InfiniBand

InfiniBand (IB) is a computer-networking communications standard used in high-performance computing that features very high throughput and very low latency. It is used for data interconnect both among and within computers. InfiniBand is also used as either a direct or switched interconnect between servers and storage systems, as well as an interconnect between storage systems. InfiniBand (IB) is a computer-networking communications standard used in high-performance computing that features very high throughput and very low latency. It is used for data interconnect both among and within computers. InfiniBand is also used as either a direct or switched interconnect between servers and storage systems, as well as an interconnect between storage systems. As of 2014, it was the most commonly used interconnect in supercomputers. Mellanox and Intel manufacture InfiniBand host bus adapters and network switches, and, in February 2016, it was reported that Oracle Corporation had engineered its own InfiniBand switch units and server adapter chips for use in its own product lines and by third parties. Mellanox IB cards are available for Solaris, FreeBSD, RHEL, SLES, Windows, HP-UX, VMware ESX, and AIX. It is designed to be scalable and uses a switched fabric network topology. As an interconnect, IB competes with Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and Intel Omni-Path. The technology is promoted by the InfiniBand Trade Association. Links can be aggregated: most systems use a 4× aggregate. 8× and 12× links are typically used for cluster and supercomputer interconnects and for inter-switch connections. InfiniBand also provides RDMA capabilities for low CPU overhead. InfiniBand uses a switched fabric topology, as opposed to early shared medium Ethernet. All transmissions begin or end at a channel adapter. Each processor contains a host channel adapter (HCA) and each peripheral has a target channel adapter (TCA). These adapters can also exchange information for security or quality of service (QoS).