matter is considered to include all possible combinations of the disclosed elements. Thus if one embodiment comprises elements A, B, and C, and a second embodiment comprises elements B and D, then the inventive subject matter is also considered to include other remaining combinations of A, B, C, or D, even if not explicitly disclosed. 
     As used herein, and unless the context dictates otherwise, the term “coupled to” is intended to include both direct coupling (in which two elements that are coupled to each other contact each other) and indirect coupling (in which at least one additional element is located between the two elements). Therefore, the terms “coupled to” and “coupled with” are used synonymously. 
     The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a network of elements  100  that can be geographically dispersed over a region  105 . As shown, the network  100  includes two computing elements  110 A and  110 B that are located in the far ends of the region  105 . The network  100  also includes twelve network nodes  120 A through  120 L (collectively, nodes  120 ). The computing elements  110 A and  110 B are interconnected through a plurality of physical communication links ( 130 A through  130 T, collectively referred to as nodes  130 ) connecting neighboring network nodes  120  that may be geographically separated. In some embodiments, network nodes  120  can be separated over geographically significant distances greater than five kilometers (km). Furthermore, network  100  allows computing elements  110 A and  110 B to communicate with each other via the network nodes  120  and links  130  even when the computing elements are geographically separated by 5 km, 10 km, or greater distances. In some embodiments, the network  100  is part of the National LamdaRail (NLR) high-speed network infrastructure. 
     Computing elements  110 A or  110 B can include devices or functional portions of a device. Contemplated devices include computers, servers, set-top boxes appliances, personal data assistant (PDA), cell phones, or other computing devices. Contemplated functional portions of a device include processors, memory, peripherals, displays, or other device components. In some embodiments, device components are adapted via one or more network interfaces allowing the component to communication over fabric  100 . Computing elements  110  can also include other forms of networking infrastructure including routers, bridges, gateways, access points, repeaters, or other networking devices offering interconnectivity. 
     In some aspects of the invention, each of the links  130  is a physical point-to-point communication link, such as optical fiber connection link, between two connected neighboring elements. In an exemplary fabric, each physical link  130  can support multiple physical data channels. First, some latest devices that provide layer  0 / 1  (physical layer within the OSI model) (e.g., Ciena® 6500 series, Tellabs® 7100 series, etc.) services can support transmission of data via up to eighty-eight (88) different optical wavelengths using wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) technologies, thereby creating 88 different channels for data transmission. In addition, these layer  0 / 1  devices can also adopt a time-division multiplexing technology to create more channels by dividing the optical link into multiple time divisions. In these embodiments, each time division will carry the 88 wavelength channels, such that if the layer  0 / 1  device divides the optical link into 10 different time divisions, the layer  0 / 1  device can support up to 880 different physical channels. In some embodiments, each of these physical channels has a bandwidth no less than one hundred gigabits/second (100 Gb). 
     Each of the nodes  120 A- 120 L may include networking infrastructure equipment, such as routers, gateway, switches, hubs, or other devices that provide data transport. Each node  120  may comprise several ingress and egress ports used to route data packets from one node to another. The ports of the node provide physical connections to adjacent nodes. In some embodiments, ports are bi-directional allowing data traffic to flow into and out of the same physical port. Nodes  120  are contemplated to comprise memory to store data and software instructions in support of executing a computational function. Contemplated memory includes RAM, Flash, magnetic storage (e.g., a disk drive), solid state drive, race track memory, or other forms of data storage. 
     As mentioned, nodes  120  are also contemplated to include a processing element capable of executing more than one processing thread or task. Exemplary processing units comprise multi-core processors including the Intel® Quad Core processor product line. A multi-core processor allows node  120  to execute desired computational functions related to packet management and routing duties. One should appreciate that any processor having sufficient compute power would be equally suitable for deployment in nodes  120 . Other contemplated processors include those developed by MIPS, AMD, Sparc, ARM, Freescale, Transmeta, Broadcom 568xx series, Broadcom 566xx series, Broadcom 565xx series, or other vendors or designers. In some aspects of the invention, each of the nodes  120 A- 120 L has sufficient processing power and memory to perform other computational processes in addition to routing data packets. 
     Although network  100  is illustrated across the region  105  (e.g., the United States), it should be noted that network  100  could also comprise a world spanning network, the Internet for example. Alternatively, network  100  can be embodiment by a local area network, any packet switched network, an intranet, or even a small office or home network. 
