The QLogic InfiniBand Fabric Suite 2008 is the most complete data transport and management solution available today for HPC, database clustering, and grid utility computing networks. The InfiniBand Fabric Suite not only simplifies management, it has built-in intelligence to enable rapid error-free installation and provisioning of small to extremely large server clusters with thousands of nodes, providing the most optimized fabric possible to support today’s cluster aware applications. To help facilitate adoption of InfiniBand (IB), QLogic continues to support and contribute to the Open Fabrics Alliance, which has a goal of embedding all host drivers into both Windows and Linux distributions. This will enable application vendors to more easily certify the use of IB as the best server interconnect choice.

The InfiniBand Fabric Suite architecture is modular so that both open-based and QLogic-developed software modules can co-exist in the same fabric. Major components of the architecture include:

• Subnet Manager - Management functions for subnet, IB fabric, and individual component management via HTML and a Java-based console. This includes management of advanced features such as QLogic’s virtual Fibre channel and Ethernet gateways.
• FastFabric Toolset - Tools are included that ensure easy installation, configuration, and verification of the cluster network and virtual gateway I/O resources.
• Fabric Viewer - The QLogic Fabric Viewer is a JAVA-based, stand-alone graphical user interface (GUI) providing access to the subnet manager facilities.

It takes a complete powerful end-to-end software solution to bring the power of InfiniBand to your business applications. QLogic provides it with the InfiniBand Fabric Suite architecture.
  

The subnet manager (SM) provides comprehensive control and monitoring functions to simplify the management, configuration, and maintenance of complex InfiniBand fabrics.

Key functions include:

• Path/route management
• Fabric/chassis management
• Subnet management
• Subnet administration
• Device discovery
• SNMP management
• Fabric Viewer GUI

All management functions of these fabrics, which include any SilverStorm product-based fabrics as well as any standards-based InfiniBand switching product(s), are managed through a Java-based Fabric Viewer and a standard browser to manage individual SilverStorm devices. The subnet manager function can be run embedded or in an external server, to support very large fabrics.

Advanced features include the following optional value-added functions:

• Redundant fail-over of subnet management between embedded management (2 or more SM instances) and server-based management
• Supports fabric topology and trace route queries to facilitate fabric and route analysis
    

The FastFabric toolset is a set of tools that ensure rapid error free installation and update for host, embedded, and management software. The FastFabric toolset includes:

• Automated Host IB Software Installation, Configuration and Update
  • Fast and parallel
• Automated Chassis and Switch Installation and Update
  • Includes optimized parallel firmware update
• Powerful fabric component analysis and reports
• Fabric verification (e.g., connectivity, latency, bandwidth)
• Powerful fabric diagnostic tools
  • Rapid fabric error analysis and concise summaries
  • Fabric route analysis
• Benchmarking and tuning tools for HPC fabrics
• Rapid and easy-to-use Fabric health checking
• Ability to run commands across many switching chassis
• Convenient menu system aids rapid learning
• Tools designed for easy integration with customer administration tools

This toolset is provided to make the entire out-of-box to operational experience as easy as possible. It is not sufficient to build great products; they must also be easy to use.
  

The Advanced Upper Layer Protocol (ULP) Bundle provides server enablement. It consists of multiple parts, all designed to give high-performance business computing applications the most optimized access to the cluster. The Advanced ULP Bundle includes Host InfiniBand drivers - kernel network drivers for Linux and Windows - and Advanced Upper Layer Protocols:
  

SDP
Sockets Direct Protocol (SDP) support for highperformance ––zero-copy data transfers

RDS (Oracle Certified)
Sockets off-load driver provides reliable, in order, no duplicate delivery semantics for Oracle® Real Application Clusters (RAC). More Info...

uDAPL
ULP RDMA server-to-server access utilizing User Direct Access Program Library (uDAPL) APIs
  

IPoIB
ULP to allow Internet Protocol (IP) using InfiniBand (IB) as a link layer

VirtualNIC (Ethernet)
Ethernet ULP and advanced functionality (port sharing, load ––balancing, Ethernet IB switching)

VirtualHBA (Fibre Channel)
Fibre Channel ULP and advanced functionality (port sharing, LUN management, SCSI Remote DMA Protocol (SRP)

QLogic MPI
ULP for HPC clusters utilizing Message Passing Interface (MPI) ––function calls

Full HCA Support
The InfiniBand Software Bundles support all SilverStorm HCAs:

SilverStorm 7000 (PCI-X)
7104-HCA-128LP

SilverStorm 9000 (PCIExpress)

• 7104-HCA-128LPX
• 7104-HCA-128LPX-DDR
• 7104-HCA-LPX2P
• 7104-HCA-LPX2P-DDR
• 7104-HCA-LPX1P
• 7104-HCA-LPX1P-DDR