Atomic access to object pool over RDMA transport network
In a fabric of network elements one network element has an object pool to be accessed stored in its memory. A request for atomic access to the object pool by another network element is carried out by transmitting the request through the fabric to the one network element, performing a remote direct memory access to a designated member of the object pool, atomically executing the request, and returning a result of the execution of the request through the fabric to the other network element.
1. A method of communication comprising the steps of:
in a fabric of network elements including a first network element and a plurality of second network elements, the second network elements each having a memory and respective portions of a pool of objects in the memory;
initiating a request in the first network element for concurrent remote direct memory accesses to the pool of objects in the second network elements;
transmitting the request through the fabric to the second network elements;
accessing a designated member of the pool of objects by atomically executing the request;
returning respective reports of the execution of the request through the fabric from each of the second network elements to the first network element; and
verifying conjoint atomicity of the execution of the request from the respective reports,
wherein the pool of objects is arranged as a queue and the designated member is a next object of the queue, and accessing comprises at least one of dequeuing and enqueueing the next object.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein accessing comprises an atomic get operation that retrieves one of the objects of the pool.
3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the pool is arranged as a first-in-first-out queue and returning respective reports comprises retrieving the next object.
4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the pool is arranged as a last-in-first-out queue and returning respective reports comprises retrieving the next object.
5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein atomically executing the request is controlled independently by a device connected to a host computer.
6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein accessing comprises enqueueing a new object to the pool in an atomic push operation.
7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the pool is arranged as a first-in-first-out queue.
8. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the pool is arranged as a last-in-first-out queue.
9. An apparatus of communication comprising:
a fabric of network elements including a first network element and a plurality of second network elements, the second network elements each having a memory and storing respective portions of a pool of objects in the memory, the first network element operative for:
initiating a request in the first network element for concurrent remote direct memory accesses to the pool of objects in the second network elements;
transmitting the request through the fabric to the second network elements;
accessing a designated member of the pool of objects by atomically executing the request;
returning respective reports of the execution of the request through the fabric from each of the second network elements to the first network element; and
verifying conjoint atomicity of the execution of the request from the respective reports,
wherein the pool of objects is arranged as a queue and the designated member is a next object of the queue, and accessing comprises at least one of dequeuing and enqueuing the next object.
10. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein accessing comprises an atomic get operation that retrieves one of the objects of the pool.
11. The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the pool is arranged as a first-in-first-out queue, and returning respective reports comprises retrieving the next object.
12. The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the pool is arranged as a last-in-first-out queue, and returning respective reports comprises retrieving the next object.
13. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein accessing comprises enqueuing the next object in an atomic push operation.
14. The apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the pool is arranged as a first-in-first-out queue, further comprising adding a new object by enqueuing the next object.
15. The apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the pool is arranged as a last-in-first-out queue, further comprising adding a new object by enqueuing the next object.
16. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the network element is a network interface card.
17. The apparatus according to claim 16 , further comprising an atomic controller in the network interface card for independently controlling executing the request.