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Shared Memory Communications over RDMA
draft-fox-tcpm-shared-memory-rdma-02

The information below is for an old version of the document.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 7609.
Authors Mike Fox , Constantinos (Gus) Kassimis , Jerry Stevens
Last updated 2013-08-23 (Latest revision 2013-05-31)
RFC stream Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
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IETF conflict review conflict-review-fox-tcpm-shared-memory-rdma, conflict-review-fox-tcpm-shared-memory-rdma, conflict-review-fox-tcpm-shared-memory-rdma, conflict-review-fox-tcpm-shared-memory-rdma, conflict-review-fox-tcpm-shared-memory-rdma, conflict-review-fox-tcpm-shared-memory-rdma
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IESG IESG state Became RFC 7609 (Informational)
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Responsible AD Martin Stiemerling
Send notices to mjfox@us.ibm.com, kassimis@us.ibm.com, sjerry@us.ibm.com, draft-fox-tcpm-shared-memory-rdma@tools.ietf.org
draft-fox-tcpm-shared-memory-rdma-02
TCPM working group                                               M. Fox
Internet Draft                                              C. Kassimis
Intended Status: Informational                               J. Stevens
Expires: 12/1/2013                                                  IBM
                                                           May 31, 2013

                  Shared Memory Communications over RDMA
                 draft-fox-tcpm-shared-memory-rdma-02.txt

Status of this Memo

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Abstract

   This document describes the Shared Memory Communications over RDMA
   (SMC-R) protocol.  This protocol provides RDMA communications to TCP
   endpoints in a manner that is transparent to socket applications.  It
   further provides for dynamic discovery of partner RDMA capabilities
   and dynamic setup of RDMA connections, transparent high availability
   and load balancing when redundant RDMA network paths are available,
   and it maintains many of the traditional TCP/IP qualities of service
   such as filtering that enterprise users demand, as well as TCP socket
   semantics such as urgent data.

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction......................................... 4
      1.1. Summary of changes in this draft.................... 5
      1.2. Protocol overview ................................ 6
      1.3. Definition of common terms......................... 8
   2. Link Architecture ................................... 10
      2.1. Remote Memory Buffers (RMBs) ...................... 11
      2.2. SMC-R Link groups ............................... 16
         2.2.1. Link types................................. 17
         2.2.2. Maximum number of links in link group........... 20
         2.2.3. Forming and managing link groups............... 21
         2.2.4. SMC-R link identifiers....................... 22
      2.3. SMC-R resilience and load balancing................. 23
   3. SMC-R Rendezvous architecture.......................... 24
      3.1. TCP options.................................... 25
      3.2. Connection Layer Control (CLC) messages............. 25
      3.3. LLC messages ................................... 26
      3.4. Rendezvous flows................................ 27
         3.4.1. First contact............................... 27
            3.4.1.1. TCP Options pre-negotiation............... 27
            3.4.1.2. Client Proposal......................... 28
            3.4.1.3. Server acceptance....................... 30
            3.4.1.4. Client confirmation...................... 30
            3.4.1.5. Link (QP) confirmation................... 30
            3.4.1.6. Second SMC-R link setup.................. 33
               3.4.1.6.1. Client processing of "Add Link" LLC message
               from server................................. 33
               3.4.1.6.2. Server processing of "Add Link" reply LLC
               message from the client....................... 34
               3.4.1.6.3. Exchange of Rkeys on second SMC-R link.. 36
               3.4.1.6.4. Aborting SMC-R and falling back to IP... 36

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         3.4.2. Subsequent contact .......................... 36
            3.4.2.1. SMC-R proposal.......................... 37
            3.4.2.2. SMC-R acceptance........................ 38
            3.4.2.3. SMC-R confirmation ...................... 39
            3.4.2.4. TCP data flow race with SMC Confirm CLC message39
         3.4.3. First contact variation: creating a parallel link group
         ............................................... 40
         3.4.4. Normal SMC-R link termination ................. 41
         3.4.5. Link group management flows................... 42
            3.4.5.1. Adding and deleting links in an SMC-R link group42
               3.4.5.1.1. Server initiated Add Link processing ... 42
               3.4.5.1.2. Client initiated Add Link processing ... 43
               3.4.5.1.3. Server initiated Delete Link Processing. 43
               3.4.5.1.4. Client initiated Delete Link request ... 45
            3.4.5.2. Managing multiple Rkeys over multiple SMC-R links
            in a link group................................ 47
               3.4.5.2.1. Adding a new RMB to an SMC-R link group. 48
               3.4.5.2.2. Deleting an RMB from an SMC-R link group 51
               3.4.5.2.3. Adding a new SMC-R link to a link group with
               multiple RMBs ............................... 52
            3.4.5.3. Serialization of LLC exchanges, and collisions53
               3.4.5.3.1. Collisions with ADD LINK / CONFIRM LINK
               exchange ................................... 55
               3.4.5.3.2. Collisions during DELETE LINK exchange.. 56
               3.4.5.3.3. Collisions during CONFIRM_RKEY exchange. 56
   4. SMC-R memory sharing architecture ...................... 58
      4.1. RMB element allocation considerations............... 58
      4.2. RMB and RMBE format.............................. 58
      4.3. RMBE control information.......................... 58
      4.4. Use of RMBEs ................................... 59
         4.4.1. Initializing and accessing RMBEs............... 59
         4.4.2. RMB element reuse and conflict resolution........ 60
      4.5. SMC-R protocol considerations...................... 60
         4.5.1. SMC-R protocol optimized window size updates..... 60
         4.5.2. Small data sends............................ 62
         4.5.3. TCP Keepalive processing...................... 62
      4.6. RMB data flows.................................. 65
         4.6.1. Scenario 1: Send flow, window size unconstrained.. 65
         4.6.2. Scenario 2: Send/Receive flow, window unconstrained67
         4.6.3. Scenario 3: Send Flow, window constrained........ 69
         4.6.4. Scenario 4: Large send, flow control, full window size
         writes.......................................... 71
         4.6.5. Scenario 5: Send flow, urgent data, window size
         unconstrained.................................... 73
         4.6.6. Scenario 6: Send flow, urgent data, window size closed76
      4.7. Connection termination........................... 78
         4.7.1. Normal SMC-R connection termination flows........ 78

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            4.7.1.1. Abnormal SMC-R connection termination flows.. 83
            4.7.1.2. Other SMC-R connection termination conditions 85
   5. Security considerations............................... 86
      5.1. VLAN considerations.............................. 86
      5.2. Firewall considerations .......................... 86
      5.3. IP Filters..................................... 87
      5.4. Intrusion Detection Services ...................... 87
      5.5. IP Security (IPSec).............................. 87
      5.6. TLS/SSL........................................ 87
   6. IANA considerations.................................. 87
   7. References......................................... 88
      7.1. Normative References............................. 88
      7.2. Informative References........................... 88
   8. Acknowledgments..................................... 88
   9. Conventions used in this document ...................... 88
   Appendix A. Formats.................................... 89
      A.1. TCP option..................................... 89
      A.2. CLC messages ................................... 89
         A.2.1. Peer ID format.............................. 89
         A.2.2. SMC Proposal CLC message format................ 91
         A.2.3. SMC Accept CLC message format ................. 94
         A.2.4. SMC Confirm CLC message format................. 97
         A.2.5. SMC Decline CLC message format.................100
      A.3. LLC messages ...................................101
         A.3.1. CONFIRM LINK LLC message format................102
         A.3.2. ADD LINK LLC message format...................104
         A.3.3. ADD LINK CONTINUATION LLC message format ........107
         A.3.4. DELETE LINK LLC message format.................110
         A.3.5. CONFIRM RKEY LLC message format................112
         A.3.6. TEST LINK LLC message format..................115
   Appendix B. Socket API considerations......................121
   Appendix C. Rendezvous Error scenarios.....................123
      C.1. SMC Decline during CLC negotiation .................123
      C.2. SMC Decline during LLC negotiation .................123
      C.3. The SMC Decline window...........................125
      C.4. Out of synch conditions during SMC-R negotiation......125
      C.5. Timeouts during CLC negotiation....................126
      C.6. Protocol errors during CLC negotiation..............126
      C.7. Timeouts during LLC negotiation....................127
         C.7.1. Recovery actions for LLC timeouts and failures ...128
      C.8. Failure to add second SMC-R link to a link group......133

1. Introduction

   This document is a specification of the Shared Memory Communications
   over RDMA (SMC-R) protocol. SMC-R is a protocol for Remote Direct
   Memory Access (RDMA) communication between TCP socket endpoints. SMC-

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   R runs over networks that support RDMA over Converged Ethernet
   (RoCE).  It is designed to permit existing TCP applications to
   benefit from RDMA without requiring modifications to the applications
   or predefinition of RDMA partners.

   SMC-R provides dynamic discovery of the RDMA capabilities of TCP
   peers and automatic setup of RDMA connections that those peers can
   use.  SMC-R also provides transparent high availability and load
   balancing capabilities that are demanded by enterprise installations
   but are missing from current RDMA protocols.  If redundant RoCE
   capable hardware such as RDMA NICs (RNICs)and RoCE capable switches
   is present, SMC-R can load balance over that redundant hardware and
   can also non-disruptively move TCP traffic from failed paths to
   surviving paths, all seamlessly to the application and the sockets
   layer. Because SMC-R preserves socket semantics and the TCP three-way
   handshake, many TCP qualities of service such as filtering, load
   balancing, and SSL encryption are preserved, as are TCP features such
   as urgent data.

   Because of the dynamic discovery and setup of SMC-R connectivity
   between peers, no RDMA connection manager (RDMA-CM) is required. This
   also means that support for UD queue pairs is also not required.

   It is recommended that the SMC-R services be implemented in kernel
   space, which enables optimizations such as resource sharing between
   connections across multiple processes and also permits applications
   using SMC-R to spawn multiple processes (e.g. fork) without losing
   SMC-R functionality. A user space implementation is compatible with
   this architecture, but it may not support spawned processes (i.e.
   fork) which limits sharing and resource optimization to TCP
   connections that originate from the same process.  This might be an
   appropriate design choice if the use case is a system that hosts a
   large single process application that creates many TCP connections to
   a peer host, or in implementations where a kernel space
   implementation is not possible or introduces excessive overhead for
   kernel space to user space context switches.

   While SMC-R as specified in this document is designed to operate over
   RoCE fabrics, adjustments to the rendezvous methods could enable it
   to run over other RDMA fabrics such as Infiniband and iWarp.

1.1. Summary of changes in this draft

   Significant changes in this architecture since the previous draft:

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   o  Modified the RDMA data transfer protocol to use message passing
      instead of RDMA writes to a dedicated control area to communicate
      control information between peers.

   o  Added MTU and and Packet sequence number to certain messages

   o  Added support for optional LLC messages, to allow for toleration
      of future, optional function.

1.2. Protocol overview

   SMC-R defines the concept of the SMC-R Link, which is a logical
   point-to-point link between TCP/IP stack peers over a RoCE fabric.
   An SMC-R link is bound to a specific hardware path, meaning a
   specific RNIC on each peer. SMC-R links are created and maintained by
   an SMC-R layer, which may reside in kernel or user space depending
   upon operating system and implementation requirements. The SMC-R
   layer resides below the sockets layer and directs data traffic for
   TCP connections between connected peers over the RoCE fabric using
   RDMA rather than over a TCP connection. The TCP/IP stack with its
   fragmentation, packetization, etc. requirements is bypassed and the
   application data is moved between peers using RDMA.

   An SMC-R link manages Remote Memory Buffers (RMBs), which are areas
   of memory that are available for SMC-R peers to write into using RDMA
   writes.  Multiple TCP connections between peers may be multiplexed
   over a single SMC-R link, in which case the SMC-R layer manages the
   partitioning of the RMBs between the TCP connections.  This
   multiplexing reduces the RDMA resources such as queue pairs and RMBs
   that are required to support multiple connections between stack
   peers, and also reduces the processing and delays related to setting
   up queue pairs, pinning memory, and other RDMA setup tasks when new
   TCP connections are created.   In a kernel space SMC-R implementation
   in which the RMBs reside in kernel storage, this sharing and
   optimization works across multiple processes executing on the same
   host.  In a user space SMC-R implementation in which the RMBs reside
   in user space, this sharing and optimization is limited to multiple
   TCP connections created by a single process, as separate RMBs and QPs
   will be required for each process.

   Multiple SMC-R links between the same two TCP/IP stack peers are also
   supported.  If there is redundant hardware, for example two RNICs on
   each peer, separate SMC-R links are created between the peers to
   exploit that redundant hardware. The redundant links are available

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   for load balancing as well as seamless failover. A set of SMC-R links
   that provides redundant connectivity is called a link group.

   SMC-R also introduces a rendezvous protocol that is used to
   dynamically discover the RDMA capabilities of TCP connection partners
   and exchange credentials necessary to exploit that capability if
   present.  TCP connections are set up using the normal TCP 3-way
   handshake, with the addition of a new TCP option that indicates SMC-R
   capability.  If both partners indicate SMC-R capability then at the
   completion of the 3-way TCP handshake the SMC-R layers in each peer
   take control of the TCP connection and use it to exchange additional
   connection level control (CLC) messages to negotiate SMC-R
   credentials such as queue pair (QP) information, addressability over
   the RoCE fabric, RMB buffer sizes, keys and addresses for accessing
   RMBs over RDMA, etc.  If at any time during this negotiation a
   failure or decline occurs, the TCP connection falls back to using the
   IP fabric.

   If the SMC-R negotiation succeeds and either a new SMC-R link is set
   up or an existing SMC-R link is chosen for the TCP connection, then
   the SMC-R layers open the sockets to the applications and the
   applications use the sockets as normal.  The SMC-R layer intercepts
   the socket reads and writes and moves the TCP connection data over
   the SMC-R link, "out of band" to the TCP connection which remains
   open and idle, except for termination flows and possible keepalive
   flows.  Regular TCP sequence numbering methods are used for the TCP
   flows that do occur; data flowing over RDMA does not use or affect
   TCP sequence numbers.

   This architecture does not support fallback of active SMC-R
   connections to IP. Once connection data has completed the switch to
   RDMA, a TCP connection cannot be switched back to IP and will reset
   if RDMA becomes unusable.

   The SMC-R protocol defines the format of the Remote Memory Buffers
   that are used to receive TCP connection data written over RDMA, as
   well as the semantics for managing and writing to these buffers.

   Finally, SMC-R defines link level control (LLC) messages that are
   exchanged over the RoCE fabric between peer SMC-R layers to manage
   the SMC-R links and link groups.  These include messages to test and
   confirm connectivity over an SMC-R link, add and delete SMC-R links
   to or from the link group, and exchange RMB addressability
   information.

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1.3. Definition of common terms

   This section provides definitions of terms that have a specific
   meaning to the SMC-R protocol and are used throughout this document.

   SMC-R link

      An SMC-R Link is a logical point to point connection over the
      RoCE fabric via specific physical adapters (MAC/GID).  The Link
      is formed during the first contact sequence of the TCP/IP 3 way
      handshake sequence that occurs over the IP fabric.  During this
      handshake an RDMA RC-QP connection is formed between the two peer
      SMC hosts and is defined as the SMC Link. The SMC Link can then
      support multiple TCP connections between the two peers.  An SMC
      link is associated with a single VLAN and is not routable.

   SMC-R link group

      An SMC-R Link Group is a group of SMC-R Links typically each over
      unique RoCE adapters between the same two SMC-R peers.  Each link
      in the link group has equal characteristics such as the same VLAN
      ID, access to the same RMB(s) and the same TCP server / client

   SMC-R peer

      The SMC-R Peer stack is the peer software stack within the peer
      Operating System with respect the Shared Memory Communications
      (messaging) protocol.

   SMC-R Rendezvous

      The SMC-R Rendezvous is the SMC-R peer discovery and handshake
      sequence that occurs transparently over the IP (Ethernet) fabric
      during and immediately after the TCP connection 3 way handshake
      by exchanging the SMC capabilities and credentials using
      experimental TCP option and CLC messages.

   TCP Client

      The TCP socket-based peer that initiates a TCP connection

   TCP Server

      The TCP socket-based peer that accepts a TCP connection

   CLC messages

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      The SMC-R protocol defines a set of Connection Layer Control
      Messages that flow over the TCP connection that are used to
      manage SMC link rendezvous at TCP connection setup time. This
      mechanism is analogous to SSL setup messages

   LLC Commands

      The SMC-R protocol defines a set of RoCE Link Layer Control
      Commands that flow over the RoCE fabric using RDMA sendmsg, that
      are used to manage SMC Links, SMC Link Groups and SMC Link Group
      RMB expansion and contraction.

   RMB

      A Remote (RDMA) Memory Buffer is a fixed or pinned buffer
      allocated in each of the peer hosts for a TCP (via SMC-R)
      connection. The RMB is registered to the RNIC and allows remote
      access by the remote stack using RDMA semantics. Each host is
      passed the peer's RMB specific access information (RKey and RMB
      Element offset) during the SMC-R rendezvous process. The host
      stores socket application user data directly into the peer's RMB
      using RDMA over RoCE.

   Rtoken

      The combination of an RMB's Rkey and RDMA virtual addressing, an
      Rtoken provides addressability to an RMB to an RDMA peer

   RMBE

      The Remote Memory Buffer Element is an area of an RMB that is
      allocated to a specific TCP connection.  The RMBE contains data
      for the TCP connection. The RMBE represents the TCP receive
      buffer whereby the remote peer writes into the RMBE and the local
      peer reads from the local RMBE. The alert token resolves to a
      specific RMBE.

   Alert Token

      The SMC-R alert token is a four byte value that uniquely
      identifies the TCP connection over an SMC-R connection.  The
      alert token allows the SMC peer to quickly identify the target
      TCP connection that now has new work. The format of the token is
      defined by the owning SMC-R end point and is considered opaque to
      the remote peer. However the token should not simply an index to
      an RMBE element; it should reference a TCP connection and be able
      to be validated to avoid reading data from stale connections.

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   RNIC

      The RDMA capable Network Interface Card (RNIC) is an Ethernet NIC
      that supports RDMA semantics and verbs using RoCE.

   First Contact

      Describes an SMC-R negotiation to set up the first link in a link
      group

   Subsequent Contact

      Describes an SMC-R negotiation between peers who are using an
      already existing SMC-R link group

2. Link Architecture

   An SMC-R link is based on reliably connected queue pairs (QPs) that
   form a "logical point to point link" between the two SMC-R peers over
   a RoCE fabric. An SMC-R link extends from SMC-R to SMC-R stack, where
   typically each peer stack would reside on separate hosts.

