| Patent application number | Description | Published |
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| 20100002382 | FRONT-TO-BACK COOLING SYSTEM FOR MODULAR SYSTEMS WITH ORTHOGONAL MIDPLANE CONFIGURATION - A front-to-back cooling system allows cooling of an apparatus containing two orthogonal sets of modules. Each set of modules is independently cooled. A vertical set of modules is cooled with vertical air flow across the modules that enters from a front of the apparatus and exhausts from a back of the apparatus. A horizontal set of modules is cooled with horizontal front-to-back air flow. When the horizontal set of modules is at the front of the apparatus, a plenum extending exterior to the vertical set of modules allows exhausting horizontally flowing air to the rear of the apparatus. When the horizontal set of modules is at the rear of the apparatus, a plenum extending exterior to the vertical set of modules allows moving air from the front of the apparatus to a chamber holding the horizontal modules. | 01-07-2010 |
| 20100043067 | SCALABLE SECURITY SERVICES FOR MULTICAST IN A ROUTER HAVING INTEGRATED ZONE-BASED FIREWALL - A multicast-capable firewall allows firewall security policies to be applied to multicast traffic. The multicast-capable firewall may be integrated within a routing device, thus allowing a single device to provide both routing functionality, including multicast support, as well as firewall services. The routing device provides a user interface by which a user specifies one or more zones to be recognized by the integrated firewall when applying stateful firewall services to multicast packets. The user interface supports a syntax that allows the user to define subsets of the plurality of interfaces associated with the zones, and define a single multicast policy to be applied to multicast sessions associated with a multicast group. The multicast policy identifies common services to be applied pre-replication, and exceptions specifying additional services to be applied post-replication to copies of the multicast packets for the one or more zones. | 02-18-2010 |
| 20100061238 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR FLOW CONTROL ASSOCIATED WITH MULTI-STAGED QUEUES - In one embodiment, a method, comprising receiving at a receive side of a physical link a request to suspend transmission of data from a queue within a transmit side of a first stage of queues and to suspend transmission via a path including the physical link, a portion of the first stage of queues, and a portion of a second stage of queues. The method includes sending, in response to the request, a flow control signal to a flow control module configured to schedule transmission of the data from the queue within the transmit side of the first stage of queues. The flow control signal is associated with a first control loop including the path and differing from a second control loop that excludes the first stage of queues. | 03-11-2010 |
| 20100061239 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR FLOW-CONTROLLABLE MULTI-STAGED QUEUES - In one embodiment, a method includes sending a first flow control signal to a first stage of transmit queues when a receive queue is in a congestion state. The method also includes sending a second flow control signal to a second stage of transmit queues different from the first stage of transmit queues when the receive queue is in the congestion state. | 03-11-2010 |
| 20100061240 | METHODS AND APPARATUS RELATED TO LOW LATENCY WITHIN A DATA CENTER - In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a switch core that has a multi-stage switch fabric. The multi-stage switch fabric has a set of ingress ports and a set of egress ports. The switch core can be configured to be coupled to a set of edge devices via the set of ingress ports and the set of egress ports. The switch core can be configured to receive a packet from an ingress port from the set of ingress ports. The switch core can be configured to send a set of cells associated with the packet from the ingress port to an egress port from the set of egress ports without a store-and-forward delay associated with a zero-load latency for the switch core. | 03-11-2010 |
| 20100061241 | METHODS AND APPARATUS RELATED TO FLOW CONTROL WITHIN A DATA CENTER SWITCH FABRIC - In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a switch core that has a multi-stage switch fabric physically distributed among a set of chassis. The multi-stage switch fabric has a set of input buffers and a set of output ports. The switch core can be configured to be coupled to a set of edge devices. The apparatus can also include a controller implemented in hardware without software during operation and with software during configuration and monitoring. The controller can be coupled to the set of input buffers and the set of output ports. The controller can be configured to send a flow control signal to an input buffer from the set of input buffers when congestion at an output port from the set of output ports is predicted and before congestion in the switch core occurs. | 03-11-2010 |
| 20100061242 | METHODS AND APPARATUS RELATED TO A FLEXIBLE DATA CENTER SECURITY ARCHITECTURE - In one embodiment, edge devices can be configured to be coupled to a multi-stage switch fabric and peripheral processing devices. The edge devices and the multi-stage switch fabric can collectively define a single logical entity. A first edge device from the edge devices can be configured to be coupled to a first peripheral processing device from the peripheral processing devices. The second edge device from the edge devices can be configured to be coupled to a second peripheral processing device from the peripheral processing devices. The first edge device can be configured such that virtual resources including a first virtual resource can be defined at the first peripheral processing device. A network management module coupled to the edge devices and configured to provision the virtual resources such that the first virtual resource can be migrated from the first peripheral processing device to the second peripheral processing device. | 03-11-2010 |