     In some embodiments, a user or a computer process having access to network  100  can configure and provision a network fabric using a network fabric provisioning application by specifying a network fabric configuration to the network fabric provisioning application. The network fabric configuration can be an ad-hoc configuration, or a configuration that is based on a particular template that is a priori defined for a specific usage (e.g., a security template for ensuring secure transmission of data within the fabric, a database template for saving and retrieving data within the fabric, a computational template that is configured to optimize computation efficiency, etc.). The computer process can either have access to the network fabric provisioning application or be part of the network fabric provisioning application. The network fabric provisioning application can reside on any one of the network devices (computing edges  110 A and  110 B or nodes  120 A- 120 L). In accordance with an embodiment, the network fabric provisioning application is implemented within a layer above the physical layer within the OSI model. In some embodiments, the network fabric provisioning application is implemented within the data link layer of the network device. In other embodiments, the network fabric provisioning application is implemented within a layer above the data link layer (e.g., application layer) of the network device. 
     In some embodiments, a network fabric configuration specifies a subset of the network elements in the network  100  and multiple paths through the subset of network elements to connect computing elements  110 A and  110 B. Network fabrics can include fabrics for internetworking, storage area networks, mesh networks, peer-to-peer networks or other network fabrics.  FIG. 2  illustrates an example network fabric  200  that is provisioned from network elements of the network  100  according to a network fabric configuration. 
     Network fabric  200  is provisioned to have a specific configuration of nodes and links within the network  100 . In this example, network fabric  200  is provisioned to include nodes  120 A,  120 C,  120 D,  120 E,  120 H,  120 I,  120 J, and  120 K (indicated by thick solid lines around the nodes). In addition, network fabric  200  is provisioned to also include the links  130 B that connects nodes  120 A and  120 C, link  130 D that connects nodes  120 A and  120 D, link  130 E that connects nodes  120 C and  120 I, link  130 I that connects nodes  120 D and  120 I, link  130 M that connects nodes  120 E and  120 I, link  130 K that connects nodes  120 E and  120 H, link  130 L that connects nodes  120 E and  120 J, link  130 R that connects nodes  120 H and  120 J, and link  130 P that connects nodes  120 J and  120 K (indicated by thick solid lines). 
     Because a network fabric requires cooperation from multiple network nodes to route data packets between pairs of computing elements in a specific manner, the network fabric application, in some embodiments, could distribute information about the network fabric configuration to the other network nodes within the fabric  230  such that each of the network nodes in the fabric  230  has full knowledge of the fabric. In some embodiments, the information (including the network fabric configuration) is encapsulated within an image file before distributing the image file across the network nodes within the fabric. This distribution of fabric knowledge also allows any fabric to take over the management function when one or more of the node has gone down during the lifespan of the fabric  230 . 
     As shown, the provisioned network fabric  200  provides multiple paths between computing edges  110 A and  110 B. For example, network fabric  200  provides a first path between computing edges  110 A and  110 B through nodes  120 A,  120 D,  120 I,  120 E, and  120 H. The network fabric  200  also provides a second path between computing edges  110 A and  110 B through nodes  120 A,  120 C,  120 I,  120 E,  120 J and  120 H. 
     Thus, data packets sent from computing edge  110 A could travel along a route defined by nodes  120  “ACIEJH”, or alternatively along a route defined by nodes  120  “ADIKH” where the routes differ from each other by at least one of physical links  130 . In an exemplary embodiment, the routes are configured to transport data between computing edges  110 A and  110 B with low latency or a high throughput. 
     Creating multiple routes within network fabric  200  provides numerous advantages. One advantage includes providing fault tolerance in communications between elements  110 A and  110 B. Should a route fail due to a lost node or failed link, data packets can be rerouted through other alternative paths. In a distributed core fabric, such rerouting of data packets occurs in a substantially transparent fashion with respect to the computing elements  110 . An additional advantage of multiple routes includes increased throughput across network fabric  200 . Data from element  110 A can be divided into data chunks by node  120 A and sent through different routes selected from the multiple routes to element  110 B. Sending data chunks across multiple routes within network fabric  200  increases the parallelism of the data transport effectively increasing throughput from node  120 A to node  120 H. Additionally, sending data chunks across multiple routes increases security of the data transmission by spreading the chunks across geographically distributed paths in a manner where it becomes impractical for a threat to monitor all links to reconstruct the payload data. More information about network fabric can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,548,545 to Wittenschlaeger entitled “Disaggregated Network Management”, filed May 13, 2008, U.S. Pat. No. 7,904,602 to Wittenschlaeger entitled “Distributed Computing Bus”, filed May 16, 2008, U.S. Pat. No. 7,548,556 to Wittenschlaeger entitled “Secure Communication Through a Network Fabric”, filed Jun. 25, 2008, and co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 13/024,240 entitled “Distributed Network Interfaces for Application Cloaking and Spoofing”, filed Feb. 9, 2011. These publications are herein incorporated by reference. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates examples of network nodes  320 A and  320 B that are connected with each other via a link  330 . Nodes  320 A and  320 B can be any nodes within the network  100 . In some embodiments, each of the network nodes  320 A and  320 B includes at least two sub-devices. Conventionally, each of the nodes  320 A and  320 B is implemented by at least one rack of equipments. The rack of equipments can include multiple stand-alone (independently operated) devices. Each of these devices implements functionalities and features according to one or more network layers of the OSI model, possibly other network communication models or stacks. In some embodiments, each of the devices is a self-contained device that includes software and hardware (processors, memory, etc.) that implements functionalities and features according to one or more network layers of the OSI model. The devices do not share any resources with each other and may communicate with each other only via their ports and external links. The self-contained devices in each node can be even physically separated from each other. 