                           ,,.--..,_
    +----+             _-``         `-,           +-----+
    |QP 8|            -   RoCE         ',         |QP 64|
    |    |          /     VLAN M         .        |     |
    +----+--------+/                     \+-------+-----+
     | RNIC 1     |    SMC-R Link         | RNIC 2     |
     |            |<--------------------->|            |
     +------------+ ,                    /+------------+
             MAC A (GID A)             MAC B (GID B)
                      .                .`
                       `',          ,-`
                          ``''--''``

                       Figure 1   SMC-R Link Overview

   Figure 1 illustrates an overview of the basic concepts of SMC-R peer
   to peer connectivity which is called the SMC-R Link. The SMC-R Link
   forms a logical point to point connection between two SMC-R peers via
   RoCE.  The SMC Link is defined and identified by the following
   attributes:

   SMC-R Link = RC QPs (source VMAC GID QP + target VMAC GID QP + VLAN
   ID)

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   The SMC-R Link is associated with a single and specific VLAN. VLAN
   exploitation is required for SMC-R as it is a key isolation attribute
   of this architecture.  The RoCE fabric is the same physical fabric
   used for standard TCP/IP over Ethernet communications, with Converged
   Enhanced Ethernet (CEE_enabled) switches.

   An SMC-R Link is designed to support multiple TCP connections between
   the same two peers.  An SMC Link is intended to be long lived while
   the underlying TCP connections can dynamically come and go.  The
   associated RMBs can also be dynamically added and removed from the
   link as needed. The first TCP connection between the peers
   establishes the SMC-R link. Subsequent TCP connections then use the
   previously established link. When the last TCP connection terminates
   the link can then be terminated, typically after an implementation
   defined idle time-out period has elapsed.  The TCP server is
   responsible for initiating and terminating the SMC Link.

2.1. Remote Memory Buffers (RMBs)

   Figure 2 shows the hosts X and Y and their associated RMBs within
   each host. With the SMC-R link and the associated RMB keys (Rkeys)and
   RDMA virtual addresses each SMC stack can remotely access its peer's
   RMBs using RDMA. The RKeys and virtual addresses are exchanged during
   the rendezvous processing when the link is established.   The
   combination of the Rkey and the virtual address is the Rtoken. Note
   that the SMC-R Link ends at the QP providing access to the RMB (via
   the Link + RToken).

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         Host X                                     Host Y
    +-------------------+        ,.--.,_       +-------------------+
    |                   |     .'`       '.     |                   |
    | Protection        |   ,'            `,   |    Protection     |
    | Domain X          |  /                \  |    Domain Y       |
    |            +------+ /                  \ +------+            |
    |       QP 8 |RNIC 1| |   SMC-R Link     | |RNIC 2| QP 64      |
    |        |   |      |<-------------------->|      |   |        |
    |        |   |      ||                    ||      |   |        |
    |        |   +------+|    VLAN A          |+------+   |        |
    |        |          ||                    ||          |        |
    |        |          | |   RoCE           | |          |        |
    |        |RTokenX)  | \                  / |RToken (Y)|        |
    |        |          |  \                /  |          |        |
    |        V          |   `.            ,'   |          V        |
    | +--------+        |     '._       ,'     |        +--------+ |
    | |        |        |        `''-'``       |        |        | |
    | | RMB    |        |                      |        | RMB    | |
    | |        |        |                      |        |        | |
    | +--------+        |                      |        +--------+ |
    +-------------------+                      +-------------------+
                        Figure 2   SMC link and RMBs

   An SMC-R link can support multiple RMBs which are independently
   managed by each peer. The number of and the size of RMBs are managed
   by the peers based on host unique memory management requirements. The
   QP has a single protection domain, but each RMB has a unique RToken.
   All RTokens must be exchanged with the peer.

   Each peer manages the RMBs in its local memory for its remote SMC-R
   peer by sharing access to the RMBs via Rtokens with its peers.  The
   remote peer writes into the RMBs via RDMA and the local peer (RMB
   owner) then reads from the RMBs.

   When two peers decide to use SMC-R for a given TCP connection, they
   each allocate a local RMB Element for the TCP connection and
   communicate the location of this local RMB Element during rendezvous
   processing. To that end, RMB elements are created in pairs, with one
   RMB element allocated locally on each peer of the SMC-R link.

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               ---  +-----------+----------------+
               /\   |Eyecatcher |                |
                |   +-----------+                |
                |   |                            |
      RMB Element 1 |                            |
                |   |   Receive Buffer           |
                |   |                            |
                |   |                            |
               \/   |                            |
               ---  +-----------+----------------+
               /\   |Eyecather  |                |
                |   +-----------+                |
                |   |                            |
      RMB Element 2 |                            |
                |   |   Receive Buffer           |
                |   |                            |
                |   |                            |
               \/   |                            |
               ---  +----------------------------+
                    |           .                |
                    |           .                |
                    |           .                |
                    |           .                |
                    |    (up to 255 elements)    |
                    +----------------------------+
                           Figure 3   RMB Format

   Figure 3 illustrates the basic format of an RMB. The RMB is a
   contiguous block of pinned memory that can support up to 255 TCP
   connections to exactly one remote SMC-R peer. Each RMB is therefore
   associated with the SMC-R links for the two peers and a specific RoCE
   Protection Domain. Other than the 2 peers identified by the SMC-R
   link no other SMC-R peers can have RDMA access to an RMB; this
   requires a unique Protection Domain for every SMC-R Link. This is
   critical to ensure integrity of SMC-R communications.

   RMBs are allocated with multiple entries for efficiency; multiple TCP
   connections across an SMC link can share the same memory for RDMA
   purposes, reducing the overhead of having to register additional
   memory with the RNIC for every new TCP connection. The number of
   entries in an RMB and the size of each RMB Element is entirely
   governed by the owning peer subject to the SMC-R architecture rules.
   Each peer can decide the level of resource sharing that is desirable
   across TCP connections based on local constraints such as available

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   system memory, etc. Each RMB supports multiple RMB Elements, one per
   TCP connection; however, all RMB elements within a given RMB must
   have the same size. An RMB Element is identified to the remote SMC-R
   peer via an RMB Element Token which consists of the following:

   o  RMB RToken: The combination of the Rkey and virtual address
      provided by the RNIC that identifies the start of the RMB for RDMA
      operations.

   o  RMB Index: Identifies the RMB element index in the RMB. Used to
      locate a specific RMB element within an RMB. Valid value range is
      1-255.

   o  RMB element length: The length of the RMB element's control area
      plus the length of receive buffer.  This length is equal for all
      RMB elements in a given RMB.  This length can be variable across
      different RMBs.

   Multiple RMBs can be associated to an SMC-R link and each peer in an
   SMC-R link manages allocation of its RMBs. RMB allocation can be
   asymmetric.  For example, server X can allocate 2 RMBs to an SMC-R
   link while server Y allocates 5.  This provides maximum
   implementation flexibility to allow hosts optimize RMB management for
   their own local requirements.

   One use case for multiple RMBs is multiple receive buffer sizes.
   Since every element in an RMB must be the same size, multiple RMBs
   with different element sizes can be allocated if varying receive
   buffer sizes are required.

   Also since the maximum number of TCP connections whose receive
   buffers can be allocated to an RMB is 255, multiple RMBs may be
   required to provide capacity for large numbers of TCP connections
   between two peers.

   Separately from the RMB, the stack that owns each RMB maintains
   control data for each RMB element within its local control
   structures.  The control data contains flags for maintaining the
   state of the TCP data (for example, urgent indicator) and most
   importantly, two cursors which are illustrated in Figure 4:

   o  The peer producer cursor:  This is a wrapping offset into the RMB
      element's receive buffer that points to the next byte of data to
      be written by the peer.  This cursor is provided by the peer using
      RDMA message passing, and tells the local stack how far it can
      consume data in the RMBE write buffer.

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   o  The peer consumer cursor:  This is a wrapping offset into the
      peer's RMB element's receive buffer that points to the next byte
      of data to be consumed by the peer in its own RMBE. This stack
      cannot write into the peer's  RMBE beyond this point without
      causing data loss. This cursor is also provided by the peer using
      RDMA message passing.

   Each TCP connection peer maintains its cursors for a TCP connection's
   RMBE in its local control structures.  In other words, the stack who
   writes into a peer's RMBE provides its producer cursor to the peer
   whose RMB it has written into.  The stack who reads from its RMBE
   provides its consumer cursor to the writing peer.  In this manner the
   reads and writes between peers are kept coordinated.

   For example, referring to Figure 4, peer B writes the hashed data
   into the receive buffer of peer A's RMBE.  After that write
   completes, peer B uses RDMA message passing to update its producer
   cursor to peer A, to indicate to peer A how much data is available
   for peer A to consume.  The RDMA message that peer B sends to peer A
   wakes up peer A and notifies it that there is data to be consumed.

   Similarly, when peer A consumes data written by peer B, it uses an
   RDMA message to update its consumer cursor to peer B to let peer B
   know how much data it has consumed, so peer B knows how much space is
   available for further writes.  If peer B were to write enough data to
   peer A that it would wrap the RMBE receive buffer and exceed the
   consumer cursor, data loss would result.

   Note that this is a simplistic description of the control flows and
                                                                             Delet        they are optimized to minimize the number of RDMA control messages
   required, as described in 4                                  ..6. RMB data flows.

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      Peer A's RMBE Control Info            Peer B's RMBE Control Info
     +--------------------------+          +--------------------------+
     |                          |          |                          |
      /----Peer producer cursor |    +-----+-Peer consumer cursor     |
    /|                          |    |     |                          |
   | +--------------------------+    |     +--------------------------+
   |  Peer A's RMBE                  |
   | +--------------------------+    |
   | |            +------------------+
   | |            |             |
   | |            \/            |
   | |             +------------|
   | |-------------+/////////// |
   | |//RMA data written by /// |
   | |/// peer B that is ////// |
   | |/available to be consumed/|
   | |///////////////////////// |
   | |///////// +---------------|
   | |----------+/\             |
   | |            |             |
    \|            |             |
     \           /              |
     |\---------/               |
     |                          |
     |                          |
                           Figure 4  RMBE cursors

   Additional flags and indicators are communicated between peers. In
   all cases, these flags and indicators are updated by the peer using
   RDMA message passing with the control information contained in inline
                                                                             Delet        data.  More details on these additional flags and indicators are
   described in .                     4.3. RMBE control information.

2.2. SMC-R Link groups

   SMC-R links are be logically grouped together to form an SMC-R Link
   Group. The purpose of the Link Group is for supporting multiple links
   between the same two peers to provide for:

   o  Resilience: Provides transparent and dynamic switching of the link
      used by existing TCP connections during link failures, typically
      hardware related. TCP traffic using the failing link can be
      switched to an active link within the link group avoiding
      disruptions to application workloads.

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   o  Link utilization: Provides an active/active link usage model
      allowing TCP traffic to be balanced across the links, which
      increases bandwidth and avoids hardware imbalances and
      bottlenecks.  Note that both adapter and switch utilization can
      become potential resource constraint issues

   SMC-R Link Group support is required. Resilience is not optional.

   Multiple links that are formed between the same two peers fall into
   two distinct categories:

     1. Equal Links: Links providing equal access to the same RMB(s) at
        both endpoints whereby all TCP connections associated with the
        links must have the same VLAN ID and have the same TCP server
        and TCP client roles or relationship.

     2. Unequal Links: Links providing access to unique, unrelated and
        isolated RMB(s) (i.e. for unique VLANs or unique and isolated
        application workloads, etc.) or have unique TCP server or client
        roles.

   Links that are logically grouped together forming an SMC Link Group
   must be equal links.

2.2.1. Link types

   Equal links within a link group also have another "Link Type"
   attribute based on the link's associated underlying physical path.
   The following SMC-R link types are defined:

     1. Single Link: the only active link within a link group

     2. Parallel Link: not allowed - SMC Links having the same physical
        RNIC at both hosts

     3. Asymmetric Link: links that have unique RNIC adapters at one
        host but share a single adapter at the peer host

     4. Symmetric Link:  links that have unique RNIC adapters at both
        hosts

   These link types are further explained in the following figures and
   descriptions.

   Figure 2 above shows the single link case. The single link
   illustrated in Figure 2 also establishes the SMC-R Link Group. Link
   groups are supposed to have multiple links, but when only one RNIC is

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   available at both hosts then only a single link can be created. This
   is expected to be a transient case.

   Figure 5 shows the symmetric link case. Both hosts have unique and
   redundant RNIC adapters. This configuration meets the objectives for
   providing full RoCE redundancy required to provide the level of
   resilience required for high availability for SMC-R. While this
   configuration is not required, it is a strongly recommended "best
   practice" for the exploitation of SMC-R.  Single and asymmetric links
   must be supported but are intended to provide for short term
   transient conditions, for example during a temporary outage or
   recycle of a RNIC.

         Host X                                     Host Y
    +-------------------+                      +-------------------+
    |                   |                      |                   |
    | Protection        |                      |    Protection     |
    | Domain X          |                      |    Domain Y       |
    |            +------+                      +------+            |
    |       QP 8 |RNIC 1|     SMC-R Link 1     |RNIC 2| QP 64      |
    |RToken X|   |      |<-------------------->|      |   |        |
    |        |   |      |                      |      |   |RToken Y|
    |       \/   +------+                      +------+  \/        |
    |+--------+         |                      |        +--------+ |
    ||        |         |                      |        |        | |
    || RMB    |         |                      |        | RMB    | |
    ||        |         |                      |        |        | |
    |+--------+         |                      |        +--------+ |
    |       /\   +------+                      +------+  /\        |
    |RToken Z|   |      |     SMC-R Link 2     |      |   |RToken W|
    |        |   |RNIC 3|<-------------------->|RNIC 4|   |        |
    |       QP 9 |      |                      |      | QP 65      |
    |            +------+                      +------+            |
    +-------------------+                      +-------------------+
                      Figure 5  Symmetric SMC-R links

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         Host X                                     Host Y
    +-------------------+                      +-------------------+
    |                   |                      |                   |
    | Protection        |                      |    Protection     |
    | Domain X          |                      |    Domain Y       |
    |            +------+                      +------+            |
    |       QP 8 |RNIC 1|     SMC-R Link 1     |RNIC 2| QP 64      |
    |RToken X|   |      |<-------------------->|      |   |        |
    |        |   |      |                   .->|      |   |RToken Y|
    |       \/   +------+                 .`   +------+  \/        |
    |+--------+         |               .`     |        +--------+ |
    ||        |         |             .`       |        |        | |
    || RMB    |         |           .`         |        | RMB    | |
    ||        |         |         .`SMC-R      |        |        | |
    |+--------+         |       .` Link 2      |        +--------+ |
    |       /\   +------+     .`               +------+            |
    |Rtoken Z|   |      |   .`                 |      |down or     |
    |        |   |RNIC 3|<-`                   |RNIC 4|unavailable |
    |       QP 9 |      |                      |      |            |
    |            +------+                      +------+            |
    +-------------------+                      +-------------------+
                      Figure 6  Asymmetric SMC-R links

   In the example provided by Figure 6, host X has two RNICs but Host Y
   only has one RNIC. This configuration allows for the creation of an
   asymmetric link. While an asymmetric link will provide some
   resilience (i.e. when RNIC 1 fails) ideally each host should provide
   two redundant RNICs.  This should be a transient case, and when RNIC
   4 becomes available, this configuration must transition to a
   symmetric link configuration.

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         Host X                                     Host Y
    +-------------------+                      +-------------------+
    |                   |                      |                   |
    | Protection        |                      |    Protection     |
    | Domain X          |                      |    Domain Y       |
    |            +------+  SMC-R link 1        +------+            |
    |       QP 8 |RNIC 1|<-------------------->|RNIC 2| QP 64      |
    |RToken X|   |      |                      |      |   |        |
    |        |   |      |<-------------------->|      |   |Rtoken Y|
    |       \/   +------+  SMC-R link 2        +------+  \/        |
    |+--------+   QP 9  |                      | QP 65  +--------+ |
    ||        |    |    |                      |  |     |        | |
    || RMB    |<-- +    |                      |  +---->| RMB    | |
    ||        |         |                      |        |        | |
    |+--------+         |                      |        +--------+ |
    |            +------+                      +------+            |
    |     down or|      |                      |      |down or     |
    |  unavailale|RNIC 3|                      |RNIC 4|unavailable |
    |            |      |                      |      |            |
    |            +------+                      +------+            |
    +-------------------+                      +-------------------+
               Figure 7  SMC-R parallel links (not supported)

   Figure 7 shows parallel links, which are two links in the link group
   that use the same hardware.  This configuration is not permitted.
   Because SMC-R multiplexes multiple TCP connections over an SMC-R link
   and both links are using the exact same hardware, there is no
   additional redundancy or capacity benefit obtained from this
   configuration.  However this configuration does add unnecessary
   overhead of additional queue pairs, generation of additional Rkeys,
   etc.

2.2.2. Maximum number of links in link group

   The SMC-R protocol defines a maximum of 8 symmetric SMC-R links
   within a single SMC-R link group.  This allows for support for up to
   8 unique physical paths between peer hosts.  However, in terms of
   meeting the basic requirements for redundancy support for at least 2
   symmetric links must be implemented.    Supporting greater than 2
   links also simplifies implementation for practical matters relating
   to dynamically adding and removing links, for example starting a
   third SMC-R link prior to taking down one of the two existing links.
   Recall that all links within a link group must have equal access to
   all associated RMBs.

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   The SMC-R protocol allows an implementation to implement an
   implementation specific and appropriate value for maximum symmetric
   links. The implementation value must not exceed the architecture
   limit of 8 and the implementation must not be lower than 2, because
   the SMC-R protocol requires redundancy.  This does not mean that two
   RNICs are physically required to enable SMC-R connectivity, but at
   least two RNICs for redundancy are strongly recommended.

   The SMC-R stacks exchange their implementation maximum link values
   during the link group establishment using the defined maximum link
   value in the CONFIRM LINK LLC command.  Once the initial exchange
   completes the value is set for the life of the link group. The
   maximum link value can be provided by both the server and client. The
   server must supply a value, whereas the client maximum link value is
   optional. When the client does not supply a value, it indicates that
   the client accepts the server supplied maximum value. If the client
   provides a value it can not exceed the server maximum value. If the
   client passes a lower value then this lower value then becomes the
   final negotiated maximum number of symmetric links for this link
   group.  Again, the minimum value is 2.

   During run time the client must never request that the server add a
   symmetric link to a link group that would exceed the negotiated
   maximum link value. Likewise the server must never attempt to add a
   symmetric link to a link group that would exceed the negotiated
   maximum value.

   In terms of counting the active link count within a link group, the
   initial link (or the only / last) link is always counted as 1. Then
   as additional links are added they are either symmetric or asymmetric
   links.

