--- /dev/null
+=================================================================
+Intel Omni-Path (OPA) Virtual Network Interface Controller (VNIC)
+=================================================================
+
+Intel Omni-Path (OPA) Virtual Network Interface Controller (VNIC) feature
+supports Ethernet functionality over Omni-Path fabric by encapsulating
+the Ethernet packets between HFI nodes.
+
+Architecture
+=============
+The patterns of exchanges of Omni-Path encapsulated Ethernet packets
+involves one or more virtual Ethernet switches overlaid on the Omni-Path
+fabric topology. A subset of HFI nodes on the Omni-Path fabric are
+permitted to exchange encapsulated Ethernet packets across a particular
+virtual Ethernet switch. The virtual Ethernet switches are logical
+abstractions achieved by configuring the HFI nodes on the fabric for
+header generation and processing. In the simplest configuration all HFI
+nodes across the fabric exchange encapsulated Ethernet packets over a
+single virtual Ethernet switch. A virtual Ethernet switch, is effectively
+an independent Ethernet network. The configuration is performed by an
+Ethernet Manager (EM) which is part of the trusted Fabric Manager (FM)
+application. HFI nodes can have multiple VNICs each connected to a
+different virtual Ethernet switch. The below diagram presents a case
+of two virtual Ethernet switches with two HFI nodes::
+
+ +-------------------+
+ | Subnet/ |
+ | Ethernet |
+ | Manager |
+ +-------------------+
+ / /
+ / /
+ / /
+ / /
+ +-----------------------------+ +------------------------------+
+ | Virtual Ethernet Switch | | Virtual Ethernet Switch |
+ | +---------+ +---------+ | | +---------+ +---------+ |
+ | | VPORT | | VPORT | | | | VPORT | | VPORT | |
+ +--+---------+----+---------+-+ +-+---------+----+---------+---+
+ | \ / |
+ | \ / |
+ | \/ |
+ | / \ |
+ | / \ |
+ +-----------+------------+ +-----------+------------+
+ | VNIC | VNIC | | VNIC | VNIC |
+ +-----------+------------+ +-----------+------------+
+ | HFI | | HFI |
+ +------------------------+ +------------------------+
+
+
+The Omni-Path encapsulated Ethernet packet format is as described below.
+
+==================== ================================
+Bits Field
+==================== ================================
+Quad Word 0:
+0-19 SLID (lower 20 bits)
+20-30 Length (in Quad Words)
+31 BECN bit
+32-51 DLID (lower 20 bits)
+52-56 SC (Service Class)
+57-59 RC (Routing Control)
+60 FECN bit
+61-62 L2 (=10, 16B format)
+63 LT (=1, Link Transfer Head Flit)
+
+Quad Word 1:
+0-7 L4 type (=0x78 ETHERNET)
+8-11 SLID[23:20]
+12-15 DLID[23:20]
+16-31 PKEY
+32-47 Entropy
+48-63 Reserved
+
+Quad Word 2:
+0-15 Reserved
+16-31 L4 header
+32-63 Ethernet Packet
+
+Quad Words 3 to N-1:
+0-63 Ethernet packet (pad extended)
+
+Quad Word N (last):
+0-23 Ethernet packet (pad extended)
+24-55 ICRC
+56-61 Tail
+62-63 LT (=01, Link Transfer Tail Flit)
+==================== ================================
+
+Ethernet packet is padded on the transmit side to ensure that the VNIC OPA
+packet is quad word aligned. The 'Tail' field contains the number of bytes
+padded. On the receive side the 'Tail' field is read and the padding is
+removed (along with ICRC, Tail and OPA header) before passing packet up
+the network stack.
+
+The L4 header field contains the virtual Ethernet switch id the VNIC port
+belongs to. On the receive side, this field is used to de-multiplex the
+received VNIC packets to different VNIC ports.
+
+Driver Design
+==============
+Intel OPA VNIC software design is presented in the below diagram.
+OPA VNIC functionality has a HW dependent component and a HW
+independent component.
+
+The support has been added for IB device to allocate and free the RDMA
+netdev devices. The RDMA netdev supports interfacing with the network
+stack thus creating standard network interfaces. OPA_VNIC is an RDMA
+netdev device type.
+
+The HW dependent VNIC functionality is part of the HFI1 driver. It
+implements the verbs to allocate and free the OPA_VNIC RDMA netdev.
+It involves HW resource allocation/management for VNIC functionality.
+It interfaces with the network stack and implements the required
+net_device_ops functions. It expects Omni-Path encapsulated Ethernet
+packets in the transmit path and provides HW access to them. It strips
+the Omni-Path header from the received packets before passing them up
+the network stack. It also implements the RDMA netdev control operations.
+
+The OPA VNIC module implements the HW independent VNIC functionality.
+It consists of two parts. The VNIC Ethernet Management Agent (VEMA)
+registers itself with IB core as an IB client and interfaces with the
+IB MAD stack. It exchanges the management information with the Ethernet
+Manager (EM) and the VNIC netdev. The VNIC netdev part allocates and frees
+the OPA_VNIC RDMA netdev devices. It overrides the net_device_ops functions
+set by HW dependent VNIC driver where required to accommodate any control
+operation. It also handles the encapsulation of Ethernet packets with an
+Omni-Path header in the transmit path. For each VNIC interface, the
+information required for encapsulation is configured by the EM via VEMA MAD
+interface. It also passes any control information to the HW dependent driver
+by invoking the RDMA netdev control operations::
+
+ +-------------------+ +----------------------+
+ | | | Linux |
+ | IB MAD | | Network |
+ | | | Stack |
+ +-------------------+ +----------------------+
+ | | |
+ | | |
+ +----------------------------+ |
+ | | |
+ | OPA VNIC Module | |
+ | (OPA VNIC RDMA Netdev | |
+ | & EMA functions) | |
+ | | |
+ +----------------------------+ |
+ | |
+ | |
+ +------------------+ |
+ | IB core | |
+ +------------------+ |
+ | |
+ | |
+ +--------------------------------------------+
+ | |
+ | HFI1 Driver with VNIC support |
+ | |
+ +--------------------------------------------+
projects / linux-2.6-block.git / blobdiff