| 20100061367 | METHODS AND APPARATUS RELATED TO LOSSLESS OPERATION WITHIN A DATA CENTER - In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a switch core that defines a single logical entity and has a multi-stage switch fabric that has a set of stages physically distributed across a set of chassis. The set of stages collectively has a set of ingress ports and a set of egress ports. The switch core can be configured to be coupled to a set of peripheral processing devices via the set of ingress ports and the set of egress ports. The switch core can be configured to admit a set of cells associated with a packet into an ingress port from the set of ingress ports when delivery of the set of cells can be substantially guaranteed without loss through the multi-stage switch fabric. | 03-11-2010 |
| 20100061389 | METHODS AND APPARATUS RELATED TO VIRTUALIZATION OF DATA CENTER RESOURCES - In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a switch core that has a multi-stage switch fabric. A first set of peripheral processing devices coupled to the multi-stage switch fabric by a set of connections that have a protocol. Each peripheral processing device from the first set of peripheral processing devices is a storage node that has virtualized resources. The virtualized resources of the first set of peripheral processing devices collectively define a virtual storage resource interconnected by the switch core. A second set of peripheral processing devices coupled to the multi-stage switch fabric by a set of connections that have the protocol. Each peripheral processing device from the first set of peripheral processing devices is a compute node that has virtualized resources. The virtualized resources of the second set of peripheral processing devices collectively define a virtual compute resource interconnected by the switch core. | 03-11-2010 |
| 20100061390 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DEFINING A FLOW CONTROL SIGNAL RELATED TO A TRANSMIT QUEUE - In one embodiment, a processor-readable medium can store code representing instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to receive a value representing a congestion level of a receive queue and a value representing a state of a transmit queue. At least a portion of the transmit queue can be defined by a plurality of packets addressed to the receive queue. A rate value for the transmit queue can be defined based on the value representing the congestion level of the receive queue and the value representing the state of the transmit queue. The processor-readable medium can store code representing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to define a suspension time value for the transmit queue based on the value representing the congestion level of the receive queue and the value representing the state of the transmit queue. | 03-11-2010 |
| 20100061391 | METHODS AND APPARATUS RELATED TO A LOW COST DATA CENTER ARCHITECTURE - In one embodiment, an apparatus can include a first edge device that can have a packet processing module. The first edge device can be configured to receive a packet. The packet processing module of the first edge device can be configured to produce cells based on the packet. A second edge device can have a packet processing module configured to reassemble the packet based on the cells. A multi-stage switch fabric can be coupled to the first edge device and the second edge device. The multi-stage switch fabric can define a single logical entity. The multi-stage switch fabric can have switch modules. Each switch module from the switch modules can have a shared memory device. The multi-stage switch fabric can be configured to switch the cells so that the cells are sent to the second edge device. | 03-11-2010 |
| 20100061394 | METHODS AND APPARATUS RELATED TO ANY-TO-ANY CONNECTIVITY WITHIN A DATA CENTER - In one embodiment, an apparatus includes a switch core that defines a single logical entity and has a multi-stage switch fabric physically distributed across a plurality of chassis. The multi-stage switch fabric has a plurality of ingress ports and a plurality of egress ports. The switch core is configured to be coupled to a plurality of peripheral processing devices via the plurality of ingress ports and the plurality of egress ports. The switch core is also configured to provide non-blocking connectivity at line rate between a first peripheral processing device disposed with a first chassis and a second peripheral processing device disposed within a second chassis. | 03-11-2010 |
| 20100080224 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR PACKET CLASSIFICATION BASED ON POLICY VECTORS - In one embodiment, a method, comprising producing a first policy vector based on a first portion of a data packet received at a multi-stage switch. The method also includes producing a second policy vector based on a second portion of the data packet different than the first portion of the data packet. A third policy vector is produced based on a combination of at least the first policy vector and at least the second policy vector. The third policy vector including a combination of bit values configured to trigger an element at the multi-stage switch to process the data packet. | 04-01-2010 |
| 20100083345 | METHODS AND APPARATUS RELATED TO PACKET CLASSIFICATION ASSOCIATED WITH A MULTI-STAGE SWITCH - In one embodiment, an apparatus can include a policy vector module configured to retrieve a compressed policy vector based on a portion of a data packet received at a multi-stage switch. The apparatus can also include a decompression module configured to receive the compressed policy vector and configured to define a decompressed policy vector based on the compressed policy vector. The decompressed policy vector can define a combination of bit values associated with a policy. | 04-01-2010 |
| 20100158031 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSMISSION OF GROUPS OF CELLS VIA A SWITCH FABRIC - In one embodiment, a method can include receiving at an egress schedule module a request to schedule transmission of a group of cells from an ingress queue through a switch fabric of a multi-stage switch. The ingress queue can be associated with an ingress stage of the multi-stage switch. The egress schedule module can be associated with an egress stage of the multi-stage switch. The method can also include determining, in response to the request, that an egress port at the egress stage of the multi-stage switch is available to transmit the group of cells from the multi-stage switch. | 06-24-2010 |