   With regards to enforcing the maximum link rules, asymmetric links
   are an exception having a unique set of rules:

   o  Asymmetric links are always limited to one asymmetric link allowed
      per link group

   o  Asymmetric links must not be counted in the maximum symmetric link
      count calculation.  When tracking the current count or enforcing
      the negotiated maximum number of links, an asymmetric link is not
      to be counted

2.2.3. Forming and managing link groups

   SMC-R link groups are self-defining.  The first SMC-R link in a link
   group is created using TCP option flows on the TCP three-way

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   handshake followed by CLC message flows over the TCP connection.
   Subsequent SMC-R links in the link group are created by sending LLC
   messages over an SMC-R link that already exists in the link group.
   Once an SMC-R link group is created, no additional SMC-R links in
   that group are created using TCP and CLC negotiation. Because
   subsequent SMC-R links are created exclusively by sending LLC
   messages over an existing SMC-R link in a link group, the membership
   of SMC-R links to a link group is self-defining.

   This architecture does not define a specific identifier for an SMC-R
   link group.  This identification may be useful for network management
   and may be assigned in a platform specific manner, or in an extension
   to this architecture.

   In each SMC-R link group, one peer is the server for all TCP
   connections and the other peer is the client.  If there are
   additional TCP connections between the peers that use SMC-R and have
   the client and server roles reversed, another SMC-R link group is set
   up between them with the opposite client-server relationship.

   This is required because there are specific responsibilities divided
   between the client and server in the management of an SMC-R link
   group.

   In this architecture, the following decision of whether or not to use
   an existing SMC-R link group or create a new SMC-R link group for a
   TCP connection is made exclusively by the server

   Management of the links in an SMC-R link group is also a server
   responsibility.  The server is responsible for adding and deleting
   links in a link group.  The client may request that the server take
   certain actions but the final responsibility is the server's.

2.2.4. SMC-R link identifiers

   This architecture defines multiple identifiers to identify SMC-R
   links and peers.

   o  Link number:  This is a one-byte value that identifies an SMC-R
      link within a link group.  Both the server and the client use this
      number to distinguish an SMC-R link from other links within the
      same link group. It is only unique within a link group.

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   o  Link User ID: This is an architecturally opaque four byte value
      that a peer uses to uniquely define an SMC-R link within its own
      space.  This means that a link user ID is unique within one stack
      only.  Each peer defines its own link user ID for a link.  The
      peers exchange this information once during link setup and it is
      never used architecturally again.  The purpose of this identifier
      is for network management, display, and debugging purposes.  For
      example an operator on a client could provide the operator on the
      server with the server's link user ID if he requires the server's
      operator to check on the operation of a link that the client is
      having trouble with.

   o  Peer ID: The SMC-R peer ID uniquely identifies a specific instance
      of a specific stack.  It is required because in clustered and load
      balancing environments, an IP address does not uniquely identify a
      stack.  An RNIC's MAC/GID also doesn't uniquely or reliably
      identify a stack because RNICs can go up and down and even be
      redeployed to other stacks in a multiple partitioned or
      virtualized environment.  The peer ID is not only unique per stack
      but is also unique per instance of a stack, meaning that if a
      stack is restarted, its peer ID changes.

2.3. SMC-R resilience and load balancing

   The SMC-R multi-link architecture provides resilience for network
   high availability via failover capability to an alternate RoCE
   adapter.

   The SMC-R multilink architecture does not define primary, secondary
   or alternate roles to the links. Instead there are multiple active
   links representing multiple redundant RoCE paths over the same VLAN.

   If a hardware failure occurs or a QP failure associated with an
   individual link, then the TCP connections that were associated with
   the failing link are be dynamically and transparently switched to use
   another available link.  The server or the client can detect a
   failure and immediately move their TCP connections and then notify
   their peer via the DELETE LINK LLC command.  The server must perform
   the actual link deletion.

   The movement of TCP connections to another link can be accomplished
   without notifying or coordinating with the peer. The TCP connection

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   movement is also transparent to and non disruptive to the TCP socket
   application workloads.  After a failure, the surviving links and all
   associated hardware must handle the link group's workload.

   As each SMC-R stack begins to move active TCP connections to another
   link all current RDMA write operations must be allowed to complete
   and then may be retried over the new link if the previously completed
   RDMA write operation did not successfully complete.

   When a new link becomes available and is re-added to the link group
   then each stack is free to rebalance its current TCP connections as
   needed or only assign new TCP connections to the newly added link.
   Both the server and client are free to manage TCP connections across
   the link group as needed.  TCP connection movement does not have to
   stimulated by a link failure.

   The SMC-R architecture also defines orderly vs. disorderly failover.
   The type is communicated in the LLC Delete Link command and is simply
   a means to indicate that the link has terminated (disorderly) or link
   termination is imminent (orderly).  The orderly link deletion could
   be initiated via operator command or programmatically to bring down
   an idle link.  For example an operator command could initiate orderly
   shut down of an adapter for service.  Implementation of the two types
   is based on implementation requirements and is beyond the scope of
   the SMC-R architecture.

3. SMC-R Rendezvous architecture

   Rendezvous is the process that SMC-R capable peers use to dynamically
   discover each others' capabilities, negotiate SMC-R connections, set
   up SMC-R links and link groups, and manage those link groups.  A key
   aspect of SMC-R rendezvous is that it occurs dynamically and
   automatically, without requiring SMC link configuration to be defined
   by an administrator.

   SMC-R Rendezvous starts with the TCP/IP three-way handshake during
   which connection peers use TCP options to announce their SMC-R
   capabilities.  If both endpoints are SMC-R capable, then Connection
   Layer Control (CLC) messages are exchanged between the peers' SMC-R
   layers over the newly established TCP connection to negotiate SMC-R
   credentials.  The CLC message mechanism is analogous to the messages
   exchanged by SSL.

   If a new SMC-R link is being set up, Link Layer Control (LLC)
   messages are used to confirm RDMA connectivity.  LLC messages are

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   also used by the SMC-R layers at each peer to manage the links and
   link groups.

   Once an SMC-R link is set up or agreed to by the peers, the TCP
   sockets are passed to the peer applications which use them as normal.
   The SMC-R layer, which resides under the sockets layer, transmits the
   socket data between peers over RDMA using the SMC-R protocol,
   bypassing the TCP/IP stack.

3.1. TCP options

   During the TCP/IP three-way handshake, the client and server indicate
   their support for SMC-R by including experimental TCP option 253 on
   the three-way handshake flows, in accordance with draft-ietf-tcpm-
   experimental-options-01.txt.  The magic number value used is the
   string 'SMCR' in EBCDIC (IBM-1047) encoding (0xE2D4C3D9).

   After completion of the 3-way TCP handshake each peer queries its
   peer's options.  If both peers set the TCP option on the three-way
   handshake, inline SMC-R negotiation occurs using CLC messages.  If
   neither peer or only one peer set the TCP option, SMC-R cannot be
   used for the TCP connection, and the TCP connection completes setup
   using the IP fabric.

3.2. Connection Layer Control (CLC) messages

   CLC messages are sent as data payload over the newly opened TCP
   connection between SMC-R layers at the peers.  They are analogous to
   the messages used to exchange parameters for SSL.

   Use of CLC messages is detailed in the following sections.  The
   following list provides a summary of the defined CLC messages and
   their purposes:

   o  SMC PROPOSAL: Sent from the client to propose that this TCP
      connection is eligible to be moved to SMC-R. The client identifies
      itself and its subnet to the server and passes the SMC-R elements
      for a suggested RoCE path via the MAC and GID.

   o  SMC ACCEPT: Sent from the server to accept the client's TCP
      connection SMC proposal.  The server responds to the client's
      proposal by identifying itself to the client and passing the
      elements of a RoCE path that the client can use to to perform RDMA
      writes to the server. This consists of SMC-R ink elements such as
      RoCE MAC, GID, RMB information etc.

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   o  SMC CONFIRM: Sent from the client to confirm the server's
      acceptance of SMC connection. The client responds to the server's
      acceptance by passing the elements of a RoCE path that the server
      can use to to perform RDMA writes to the client. This consists of
      SMC-R ink elements such as RoCE MAC, GID, RMB information etc.

   o  SMC DECLINE: Sent from either the server or the client to reject
      the SMC connection, indicating the reason the peer must decline
      the SMC proposal and allowing the TCP connection to revert back to
      IP connectivity.

3.3. LLC messages

   Link Layer Control (LLC) messages are sent between peer SMC-R layers
   over an SMC-R link to manage the link or the link group.  LLC
   messages are sent using RoCE sendmsg with inline data and are 44
   bytes long.  The 44 bytes size is based on what can fit into a RoCE
   Work Queue Element (WQE) without requiring the posting of receive
   buffers.

   LLC messages generally follow a request-reply semantic.  Each message
   has a request flavor and a reply flavor, and each request must be
   confirmed with a reply, except where otherwise noted.  Use of LLC
   messages is detailed in the following sections.  The following list
   provides a summary of the defined LLC messages and their purposes:

   o  ADD LINK: Add a new link to a link group. Sent from the server to
      the client to initiate addition of a new link to the link group,
      or from the client to the server to request that the server
      initiate addition of a new link.

   o  ADD LINK CONTINUATION: This is a continuation of ADD link that
      allows the ADD link to span multiple commands, because all the
      link information cannot be contained in a single ADD LINK message

   o  CONFIRM LINK: Used to confirm that RoCE connectivity over a newly
      created SMC-R link is working correctly.  Initiated by the server,
      and both this message and its reply must flow over the SMC-R link
      being confirmed.

   o  DELETE LINK: When initiated by the server, deletes a specific link
      from the link group or deletes the entire link group. When
      initiated by the client, requests that the server delete a
      specific link or the entire link group.

   o  CONFIRM RKEY: Informs the peer on the SMC-R link of the addition
      or deletion of one or more RMBs in the link group

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   o  TEST LINK: Verifies that an already-active SMC-R link is active
      and healthy

   o  Optional LLC message: Any LLC message in which the two high order
      bits of the opcode are b'10' is an optional message and must be
      silently discarded by a receiving peer that does not support the
      opcode.  No such messages are defined in this version of the
      architecture, however the concept is defined to allow for
      toleration of possible advanced, optional functions.

   CONFIRM LINK and TEST LINK are sensitive to which link they flow on
   and must flow on the link being confirmed or tested.  The other flows
   may flow over any active link in the link group.  When there are
   multiple links in a link group, a response to an LLC message must
   flow over the same link that the original message flowed over, with
   the following exceptions:

   o  ADD LINK request from a server in response to an ADD LINK from a
      client

   o  DELETE LINK request from a server in response to a DELETE LINK
      from a client

3.4. Rendezvous flows

   Rendezvous information for SMC-R is be exchanged as TCP options on
   the TCP 3-way handshake flows to indicate capability, followed by in-
   line TCP negotiation messages to actually do the SMC-R setup. Formats
   of all rendezvous options and messages discussed in this section are
   detailed in Appendix A.

3.4.1. First contact

   First contact between RoCE peers occurs when a new SMC-R link group
   is being set up.  This could be because no SMC-R links already exist
   between the peers, or the server decides to create a new SMC-R link
   group in parallel with an existing one.

3.4.1.1. TCP Options pre-negotiation

   The client and server indicate their SMC-R capability to each other
   using TCP option 253 on the TCP 3-way handshake flows.

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   A client who wishes to do SMC-R will include TCP option 253 using a
   magic number equal to the EBCDIC (codepage IBM-1047) encoding of
   "SMCR" on its SYN flow.

   A server that supports SMC-R will include TCP option 253 with the
   magic number value of EBCDIC "SMCR" on its SYN-ACK flow.  Because the
   server is listening for connections and does not know where client
   connections will come from, the server unconditionally includes this
   TCP option if it supports SMC-R.   This may be required for servers
   such as Linux where proprietary extensions to the TCP stack are not
   practical.  For proprietary servers which can add code to examine and
   react to packets during the three-way handshake, the server should
   only include the SMC-R TCP option on SYN-ACK if the client included
   it on its SYN packet.

   A client who supports SMC-R and meets the three conditions outlined
   above may optionally include the TCP option for SMC-R on its ACK
   flow, regardless of whether or not the server included it on its SYN-
   ACK flow.  Some stacks may have to include it if the SMC-R layer
   cannot modify the options on the socket until the 3-way handshake
   completes.  Proprietary servers should not include this option on the
   ACK flow, since including it on the SYN flow was sufficient to
   indicate the client's capabilities.

   Once the initial three-way TCP handshake is completed, each peer
   examines the socket options.  Proprietary stacks may do this by
   examining what was actually provided on the SYN and SYN-ACK packets,
   and open stacks may do this by performing a getsockopt() operation to
   determine the options set by the peer. If neither peer, or only one
   peer, specified the TCP option for SMC-R, then SMC-R cannot be used
   on this connection and it proceeds using normal IP flows and
   processing.

   If both peers specified the TCP option for SMC-R, then the TCP
   connection is not started yet and the peers proceed to SMC-R
   negotiation using inline data flows, similar to the SSL negotiation
   model.  The socket is not yet turned over to the applications;
   instead the respective SMC layers exchange CLC messages over the
   newly formed TCP connection.

3.4.1.2. Client Proposal

   If SMC-R is supported by both peers, the client sends an SMC Proposal
   CLC message to the server. On this flow from client to server it is
   not immediately apparent if this is a new or existing SMC-R link
   because in clustered environments a single IP address may represent
   multiple hosts. This type of cluster virtual IP address can be owned

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   by a network based or host based layer 4 load balancer that
   distributes incoming TCP connections across a cluster of
   servers/hosts. Other clustered environments may also support the
   movement of a virtual IP address dynamically from one host in the
   cluster to another for high availability purposes.  In summary, the
   client can not pre-determine that a connection is targeting the same
   host simply by matching the destination IP address for outgoing TCP
   connections. Therefore it cannot pre-determine the SMC-R link that
   will be used for a new TCP connection.   This information will be
   dynamically learned and the appropriate actions will be taken as the
   SMC-R negotiation handshake unfolds.

   On the SMC-R proposal message, the initiator (client) proposes use of
   SMC-R by including its peer ID and GID and MAC addresses, as well as
   the IP subnet number of the outgoing interface (if IPv4) or the IP
   prefix list for the network that the proposal is sent over (if IPv6).
   At this point in the flow, the client makes no local commitments of
   resources for SMC-R.

   When the server receives the SMC Proposal CLC message, it uses the
   peer ID provided by the client plus subnet or prefix information
   provided by the client, to determine if it already has a usable SMC-R
   link with this SMC-R peer.  If there is one or more existing SMC-R
   links with this SMC-R peer, the server then decides which SMC link it
   will use for this TCP connection.   See subsequent sections for the
   cases of reusing an existing SMC-R link or creating a parallel SMC
   link group between SMC-R peers.

   If this is a first contact between SMC-R peers and the server must
   validate that it is on the same VLAN as the client before continuing.
   For IPv4, the server does this by verifying that it has an interface
   with an IP subnet number that matches the subnet number set by the
   client on the SMC Proposal.  For IPv6 it does this by verifying that
   it is directly attached to at least one IP prefix that was listed by
   the client in its SMC Proposal message.

   If server agrees to use SMC-R, the server begins setup of a new SMC-R
   link by allocating local QP and RMB resources (setting its QP state
   to INIT) and providing its full SMC-R information in an SMC Accept
   CLC message to the client over the TCP connection, along with a flag
   set indicating that this is a first contact flow.   If the server
   cannot or does not want to do SMC-R with the client it sends an SMC
   Decline CLC message to the client and the connection data may begin
   flowing using normal TCP/IP flows.

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3.4.1.3. Server acceptance

   When the client receives the SMC Accept from the server, it uses the
   combination of the first contact flag, its GID/MAC and the GID/MAC
   returned by the server plus the VLAN that the connection is setting
   up over and the QP number provided by the server to determine if this
   is a new or existing SMC-R link.

   If it is an existing SMC-R link, and the client agrees to use that
                                                                             Delet        link for the TCP connection, see 3                                         ..4.2. Subsequent contact below.  If
   it is a new SMC-R link between peers that already have an SMC link,
   then the server is starting a new SMC link group.

   Assuming this is either a first contact between peers or the server
   is starting a new SMC link group, the client now allocates local QP
   and RMB resources for the SMC-R link (setting the QP state to RTR or
   "ready to receive"), associates them with the server QP as learned on
   the SMC Accept CLC message,  and sends an SMC Confirm CLC message to
   the server over the TCP connection with its SMC-R link information
   included.  The client also starts a timer to wait for the server to
   confirm the reliable connected QP as described below.

3.4.1.4. Client confirmation

   Upon receipt of the client's SMC Confirm CLC message, the server
   associates its QP for this SMC-R link with the client's QP as learned
   on the SMC Confirm CLC message and sets its QP state to RTS (ready to
   send).   Now the client and the server have reliable connected QPs.

3.4.1.5. Link (QP) confirmation

   Since setting up the SMC-R link and its QPs did not require any
   network flows on the RoCE fabric, the client and server must now
   confirm connectivity over the RoCE fabric.  To accomplish this, the
   server will send a "Confirm Link" Link Layer Control (LLC) message to
   the client over the RoCE fabric.  The "Confirm Link" LLC message will
   provide the server's MAC, GID, and QP information for the connection,
   allow each partner to communicate the maximum number of links it can
   tolerate in this link group (the "link limit"), and will additionally
   provide two link IDs:

   o  a one-byte server-assigned Link number that is used by both peers
      to identify the link within the link group and is only unique
      within a link group.

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   o  a four byte link user id.  This opaque value is assigned by the
      server for the server's local use and is provided to the client
      for management purposes, for example to use in network management
      displays and products.

   When the server sends this message, it will set a timer for receiving
   confirmation from the client.

   When the client receives the server's confirmation "Confirm Link" LLC
   message it will cancel the confirmation timer it set when it sent the
   SMC Confirm message.   It will also advance its QP state to RTS and
   respond over the  RoCE fabric with a "Confirm Link" response LLC
   message, providing its MAC, GID, QP number, link limit, confirming
   the one byte link number sent by the server, and providing its own
   four byte link user id to the server.

