Virtualized NIC Data Replication for Multi-Destination NVMeoF
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current data transmission methods using NVMe over Fabrics (NVMeoF) are inefficient as they only allow data to be transmitted to one remote destination at a time, necessitating repeated transmissions for multiple destinations, which reduces efficiency, especially in scenarios like remote backup.
Innovation Solution
A data transmission method and host system that virtualize the network interface controller as a virtual remote target device, replicate or split the data into multiple identical or different copies, and instruct physical remote target devices to acquire these copies from memory addresses, enabling efficient transmission to multiple destinations in a single operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If data is transmitted to one remote destination at a time using NVMeoF, then the transmission follows the standard protocol, but the transmission efficiency deteriorates when multiple destinations are required
Solution Approach 1:
The network interface controller is segmented into multiple virtual network interface controllers, allowing data to be simultaneously transmitted to multiple remote destinations through different virtual interfaces, thereby improving transmission efficiency while maintaining protocol compliance
Solution Approach 2:
The network interface controller is copied multiple times to create virtual instances, each capable of independent data transmission to different destinations, enabling parallel transmissions without violating the single-destination protocol constraint
2Ease of operation
If repeated transmissions are performed to send data to multiple remote destinations, then each transmission is simple and direct, but the total transmission time increases
Solution Approach 1:
Virtual network interface controllers are created in advance before data transmission begins, allowing multiple transmission channels to be ready simultaneously, thus reducing the total time required for transmitting data to multiple destinations while keeping the operation simple
3Productivity
If the network interface controller is virtualized to enable simultaneous transmission to multiple destinations, then transmission efficiency improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The virtual network interface controllers share common hardware resources and control logic, allowing a single physical controller to perform multiple transmission functions simultaneously, thereby improving efficiency without proportionally increasing device complexity
Data Source
AI summary
A data transmission method for transmitting first data to a plurality of physical remote target devices by a host system is provided. The method includes: generating a transmission instruction to transmit the first data to a network interface controller of the host system; transforming the first data into a plurality of second data and respectively recording the plurality of second data in a plurality of memory addresses of a memory of the network interface controller; and instructing the plurality of physical remote target devices to acquire the plurality of second data respectively from the plurality of memory addresses of the memory. In addition, a host system using the data transmission method is also provided.