     In this example, network node  320 A comprises devices  305 A,  310 A, and  315 A, while network node  320 B comprises devices  305 B,  310 B, and  315 B. Devices  305 A and  305 B can be configured to perform networking functionalities according to the physical layer (layers  0 / 1 ) of the OSI model, such as media, signal, bits transmission functionalities. Examples of this kind of devices include hubs, repeaters, network interface cards, etc. (e.g., Ciena® 8500 series and Tellabs® 7100 series). 
     Devices  310 A and  310 B can be configured to perform networking functionalities according to an aggregated layer that includes the data link layer, network layer, and transport layer (layers  2 / 3 / 4 ) of the OSI model. The networking functionalities performed by these devices include physical addressing functionalities, path determination and logical addressing functionalities, and end-to-end connection and reliability functionalities. Examples of this type of devices include bridges, switches, routers, Ethernet cards, etc. (e.g., Summit® x450a series and Apcon® IntellaPatch series 3000). 
     In addition to the devices that implement layers  0 / 1  and layers  2 / 3 / 4  of the OSI model, nodes  320 A or  320 B can also include other devices that performs higher level networking functionalities according to the session layer, presentation layer, and/or application layer of the OSI model. For example,  FIG. 3  shows that nodes  320 A and  320 B also has devices  315 A and  315 B respectively that performs networking functionalities according to the application layer. The networking functionalities performed by these devices include ensuring that all necessary system resources are available, matching the application to the appropriate application protocol, synchronizing the transmission of data from the application to the application protocol. Examples of this type of devices include web servers, e-mail servers, voice-over-IP server, etc. 
     In some embodiments, each of the nodes  320 A and  320 B has sufficient resource (e.g., processing power, memory, etc.) such that these nodes are capable of performing other computation processes in addition to performing the networking functionalities that have been described above. In these embodiments, nodes  320 A and  320 B can also act as both network nodes and computing elements. When most or all of the network nodes within the network fabric  200  have these capabilities, these nodes can work in concert to provide a distributed computing server, load balancing server, or other types of distributed computing units for the network fabric  200 . 
     As shown, adjacent nodes  320 A and  320 B connect to each other through one or more physical communication links  330 . Links  330  can be wired or wireless. In accordance with some aspects of the invention, links include optic fiber links capable of transporting data over geographically significant distances. For example, a single mode optic fiber can support transmission of data up to 40 Km at a wavelength of 1550 nanometers (nm) with a throughput of 10 Gbps. An additional example of a fiber optic link includes those under development by the IEEE 802.3 Higher Speed Study Group. The contemplated fibers support bandwidths from 40 Gbps to 100 Gbps over distances up to 40 Km using a single mode optical fiber. 
     In one aspect of the invention, the network fabric application for provisioning a network fabric within the network  100  can be provided within each of nodes  320 A and  320 B. In some embodiments, the network fabric application is a software application that couples to the data link layer within the OSI model. For example, the network fabric application can be implemented in the aggregation layer (layers  2 / 3 / 4 ) of one or more network nodes and internally communicate with the other software programs that implement the data link layer. In some other embodiments, the network fabric application can be provided in a higher layer within the OSI model, such as the application layer. 
     It is contemplated that certain information about the network  100  might be necessary for the network fabric application to efficiently provision a network fabric within the network  100 . The information can include (i) status and capabilities of other network elements (including other network nodes and computing elements) and (ii) status and traffic condition on each of the links  130 . In some embodiments, the network fabric application that is executed in each of the nodes  120  can set up a management channel to communicate information of the node (e.g., the status and capabilities of its respective node) with each other. 