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      Host X -- Server                           Host Y -- Client
   +-------------------+                      +-------------------+
   | PeerID = PS1      |                      |    PeerID = PC1   |
   |            +------+                      +------+            |
   |       QP 8 |RNIC 1|                      |RNIC 2| QP 64      |
   |RToken X|   |MAC MA|                      |MAC MB|   |        |
   |        |   |GID GA|                      |GID GB|   |Rtoken Y|
   |       \/   +------+      (Subnet S1)     +------+  \/        |
   |+--------+         |                      |        +--------+ |
   || RMB    |         |                      |        | RMB    | |
   |+--------+         |                      |        +--------+ |
   |            +------+                      +------+            |
   |            |RNIC 3|                      |RNIC 4|            |
   |            |MAC MC|                      |MAC MD|            |
   |            |GID GC|                      |GID GD|            |
   |            +------+                      +------+            |
   +-------------------+                      +-------------------+

                     SYN TCP options(253,"SMCR")
        <---------------------------------------------------------

                     SYN-ACK TCP options(253, "SMCR")
        --------------------------------------------------------->

                     ACK [TCP options(254, "SMCR")]
        <--------------------------------------------------------

                    SMC Proposal(PC1,MB,GB,S1)
        <--------------------------------------------------------

      SMC Accept(PS1,first contact,MA,GA,QP8,RToken=X,RMB element index)
        --------------------------------------------------------->

          SMC Confirm(PC1,MB,GB,QP64,RToken=Y, RMB element index)
        <--------------------------------------------------------

     Confirm Link (MA,GA,QP8, link lim, server's link userid, linknum)
        .........................................................>

     Confirm Link Rsp(MB,GB,QP64, link lim, client link userid, linknum)
        <........................................................

                             Legend:
                      ------------   TCP/IP and CLC flows
                      ............   RoCE (LLC) flows

                  Figure 8  First contact rendezvous flows

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   Technically, the data for the TCP connection could now flow over the
   RoCE path. However if this is first contact, there is no alternate
   for this recently established RoCE path.  Since in the current
   architecture there is no failover from RoCE to IP once connection
   data starts flowing, this means that a failure of this path would
   disrupt the TCP connection, meaning that the level of redundancy and
   failover is less than that provided by IP.  If the network has
   alternate RoCE paths available, they would not be usable at this
   point, which is an unacceptable condition

3.4.1.6. Second SMC-R link setup

   Because of the unacceptable situation described above, TCP data will
   not be allowed to flow on the newly established SMC-R link until a
   second path has been set up, or at least attempted.

   If the server has a second RNIC available on the same VLAN, it
   attempts to set up the second SMC-R link over that second RNIC.  If
   it only has one RNIC available on the VLAN, it will attempt to set up
   the second SMC-R link over that one RNIC.  In the latter case, the
   server is attempting to set up an asymmetric link, in case the client
   does have a second RNIC on the VLAN.

   In either case the server allocates a new QP over the RNIC it is
   attempting to use for the second link, assigns a link number to the
   new link and also creates an RToken for the RMB over this second QP
   (note that this means that the first and second QP each has its own
   RToken to represent the same RMB).   The server provides this
   information, as well as the MAC and GID of the RNIC it is attempting
   set up the second link over in an "Add Link" LLC message which it
   sends to the client over the SMC-R link that is already set up.

3.4.1.6.1. Client processing of "Add Link" LLC message from server

   When the client receives the server's "Add Link" LLC message, it
   examines the GID and MAC provided by the server to determine if the
   server is attempting to use the same server-side RNIC as the existing
   SMC-R link, or a different one.

   If the server is attempting to use the same server-side RNIC as the
   existing SMC-R link, then the client verifies that it has a second
   RNIC on the same VLAN.  If it does not, the client rejects the "Add
   Link" request from the server, because the resulting link would be a
   parallel link which is not supported within a link group.  If the
   client does have a second RNIC on the same VLAN, it accepts the
   request and an asymmetric link will be set up.

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   If the server is using a different server-side RNIC from the existing
   SMC-R link then the client will accept the request and a second SMC-R
   link will set up in this SMC-R link group.  If the client has a
   second RNIC on the same VLAN, that second RNIC will be used for the
   second SMC-R link, creating symmetric links.  If the client does not
   have a second RNIC on the same VLAN, it will use the same RNIC as was
   used for the initial SMC-R link, resulting in the setup of an
   asymmetric link in the SMC-R link group.

   In either case, when the client accepts the server's "Add Link"
   request, it allocates a new QP on the chosen RNIC and creates an Rkey
   over that new QP for the client-side RMB for the SMC link group, then
   sends an "Add Link" reply LLC message to the server providing that
   information as well as echoing the Link number that was set by the
   server.

   If the client rejects the server's "Add Link" request, it sends an
   "Add Link" reply LLC message to the server with the reason code for
   the rejection.

3.4.1.6.2. Server processing of "Add Link" reply LLC message from the
   client

   If the client sends a negative response to the server or no reply is
   received, the server frees the RoCE resources it had allocated for
   the new link.  Having a single link in an SMC-R link group is
                                                                             Delet        undesirable and the server's recovery is detailed in .                                                             C.8. Failure to
   add second SMC-R link to a link group.

   If the client sends a positive reply to the server with
   MAC/GID/QP/Rkey information, the server associates its QP for the new
   SMC-R link to the QP that the client provided.   Now the new SMC-R
   link is in the same situation that the first was in after the client
   sent its ACK packet - there is a reliable connected QP over the new
   RoCE path, but there have been no RoCE flows to confirm that it's
   actually usable.   So at this point the client and server will
   exchange "Confirm Link" LLC messages just like they did on the first
   SMC-R link.

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       Host X -- Server                           Host Y -- Client
    +-------------------+                      +-------------------+
    | PeerID = PS1      |                      |    PeerID = PC1   |
    |            +------+                      +------+            |
    |       QP 8 |RNIC 1|                      |RNIC 2| QP 64      |
    |RToken X|   |MAC MA|                      |MAC MB|   |        |
    |        |   |GID GA|                      |GID GB|   |RToken Y|
    |       \/   +------+                      +------+  \/        |
    |+--------+         |                      |        +--------+ |
    ||        |         |                      |        |        | |
    || RMB    |         |                      |        | RMB    | |
    ||        |         |                      |        |        | |
    |+--------+         |                      |        +--------+ |
    |       /\   +------+                      +------+  /\        |
    |        |   |RNIC 3|                      |RNIC 4|  |         |
    |RToken Z|   |MAC MC|                      |MAC MD|  |RToken W|
    |       QP 9 |GID GC|                      |GID GD| QP 65      |
    |            +------+                      +------+            |
    +-------------------+                      +-------------------+

                First SMC-R link setup as shown in Figure 8
            <-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.->

           ADD link request (QP9,MC,GC, link number=2)
            ............................................>

           ADD link response (QP65,MD,GD, link number=2)
            <............................................

           ADD link continuation request  (RToken=Z)
            ............................................>

           ADD link continuation response(RToken=W)
            <............................................

           Confirm Link(MC,GC,QP9,link number=2, link userid)
            .............................................>

           Confirm Link response(MD,GD,QP65,link number=2, link userid)
            <.............................................

                              Legend:
                       ------------   TCP/IP and CLC flows
                       ............   RoCE (LLC) flows

                 Figure 9  First contact, second link setup

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3.4.1.6.3. Exchange of Rkeys on second SMC-R link

   Note that in the scenario described here, first contact, there is
   only one RMB Rkey to exchange on the second SMC-R link and it is
   exchanged in the Add Link Continuation request and reply.  In
   scenarios other than first contact, for example, adding a new SMC-R
   link to a longstanding link group with multiple RMBs, additional
   flows will be required to exchange additional RMB Rkeys. See
                                                                             Delet        3        ..4.5.2.3. Adding a new SMC-R link to a link group with multiple RMBs
   for more details on these flows

3.4.1.6.4. Aborting SMC-R and falling back to IP

   If both partners don't provide the SMC-R TCP option during the 3 way
   TCP handshake, the connection falls back to normal TCP/IP.   During
   the SMC-R negotiation that occurs after the 3 way TCP handshake,
   either partner may break off SMC-R by sending an SMC Decline CLC
   message. The SMC Decline CLC message may be sent in place of any
   expected message, and may also be sent during the Confirm Link LLC
   exchange if there is a failure before any application data has flowed
   over the RoCE fabric. For more detail on exactly when an SMC Decline
                                                                             Delet        can flow during link group setup, see C                                              ..1. SMC Decline during CLC
   negotiation and C                        ..2. SMC Decline during LLC negotiation                  Delet
   If this fallback to IP happens while setting up a new SMC-R link
   group, the RoCE resources allocated for this SMC-R link group
   relationship are torn down and it will be retried as a new SMC-R link
   group next time a connection starts between these peers with SMC-R
   proposed.  Note that if this happens because one side doesn't support
   SMC-R, there will be very little to tear down as the TCP option will
   have failed to flow either on the initial SYN or the SYN-ACK, before
   either side had reserved any local RoCE resources.

3.4.2. Subsequent contact

   "Subsequent contact" means setting up a new TCP connection between
   two peers that already have an SMC-R link group between them, and
   reusing the existing SMC-R link group.  In this case it is not
   necessary to allocate new QPs.  However it is possible that a new RMB
   has been allocated for this TCP connection, if the previous TCP
   connection used the last element available in the previously used
   RMB, or for any other implementation-dependent reason.  For this
   reason, and for convenience and error checking, the same TCP option
   253 followed by inline negotiation method described for initial
   contact will be used for subsequent contact, but the processing
   differs in some ways.  That processing is described below.

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3.4.2.1. SMC-R proposal

   When the client begins the inline negotiation with the server, it
   does not know if this is a first contact or a subsequent contact.
   The client cannot know this information until it sees the server's
   peer ID to determine whether or not it already has an SMC-R link with
   this peer that it can use.  There are several reasons why it is not
   sufficient to use the partner IP address, subnet, VLAN or other IP
   information to make this determination.  The most obvious reason is
   distributed systems:  if the server IP address is actually a virtual
   IP address representing a distributed cluster, the actual host
   serving this TCP connection may not be the same as the host that
   served the last TCP connection to this same IP address.

   After the TCP three way handshake, assuming both partners indicate
   SMC-R capability,  the client builds and sends the SMC Proposal CLC
   message to the server in exactly the same manner as it does in the
   first contact case, and in fact at this point doesn't know if it's
   first contact or subsequent contact.  As in the first contact case,
   the client sends its Peer ID value, suggested RNIC GID/MAC, and IP
   subnet or prefix information.

   Upon receiving the client's proposal, the server looks up the peer ID
   provided to determine if it already has a usable SMC-R link group
   with this peer.  If it does already have a usable SMC-R link group,
   the server then needs to decide if it will use the existing SMC-R
   link group, or create a new link group.    For the new link group
                                                                             Delet        case, see 3                  ..4.3. First contact variation: creating a parallel link
   group, below.

   For this discussion assume the server decides to use the existing
   SMC-R link group for the TCP connection, which is expected to be the
   most common case. The server is responsible for making this decision.
   Then the server needs to communicate that information to the client,
   but it is not necessary to allocate, associate, and confirm QPs for
   the chosen SMC-R link.  All that remains to be done is to set up RMB
   space for this TCP connection.

   If one of the RMBs already in use for this SMC-R link group has an
   available element that uses the appropriate buffer size, the server
   merely chooses one for this TCP connection and then sends an SMC
   Confirm CLC message, providing the full RoCE information for the
   chosen SMC-R link to the client, using the same format as the SMC
   Confirm CLC message described in the initial contact section above.

   The server may choose to use the SMC-R link that matches the
   suggested MAC/GID provided by the client on the SMC Proposal for its

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   RDMA writes but is not obligated to.  The final decision on which
   specific SMC-R link to assign a TCP connection to is an independent
   server and client decision.

   It may be necessary for the server to allocate a new RMB for this
   connection.   The reasons for this are implementation dependent and
   could include: no available space in existing RMB or RMBs, or desire
   to allocate a new RMB that uses a different buffer size from the ones
   already created, or any other implementation dependent reason. In
   this case the server will allocate the new RMB and then perform the
                                                                             Delet        flows described in 3                           ..4.5.2.1. Adding a new RMB to an SMC-R link
   group. Once that processing is complete, the server then provides the
   full RoCE information, including the new Rkey,  for this connection
   on an SMC Confirm CLC message to the client.

3.4.2.2. SMC-R acceptance

   Upon receiving the SMC Accept CLC message from the server, the client
   examines the RoCE information provided by the server to determine if
   this is a first contact for a new SMC link group, or subsequent
   contact for an existing SMC-R link group.  It is subsequent contact
   if the server side peer ID, GID, MAC and QP number provided on the
   packet match a known SMC-R link, and the "first contact" flag is not
   set.  If this is not the case, for example the GID and MAC match but
   the QP is new, then the server is creating a new, parallel SMC-R link
   group and this is treated as a first contact.

   A different RMB RToken does not indicate a first contact as the
   server may have allocated a new RMB, or be using several RMBs for
   this SMC-R link. The client needs the server's RMB information only
   for its RDMA writes to the server, and since there is no requirement
   for symmetric RMBs, this information is simply control information
   for the RDMA writes on this SMC-R link.

   The client must validate that the RMB element being provided by the
   server is not in use by another TCP connection on this SMC-R link
   group. This validation must validate the new <rtoken, index> across
                                                                             Delet        all known <rtoken, index> on this link group.  See 4                                                           ..4.2. RMB element
   reuse and conflict resolution for the case in which the server tries
   to use an RMB element that is already in use on this link group.

   Once the client has determined that this TCP connection is a
   subsequent contact over an existing SMC link, it performs a similar
   RMB allocation process as the server did: it either allocates an
   element from an RMB already associated with this SMC-R link, or it
   allocates a new RMB and associates it with this SMC-R link and then
   chooses an element out of it.

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   If the client allocates a new RMB for this TCP connection, it
                                                                             Delet        performs the processing described in 3                                             ..4.5.2.1. Adding a new RMB to
   an SMC-R link group.  Once that processing is complete, the client
   provides its full RoCE information for this TCP connection on an SMC
   Confirm CLC message.

   Because an SMC-R link with a verified connected QP already exists and
   is being reused, there is no need for verification or alternate QP
   selection flows or timers.

3.4.2.3. SMC-R confirmation

   When the server receives the client's SMC Confirm CLC message on a
   subsequent contact, it verifies the following:

   o  the RMB element provided by the client is not already in use by
      another TCP connection on this SMC-R link group (see section
                                                                             Delet           4           ..4.2. RMB element reuse and conflict resolution for the case in
      which it is).

   o  The MAC/GID/QP info provided by the client matches an active link
      within the link group. The client is free to select any valid /
      active link. The client is not required to select the same link as
      the server.

   If this validation passes, the server stores the client's RMB
   information for this connection and the RoCE setup of the TCP
   connection is complete.

3.4.2.4. TCP data flow race with SMC Confirm CLC message

   On a subsequent contact TCP/IP connection, a peer may send data as
   soon as it has received the peer RMB information for the connection.
   There are no additional RoCE confirmation flows, since the QPs on the
   SMC link are already reliably connected and verified.

   In the majority of cases the first data will flow from the client to
   the server.  The client must send the SMC Confirm CLC message before
   sending any TCP data over the chosen SMC-R link, however the client
   need not wait for confirmation of this message, and in fact there
   will be no such confirmation.  Since the server is required to have
   the RMB fully set up and ready to receive data from the client before
   sending SMC Accept CLC message, the client can begin sending data
   over the SMC-R link immediately upon completing the send of the SMC
   Confirm CLC message.

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   It is possible that data from the client will arrive into the server
   side RMB before the SMC Confirm CLC message from the client has been
   processed.  In this case the server must handle this race condition,
   and not provide the arrived TCP data to the socket application until
   the SMC Confirm CLC message has been received and fully processed,
   opening the socket.

   If the server has initial data to send to the client which is not a
   response to the client (this case should be rare), it can send the
   data immediately upon receiving and processing the SMC Confirm CLC
   message from the client.  The client must have opened the TCP socket
   to the client application upon sending of SMC Confirm CLC message so
   the client will be ready to process data from the server.

3.4.3. First contact variation: creating a parallel link group

   Recall that parallel SMC-R links within an SMC-R link group are not
   supported. These are multiple SMC-R links within a link group that
   use the same network path. However, multiple SMC-R link groups
   between the same peers are supported. This means that if multiple
   SMC-R links over the same RoCE path are desired, it is necessary to
   use multiple SMC-R link groups.  While not a recommended practice,
   this could be done for platform specific reasons, like QP separation
   of different workloads.   Only the server can drive the creation of
   multiple SMC-R link groups between peers.

   At a high level, when the server decides to create an additional SMC-
   R link group with a client it already has an SMC-R link group with,
   the flows are basically the same as the normal "first contact" case
   described above.   The following provides more detail and
   clarification of processing in this case.

   When the server receives the SMC Proposal CLC message from the client
   and using the GID/MAC info determines that it already has an SMC-R
   link group with this client, the server can either reuse the existing
                                                                             Delet        SMC-R link group (detailed in 3                                      ..4.2. Subsequent contact above) or it
   can create a new SMC-R link group in addition to the existing one.

   If the server decides to create a new SMC-R link group, it does the
   same processing it would have done for first contact: allocate QP and
   RMB resources as well as alternate QP resources, and communicate the
   QP and RMB information to the client on the SMC Accept CLC message
   with the "first contact" flag set.

   When the client receives the server's SMC Accept CLC message with the
   new QP information and the "first contact" flag, it knows the server
   is creating a new SMC-R link group even though it already has an SMC-

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   R link group with the server.  In this case the client will also
   allocate a new QP for this new SMC link and allocate an RMB for this
   link and generate an Rkey for it.

   Note that multiple SMC-R link groups between the same peers must
   access different RMB resources, so new RMBs will be required.  Using
   the same RMBs that are in use in another SMC-R link group is not
   permitted.

   The client then associates its new QP with the server's new QP and
   sends its SMC Confirm CLC message back to the server providing the
   new QP/RMB information and sets its confirmation timer for the new
   SMC-R link.

   When the server receives the client's SMC Confirm CLC message it
   associates its QP with the client's QP as learned on the SMC Confirm
   CLC message and sends a confirmation LLC message.   The rest of the
   flow, with the confirmation QP and setup of additional SMC-R links,
   unfolds just like the first contact case.

3.4.4. Normal SMC-R link termination

   The normal sockets API trigger points are used by the SMC-R layer to
   initiate SMC-R connection termination flows. The main design point
   for SMC-R normal connection flows is to use the SMC-R protocol to
   first shutdown the SMC-R connection and free up any SMC-R RDMA
   resources and then allow the normal TCP connection termination
   protocol (i.e. FIN processing) to drive cleanup of the TCP connection
   that exists on the IP fabric.  This design point is very important in
   ensuring that RDMA resources such as the RMBEs are only freed and
   reused when both SMC-R end points are completely done with their RDMA
   Write operations to the partner's RMBE.

   When the last TCP connection over an SMC-R link group terminates, the
   link group can be terminated.  Similar to creation of SMC-R links and
   link groups, the primary responsibility for determining that normal
   termination is needed and initiating it lies with the server.
   Implementations may opt to set timers to keep SMC-R link groups up
   for a specified time after the last TCP connection ends, to avoid
   churn in cases when TCP connections come and go regularly.

