In-Depth RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) - Online

  
  This seminar is designed to provide a comprehensive overview of the RoCE architecture. In its latest enhancement efforts, the InfiniBand and Trade Association (IBTA) have developed an Annex to the InfiniBand 1.2.1 specification. Annex 12 “RDMA over Converged Ethernet” defines the capability of moving InfiniBand transport services over a non-InfiniBand network (i.e. RDMA Read/Write, Send, and Atomic operations). RoCE preserves the InfiniBand software interface, transport services, and protocols and describes their use when run on an Ethernet L2 network.

Although RoCE does not specifically require a ‘lossless’ Ethernet fabric, it is likely that a RoCE port connected to an Ethernet fabric will operate more efficiently (e.g. with a higher ratio of delivered payload to offered payload) if the underlying layer 2 fabric does not routinely drop packets. Another major advantage of RoCE is that it assumes common management practices of the underlying Ethernet network and does not require the software intensive InfiniBand management infrastructure. This course investigates all aspects of InfiniBand as it applies to RoCE.

Course Outline

InfiniBand and RoCE
 InfiniBand Architecture
 Architectural Features and Model
 What is RoCE?
 Specifications and Annexes
IBA Layered Architecture
 Upper Layer
 Transport Layer
 Network Layer
 Link Layer (Ethernet L2)
 Physical Layer (Ethernet Physical)
Application Layer
 Verbs & Verb Concepts
 HCA & TCA
 Queue Pairs
 -Work Queue Elements
 -Completion Queue
 Channel & Memory Semantics
 -Memory Binding
 -Memory Windows
 -Memory Regions
Transport Layer
 Maximum Transfer Units
 Data Packet Formats
 Segmentation of Data
 Messages
 IBA Operations
Transport Services
 Reliable Connection
 Unreliable Connection
 Reliable Datagrams
 Unreliable Datagrams
Connection Protocol
 RoCE Login Request/Reply
 Management Exceptions for RoCE
Transport Functions
 Send & Atomics
 RDMA Read/Write
Headers & Packet Formats
 GRH, BTH & ETH Headers
Network Layer
 Global Route Header
 Addressing Hierarchy
 Global Identification
 Local, Multicast, & Unicast IDs
 Globally Unique Identifiers
 Switching & Routing
 Partitioning
 Router Roles & Responsibilities

L2 Ethernet Link Layer
 Ethernet Frame Format
 MAC Address Format
 Topologies
 Switch Learning
 Spanning Tree Protocol
 VLANs
 Lossless Ethernet
Ethernet Physical Layer
 Physical Link Variants
 Transceivers
 Link Initialization
 Link Aggregation
Extended Reliable Transport (XRC)
 XRC Model
 -XRC QP Characteristics
 -XRC INI QP
 -XRX TGT QP
 Packet Format
 Connection Parameters
 XRC Verbs
IBA Management & RoCE
 Management exceptions from IBA
 Management Access Methods
 -Get, Set, GetResp, Trap, & Send
 Communication Management
 -RoCE changes
RoCE
 RoCE Architectural Goals
 RoCE Frame Format
 Management considerations
 Addressing
 Architectural Considerations
 -Link Layer
 -Transport Layer
 -Static Rate Control
 -SL, VL Mapping
 -Partitioning
 -Verbs
Ethernet Storage
 Storage Protocol Comparisons
 NAS, DAS, SAN, iSCSI, FCIP
 Converged Network
 Fat Pipe concept
 Converged Enhanced Ethernet
 What is FCoE
 What's different about FCoE
 How does RoCE compare to FCoE
Who Should Attend: This course is specifically designed for anyone who wants an understanding of RoCE-based InfiniBand technology solutions.
 
Prerequisites: An understanding of current computer interfaces or networks is useful.
Course Length:

5 days - 4 hours each day (usually 09:00 to 13:00 Pacific Time)