     Conventionally, only the physical layer has access to certain information about the physical links  130  (e.g., characteristics, status, load, physical channel information, etc.). Thus, in the conventional node architecture such as the ones shown in  FIG. 3 , only devices  305 A and  305 B would have such information. As mentioned above, these devices are independently operated and do not share resources or information with each other. Thus, if a network fabric application that couples to the data link layer is installed under this conventional architecture (such as implemented within device  310 A or  310 B), the network fabric application would not have information regarding the physical links to facilitate efficient provision of network fabrics. 
     Therefore, a new node architecture different from the one shown in  FIG. 3  is contemplated that allows the network fabric application to efficiently provision network fabrics. In this new architecture, the functionalities and features for the physical layer (layers  0 / 1 ) and the aggregated layer (layers  2 / 3 / 4 ) of the OSI model are implemented within the same integrated device (equipment). Optionally, the functionalities and features for the higher layer (such as application layer) can also be implemented within that same integrated device, but not necessarily. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates an exemplary network node  405  that is built under this new architecture. As shown, node  405  has an integrated device  410  having hardware and software that implements functionalities and features according to the physical layer (layer  0 / 1 ) and the aggregate layer (layers  2 / 3 / 4 ) of the OSI models. Because device  410  is an integrated device, different software modules that implement the different OSI layers within the device can communicate, share resources, and share information with each other. It is noted that the architecture describes for node  405  herein can be applied to any nodes  120 A through  120 L in the network  100 . 
       FIG. 5  illustrates an example software architecture that can be implemented within device  410 . Specifically, device  410  includes physical layer module  510  that implements functionalities and features according to the physical layer (layer  1 ) of the OSI model and aggregation layer module  515  that implements functionalities and features according to the aggregation layer (layers  2 / 3 / 4 ) of the OSI model. Each of the physical layer module  510  and the aggregation layer module  515  can include one or more different sub-modules that work in concert to perform the functionalities and features described herein. 
     In some embodiments, the network fabric application  525  is implemented within the aggregation layer module  515 , as shown in the figure. The network fabric application  525  can then communicate internally with the software modules that implement the data link layer, the network layer, and/or the transport layer through internal APIs. In other embodiments, the network fabric application  525  can be implemented outside of the aggregation layer module, and is communicatively coupled to the software module that implements the data link layer within the aggregation layer module  515 . For example, the network fabric application can be implemented within the device  415 , or as part of the operating system of the network node  405  or part of an Ethernet driver of the network node  405 . 
     It is contemplated that an abstraction layer  520  can be added between the physical layer module  510  and aggregation layer module  515 . The abstraction layer  520  can be implemented as one or more software modules that facilitate the communication of information and/or instructions between the physical layer module  510  and aggregation layer module  515 . The abstraction layer  520  also allows the network fabric application that is coupled to the data link layer to have access to information of the physical links  430  via the physical layer module  510 . 
     In some embodiments, the abstraction layer  520  can provide different services for the network fabric application. For example, the abstraction layer  520  can retrieve information about the physical links  430  from the physical layer module  510  and provide the information to the network fabric application. In some embodiments, the abstraction layer  520  retrieves status (e.g., up or down) of at least some of the links within network  100 , traffic condition of at least some of the links within network  100 , and also allocation (and assignment) information of the channels for at least some of the links within network  100 . In some embodiments, the abstraction layer  520  instantiates a connection object (such as connection object  530 ), encapsulates the links information (e.g., status, traffic condition, and allocation information, etc.) within the connection object  530 , and then passes the connection object  530  to the network fabric application  525 . 
       FIG. 6  illustrates an example connection object  530  that is created by the abstraction layer. Connection object  530  includes different attributes that represent status information, traffic condition information, and physical channels allocation information of at least some of the physical links  130  within the network  100 . As shown, the connection object  530  includes a link status for link  103 A (indicating that the traffic is low), a link status for link  103 B (indicating that the link is currently down), a link status for link  103 C (indicating that the traffic is high), a link status for link  103 D (indicating that the traffic is low), and so forth. The connection object  530  also includes channel allocation of the physical links within the network  100 . In addition to these attributes, the connection object  530  can also include other attributes regarding the physical links within the network  100 , such as latency information, security information (whether an attack has been detected, etc.). 
     As mentioned above, each of the physical links within the network  100  can include multiple physical channels, through divisions of the physical link by different wavelengths and different time slots.  FIG. 7  illustrates example physical channels of a link by way of a graph  700  having two dimensions: a wavelength dimension along the y-axis and a time dimension along the x-axis. Each block (such as block  705 ,  725 , and others) represent a different physical channel (specified by a particular wavelength and a particular timeslot) within the link. 