   The link or link group may also be terminated as a result of an
   operator initiated command.  This command can be entered at either
   the client or the server.  If entered at the client, the client
   requests that the server perform link or link group termination, and
   the responsibility for doing so ultimately lies with the server.

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   When the server determines that the SMC-R link group is to be
   terminated, it sends a DELETE LINK LLC message to the client, with a
   flag set indicating that all links in the link group are to be
   terminated.  After receiving confirmation from the adapter that the
   DELETE LINK LLC message has been sent, the server can clean up its
   end of the link group (QPs, RMBs, etc).  Upon receipt of the DELETE
   LINK message from the server, the client must immediately comply and
   clean up its end of the link group.  Any TCP connections that the
   client believes to be active on the link group must be immediately
   terminated.

   The client can request that the server delete the link group as well.
   The client does this by sending a DELETE LINK message to the server
   indicating that cleanup of all links is requested.  The server must
   comply by sending a DELETE LINK to the client and processing as
   described above. If there are TCP connections active on the link
   group when the server receives this request, they are immediately
   terminated by sending a RST flow over the IP fabric.

3.4.5. Link group management flows

3.4.5.1. Adding and deleting links in an SMC-R link group

   The server has the lead role in managing the composition of the link
   group.  Links are added to link group by the server.  The client may
   notify the server of new conditions that may result in the server
   adding a new link, but the server is ultimately responsible.  In
   general links are deleted from the link group by the server, however
   in certain error cases the client may inform the server that a link
   must be deleted and treat it as deleted without waiting for action
   from the server.   These flows are detailed in the following sections

3.4.5.1.1. Server initiated Add Link processing

   As described in previous sections, the server initiates an Add Link
   exchange to create redundancy in a newly created link group.  Once a
   link group is established the server may also initiate Add Link for
   other reasons, including:

   o  Availability of additional resources on the server host to support
      an additional SMC-R link.  This may include the provisioning of an
      additional RNIC, more storage becoming available to support
      additional QP resources, operator command, or any other
      implementation dependent reason.  Note that, to be available for
      an existing link group, a new RNIC must be attached to the same
      RoCE VLAN that the link group is using.

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   o  Receipt of notification from the client that additional resources
                                                                             Delet           on the client are available to support an additional SMC-R link.
      See 3               ..4.5.1.2. Client initiated Add Link processing.

   Server initiated Add Link processing in an established SMC-R link
                                                                             Delet        group is the same as the Add Link processing described in 3                                                                  ..4.1.6.
   Second SMC-R link setup with the following changes:

   o  If an asymmetric SMC-R link already exists in the link group a
      second asymmetric link will not be created.  Only one asymmetric
      link is permitted in a link group.

   o  TCP data flow on already existing link(s) in the link group is not
      halted or otherwise affected during the process of setting up the
      additional link.

   In no case will the server initiate Add Link processing if the link
   group already has the maximum number of links negotiated by the
   partners.

3.4.5.1.2. Client initiated Add Link processing

   If an additional RNIC becomes available for an existing SMC-R link
   group on the client's side, the client notifies the server by sending
   an Add Link request LLC message to the server. Unlike an Add Link
   request sent by the server to the client, this Add Link request
   merely informs the server that the client has a new RNIC.  If the
   link group lacks redundancy, or has redundancy only on an asymmetric
   link with a single RNIC on the client side, the server must initiate
   an Add Link exchange in response to this message, to create or
   improve the link group's redundancy.

   If the link group already has symmetric link redundancy but has fewer
   than the negotiated maximum number of links, the server may respond
   by initiating an Add Link exchange to create a new link using the
   client's new resource but is not required to.

   If the link group already has the negotiated maximum number of links,
   the server must ignore the client's Add Link request LLC message.

   Because the server is not required to respond to the client's Add
   Link LLC message in all cases, the client must not wait for a
   response or throw an error if one does not come.

3.4.5.1.3. Server initiated Delete Link Processing

   Reasons that a server may delete a link include:

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   o  The link has not been used for TCP connections for an
      implementation defined time interval, and deleting the link will
      not cause the link group to lack redundancy

   o  An error in resources supporting the link.  These may include but
      are not limited to: RNIC errors, QP errors, software errors

   o  The RNIC supporting this SMC-R link is being taken down, either
      because of an error case or because of an operator or software
      command.

   If a link being deleted is supporting TCP connections, and there are
   one or more surviving links in the link group, the TCP connections
                                                                             Delet        are moved to the surviving links.  For more information on this
   processing see 2                       ..3. SMC-R resilience and load balancing.

   The server deletes a link from the link group by sending a Delete
   Link request LLC message to the client over any of the usable links
   in the link group. Because the Delete Link LLC message specifies
   which link is to be deleted, it may flow over any link in the link
   group.  The server must not clean up its RoCE resources for the link
   until the client responds.

   The client responds to the server's Delete Link request LLC message
   by sending the server a Delete Link response LLC message.  The client
   must respond positively; it cannot decline to delete the link.  Once
   the server has received the client's Delete Link response, both sides
   may clean up their resources for the link.

   Positive write completion or other indication from the RNIC on the
   client's side is sufficient to indicate to the client that the server
   has received the Delete Link response.

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        Host X                                     Host Y
   +-------------------+                      +-------------------+
   |            +------+                      +------+            |
   |       QP 8 |RNIC 1|     SMC-R Link 1     |RNIC 2| QP 9       |
   |RToken X|   |Failed|<--X----X----X----X-->|      |            |
   |        |   |      |                      |      |            |
   |       \/   +------+                      +------+            |
   |+--------+         |                      |                   |
   || deleted|         |                      |                   |
   || RMB    |         |                      |                   |
   ||        |         |                      |                   |
   |+--------+         |                      |                   |
   |       /\   +------+                      +------+            |
   |RToken Z|   |      |     SMC-R Link 2     |      |            |
   |        |   |RNIC 3|<-------------------->|RNIC 4|            |
   |       QP 64|      |                      |      | QP 65      |
   |            +------+                      +------+            |
   +-------------------+                      +-------------------+

         DELETE LINK(Request, link number = 1,
               ................................................>
                      reason code = RNIC failure)

         DELETE LINK(Response, link number = 1)
              <................................................

          (note, architecturally this exchange can flow over either
                 SMC-R link but most likely flows over link 2 since
                 the RNIC for link 1 has failed)

                 Figure 10 Server initiated Delete Link flow

3.4.5.1.4. Client initiated Delete Link request

   The client may request that the server delete a link for the same
   reasons that the server may delete a link, except for inactivity
   timeout.

   Because the client depends on the server to delete links, there are
   two types of delete requests from client to server:

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   o  Orderly: the client is requesting that the server delete the link
      when able.  This would result from an operator command to bring
      down the RNIC or some other nonfatal reason.  In this case the
      server is required to delete the link, but may not do it right
      away.

   o  Disorderly: the server must delete the link right away, because
      the client has experienced a fatal error with the link.

   In either case the server responds by initiating a Delete Link
   exchange with the client as described in the previous section.  The
   difference between the two is whether the server must do so
   immediately or can delay for an opportunity to gracefully delete the
   link.

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        Host X                                     Host Y
   +-------------------+                      +-------------------+
   |            +------+                      +------+            |
   |       QP 8 |RNIC 1|     SMC-R Link 1     |RNIC 2| QP 9       |
   |RToken X|   |      |<---X--X--X--X--X--X->|Failed|            |
   |        |   |      |                      |      |            |
   |       \/   +------+                      +------+            |
   |+--------+         |                      |                   |
   || deleted|         |                      |                   |
   || RMB    |         |                      |                   |
   ||        |         |                      |                   |
   |+--------+         |                      |                   |
   |       /\   +------+                      +------+            |
   |RToken Z|   |      |     SMC-R Link 2     |      |            |
   |        |   |RNIC 3|<-------------------->|RNIC 4|            |
   |       QP 64|      |                      |      | QP 65      |
   |            +------+                      +------+            |
   +-------------------+                      +-------------------+

         DELETE LINK(Request, link number = 1, disorderly,
              <...............................................
                     reason code = RNIC failure)

         DELETE LINK(Request, link number = 1,
               ................................................>
                      reason code = RNIC failure)

         DELETE LINK(Response, link number = 1)
              <................................................

          (note, architecturally this exchange can flow over either
                 SMC-R link but most likely flows over link 2 since
                 the RNIC for link 1 has failed)

                   Figure 11 Client-initiated Delete Link

3.4.5.2. Managing multiple Rkeys over multiple SMC-R links in a link
             group

   After the initial contact sequence completes and the number of TCP
   connections increases it is possible that the SMC peers could add
   additional RMBs to the Link Group. Recall that each peer
   independently manages its RMBs. Also recall that an RMB's RToken is
   specific to a QP, which means that when there are multiple SMC-R
   links in a link group, each RMB accessed with the link group requires
   a separate RToken for each SMC-R link in the group.

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   Each RMB that is added to a link must be added to all links within
   the Link Group. The set of RMBs created for the Link is called the
   "RToken Set". The RTokens must be exchanged with the peer. As RMBs
   are added and deleted, the RToken Set must remain in sync.

3.4.5.2.1. Adding a new RMB to an SMC-R link group

   A new RMB can be added to an SMC-R link group on either the client or
   the server side.  When an additional RMB is added to an existing SMC-
   R link group, that RMB must be associated with the QPs for each link
   in the link group. Therefore when an RMB is added to an SMC-R link
   group, its RMB RToken for each SMC-R link's QP must be communicated
   to the peer.

   The tokens for a new RMB added to an existing SMC-R link group are
   communicated using "Confirm Rkey" LLC messages, as shown in Figure
   12.  The RToken set is specified as pairs: an SMC link number, paired
   with the new RMB's RToken over that SMC Link.  To preserve failover
   capability, any TCP connection that uses a newly added RMB cannot go
   active until all RTokens for the RMB have been communicated for all
   the links in the link group.

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         Host X                                     Host Y
    +-------------------+                      +-------------------+
    |            +------+                      +------+            |
    |       QP 8 |RNIC 1|     SMC-R Link 1     |RNIC 2| QP 9       |
    |RToken X|   |      |<-------------------->|      |            |
    |        |   |      |                      |      |            |
    |       \/   +------+                      +------+            |
    |+--------+         |                      |                   |
    || new    |         |                      |                   |
    || RMB    |         |                      |                   |
    ||        |         |                      |                   |
    |+--------+         |                      |                   |
    |       /\   +------+                      +------+            |
    |RToken Z|   |      |     SMC-R Link 2     |      |            |
    |        |   |RNIC 3|<-------------------->|RNIC 4|            |
    |       QP 64|      |                      |      | QP 65      |
    |            +------+                      +------+            |
    +-------------------+                      +-------------------+

          CONFIRM RKEY(Request, Add,
                ................................................>
                      RToken set((Link 1,RToken X),(Link2,RToken Z)))

          CONFIRM RKEY(Response, Add,
               <................................................
                      RToken set((Link 1,RToken X),(Link2,RToken Z)))

           (note, this exchange can flow over either SMC-R link)

                  Figure 12 Add RMB to existing link group

   Implementations may choose to proactively add RMBs to link groups in
   anticipation of need.  For example, an implementation may add a new
   RMB when all of its existing RMBs are over a certain threshold
   percentage used.

   A new RMB may also be added to an existing link group on an as needed
   basis.  For example, when a new TCP connection is added to the link
   group but there are no available RMB elements.  In this case the CLC
   exchange is paused while the peer that requires the new RMB adds it.
   An example of this is illustrated in figure 13.

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       Host X -- Server                           Host Y -- Client
    +-------------------+                      +-------------------+
    | PeerID = PS1      |                      |    PeerID = PC1   |
    |            +------+                      +------+            |
    |       QP 8 |RNIC 1|    SMC-R link 1      |RNIC 2| QP 64      |
    |RToken X|   |MAC MA|<-------------------->|MAC MB|   |        |
    |        |   |GID GA|                      |GID GB|   |RTokenY2|
    |       \/   +------+                      +------+  \/        |
    |+--------+         |                      |        +--------+ |
    ||        |         |   SUBNET S1          |        | New    | |
    || RMB    |         |                      |        | RMB    | |
    |+--------+         |                      |        +--------+ |
    |       /\   +------+                      +------+  /\        |
    |        |   |RNIC 3|    SMC-R link 2      |RNIC 4|   |RTokenW2|
    |        |   |MAC MC|<-------------------->|MAC MD|   |        |
    |       QP 9 |GID GC|                      |GID GD| QP65       |
    |            +------+                      +------+            |
    +-------------------+                      +-------------------+

            SYN / SYN-ACK / ACT TCP 3-way handshake with TCP option
         <--------------------------------------------------------->

                     SMC Proposal(PC1,MB,GB,S1)
         <--------------------------------------------------------

       SMC Accept(PS1,not 1st contact,MA,GA,QP8,RToken=X,RMB elem index)
         --------------------------------------------------------->

           Confirm Rkey(Request, Add,
         <........................................................
                      RToken set((Link1, RToken Y2),{Link2, RToken W2)))

           Confirm Rkey(Response, Add,
          ........................................................>
                      RToken set((Link1, RToken Y2),{Link2, RToken W2)))

           SMC Confirm(PC1,MB,GB,QP64,RToken=Y2, RMB element index)
         <--------------------------------------------------------

                          Legend:
                   ------------   TCP/IP and CLC flows
                   ............   RoCE (LLC) flows

           Figure 13 Client adds RMB during TCP connection setup

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3.4.5.2.2. Deleting an RMB from an SMC-R link group

   Either peer can delete one of its RMBs as long as it is not being
   used for any TCP connections.  Ideally an SMC-R host would use a
   timer to avoid freeing an RMB immediately after the last TCP
   connection stops using it, to keep the RMB available for later TCP
   connections and avoid thrashing with addition and deletion of RMBs.
   Once an SMC-R peer decides to delete an RMB, it sends a CONFIRM
   RKEY(Delete) LLC message to its peer.  It can then free the RMB once
   it receives a response from the peer.  Multiple RMBs can be deleted
   in a CONFIRM RKEY(delete) exchange.

        Host X                                     Host Y
   +-------------------+                      +-------------------+
   |            +------+                      +------+            |
   |       QP 8 |RNIC 1|     SMC-R Link 1     |RNIC 2| QP 9       |
   |RToken X|   |      |<-------------------->|      |            |
   |        |   |      |                      |      |            |
   |       \/   +------+                      +------+            |
   |+--------+         |                      |                   |
   || deleted|         |                      |                   |
   || RMB    |         |                      |                   |
   ||        |         |                      |                   |
   |+--------+         |                      |                   |
   |       /\   +------+                      +------+            |
   |RToken Z|   |      |     SMC-R Link 2     |      |            |
   |        |   |RNIC 3|<-------------------->|RNIC 4|            |
   |       QP 9 |      |                      |      |            |
   |            +------+                      +------+            |
   +-------------------+                      +-------------------+

         CONFIRM RKEY(Request, Delete,
               ................................................>
                    RToken set((Link 1,RToken X),(Link2,RToken Z)))

         CONFIRM RKEY(Response, Delete,
              <................................................
                    RToken set((Link 1,RToken X),(Link2,RToken Z)))

          (note, this exchange can flow over either SMC-R link)

                 Figure 14 Delete RMB from SMC-R link group

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3.4.5.2.3. Adding a new SMC-R link to a link group with multiple RMBs

   When a new SMC-R link is added to an existing link group, there could
   be multiple RMBs on each side already associated with the link group.
   There could also be a different number of RMBs on one side as on the
   other, because each peer manages its RMBs independently.   Each of
   these RMBs will require a new RToken to be used on the new SMC-R
   link, and then those new RTokens must be communicated to the peer.
   This requires two-way communication as the server will have to
   communicate its RTokens to the client and vice versa.

   RTokens are communicated between peers in pairs.  Each RToken pair
   consists of:

   o  The RToken for the RMB, as is already known on an existing SMC-R
      link in the link group

   o  The RToken for the same RMB, to be used on the new SMC-R link.

   These pairs are required to ensure that each peer knows which RTokens
   across QPs are equivalent.

   The "Add Link" request and response LLC messages do not have room to
   contain any RToken pairs. "Add Link continuation" LLC messages are
   used to communicate these pairs, as shown in Figure 15.   The "Add
   Link Continuation" LLC messages are sent on the same SMC-R link that
   the "Add Link" LLC messages were sent over, and in both the "Add
   Link" and the "Add Link Continuation"  LLC messages, the first RToken
   in each RToken pair will be the RToken for the RMB as known on the
   SMC-R link that the  LLC message is being sent over.

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      Host X -- Server                           Host Y -- Client
   +-------------------+                      +-------------------+
   | PeerID = PS1      |                      |    PeerID = PC1   |
   |            +------+                      +------+            |
   |       QP 8 |RNIC 1|                      |RNIC 2| QP 64      |
   |Rkey Set|   |MAC MA|                      |MAC MB|   |Rkey set|
   |X,Y,Z   |   |GID GA|                      |GID GB|   |Q,R,S,T |
   |       \/   +------+                      +------+  \/        |
   |+--------+         |                      |        +--------+ |
   || 3 RMBs |         |                      |        | 4 RMBs | |
   |+--------+         |                      |        +--------+ |
   |       /\   +------+                      +------+  /\        |
   |Rkey set|   |RNIC 3|                      |RNIC 4|  | Rkey set|
   |U,V,W   |   |MAC MC|                      |MAC MD|  | L,M,N,P |
   |       QP 9 |GID GC|                      |GID GD| QP 65      |
   |            +------+                      +------+            |
   +-------------------+                      +-------------------+

          ADD link request (QP9,MC,GC, link number=2)
           ............................................>

          ADD link response (QP65,MD,GD, link number=2)
           <............................................

   ADD link continuation req(RToken Pairs=((X,U),(Y,V),(Z,W)))
            ............................................>

   ADD link continuation rsp(RToken Pairs=((Q,L),(R,M),(S,N),(T,P)))
            <.............................................

          Confirm Link Req/Rsp exchange on link 2
           <.............................................>

                             Legend:
                      ------------   TCP/IP and CLC flows
                      ............   RoCE (LLC) flows
     Figure 15 Exchanging Rkeys when a new link is added to a link group

3.4.5.3. Serialization of LLC exchanges, and collisions

   LLC flows can be divided into two main groups for serializaion
   considerations.

