RDMA Intercept for Cloud Protocol Translation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing reliable transport protocols, such as RoCE, are not compatible with cloud service providers' proprietary protocols, requiring applications to be rewritten to utilize cloud-native transport protocols, which is inefficient and limits interoperability.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of an RDMA intercept that translates RDMA API commands from standardized protocols like RoCE to proprietary protocols used by cloud service providers, enabling seamless communication and avoiding the need for application rewrites by converting API semantics and managing congestion, packet transmission, and retransmissions across different transport protocols.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If applications are rewritten to utilize cloud-native transport protocols, then compatibility with proprietary protocols is improved, but development time and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a protocol translator as an intermediary component that sits between applications using standardized protocols (RoCE, InfiniBand) and cloud-native proprietary protocols. The translator receives packets from the standardized protocol side, translates them into the proprietary protocol format, and forwards them to the cloud network, and vice versa for incoming packets. This mediator approach allows applications to maintain their original protocol implementations while achieving compatibility with cloud-native protocols without any rewriting.
2Adaptability or versatility
If protocol translation is implemented, then interoperability between standardized and proprietary protocols is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the protocol translation functionality into a separate, dedicated translator component that is independent from both the application layer and the cloud network infrastructure. This extracted translator handles all protocol conversion operations in isolation, with clearly defined interfaces to both sides. By separating the translation logic from the core application and network stacks, the system complexity is localized to the translator component rather than propagating throughout the entire system.
Solution Approach 2:
The protocol translation process is segmented into distinct functional modules: packet reception from standardized protocol, protocol parsing and interpretation, translation to proprietary protocol format, and packet transmission to cloud network. Similarly, incoming packets are processed through reverse segmentation. This modular segmentation allows each module to be independently developed, tested, and maintained, reducing overall system complexity despite the added translation capability.
3Ease of manufacture
If applications use standardized protocols like RoCE, then ease of development is improved, but compatibility with cloud service provider protocols deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The protocol translator serves as an intermediary that allows applications to continue using standardized protocols (RoCE, InfiniBand) for development while automatically translating communications to work with cloud-service-provider proprietary protocols. The translator is transparent to applications, requiring no changes to application code or development processes, thus maintaining ease of development while achieving protocol compatibility.
Data Source
AI summary
Examples described herein relate to a network interface device. In some examples, the network interface device is to receive a request to transmit data, based on a first reliable transport protocol, and cause the data to be transmitted in at least one packet, based on a second reliable transport protocol, to a destination device and receive at least one packet, from a sender device, based on the second reliable transport protocol and indicate receipt of the at least one packet, based on the first reliable transport protocol, wherein the first reliable transport protocol is different than the second reliable transport protocol.