Granted Patent B2

US 12,229,578 · App. 17/560,142 · Granted Feb 18, 2025

Inventors: Boon S. Ang (Saratoga, CA); Wenyi Jiang (Fremont, CA); Guolin Yang (San Jose, CA); Jin Heo (Los Altos, CA)

Assignee: VMware LLC

G06F9/45558G06F2009/45595

Abstract

Claims (52)

1. A method comprising:

at a first smart network interface controller (NIC) of a plurality of smart NICs of a host computer, each of the smart NICs executing a smart NIC operating system that performs virtual networking operations for a set of data compute machines executing on the host computer:

receiving a data message sent by one of the data compute machines executing on the host computer, the data message comprising a first data message;

performing virtual networking operations on the data message to determine that the data message is to be transmitted from a port of a second smart NIC of the plurality of smart NICs;

passing the data message to the second smart NIC via a private communication channel connecting the plurality of smart NICs;

receiving a second data message from the second smart NIC via the private communication channel, wherein the second smart NIC performed virtual networking operations on the second data message to determine that a destination for the second data message is the data compute machine; and

sending the second data message to the data compute machine through a port of the first smart NIC to which the data compute machine is bound.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing virtual networking operations on the data message to determine that the data message is to be transmitted from a port of a second smart NIC comprises:

based on the virtual networking operations, determining a destination for the data message that is external to the host computer and reachable through a first physical port of the first smart NIC; and

determining that the first physical port of the first smart NIC is not currently operable and that the destination is reachable through a second physical port of the second smart NIC.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein all of the physical ports of the first smart NIC that connect the host computer to physical networks are inoperable.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the data compute machine that sent the data message is bound to a port of the first smart NIC.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing virtual networking operations on the data message comprises:

based on the virtual networking operations, determining a destination for the data message that is external to the host computer; and

performing load balancing to assign the data message to the port of the second smart NIC.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein:

a set of physical ports of the first smart NIC and a set of physical ports of the second smart NIC are in a same link aggregate group across which data messages are load balanced; and

the data compute machine that sent the data message is bound to an interface of the first smart NIC.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the data compute machine is a first data compute machine that is bound to the first smart NIC; and

performing virtual networking operations on the data message comprises determining, based on the virtual networking operations, that a destination for the data message is a second data compute machine executing on the host computer that is bound to the second smart NIC.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual networking operations comprise logical switching operations.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the virtual networking operations further comprise logical routing operations.

10. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:

receiving a second data message sent by the data compute machine;

performing virtual networking operations on the data message to determine that the data message is to be transmitted from a physical port of the first smart NIC; and

transmitting the data message from the physical port.

11. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing a program for execution by at least one processing unit of a first smart network interface controller (NIC) of a plurality of smart NICs of a host computer, each of the smart NICs executing a smart NIC operating system that performs virtual networking operations for a set of data compute machines executing on the host computer, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

receiving a data message sent by one of the data compute machines executing on the host computer;

performing virtual networking operations on the data message to determine that the data message is to be transmitted from a port of a second smart NIC of the plurality of smart NICs; and

passing the data message to the second smart NIC via a private communication channel connecting the plurality of smart NICs;

wherein the set of instructions for performing virtual networking operations on the data message to determine that the data message is to be transmitted from a port of a second smart NIC comprises sets of instructions for:

based on the virtual networking operations, determining a destination for the data message that is external to the host computer and reachable through a first physical port of the first smart NIC; and

determining that the first physical port of the first smart NIC is not currently operable and that the destination is reachable through a second physical port of the second smart NIC.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein all of the physical ports of the first smart NIC that connect the host computer to physical networks are inoperable.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the data compute machine that sent the data message is bound to a port of the first smart NIC.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the set of instructions for performing virtual networking operations on the data message comprises sets of instructions for:

based on the virtual networking operations, determining a destination for the data message that is external to the host computer; and

performing load balancing to assign the data message to the port of the second smart NIC.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein:

a set of physical ports of the first smart NIC and a set of physical ports of the second smart NIC are in a same link aggregate group across which data messages are load balanced; and

the data compute machine that sent the data message is bound to an interface of the first smart NIC.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein:

the data compute machine is a first data compute machine that is bound to the first smart NIC; and

the set of instructions for performing virtual networking operations on the data message comprises a set of instructions for determining, based on the virtual networking operations, that a destination for the data message is a second data compute machine executing on the host computer that is bound to the second smart NIC.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the data message is a first data message, the program further comprising sets of instructions for:

receiving a second data message from the second smart NIC via the private communication channel, wherein the second smart NIC performed virtual networking operations on the second data message to determine that a destination for the second data message is the data compute machine; and

sending the second data message to the data compute machine through a port of the first smart NIC to which the data compute machine is bound.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the data message is a first data message, the program further comprising sets of instructions for:

receiving a second data message sent by the data compute machine;

performing virtual networking operations on the data message to determine that the data message is to be transmitted from a physical port of the first smart NIC; and

transmitting the data message from the physical port.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (400)