   The first group is LLC messages that are independent and can flow at
   any time.  These are one-time, unsolicited messages that either do

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   not have a required response, or that have a simple response that
   does not interfere with the operations of another group of messages.
   These messages are:

   o  TEST LINK from either the client or the server:  This message
      requires a TEST LINK response to be returned, but does not affect
      the configuration of the link group or the Rkeys.

   o  ADD LINK from the client to the server:  This message is provided
      as an "FYI" to the server to let it know that the client has an
      additional RNIC available.  The server is not required to act upon
      or respond to this message.

   o  DELETE_LINK from the client to the server: This message informs
      the server that the client has either experienced an error or
      problem that requires a link or link group to be terminated, or
      that an operator has commanded that a link or link group be
      terminated.  The server does not respond directly to the message,
      rather it initiates a DELETE LINK exchange as a result of
      receiving it.

   o  DELETE LINK from the server to the client with the "delete entire
      link group" flag set:  This message informs the client that the
      entire link group is being deleted.

   The second group is LLC messages that are part of an exchange of LLC
   messages that affects link group configuration that must complete
   before another exchange of LLC messages that affects links group
   configuration can be processed.   When a peer knows that one of these
   exchanges is in progress, it must not start another exchange.  These
   exchanges are:

   o  ADD LINK / ADD LINK response / ADD LINK CONTINUATION / ADD LINK
      CONTINUATION response / CONFIRM LINK / CONFIRM LINK RESPONSE:
      This exchange, by adding a new link, changes the configuration of
      the link group.

   o  DELETE LINK / DELETE LINK response initiated by the server: This
      exchange, by deleting a link, changes the configuration of the
      link group.

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   o  CONFIRM RKEY / CONFIRM RKEY response: This exchange changes the
      RMB configuration of the link group. . RKeys can not change while
      links are being added or deleted (while ADD or DELETE LINK is in
      progress). However, CONFIRM RKEY is unique in that both the client
      and server can independently manage (add or remove) their own
      RMBs.  This allows each peer to concurrently change their RKeys
      and therefore concurrently send CONFIRM RKEY requests. The
      concurrent CONFIRM RKEY requests can be independently processed
      and does not represent a collision

   Because the server is in control of the configuration of the link
   group, many timing windows and collisions are avoided but there are
   still some that must be handled.

3.4.5.3.1. Collisions with ADD LINK / CONFIRM LINK exchange

   Colliding LLC message: TEST LINK

      Action to resolve: Send immediate TEST LINK reply

   Colliding LLC Message: ADD LINK from client to server

      Action to resolve: Server ignores the ADD LINK message.   When
      client receives server's ADD LINK, client will consider that
      message to be in response to its ADD LINK message and the flow
      works. Since both client and server know not to start this
      exchange if an ADD LINK operation is already underway, this can
      only occur if the client sends this message before receiving the
      server's ADD LINK and this message crosses with the server's ADD
      LINK message, therefore the server's ADD LINK arrives at the
      client immediately after the client sent this message.

   Colliding LLC Message: DELETE LINK from client to server, specific
   link specified

      Action to resolve: Server queues the DELETE link message and
      processes after the ADD LINK exchange completes. If it is an
      orderly link termination, it can wait until after this exchange
      continues.  If it is disorderly and the link affected is the one
      that the current exchange is using, the server will discover the
      outage when a message in this exchange fails.

   Colliding LLC Message: DELETE LINK from client to server, entire link
   group to be deleted

      Action to resolve: Immediately clean up the link group

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   Colliding LLC message: CONFIRM RKEY from the client

      Action to resolve: Send negative CONFIRM_RKEY response to the
      client.  Once the current exchange finishes, client will have to
      recompute its Rkey set to include the new link, and start a new
      CONFIRM RKEY exchange.

3.4.5.3.2. Collisions during DELETE LINK exchange

   Colliding LLC Message: TEST LINK from either peer

      Action to resolve: Send immediate TEST LINK response

   Colliding LLC message: ADD LNK from client to server

      Action to resolve: Server queues the ADD LINK and processes it
      after the current exchange completes

   Colliding LLC message: DELETE LINK from client to server (specific
   link)

      Action to resolve: Server queues the DELETE link message and
      processes after the current exchange completes. If it is an
      orderly link termination, it can wait until after this exchange
      continues.  If it is disorderly and the link affected is the one
      that the current exchange is using, the server will discover the
      outage when a message in this exchange fails

   Colliding LLC message: DELETE LINK from either client or server,
   deleting the entire link group

      Action to resolve: immediately clean up the link group

   Colliding LLC message: CONFIRM_RKEY from client to server

      Action to resolve: Send negative CONFIRM_RKEY response to the
      client.  Once the current exchange finishes, client will have to
      recompute its Rkey set to include the new link, and start a new
      CONFIRM RKEY exchange

3.4.5.3.3. Collisions during CONFIRM_RKEY exchange

   Colliding LLC Message: TEST LINK

      Action to resolve: Send immediate TEST LINK reply

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   Colliding LLC message: ADD LINK from client to server

      Action to resolve: Queue the ADD LINK and process it after the
      current exchange completes

   Colliding LLC message: ADD LINK from server to client (CONFIRM RKEY
   exchange was initiated by the client and it crossed with the server
   initiating an ADD LINK exchange)

      Action to resolve: Process the ADD LINK. Client will receive a
      negative CONFIRM RKEY from the server and will have to redo this
      CONFIRM RKEY exchange after the ADD LINK exchange completes.

   Colliding LLC message: DELETE LINK from client to server, specific
   link to be deleted (CONFIRM RKEY exchange was initiated by the server
   and it crossed with the client's DELETE LINK request

      Action to resolve: Server queues the DELETE link message and
      processes after the ADD LINK exchange completes. If it is an
      orderly link termination, it can wait until after this exchange
      continues.  If it is disorderly and the link affected is the one
      that the current exchange is using, the server will discover the
      outage when a message in this exchange fails.

   Colliding LLC message: DELETE LINK from server to client, specific
   link deleted (CONFIRM RKEY exchange was initiated by the client and
   it crossed with the server's DELETE LINK)

      Action to resolve: Process the DELETE LINK. Client will receive a
      negative CONFIRM RKEY from the server and will have to redo this
      CONFIRM RKEY exchange after the ADD LINK exchange completes.

   Colliding LLC message: DELETE LINK from either client or server,
   entire link group deleted

      Action to resolve: immediately clean up the link group

   Colliding LLC message: CONFIRM LINK from the peer that did not start
   the current CONFIRM LINK exchange

      Action to resolve: Queue the request and process it after the
      current exchange completes.

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4. SMC-R memory sharing architecture

4.1. RMB element allocation considerations

   Each TCP connection using SMC-R must be allocated a RMBE by each SMC-
   R peer. This allocation is performed by each end point independently
   to allow each end point to select an RMBE that best matches the
   characteristics on its TCP socket end point. The RMBE associated with
   a TCP socket endpoint must have a Receive buffer that is at least as
   large as the TCP receive buffer size in effect for that connection.
   The receive buffer size can be determined by what is specified
   explicitly by the application using setsockopt() or implicitly via
   the system configured default value. This will allow sufficient data
   to be RDMA written by the peer SMC-R host to fill an entire receive
   buffer size worth of data on a given data flow. Given that each RMB
   must have fixed length RMBEs this implies that an SMC-R end point may
   need to maintain multiple RMBs of various sizes for SMC-R connections
   on a given SMC link and can then select an RMBE that most closely
   fits a connection.

4.2. RMB and RMBE format

   An RMB is contiguous pinned memory that is divided into a whole
   number of equal sized RMB Elements (RMBEs).  Each RMBE begins with a
   four byte eye catcher for diagnostic and service purposes, followed
   by the receive data buffer.   The diagnostic eyecatcher should be
   used by the local SMC-R stack to check for overlay errors by
   verifying an intact eye catcher with every RMBE access.

   The RMBE is a wrapping receive buffer for receiving RDMA writes from
   the peer.  Cursors, as described below, are exchanged between peers
   to manage and track RDMA writes and local data reads from the RMBE
   for a TCP connection.

4.3. RMBE control information

   RMBE control information consists of consumer and producer cursors,
   wrap counts, control flags such are urgent data and writer blocked
   indicators, and TCP connection information such as termination flags.
   This information is exchanged between SMC-R peers using RDMA message
   passing with inline data, with the control information contained in

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   the inline data.  An SMC-R stack must receive and store this
   information in its internal data structures as it is used to manage
   the RMBE and its data buffer.

   The format and contents of this inline data is described in detail in
                                                                             Delet        4        ..3. RMBE control information.  The following is a high level
   description of what this control information contains.

   o  Connection state flags such as sending done, connection closed,
      and abnormal close

   o  Producer cursor: a wrapping offset into the receiver's RMBE data
      area. Set by the peer that is writing into the RMBE, it points to
      where the writing peer will write the next byte of data into an
      RMBE. This cursor is accompanied by a wrap sequence number to help
      the RMBE owner (the receiver) identify full window size wrapping
      writes.

   o  Consumer cursor: a wrapping offset into the receiver's RMBE data
      area.  Set by the owner of the RMBE (the peer that is reading from
      it), this cursor points to the offset of the next byte of data to
      be consumed by the peer in its own RMBE. The sender cannot write
      beyond this cursor into the receiver's RMBE without causing data
      loss. Like the producer cursor, this is accompanied by a wrap
      count to help the writer identify full window size wrapping reads.

   Data flags such as urgent data, writer blocked indicator, and cursor
   update requests.

4.4. Use of RMBEs

4.4.1. Initializing and accessing RMBEs

   The RMBE eyecatcher is initialized by the RMB owner prior to
   assigning it to a specific TCP connection and communicating its RMB
   index to the SMC-R partner. After an RMBE index is communicated to
   the SMC-R partner the RMBE can only be referenced in "read only mode"
   by the owner and all updates to it are performed by the remote SMC-R
   partner via RDMA write operations.

   Initialization of an RMBE must include the following:

   o  Zeroing out the entire RMBE receive buffer, which helps minimize
      data integrity issues (e.g. data from a previous connection
      somehow being presented to the current connection).

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   o  Setting the beginning RMBE eye catcher. This eye catcher plays an
      important role in helping detect accidental overlays of the RMBE
      The RMB owner must always validate these eye catchers before each
      new reference to the RMBE. If the eye catchers are found to be
      corrupted the local host must reset the TCP connection associated
      with this RMBE and log the appropriate diagnostic information.

4.4.2. RMB element reuse and conflict resolution
   RMB elements can be reused once their associated TCP and SMC-R
   connections are terminated. Under normal and abnormal SMC-R
   connection termination processing both SMC-R peers must explicitly
   acknowledge that they are done using an RMBE before that element can
   be freed and reassigned to another SMC-R connection instance.  For
   more details on SMC-R connection termination refer to section 4                                                                      ..7.
                                                                             Delet        However, there are some error scenarios where this 2 way explicit
   acknowledgement may not be completed. In these scenarios (mentioned
   explicitly elsewhere in this document) an RMBE owner may chose to re-
   assign this RMBE to a new SMC-R connection instance on this SMC link
   group. When this occurs the partner SMC-R peer must detect this
   condition during SMC-R rendezvous processing when presented with an
   RMBE that it believes is already in use for a different SMC-R
   connection.  In this case, the SMC-R peer must abort the existing
   SMC-R connection associated with this RMBE.  The abort processing
   Resets the TCP connection (if it is still active) but it must not
   attempt to perform any RDMA writes to this RMBE and must also ignore
   any data sitting in the local RMBE associated with the existing
   connection.  It then proceeds to free up the local RMBE and notify
   the local application that the connection is being abnormally reset.

   The remote SMC-R peer then proceeds to normal processing for this new
   SMC-R connection.

4.5. SMC-R protocol considerations

   The following sections describe considerations for the SMC-R protocol
   as compared to the TCP protocol.

4.5.1. SMC-R protocol optimized window size updates

   An SMC-R receiver host sends its Consumer Cursor information to the
   sender to convey the progress that the receiving application has made
   in consuming the sent data.  The difference between the writer's
   Producer Cursor and the associated receiver's Consumer Cursor
   indicates the window size available for the sender to write into.
   This is somewhat similar to TCP window update processing and

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   therefore has some similar considerations, such as silly window
   syndrome avoidance, whereby the TCP protocol has an optimization that
   minimizes the overhead of very small, unproductive window size
   updates associated with sub-optimal socket applications consuming
   very small amount of data on every receive() invocation.  For SMC-R,
   the receiver only updates its Consumer Cursor via a unique RDMA
   message under the following conditions:

   o  The current window size (from a sender's perspective) is less than
      half of the Receive Buffer space and the Consumer Cursor update
      will result in a minimum increase in the window size of 10% of the
      Receive buffer space.  Some examples:

         a. Receive Buffer size: 64K, Current window size (from a
            sender's perspective): 50K. No need to update the Consumer
            Cursor. Plenty of space is available for the sender.

         b. Receive Buffer size: 64K, Current window size (from a
            sender's perspective): 30K, Current window size from a
            receiver's perspective: 31K. No need to update the Consumer
            Cursor; even though the sender's window size < 1/2 of the
            64K, the window update would only increase that by 1K which
            is < 1/10th of the 64K buffer size.

         c. Receive Buffer size: 64K, Current window size (from a
            sender's perspective): 30K, Current window size from a
            receiver's perspective: 64K. The receiver updates update the
            Consumer Cursor (sender's window size < 1/2 of the 64K, the
            window update would increase that by > 6.4K).

   o  The receiver must always include a Consumer Cursor update whenever
      it sends an RDMA message to the partner for another flow (i.e.
      send flow in the opposite direction). This allows the window size
      update to be delivered with no additional overhead. This is
      somewhat similar to TCP DelayAck processing and quite effective
      for request/response data patterns.

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   o  The optimized window size updates are overridden when the sender
      sets the Consumer Cursor Update Requested flag in the an RDMA
      control message to the receiver.  When this indicator is on the
      consumer must send a Consumer Cursor update immediately when data
      is consumed by the local application or if the cursor has not been
      updated for a while (i.e. local copy consumer cursor does not
      match the last consumer cursor value sent to the the partner).
      This allows the sender to perform optional diagnostics for
      detecting a stalled receiver application (data has been sent but
      not consumed). It is recommended that the Consumer Cursor Update
      Requested flag only be sent for diagnostic procedures as it may
      result in non-optimal data path performance.

4.5.2. Small data sends

   The SMC-R protocol makes no special provisions for handling small
   data segments sent across a stream socket. Data is always sent if
   sufficient window space is available. There are no special provisions
   for coalescing small data segments, similar to the TCP Nagle
   algorithm.

   An implementation of SMC-R may optimize its sending processing by
   coalescing outbound data for a given SMC-R connection so that it can
   reduce the number of RDMA write operations it performed in a similar
   fashion to Nagle's algorithm. However, any such coalescing would
   require a timer on the sending host that would ensure that data was
   eventually sent. And the sending host would have to opt out of this
   processing if Nagle's algorithm had been disabled (programmatically
   or via system configuration).

4.5.3. TCP Keepalive processing

   TCP keepalive processing allows applications to direct the local
   TCP/IP host to periodically "test" the viability of an idle TCP
   connection.  Since SMC-R connections have both a TCP representation
   along with an SMC-R representation there are unique keepalive
   processing considerations:

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   o  SMC-R layer keepalive processing: If keepalive is enabled for an
      SMC-R connection the local host maintains a keepalive timer that
      reflects how long an SMC-R connection has been idle. The local
      host also maintains a timestamp of last activity for each SMC link
      (for any SMC-R connection on that link).  When it is determined
      that an SMC-R connection has been idle longer than the keepalive
      interval the host checks whether the SMC-R link has been idle for
      a duration longer than the keepalive timeout.  If both conditions
      are met, the local host then performs a Test Link LLC command to
      test the viability of the SMC link over the RoCE fabric (RC-QPs).
      If a Test Link LLC command response is received within a
      reasonable amount of time then the link is considered viable and
      all connections using this link are considered viable as well.  If
      however a response is not received in a reasonable amount of time
      or there's a failure in sending the Test Link LLC command then
      this is considered a failure in the SMC link and failover
      processing to an alternate SMC link must be triggered. If no
      alternate SMC link exists in the SMC link group then all the SMC-R
      connections on this link are abnormally terminated by resetting
      the TCP connections represented by these SMC-R connections.  Given
      that multiple SMC-R connections can share the same SMC link,
      implementing an SMC link level probe using the Test Link LLC
      command will help reduce the amount of unproductive keepalive
      traffic for SMC-R connections; as long as some SMC-R connections
      on a given SMC link are active (i.e. have had I/O activity within
      the keepalive interval) then there is no need to perform
      additional link viability testing.

   o  TCP layer keepalives processing:  Traditional TCP "keepalive"
      packets are not as relevant for SMC-R connections given that the
      TCP path is not used for these connections once the SMC-R
      rendezvous processing is completed.  All SMC-R connections by
      default have associated TCP connections that are idle.  Are TCP
      keepalive probes still needed for these connections?  There are
      two main scenarios to consider:

     1. TCP keepalives that are used determine whether the peer TCP
        endpoint is still active. This is not needed for SMC-R
        connections as the SMC-R level keepalives mentioned above will
        determine whether the remote endpoint connections are still
        active.

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     2. TCP keepalives that are used to ensure that TCP connections
        traversing an intermediate proxy maintain an active state. For
        example, stateful firewalls typically maintain state
        representing every valid TCP connection that traverses the
        firewall.  These types of firewalls are known to expire idle
        connections by removing their state in the firewall to conserve
        memory. TCP keepalives are often used in this scenario to
        prevent firewalls from timing out otherwise idle connections.
        When using SMC-R, both end points must reside in the same layer
        2 network (i.e. the same subnet).  As a result, firewalls can
        not be injected in the path between two SMC-R endpoints.
        However, other intermediate proxies, such as TCP/IP layer load
        balancers may be injected in the path of two SMC-R endpoints.
        These types of load balancers also maintain connection state so
        that they can forward TCP connection traffic to the appropriate
        cluster end point.  When using SMC-R these TCP connections will
        appear to be completely idle making them susceptible to
        potential timeouts at the LB proxy.  As a result, for this
        scenario, TCP keepalives may still be relevant.

   The following are the TCP level keepalive processing requirements for
   SMC-R enabled hosts:

   o  SMC-R hosts should allow TCP keepalives to flow on the TCP path of
      SMC-R connections based on existing TCP keepalive configuration
      and programming options. However, it is strongly recommended that
      platforms that provide the ability to specify very granular
      keepalive timers (for example, single digit second timers) should
      consider providing a configuration option that limits the minimum
      keepalive timer that will be used for TCP layer keepalives on SMC-
      R connections.  This is important to minimize the amount of TCP
      keepalive packets transmitted in the network for SMC-R
      connections.

   o  SMC-R hosts must always respond to inbound TCP layer keepalives
      (by sending ACKs for these packets) even if the connection is
      using SMC-R. Typically, once a TCP connection has completed the
      SMC-R rendezvous processing and using SMC-R for data flows, no new
      inbound TCP segments are expected on that TCP connection other
      than TCP termination segments (FIN, RST, etc).  TCP keepalives are
      the one exception that must be supported.  And since TCP keepalive
      probes do not carry any application layer data this has no adverse
      impact on the application's inbound data stream.

