Single queue link aggregation
A method for transmitting a packet on a logical port comprising two or more physical ports comprises receiving a packet of a class of service; storing the packet in a memory; maintaining a lookup table relating a plurality of identifiers to at least one physical port; storing a pointer to the stored packet in the memory in a single pointer list for the class of service along with a selected one of the identifiers; and copying the stored packet to one or more physical ports corresponding to the selected identifier for transmission on at least one of the physical ports. In one implementation, a plurality of the physical ports are grouped into a logical port, and the received packet is processed to determine its logical port and its class of service.
1. A method for transmitting a packet of a class of service from a device comprising a plurality of physical ports grouped together into at least one logical port, said method comprising:
receiving the packet on one of said plurality of physical ports, and processing said packet to determine the class of service and on which logical port to transmit the packet;
storing said packet in a memory;
adding a pointer to said packet in a pointer list associated to said class of service along with a metadata code corresponding to a list of at least one of the plurality of physical ports on which the packet is to be transmitted;
updating the metadata code, when the at least one of the plurality of physical ports changes status, providing an updated metadata code indicating a change in the list of at least one of the plurality of physical ports on which the packet is to be transmitted;
selecting a next pointer at a head of the pointer list corresponding to the packet, and
transmitting the packet corresponding to the next pointer to the at least one of the plurality of physical ports based on the updated metadata code.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each metadata code is stored in a metadata lookup table.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein each metadata code is updated when there is a change in assignment of the at least one of the plurality of physical ports.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein each metadata code is updated when there is a failure of at least one of the plurality of physical ports on the list of at least one of the plurality of physical ports.
5. A system comprising:
a plurality of logical ports and a plurality of physical ports, each of the plurality of logical ports combining at least two of the plurality of physical ports;
a memory configured for storing a plurality of packets;
a pointer to each packet stored in said memory in one of a plurality of pointer lists, one pointer list for each class of service (CoS), along with an associated metadata code corresponding to a list of the plurality of physical ports on which the respective packet is to be transmitted;
a processor configured to determine the CoS of each of the plurality of packets, and to update each metadata code to provide an updated metadata code corresponding to an updated list of the plurality of physical ports on which each respective packet is to be transmitted when one of the plurality of physical ports on the corresponding list of the plurality of physical ports changes status;
a scheduler for selecting a next pointer corresponding to a next packet at a head of the pointer list of a selected CoS, said scheduler configured to identify the updated list of the plurality of physical ports associated with the updated metadata code of the next packet for transmitting the next packet corresponding to the next pointer in the memory on each physical port identified by the updated metadata code.
6. The system of claim 5 , wherein each a metadata code is stored in a metadata lookup table.
7. The system of claim 5 , wherein each metadata code is updated when there is a change in assignment of at least one of plurality of physical ports on the corresponding list of the plurality of physical ports.
8. The system of claim 5 , wherein each metadata code is updated when there is a failure of at least one of the plurality of physical ports on the corresponding list of the plurality of physical ports.