Virtual routing fields
A switch including a plurality of ports; a management processor; and a switch core configured to receive a packet for transmission including a destination local ID (‘DLID’) and a virtual routing field (‘VRF) augmenting the routing of the packet on a route to the DLID according to a particular routing algorithm in dependence upon the VRF.
1 . A method of routing with virtual routing fields in a high-performance computing system, the method comprising:
receiving, by a switch, a packet for transmission, the packet including a destination local ID (‘DLID’) and a virtual routing field (‘VRF’);
augmenting, by the switch in dependence upon the VRF, the routing of the packet on a route to the DLID according to a particular routing algorithm;
wherein augmenting the routing of the packet on the route to the DLID according to the particular routing algorithm in dependence upon the VRF further comprises passing a local ID (‘LID’) definition through a mask; and
wherein the LID definition includes a hierarchical LID definition and the VRF resides in the hierarchical LID definition and wherein the switch core is configured to pass the HLID including the VRF through a ternary mask whose value enables the VRF.
2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the switch supports a plurality of routing algorithms and wherein augmenting the routing of the packet on a route to the DLID according to a particular 2routing algorithm includes augmenting the routing according to each of the plurality of routing algorithms.
3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the packet includes a plurality of VRFs and augmenting the routing of the packet on a route to the DLID according to a particular routing algorithm includes augmenting the routing of the packet in dependence upon the plurality of VRFs.
4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the LID definition includes a linear LID definition.
5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the VRF restricts traffic to a subset of global links.
6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the VRF defines a plane of switches to the destination.
7 . The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving, from a fabric manager, one or more VRFs.
8 . The method of claim 1 wherein the VRF is the is a subfield of a hierarchical LID definition and wherein the hierarchical LID definition includes a pipeline designation.
9 . The method of claim 1 wherein the VRF and the DLID reside in different fields of the packet.
10 . A switch comprising:
a plurality of ports;
a management processor; and
a switch core configured to receive a packet for transmission including a destination local ID (‘DLID’) and a virtual routing field (‘VRF) and configured to augment the routing of the packet on a route to a DLID according to a particular routing algorithm in dependence upon the VRF;
wherein augmenting the routing of the packet on the route to the DLID according to the particular routing algorithm in dependence upon the VRF further comprises passing a local ID (‘LID’) definition through a mask; and
wherein the LID definition includes a hierarchical LID (‘HLID’) definition and the VRF resides in the HLID definition and wherein the switch core is configured to pass the HLID definition including the VRF through a ternary mask whose value enables the VRF.
11 . The switch of claim 10 wherein the switch supports a plurality of routing algorithms and wherein the switch core is further configured to augment the routing according to each of the plurality of routing algorithms.
12 . The switch of claim 10 wherein the packet includes a plurality of VRFs, and the switch core is configured to augment the routing of the packet in dependence upon the plurality of VRFs.
13 . The switch of claim 10 wherein the LID definition includes a linear LID definition.
14 . The switch of claim 10 wherein the VRF defines a plane of switches to the destination.
15 . The switch of claim 10 further comprising receiving, by the management processor from a fabric manager, one or more VRFs.
16 . The switch of claim 10 wherein the VRF is a subfield of a hierarchical LID definition and wherein the hierarchical LID definition includes a pipeline designation.