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4.6. RMB data flows

   The following sections describe the RDMA wire flows for the SMC-R
   protocol after a TCP connection has switched into SMC-R mode (i.e.
   SMC-R rendezvous processing is complete and a pair of RMB elements
   has been assigned and communicated by the partner SMC-R hosts).  The
   ladder diagrams below include the following:

   o  RMBE control information kept by each peer. Only a subset of the
      information is depicted, specifically only the fields that reflect
      the stream of data written by Host A and read by Host B.

   o  Time line 0-x that shows the wire flows in a time relative fashion

   o  Note that RMBE control information is only shown in a time
      interval if its value changed (otherwise assume the value is
      unchanged from previously depicted value)

   o  The local copy of the producer and consumer cursors that is
      maintained by each host is not depicted in these figures.

4.6.1. Scenario 1: Send flow, window size unconstrained

            SMC Host A                              SMC HostB
            RMBE A Info                             RMBE B Info
       (Consumer Cursors)                      (Producer Cursors)
   Cursor   Wrap Seq# Time               Time Cursor   Wrap Seq#  Flags
   0        0         0                  0    0        0          0
   0        0         1 ---------------> 1    0        0          0
                        RDMA-WR Data
                          (0:999)
   0        0         2 ...............> 2    1000     0          0
                        RDMA MSG Control
                           data

         Figure 16 Scenario 1: Send flow, window size unconstrained

   Scenario assumptions:

   o  Kernel implementation

   o  New SMC-R connection, no data has been sent on the connection

   o  Host A: Application issues send for 1,000 bytes to Host B

   o  Host B: RMBE receive buffer size is 10,000, application has issued
      a recv for 10,000 bytes

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   Flow description:

     1. Application issues send() for 1,000 bytes, SMC-R layer copies
        data into a kernel send buffer. It then schedules an RDMA write
        operation to move the data into the peer's RMBE receive buffer,
        at relative position 0-999. Note that no immediate data or alert
        (i.e. interrupt) is provided to host B for this RDMA operation.

     2. Host A sends an RDMA message with inline data to update the
        Producer Cursor to byte 1000. This RDMA message will deliver an
        interrupt to Host B. At this point, the SMC-R layer can return
        control back to the application. Host B, once notified of the
        completion of the previous RDMA operation, locates the RMBE
        associated with the RMBE alert token that was included in the
        message and proceeds to perform normal receive side processing,
        waking up the suspended application read thread, copying the
        data into the application's receive buffer, etc. It will use the
        Producer Cursor as an indicator of how much data is available to
        be delivered to the local application. After this processing is
        complete, the SMC-R layer will also update its local Consumer
        Cursor to match the Producer Cursor (i.e. indicating that all
        data has been consumed). Note that a message to the peer
        updating the Consumer Cursor is not needed at this time as the
        window size if unconstrained (> 1/2 of the receive buffer size).
        The window size is calculated using by taking the difference
        between the Producer and the Consumer cursors in the RMBEs
        (10,000-1,000=9,000).

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4.6.2. Scenario 2: Send/Receive flow, window unconstrained

            SMC Host A                              SMC HostB
            RMBE A Info                             RMBE B Info
       (Consumer Cursors)                      (Producer Cursors)
   Cursor   Wrap Seq# Time               Time Cursor   Wrap Seq#  Flags
   0        0         0                  0    0        0          0
   0        0         1 ---------------> 1    0        0          0
                        RDMA-WR Data
                          (0:999)
   0        0         2 ...............> 2    1000     0          0
                        RDMA MSG Control
                           data
   0        0         3 <--------------  3    1000     0          0
                        RDMA-WR Data
                          (0:499)
   1000     0         4 <..............  4    1000     0          0
                         RDMA MSG Control
                         data

      Figure 17 Scenario 2: Send/Recv flow, window size unconstrained

   Scenario assumptions:

   o  New SMC-R connection, no data has been sent on the connection

   o  Host A: Application issues send for 1,000 bytes to Host B

   o  Host B: RMBE receive buffer size is 10,000, application has
      already issued a recv for 10,000 bytes. Once the receive is
      completed, the application sends a 500 byte response to Host A.

   Flow description:

     1. Application issues send() for 1,000 bytes, SMC-R layer copies
        data into a kernel send buffer. It then schedules an RDMA write
        operation to move the data into the peer's RMBE receive buffer,
        at relative position 0-999. Note that no immediate data or alert
        (i.e. interrupt) is provided to host B for this RDMA operation.

     2. Host A issues an RDMA message with inline data to update the
        Producer Cursor to byte 1000. This RDMA message will deliver an
        interrupt to Host B. At this point, the SMC-R layer can return
        control back to the application.

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     3. Host B, once notified of the receipt of the previous RDMA
        message, locates the RMBE associated with the RMBE alert token
        and proceeds to perform normal receive side processing, waking
        up the suspended application read thread, copying the data into
        the application's receive buffer, etc. After this processing is
        complete, the SMC-R layer will also update its local Consumer
        Cursor to match the Producer Cursor (i.e. indicating that all
        data has been consumed). Note that an update of the Consumer
        Cursor to the peer is not needed at this time as the window size
        is unconstrained (> 1/2 of the receive buffer size). The
        application then performs a send() for 500 bytes to Host A.  The
        SMC-R layer will copy the data into a kernel buffer and then
        schedule an RDMA Write into the partner's RMBE receive buffer.
        Note that this RDMA write operation includes no immediate data
        or notification to Host A.

     4. Host B sends an RDMA message to update the partner's RMBE
        Control information with the latest Producer Cursor (set to 500
        and not shown in the diagram above) and to also inform the peer
        that the Consumer Cursor value is now 1000. It also updates the
        local Current Consumer Cursor and Last Sent Consumer Cursor to
        1000. This RDMA message includes notification since we are
        updating  our Producer Cursor which requires attention by the
        peer host.

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4.6.3. Scenario 3: Send Flow, window constrained

            SMC Host A                              SMC HostB
           RMBE A Info                            RMBE B Info
       (Consumer Cursors)                      (Producer Cursors)
   Cursor   Wrap Seq# Time               Time Cursor   Wrap Seq#  Flags
   0        0         0                  0    0        0          0
   0        0         1 ---------------> 1    0        0          0
                        RDMA-WR Data
                          (0:2999)
   0        0         2 ...............> 2    3000     0          0
                        RDMA MSG Control
                           data
   0        0         3                  3    3000     0          0
   0        0         4 ---------------> 4    3000     0          0
                        RDMA-WR Data
                          (3000:6999)
   0        0         5 ................> 5    7000     0          0
                        RDMA MSG Control
                           data
   7000     0         6 <................ 6    7000     0          0
                        RDMA MSG Control
                           data

          Figure 18 Scenario 3: Send Flow, window size constrained

   Scenario assumptions:

   o  New SMC-R connection, no data has been sent on this connection

   o  Host A: Application issues send for 3,000 bytes to Host B and then
      another send for 4,000

   o  Host B: RMBE receive buffer size is 10,000. Application has
      already issued a recv for 10,000 bytes

   Flow description:

     1. Application issues send() for 3,000 bytes, SMC-R layer copies
        data into a kernel send buffer. It then schedules an RDMA write
        operation to move the data into the peer's RMBE receive buffer,
        at relative position 0-2,999. Note that no immediate data or
        alert (i.e. interrupt) is provided to host B for this RDMA
        operation.

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     2. Host A sends an RDMA message with inline data to update its
        Producer Cursor to byte 3000. This RDMA message will deliver an
        interrupt to Host B. At this point, the SMC-R layer can return
        control back to the application.

     3. Host B, once notified of the receipt of the previous RDMA
        message, locates the RMBE associated with the RMBE alert token
        and proceeds to perform normal receive side processing, waking
        up the suspended application read thread, copying the data into
        the application's receive buffer, etc. After this processing is
        complete, the SMC-R layer will also update its local Consumer
        Cursor to match the Producer Cursor (i.e. indicating that all
        data has been consumed).  It will not however update the partner
        with this information as the window size is not constrained
        (10000-3000=7000 of available space). The application on Host B
        also issues a new recv() for 10,000.

     4. On Host A, application issues a send() for 4,000 bytes. The SMC-
        R layer copies the data into a kernel buffer and schedules an
        async RDMA write into the peer's RMBE receive buffer at relative
        position 3000-6999. Note that no alert is provided to host B for
        this flow.

     5. Host A sends an RDMA message with inline data  to update the
        Producer Cursor to byte 7000. This RDMA message will deliver an
        interrupt to Host B. At this point, the SMC-R layer can return
        control back to the application.

     6. Host B, once notified of the receipt of the previous RDMA
        message, locates the RMBE associated with the RMBE alert token
        and proceeds to perform normal receive side processing, waking
        up the suspended application read thread, copying the data into
        the application's receive buffer, etc. After this processing is
        complete, the SMC-R layer will also update its local Consumer
        Cursor to match the Producer Cursor (i.e. indicating that all
        data has been consumed).  It will then determine whether it
        needs to update the  Consumer Cursor to the peer. The available
        window size is now 3,000 (10,000 - (Producer Cursor - Last Sent
        Consumer Cursor)) which < 1/2 receive buffer size
        (10,000/2=5,000) and the advance of the window size is > 10% of
        the windows size (1,000).  Therefore an RDMA message is issued
        to update the Consumer Cursor to peer A.

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4.6.4. Scenario 4: Large send, flow control, full window size writes

            SMC Host A                              SMC HostB
           RMBE A Info                            RMBE B Info
       (Consumer Cursors)                      (Producer Cursors)
   Cursor   Wrap Seq# Time               Time Cursor   Wrap Seq#  Flags
   1000     1         0                  0    1000     1          0
   1000     1         1 ---------------> 1    1000     1          0
                        RDMA-WR Data
                          (1000:9999)
   1000     1         2 ---------------> 2    1000     1          0
                        RDMA-WR Data
                          (0:999)
   1000     1         3 ...............> 3    1000     2          Wrt
                        RDMA MSG Control                          Blk
                           data
   1000     2         4 <............... 4    1000     2          Wrt
                        RDMA MSG Control                          Blk
                          data
   1000     2         5 ---------------> 5    1000     2          Wrt
                        RDMA-WR Data                              Blk
                          (1000:9999)
   1000     2         6 ---------------> 6    1000     2          Wrt
                        RDMA-WR Data                              Blk
                         (0:999)
   1000     2         7 ...............> 7    1000     3          Wrt
                        RDMA MSG Control                          Blk
                          data
   1000     3         8 <............... 8    1000     3          Wrt
                        RDMA MSG Control                          Blk
                          data
      Figure 19 Scenario 4: Large send, flow control, full window size
                                   writes

   Scenario assumptions:

   o  Kernel implementation

   o  Existing SMC-R connection, Host B's receive window size is fully
      open(Peer Consumer Cursor = Peer Producer Cursor).

   o  Host A: Application issues send for 20,000 bytes to Host B

   o  Host B: RMB receive buffer size is 10,000, application has issued
      a recv for 10,000 bytes

   Flow description:

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     1. Application issues send() for 20,000 bytes, SMC-R layer copies
        data into a kernel send buffer (assumes send buffer space of
        20,000 is available for this connection). It then schedules an
        RDMA write operation to move the data into the peer's RMBE
        receive buffer, at relative position 1000-9999. Note that no
        immediate data or alert (i.e. interrupt) is provided to host B
        for this RDMA operation.

     2. Host A then schedules an RDMA write operation to fill the
        remaining 1000 bytes of available data into the peer's RMBE
        receive buffer, at relative position 0-999. Note that no
        immediate data or alert (i.e. interrupt) is provided to host B
        for this RDMA operation. Also note that an implementation of
        SMC-R may optimize this processing by combining step 1 and 2
        into a single RDMA Write operation (with 2 different data
        sources).

     3. Host A sends RDMA write message with inline data to update the
        Producer Cursor to byte 1000. Since the entire receive buffer
        space is filled, the Producer Writer Blocked flag (WrtBlk
        indicator above) is set and the Producer Window Wrap Sequence
        Number (Producer WrapSeq# above) is incremented. This RDMA
        message will deliver an interrupt to Host B. At this point, the
        SMC-R layer can return control back to the application.

     4. Host B, once notified of the receipt of the previous RDMA
        message, locates the RMBE associated with the RMBE alert token
        and proceeds to perform normal receive side processing, waking
        up the suspended application read thread, copying the data into
        the application's receive buffer, etc. In this scenario, Host B
        notices that the Producer Cursor has not been advanced (same
        value as Consumer Cursor), however, it notices that the Producer
        Window Wrap Size Sequence number is different from its local
        value (1) indicating that a full window of new data is
        available. All the data in the receive buffer can be processed,
        the first segment (1000-9999) followed by the second segment (0-
        999). Because the Producer Writer Blocked indicator was set,
        Host B schedules an RDMA message to update its latest
        information to the peer: Consumer Cursor (1000), Consumer Window
        Wrap Size Sequence Number (2: the current Producer Window Wrap
        Sequence Number is used).

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     5. Host A, upon receipt of the message locates the RMBE associated
        with the alert token, and upon examining the control information
        provided notices that Host B has consumed all of the data (based
        on the Consumer Cursor and the Consumer Window Wrap Size
        Sequence number) and initiates the next RDMA write to fill the
        receive buffer at offset 1000-9999.

     6. Host A then moves the remaining 1000 bytes into the beginning of
        the receive buffer (0-999) by scheduling an RDMA write
        operation.

     7. Host A then sends an RDMA message with inline data to set the
        Producer Writer Blocked indicator and to increment the Producer
        Window Wrap Size Sequence Number (3).

     8. Host B, upon notification completes the same processing as step
        4 above, including sending an RDMA message to update the peer to
        indicate that all data has been consumed.

4.6.5. Scenario 5: Send flow, urgent data, window size unconstrained

            SMC Host A                              SMC HostB
           RMBE A Info                            RMBE B Info
       (Consumer Cursors)                      (Producer Cursors)
   Cursor   Wrap Seq# Time               Time Cursor   Wrap Seq#  Flag
   1000     1         0                  0    1000     1          0
   1000     1         1 ---------------> 1    1000     1          0
                        RDMA-WR Data
                          (1000:1499)
   1000     1         2 ...............> 2    1500     1          UrgP
                        RDMA MSG Control                          UrgA
                          data
   1500     1         3 <............... 3    1500     1          UrgP
                        RDMA MSG Control                          UrgA
                          data
   1500     1         4 ---------------> 4    1500     1          UrgP
                        RDMA-WR Data                              UrgA
                          (1500:2499)
   1500     1         5 ...............> 5    2500     1          0
                        RDMA MSG Control
                         data

       Figure 20 Scenario 5: send Flow, urgent data, window size open

   Scenario assumptions:

   o  Kernel implementation

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   o  Existing SMC-R connection, window size open, all data has been
      consumed by receiver.

   o  Host A:  Application issues send for 500 bytes with urgent data
      indicator (OOB)  to Host B, then sends 1000 of normal data

   o  Host B: RMBE Receive buffer size is 10,000, application has issued
      a recv for 10,000 bytes and is also monitoring the socket for
      urgent data

   Flow description:

     1. Application issues send() for 500 bytes of urgent data. SMC-R
        layer copies data into a kernel send buffer. It then schedules
        an RDMA write operation to move the data into the peer's RMBE
        receive buffer, at relative position 1000-1499. Note that no
        immediate data or alert (i.e. interrupt) is provided to host B
        for this RDMA operation.

     2. sends an RDMA message with inline data to update its Producer
        Cursor to byte 1500 and to turn on the Producer Urgent Data
        Pending (UrgP) and Urgent Data Present (UrgA) flags. This RDMA
        message will deliver an interrupt to Host B. At this point, the
        SMC-R layer can return control back to the application.

     3. Host B, once notified of the receipt of the previous RDMA
        message, locates the RMBE associated with the RMBE alert token,
        notices that the Urgent Data Pending flag is on and proceeds
        with Out of Band socket API notification.  For example,
        satisfying any outstanding select() or poll() requests on the
        socket by indicating that urgent data is pending (i.e. by
        setting the exception bit on). The Urgent Data Present indicator
        allows Host B to also determine the position of the urgent data
        (Producer cursor points one byte beyond the last byte of urgent
        data). Host B can then perform normal receive side processing
        (including specific urgent data processing), copying the data
        into the application's receive buffer, etc. Host B then sends an
        RDMA message to update the partner's RMBE Control area with its
        latest Consumer Cursor (1500).  Note this RDMA message must
        occur regardless of the current local window size that is
        available. The partner host (Host A) cannot initiate any
        additional RDMA writes until acknowledgement that the urgent
        data has been processed (or at least processed/remembered at the
        SMC-R layer).

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     4. Upon receipt of the message, Host A wakes up, sees that peer
        consumed all data up to and including the last byte of Urgent
        data and now resumes sending any pending data.  In this case,
        the application had previously issued a send for 1000 bytes of
        normal data which would have been copied in the send buffer and
        control would have been returned to the application. Host A now
        initiates a RDMA write to move that data to the Peer's receive
        buffer at position 1500-2499.

     5. Host A then sends an RDMA message with inline data update its
        Producer Cursor value (2500) and turn off the Urgent Data
        Pending and Urgent Data Present flags. Host B wakes up,
        processes the new data (resumes application, copies data into
        the application receive buffer) and then proceeds to update the
        Local current consumer cursor (2500). Given that the window size
        is unconstrained there is no need for Consumer Cursor update in
        the peer's RMBE.

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4.6.6. Scenario 6: Send flow, urgent data, window size closed

            SMC Host A                              SMC HostB
           RMBE A Info                            RMBE B Info
       (Consumer Cursors)                      (Producer Cursors)
   Cursor   Wrap Seq# Time               Time Cursor   Wrap Seq#  Flag
   1000     1         0                  0    1000     2          Wrt
                                                                  Blk

   1000     1         1 ...............> 1    1000     2          Wrt
                        RDMA MSG control                          Blk
                          data                                    UrgP

   1000     2         2 <............... 2    1000     2          Wrt
                        RDMA MSG Control                          Blk
                          data                                    UrgP

   1000     2         3 ---------------> 3    1000     2          Wrt
                        RDMA-WR data  l                           Blk
                          (1000:1499)                             UrgP

   1000     2         4 ...............> 4    1500     2          UrgP
                        RDMA MSG control                          UrgA
                          data
   1500     2         5 <............... 5    1500     2          UrgP
                        RDMA MSG Control                          UrgA
                         data
   1500     2         6 ---------------> 6    1500     2          UrgP
                        RDMA-WR data  l                           UrgA
                          (1500:2499)
   1000     2         7 ...............> 7    2500     2          0
                        RDMA MSG control
                          data

      Figure 21 Scenario 6: Send flow, urgent data, window size closed

   Scenario assumptions:

   o  Kernel implementation

   o  Existing SMC-R connection, window size closed, writer is blocked.

   o  Host A: Application issues send for 500 bytes with urgent data
      indicator (OOB) to Host B, then sends 1000 of normal data.