| 20100161949 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FAST BRANCHING USING A PROGRAMMABLE BRANCH TABLE - Methods and systems consistent with the present invention provide a programmable table which allows software to define a plurality of branching functions, each of which maps a vector of condition codes to a branch offset. This technique allows for a flexible multi-way branching functionality, using a conditional branch outcome table that can be specified by a programmer. Any instruction can specify the evaluation of arbitrary conditional expressions to compute the values for the condition codes, and can choose a particular branching function. When the processor executes the instruction, the processor's arithmetic/logical functional units evaluate the conditional expressions and then the processor performs the branch operation, according to the specified branching function. | 06-24-2010 |
| 20100165983 | SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE FOR A SCALABLE AND DISTRIBUTED MULTI-STAGE SWITCH FABRIC - In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a first housing, a second housing and at least one cable. The first housing includes a first interface card of a switch fabric. The second housing includes a second interface card of the switch fabric and a third interface card of the switch fabric. The second interface card of the switch fabric is operatively and physically coupled to the third interface card of the switch fabric via a midplane. The second interface card defines a plane that is nonparallel to the a plane defined by the third interface card and a plane defined by the midplane. The plane defined by the third interface card is nonparallel to the plane defined by the second interface card and the plane defined by the midplane. The cable is configured to operatively couple the first interface card to the second interface card. | 07-01-2010 |
| 20100165984 | METHODS AND APPARATUS RELATED TO A MODULAR SWITCH ARCHITECTURE - In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a first housing, a second housing and at least one cable. The first housing includes a first interface card of a switch fabric. The second housing includes a second interface card of the switch fabric and a third interface card of the switch fabric. The second interface card of the switch fabric is operatively and physically coupled to the third interface card of the switch fabric via a midplane. The second interface card defines a plane that is nonparallel to the a plane defined by the third interface card and a plane defined by the midplane. The plane defined by the third interface card is nonparallel to the plane defined by the second interface card and the plane defined by the midplane. The cable is configured to operatively couple the first interface card to the second interface card. | 07-01-2010 |
| 20110011562 | FRONT-TO-BACK COOLING SYSTEM FOR MODULAR SYSTEMS WITH ORTHOGONAL MIDPLANE CONFIGURATION - A front-to-back cooling system allows cooling of an apparatus containing two orthogonal sets of modules. Each set of modules is independently cooled. A vertical set of modules is cooled with vertical air flow across the modules that enters from a front of the apparatus and exhausts from a back of the apparatus. A horizontal set of modules is cooled with horizontal front-to-back air flow. When the horizontal set of modules is at the front of the apparatus, a plenum extending exterior to the vertical set of modules allows exhausting horizontally flowing air to the rear of the apparatus. When the horizontal set of modules is at the rear of the apparatus, a plenum extending exterior to the vertical set of modules allows moving air from the front of the apparatus to a chamber holding the horizontal modules. | 01-20-2011 |
| 20110011567 | FRONT-TO-BACK COOLING SYSTEM FOR MODULAR SYSTEMS WITH ORTHOGONAL MIDPLANE CONFIGURATION - A front-to-back cooling system allows cooling of an apparatus containing two orthogonal sets of modules. Each set of modules is independently cooled. A vertical set of modules is cooled with vertical air flow across the modules that enters from a front of the apparatus and exhausts from a back of the apparatus. A horizontal set of modules is cooled with horizontal front-to-back air flow. When the horizontal set of modules is at the front of the apparatus, a plenum extending exterior to the vertical set of modules allows exhausting horizontally flowing air to the rear of the apparatus. When the horizontal set of modules is at the rear of the apparatus, a plenum extending exterior to the vertical set of modules allows moving air from the front of the apparatus to a chamber holding the horizontal modules. | 01-20-2011 |
| 20110056660 | FRONT-TO-BACK COOLING SYSTEM FOR MODULAR SYSTEMS WITH ORTHOGONAL MIDPLANE CONFIGURATION - A front-to-back cooling system allows cooling of an apparatus containing two orthogonal sets of modules. Each set of modules is independently cooled. A vertical set of modules is cooled with vertical air flow across the modules that enters from a front of the apparatus and exhausts from a back of the apparatus. A horizontal set of modules is cooled with horizontal front-to-back air flow. When the horizontal set of modules is at the front of the apparatus, a plenum extending exterior to the vertical set of modules allows exhausting horizontally flowing air to the rear of the apparatus. When the horizontal set of modules is at the rear of the apparatus, a plenum extending exterior to the vertical set of modules allows moving air from the front of the apparatus to a chamber holding the horizontal modules. | 03-10-2011 |
| 20110158124 | MAINTAINING DATA UNIT ORDER IN A NETWORK SWITCHING DEVICE - Data units received by a network device may be classified into traffic flow classes in which the determined traffic flow class for a data unit may be dynamically refined as the data unit is processed by the network device. A dispatch component of the network device may receive data units associated with traffic flow classes. Parallel processing engines of the network device may receive the data units from the dispatch component and may generate, for a least one of the data units, a plurality of dynamically refined indications of the traffic flow class to which the data unit belongs. Additionally, an ordering component of the network device may include a plurality of re-order queues, where the at least one data unit successively progresses through at least two of the re-order queues in an order defined by the plurality of dynamically refined indications of the traffic flow class. | 06-30-2011 |
