InfiniBand Architecture Development and Deployment: A Strategic Guide to Server I/O Solutions
Get the knowledge and insight necessary to develop innovative solutions for system I/O and inter-process communication.
TABLE OF CONTENTS InfiniBand Architecture Development and Deployment: A Strategic Guide to Server I/O Solutions
Part 5: InfiniBand Management
Chapter List
- Chapter 13: Subnet Management
- Chapter 14: InfiniBand Management Applications
Subnet management is a diverse and intense subject that could easily fill an entire book on its own. The internal operation of a Subnet Manager (SM) also falls into this category, especially considering the various philosophies for managing heterogeneous subnets.
This chapter does not attempt to define the internals of a subnet manager. It does however discuss various SM roles and the components of the architecture that allow the SM to perform its duties and interact with other subnet management entities. It also describes key SM facilities, and how they relate to other management applications.
Subnet Manager Roles
Not all subnet managers are equal and to the casual observer, subnet management can be confusing. To help put it in perspective, let s define some implementation models:
-
Trivial SM (TSM) A subnet manager that initializes a subnet and keeps it operational using algorithmic calculation instead of stored configuration information. Typically, a TSM does not collaborate with SMs of other subnets. The TSM is ideal for a very simple subnet topology such as private subnets.
-
Transient Trivial SM (TTSM) A special case of a TSM found in a pre-boot environment (such as BIOS and EFI) that initializes the subnet and keeps it operational as long as it takes the platform to boot its operating system. In a pre-boot environment, once the operating system initializes, it takes over and the pre-boot environment ceases to exist. Thus, the lifetime of the TTSM...
Copyright Intel Corporation 2002 under license agreement with Books24x7
