InfiniBand Network Architecture, 2 Volume Set

Infiniband is a new networking technology for connecting servers, storage subsystems and networking devices. Great innovations have taken place in I/O networking technology: e.g., Gigabit Ehternet, Fibre Channel, and Ultra SCSI. Today's Internet data centers are very complex and servers are often connected to three or four different networks. As the amount of data coming into and flowing between server blades and storage subsystems increases, the existing system interconnects become a bottleneck. Infiniband utilizes high-speed serial technology to interconnect data center elements. Unlike other networking technologies, Infiniband permits data transfers without the intervention of the processor. This frees up most of the processor's bandwidth. The architecture provides increased reliability, better sharing of data, and built-in security. The book is based on MindShare's successful Infinband courses, and benefits from the author's experience in training thousands of professionals on this new technology.

InfiniBand is a new networking specification that revolutionizes the interconnect between processor and IO subsystems in the datacenter environment. InfiniBand delivers better performance, flexibility, and scalability than alternative network architectures. Copper wire and fiber optic InfiniBand links offer data rates ranging from 2.5 Gb/s to 30 Gb/s. This technology easily surpasses the performance of competing network infrastructures by providing kernel bypass and memory-to-memory transfer capabilities.

InfiniBand Network Architecture is a comprehensive guide to InfiniBand technology. It describes all hardware and software operational aspects of InfiniBand networking. Using the same building-block approach found in all of the books in the PC System Architecture Series, this book details important concepts relating to the design and implementation of data networks using this emerging standard. A broad overview of the InfiniBand specification is provided, as well as detailed descriptions of all the architecture's operational characteristics.

Specific topics of interest include:

• Packet addressing, channel adapters, and the role of switches, routers, and repeaters
• Queue Pair (QP) creation and operation
• Transfer types, including connected, datagram, and raw datagram service
• Send/receive operations, such as Send, RDMA Read and Write, and atomic Read/Modify/Write (RMW) operations
• Link and physical layer descriptions
• Subnet-local and global addressing
• The Subnet Manager (SM) and the Subnet Administrator (SA)
• Performance, communication, device, and baseboard managers

Created for hardware and software engineers and developers, InfiniBand Network Architecture is a critical resource for understanding and implementing this revolutionary technology.

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