InfiniBand Linux SourceForge Project

Overview

This Subnet Manager infrastructure ("OpenSM") provides the basic subnet manager functionality as defined in Volume 1 of the InfiniBand™ specification for subnet discovery and activation. OpenSM also provides Subnet Administration capabilities focused on the support of clustering (IPoIB and SDP). Support of either network (VNIC) or storage (SRP) I/O unit attachment, configuration and control (as presently defined in InfiniBand Architecture Specification Volume 1, Release 1.0.a, Annex A1: I/O Infrastructure) is not currently supported; although the OpenSM infrastructure has been created so that this support can be added in the future.

High Level Architecture

The OpenSM components reside in user mode above the Access Layer interface, as depicted in the following diagram.

Project Definition

The OpenSM is composed of the several components:

Subnet Manager for discovery, configuration and continuous monitoring of the fabric
Subnet Manager Database (SMDB) for storing fabric configuration data
Subnet Administration (SA) for handling IB queries against the SMDB

The OpenSM uses its internal Vendor Interface API’s to send and receive QP0 and QP1 MAD packets. The Vendor Interface layer encapsulates and abstracts the underlying user mode InfiniBand Access API. This encapsulation allows developers to easily port OpenSM to other standard or proprietary InfiniBand access API’s.

Three of the modules shown are shaded to indicate that they will not be initially developed as part of the first release of OpenSM: CFM (the "Configuration Manager" used for handling the association between hosts and target devices), a CIM Provider and a GUI (Graphical User Interface). However, the OpenSM infrastructure is designed such that these components can be added in the future.

Goals

The goals of this project are:

Deliver basic Subnet Management – Develop a basic Subnet Manager (as described in Chapters 13 and 14 of the InfiniBand Architecture Specification Volume 1, Release 1.0.a) and a basic Subnet Administrator (as described in Chapter 15) which supports clustering. Specifically, the SA will only support the following attributes and methods (see Table 149 Subnet Administration Attribute / Method Map in Chapter 15):

Attribute	Method
Attribute	Get	Set	GetTable
NodeRecord	Ö		Ö
PortInfoRecord	Ö		Ö
PathRecord	Ö		Ö
SMInfoRecord	Ö		Ö
LinkRecord	Ö		Ö
MCMemberRecord	Ö	Ö	Ö
ServiceRecord	Ö	Ö	Ö

Open Source – The project intends to perform it's development totally within the context of an open source environment, releasing architecture, design, interface, and code as they become available to collect input from all sources as early as possible.

Licensing Details

This software is being made available under a choice of one of two licenses. You may choose to be licensed under either the GNU General Public License (GPL) Version 2, June 1991, available at http://www.fsf.org/copyleft/gpl.html, or the Intel BSD + Patent License, further described here.

Deliverables

The deliverables of this project include:

Subnet Manager for discovery, configuration and continuous monitoring of the fabric
Subnet Manager Database (SMDB) for storing fabric configuration data
Subnet Administration (SA) for handling IB queries against the SMDB in support of clustering
High Level Design documentation, interface specifications, user documentation

Timeline

Actual sub-project timelines are not yet determined and will be formulated by the participants of the sub-project.

How to Get Involved

The best way to contribute to this effort is to get in touch with the contact for the area you are interested in. New participants are welcomed and encouraged to join in this effort to bring InfiniBand support to the Linux operating system.

Project News

The project news is included on the SourceForge site. Click the "News" link at the left under "SourceForge Services".

Last Updated: 12/17/2002 02:45 PM