     Since each block within the graphical representation  700  represents a single channel, each block can include information such as allocation information and information of the owner of the channel.  FIG. 7  illustrates one way of indicating allocation information within the graphical representation  700 . As shown, the block  705  (representing the channel that occupies wavelength λ 6  and time slot t 1 ) has been allocated, as indicated by the grayed out of the block  705 . Similarly, blocks  710  (representing the channel that occupies wavelength λ 5  and time slot t 4 ), blocks  715  (representing the channel that occupies wavelength λ 2  and time slot t 2 ), and blocks  720  (representing the channel that occupies wavelength λ 3  and time slot t 5 ) are also indicated as allocated. By contrast, block  725  (representing the channel that occupies wavelength λ 5  and time slot t 2 ), block  730  (representing the channel that occupies wavelength λ 4  and time slot t 3 ), and block  735  (representing the channel that occupies wavelength λ 6  and time slot t 5 ) have not been allocated as these blocks are not grayed out. 
     In some embodiments, the connection object  530  can include data that represents similar information as represented by the graphical representation  700  for each link within network  100 . The data can also include owner&#39;s information for each allocated channel (e.g., the computing process to which the channel has been allocated). 
     As mentioned above, the abstraction layer passes the connection object  530  to the network fabric application  525 . With the connection object  530 , the network fabric application  525  can access information about the physical links of the network  100  that the application would not have been able to access without the abstraction layer. An advantage of this approach is that the connection object allows the network fabric application to use the information about the physical links to provision the network fabric. For example, the network fabric application  525  can avoid including links that are down or that have high traffic within the network fabric. The network fabric application  525  can also provide this link and node information to the users and/or processes (by providing an interface to the users/processes) so that the users and/or processes can use this information to create a network fabric configuration. 
     In some embodiments, the abstraction layer  520  can also allow the network fabric application  525  to allocate one or more physical channels of the links to computing processes. In some embodiments, the abstraction layer  520  accomplishes this by providing a set of application programming interface (APIs) to the network fabric application  525  via the connection object  530 . Through this set of APIs, the network fabric application  525  can allocate available physical channels of the links to certain computing processes. One benefit of this transparency of information is that the network fabric application can more efficiently make use of available bandwidths of the links within the network fabric  200 . For example, the network fabric application  525  can allocate more physical channels to a computing process that requires larger bandwidth and/or has a higher priority and allocate fewer physical channels to another computing process that requires less bandwidth and/or has a lower priority. 
     As mentioned above, a network fabric configuration specifies multiple network paths between each pair of computing elements. Thus, with the features (e.g., information and APIs) provided by the connection object, the network fabric application  525  can associate (allocate) each network path in the network fabric with a physical channel. In some embodiments, the network fabric application  525  can associate (allocate) more than one physical channel in aggregate with a network path to increase the overall bandwidth of the network path. 
     Knowing the exact number of available physical channels in the links also allows the network fabric application to dynamically allocate physical channels to different processes and different paths (e.g., optical burst switching). For example, the network fabric application  525  can also allow a user to configure a network fabric in a way that allocates additional physical channels to a process only during a period of time when extra bandwidth is needed. Thus, the network fabric application  525  can configure the network fabric such that only 3 physical channels are allocated to the process most of the time but as many as 10 physical channels would be allocated to the same process during a pre-determined period of peak hours. 
     In some embodiments, the network fabric application  525  can also modify the network fabric  230  once it is provisioned. There are many reasons to do so. For example, the status and traffic condition of the links  130  within the network fabric  230  can change from time to time, some processes have different demands for bandwidth over time, and addition or removal of computing elements, to name just a few. Modification to the network fabric can include addition and/or removal of network nodes, addition and/or removal of network links, changing the paths of the multiple paths between a pair of computing elements, etc. Thus, the network fabric application  525  can automatically, or upon instructions from the user and/or processes (users/processes provide an updated network fabric configuration to the network fabric application), modify the network fabric by changing the network fabric configuration, and provisioning the modified network fabric via the connection object. 
     It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that many more modifications besides those already described are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. The inventive subject matter, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims. Moreover, in interpreting both the specification and the claims, all terms should be interpreted in the broadest possible manner consistent with the context. In particular, the terms “comprises” and “comprising” should be interpreted as referring to elements, components, or steps in a non-exclusive manner, indicating that the referenced elements, components, or steps may be present, or utilized, or combined with other elements, components, or steps that are not expressly referenced. Where the specification claims refers to at least one of something selected from the group consisting of A, B, C . . . and N, the text should be interpreted as requiring only one element from the group, not A plus N, or B plus N, etc.