US 12,229,578 B2
Teaming of smart NICs
Boon S. Ang, Saratoga, CA (US); Wenyi Jiang, Fremont, CA (US); Guolin Yang, San Jose, CA (US); and Jin Heo, Los Altos, CA (US)
Assigned to VMware LLC, Palo Alto, CA (US)
Filed by VMware LLC, Palo Alto, CA (US)
Filed on Dec. 22, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/560,142.
Prior Publication US 2023/0195488 A1, Jun. 22, 2023
Int. Cl. G06F 9/455 (2018.01)
CPC G06F 9/45558 (2013.01) [G06F 2009/45595 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
at a first smart network interface controller (NIC) of a plurality of smart NICs of a host computer, each of the smart NICs executing a smart NIC operating system that performs virtual networking operations for a set of data compute machines executing on the host computer:
receiving a data message sent by one of the data compute machines executing on the host computer, the data message comprising a first data message;
performing virtual networking operations on the data message to determine that the data message is to be transmitted from a port of a second smart NIC of the plurality of smart NICs;
passing the data message to the second smart NIC via a private communication channel connecting the plurality of smart NICs;
receiving a second data message from the second smart NIC via the private communication channel, wherein the second smart NIC performed virtual networking operations on the second data message to determine that a destination for the second data message is the data compute machine; and
sending the second data message to the data compute machine through a port of the first smart NIC to which the data compute machine is bound.