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   o  Host B: RMBE Receive buffer size is 10,000, application has no
      outstanding recv() (for normal data) and is monitoring the socket
      for urgent data.

   Flow description:

     1. Application issues send() for 500 bytes of urgent data. SMC-R
        layer copies data into a kernel send buffer (if available).
        Since the writer is blocked (window size closed) it cannot send
        the data immediately. It then sends an RDMA message with inline
        data to notify the peer of the Urgent Data Pending
        (UrgP)indicator (the Writer Blocked indicator remains on as
        well). This serves as a signal to Host B that urgent data is
        pending in the stream. Control is also returned to the
        application at this point.

     2. Host B, once notified of the receipt of the previous RDMA
        message, locates the RMBE associated with the RMBE alert token,
        notices that the Urgent Data Pending flag is on and proceeds
        with Out of Band socket API notification.  For example,
        satisfying any outstanding select() or poll() requests on the
        socket by indicating that urgent data is pending (i.e. by
        setting the exception bit on). At this point it is expected that
        the application will enter urgent data mode processing,
        expeditiously processing all normal data (by issuing recv API
        calls) so that it can get to the urgent data byte. Whether the
        application has this urgent mode processing or not, at some
        point the application will consume some or all of the pending
        data in the receive buffer.  When this occurs, Host B will also
        send an RDMA message with inline data to update its Consumer
        Cursor and Consumer Window Wrap Sequence Number to the peer.  In
        the example above, a full window worth of data was consumed.

     3. Host A, once awakened by the message will notice that the window
        size is now open on this connection (based on the Consumer
        Cursor and the Consumer Window Wrap Sequence Number which now
        matches the Producer Window Wrap Sequence Number) and resume
        sending of the urgent data segment by scheduling an RDMA write
        into relative position 1000-1499.

     4. Host A the sends an RDMA message with inline data to advance its
        Producer Cursor (1500) and to also notify Host B of the Urgent
        Data Present (UrgA) indicator (and turn off the Writer Blocked
        indicator). This signals to Host B that the urgent data is now
        in the local receive buffer and that the Producer Cursor points
        to the last byte of urgent data.

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     5. Host B wakes up, processes the urgent data and once the urgent
        data is consumed sends an RDMA message with inline data to
        update its Consumer Cursor (1500).

     6. Host A wakes up, sees that Host B has consumed the sequence
        number associated with the urgent data and then initiates the
        next RDMA write operation to move the 1000 bytes associated with
        the next send() of normal data into the peer's receive buffer at
        position (1500-2499). Note that send() API would have likely
        completed earlier in the process by copying the 1000 bytes into
        a send buffer and returning back to the application even though
        we could not send any new data until the urgent data was
        processed and acknowledged by Host B.

     7. Host A sends an RDMA message operation to advance its Producer
        Cursor to 2500 and to reset the Urgent Data Pending and Present
        flags. Host B wakes up and processes the inbound data.

4.7. Connection termination

   Just as SMC-R connections are established using a combination of TCP
   connection establishment flows and SMC-R protocol flows, the
   termination of SMC-R connections also uses a similar combination of
   SMC-R protocol termination flows and normal TCP protocol connection
   termination flows. The following sections describe the SMC-R protocol
   normal and abnormal connection termination flows.

4.7.1. Normal SMC-R connection termination flows

   Normal SMC-R connection flows are triggered via the normal stream
   socket API semantics, namely by the application issuing a close() or
   shutdown() API. Most applications, after consuming all incoming data
   and after sending any outbound data will then issue a close() API to
   indicate that they are done both sending and receiving data. Some
   applications, typically a small percentage, make use of the
   shutdown() API that allows then to indicate that the application is
   done sending data, receiving data or both sending and receiving data.
   The main use of this API is scenarios where a TCP application wants
   to alert its partner end point that it is done sending data, yet is
   still receiving data on its socket (shutdown for Write). Issuing
   shutdown for both sending and receiving data is really no different
   than issuing a close() and can therefore be treated in a similar
   fashion. Shutdown for read is typically not a very useful operation
   and in normal circumstances does not trigger any network flows to
   notify the partner TCP end point of this operation.

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   These same trigger points will be used by the SMC-R layer to initiate
   SMC-R connections termination flows. The main design point for SMC-R
   normal connection flows is to use the SMC-R protocol to first
   shutdown the SMC-R connection and free up any SMC-R RDMA resources
   and then allow the normal TCP connection termination protocol (i.e.
   FIN processing) to drive cleanup of the TCP connection.  This design
   point is very important in ensuring that RDMA resources such as the
   RMBEs are only freed and reused when both SMC-R end points are
   completely done with their RDMA Write operations to the partner's
   RMBE.

                                      1
                            +-----------------+
            |-------------->|     CLOSED      |<-------------|
        3D  |               |                 |              |  4D
            |               +-----------------+              |
            |                       |                        |
            |                     2 |                        |
            |                       V                        |
    +----------------+     +-----------------+     +----------------+
    |AppFinCloseWait |     |     ACTIVE      |     |PeerFinCloseWait|
    |                |     |                 |     |                |
    +----------------+     +-----------------+     +----------------+
            |                   |         |                   |
            |     Active Close  | 3A | 4A |  Passive Close    |
            |                   V    |    V                   |
            |       +--------------+ | +-------------+        |
            |--<----|PeerCloseWait1| | |AppCloseWait1|--->----|
        3C  |       |              | | |             |        |  4C
            |       +--------------+ | +-------------+        |
            |             |          |         |              |
            |             | 3B       |     4B  |              |
            |             V          |         V              |
            |       +--------------+ | +-------------+        |
            |--<----|PeerCloseWait2| | |AppCloseWait2|--->----|
                    |              | | |             |
                    +--------------+ | +-------------+
                                     |
                                     |
                     Figure 22 SMC-R connection states

   Figure 23 describes the states that an SMC-R connection typically
   goes through. Note that there are variations to these states that can
   occur when an SMC-R connection is abnormally terminated, similar in a

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   way to when a TCP connection is reset. The following are the high
   level state transitions for an SMC-R connection:

     1. An SMC-R connection begins in the Closed state. This state is
        meant to reflect an RMBE that is not currently in use (was
        previously in use but no longer is or one that was never
        allocated)

     2. An SMC-R connection progresses to the Active state once the SMC-
        R rendezvous processing has successfully completed, RMB element
        indices have been exchanged and SMC-R links have been activated.
        In this state, TCP connection is fully established, rendezvous
        processing has been completed and SMC-R peers can begin exchange
        of data via RDMA.

     3. Active close processing (on SMC-R peer that is initiating the
        connection termination)

      A. When an application on one of the SMC-R connection peers issues
      a close() or shutdown(write or both) the SMC-R layer on that host
      will initiate SMC-R connection termination processing. First if
      close() or shutdown(both) is issued it will check to see that
      there's no data in the local RMB element that has not been read
      by the application.  If unread data is detected, the SMC-R
      connection must be abnormally reset - for more detail on this
      refer to "SMC-R connection reset".  If no unread data is pending,
      it then checks to see whether any outstanding data is waiting to
      be written to the peer or if any outstanding RDMA writes for this
      SMC-R connection have not yet completed.  If either of these two
      scenarios are true, an indicator that this connection is in a
      pending close state is saved in internal data structures
      representing this SMC-R connection and control is returned to the
      application. If all data to be written to the partner has
      completed this peer will send an RDMA message with Inline Data to
      notify the peer of either the PeerConnectionClosed indicator
      (close or shutdown for both was issued) or the PeerDoneWriting
      indicator. This will provide stimulus to the partner SMC-R peer
      that the connection is terminating. At this point the local side
      of the SMC-R connection transitions in the PeerCloseWait1 state
      and control can be returned to the application.  If this process
      could not be completed synchronously (close pending condition
      mentioned above) it is completed when all RDMA writes for data
      and control cursors have been completed.

      B. At some point the SMC-R peer application (passive close) will
      consume all incoming data, realize that that partner is done
      sending data on this connection and proceed to initiate its own

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      close of the connection once it has completed sending all data
      from its end.  The partner application can initiate this
      connection termination processing via a close() or shutdown()
      APIs. If the application does so by issuing a shutdown() for
      write, then the partner SMC-R layer will send an RDMA message
      with immediate data to notify the peer (active close side) of the
      PeerDoneWriting indicator.  When the "active close" SMC-R peer
      wakes up as a result of the previous RDMA message, it will notice
      that the PeerDoneWriting indicator is now on and transition to
      the PeerCloseWait2 state. This state indicates that the peer is
      done sending data and may still be reading data.  The "active
      close" peer will also at this point need to ensure that any
      outstanding recv() calls for this socket are woken up and
      remember that that no more data is forthcoming on this connection
      (in case the local connection was shutdown() for write only)

      C. This flow is a common transition from 3a or 3b above. When the
      SMC-R peer (passive close) consumes all data, updates all
      necessary cursors to the peer and the application closes its
      socket (close or shutdown for both) it will send an RDMA message
      to the peer (the active close side) with the PeerConnectionClosed
      indicator set. At this point the connection can transition back
      to Closed state if the local application has already closed (or
      issued shutdown for both) the socket. Once in the Closed state,
      the RMBE can now be safely be reused for a new SMC-R connection.
      When the PeerConnectionClosed indicator is turned on, the SMC-R
      peer is indicating that it is done updating the partner's RMBE.

      D. Conditional State: If the local application has not yet issued
      a close() or shutdown(both) yet, we need to wait until the
      application does so (ApplFinWaitState). Once it does, the local
      host will send an RDMA message to notify the peer of the
      PeerConnectionClosed indicator and then transition to the Closed
      state.

     4. Passive close processing (on SMC-R peer that receives an
        indication that the partner is closing the connection)

      A. Upon receipt of an inbound RDMA write notice the SMC-R layer
      will detect that the PeerConnectionClosed indicator or
      PeerDoneWriting indicator is on. If any outstanding recv() calls
      are pending they are completed with an indicator that the partner
      has closed the connection (zero length data presented to
      application). If any pending data to be written and
      PeerConnectionClosed is on then an SMC-R connection reset must be
      performed. The connection then enters the ApplCloseWait1 state on

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      the passive close side waiting for the local application to
      initiate its own close processing

      B. If the local application issues a shutdown() for writing then
      the SMC-R layer will send an RDMA message with inline data to
      notify the partner of the PeerDoneWriting indicator transition
      the local side of the SMC-R connection to the ApplCloseWait2
      state.

      C. When the application issues a close() or shutdown() for both,
      the local SMC-R peer will send a message informing the peer of
      the PeerConnectionClosed indicator and transition to the Closed
      state if peer has also sent the local stack the
      PeerConnectionClosed indicator. If the peer has not sent the
      PeerConnectionClosed indicator, we transition into the
      PeerFinalCloseWait state.

      D. The local SMC-R connection stays in this state until the peer
      sends the PeerConnectionClosed indicator in our RMBE. When the
      indicator is sent we transition to the Closed state and are then
      free to reuse this RMBE.

   Note that each SMC-R needs to provide some logic that will prevent
   being stranded in termination state indefinitely. For example, if an
   Active Close SMC-R host is in a PeerCloseWait (1 or 2) state awaiting
   the remote SMC-R peer to update its connection termination status it
   needs to provide a timer that will prevent it from waiting in that
   state indefinitely should the remote SMC-R peer not respond to this
   termination request. This could occur in error scenarios; for
   example, if the remote SMC-R peer suffered a failure prior to being
   able to respond to the termination request or the remote application
   is not responding to this connection termination request by closing
   its own socket.  This latter scenario is similar to the TCP FINWAIT2
   state that has been known to sometimes cause issues when remote
   TCP/IP hosts lose track of established connections and neglect to
   close them.  Even though the TCP standards do not mandate a time out
   from the TCP FINWAIT2 state, most TCP/IP implementations implement a
   timeout for this state.  A similar timeout will be required for SMC-R
   connections.  When this timeout occurs, the local SMC-R host performs
   TCP reset processing for this connection.  However, no additional
   RDMA messages to the partner RMBE can occur at this point (we have
   already indicated that we are done updating the peer's RMBE). After
   the TCP connection is Reset the RMBE can be returned to the free pool
   for reallocation.  See section 3.2.5 for more details.

   Also note that it is possible to have two SMC-R end points initiate
   an Active close concurrently.  In that scenario the flows above still

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   apply, however, both end points follow the active close path (path
   3).

4.7.1.1. Abnormal SMC-R connection termination flows

   Abnormal SMC-R connection termination can occur for a variety of
   reasons, including:

   o  The TCP connection associated with an SMC-R connection is reset.
      In the TCP protocol either end point can send a RST segment to
      abort an existing TCP connection when error conditions are
      detected for the connection or the application overtly requests
      that the connection be reset.

   o  Normal SMC-R connection termination processing has unexpectedly
      stalled for a given connection. When the stall is detected
      (connection termination timeout condition) an abnormal SMC-R
      connection termination flow is initiated.

   In these scenarios it is very important that resources associated
   with the affected SMC-R connections are properly cleaned up to ensure
   that there are no orphaned resources and that resources can reliably
   be reused for new SMC-R connections. Given that SMC-R relies heavily
   on the RDMA Write processing, special care needs to be taken to
   ensure that an RMBE is no longer being used by a SMC-R peer before
   logically reassigning that RMBE to a new SMC-R connection.

   When an SMC-R host initiates a TCP connection reset it also initiates
   an SMC-R abnormal connection flow at the same time. The SMC-R peers
   explicitly signal their intent to abnormally terminate an SMC-R
   connection and await explicit acknowledgement that the peer has
   received this notification and has also completed abnormal connection
   termination on its end. Note that TCP connection reset processing can
   occur in parallel to these flows.

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                     +-----------------+
     |-------------->|     CLOSED      |<-------------|
     |               |                 |              |
     |               +-----------------+              |
     |                                                |
     |                                                |
     |                                                |
     |             +-----------------+                |
     |             |     Any State   |                |
     |1B           | (before setting |              2B|
     |             |  PeerConnClosed |                |
     |             |  Indicator in   |                |
     |             |  Peer's RMBE)   |                |
     |             +-----------------+                |
     |         1A        |         |      2A          |
     |     Active Abort  |         |  Passive Abort   |
     |                   V         V                  |
     |       +--------------+   +--------------+      |
     |-------|PeerAbortWait |   | Process Abort|------|
             |              |   |              |
             +--------------+   +--------------+

        Figure 23 SMC-R abnormal connection termination state diagram

   Figure 24 above shows the SMC-R abnormal connection termination state
   diagram:

     1. Active abort designates the SMC-R peer that is initiating the
        TCP RST processing. At the time that the TCP RST is sent the
        active abort side must also

      A. Send the PeerConnAbort indicator to the partner via RDMA
      messaging with inline data and then transition to the
      PeerAbortWait state.  During this state it will monitor this SMC-
      R connection waiting for the peer to send its corresponding
      PeerConnAbort indicator but will ignore any other activity in
      this connection (i.e. new incoming data). It will also surface an
      appropriate error to any socket API calls issued against this
      socket (e.g. ECONNABORTED, ECONNRESET, etc.)

      B. Once the peer sendsthe PeerConnAbort indicator to the local
      host, the local host can transition this SMC-R connection to the
      Closed state and reuse this RMBE.  Note that the SMC-R peer that
      goes into the Active abort state must provide some protection

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      against staying in that state indefinitely should the remote SMC-
      R peer not respond by sending its own PeerConnAbort indicator to
      the local host.  While this should be a rare scenario it could
      occur if the remote SMC-R peer (passive abort) suffered a failure
      right after the local SMC-R host (active abort) sent the
      PeerConnAbort indicator. To protect against these types of
      failures, a timer can be set after entering the PeerAbortWait
      state and when if that timer pops before the peer has sent its
      local PeerConnAbort indicator (to the active abort side) then
      this RMBE can be returned to the free pool for possible re-
      allocation.  See section See section 3.2.5 for more details.

     2. Passive abort designates the SMC-R peer that is the recipient of
        an SMC-R abort from the peer designated by the PeerConnAbort
        indicator being sent by the peer in an RDMA message. Upon
        receiving this request, the local peer must

      A. Indicate to the socket application that this connection has
      been aborted using the appropriate error codes, purge all in-
      flight data for this connection that is waiting to be read or
      waiting to be sent.

      B. Send an RDMA message with inline data to notify the peer of
      the PeerConnAbort indicator and once that is completed transition
      this RMBE to the Closed state.

   If an SMC-R host receives a TCP RST for a given SMC-R connection it
   also initiates SMC-R abnormal connection termination processing if it
   has not already been notified (via the PeerConnAbort indicator) that
   the partner is severing the connection. It is possible to have two
   SMC-R endpoints concurrently be in an Active abort role for a given
   connection.  In that scenario the flows above still apply but both
   end points take the active abort path (path 1).

4.7.1.2. Other SMC-R connection termination conditions
   The following are additional conditions that have implications of
   SMC-R connection termination:

   o  A SMC-R host being gracefully shut down. If an SMC-R host supports
      a graceful shutdown operation it should attempt to terminate all
      SMC-R connections as part of shutdown processing.  This could be
      accomplished via LLC Delete Link requests on all active SMC Links.

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   o  Abnormal termination of an SMC-R host.  In this example, there may
      be no opportunity for the host to perform any SMC-R cleanup
      processing.  In this scenario it is up to the remote peer to
      detect a RoCE communications failure with the failing host.  This
      could trigger an SMC link switch but that would also surface RoCE
      errors causing the remote host to eventually terminate all
      existing SMC-R connections to this peer.

   o  Loss of RoCE connectivity between two SMC-R peers.  If two peers
      are no longer reachable across any links in their SMC Link group
      then both peers perform a TCP reset for the connections, surface
      an error to the local applications and free up all QP resources
      associated with the link group.

5. Security considerations

5.1. VLAN considerations

   The concepts and access control of virtual LANs (VLANs) must be
   extended to also cover the RoCE network traffic flowing across the
   ethernet.

   The RoCE VLAN configuration and accesses must mirror the IP VLAN
   configuration and accesses over the CEE fabric. This means that
   hosts, routers and switches that have access to specific VLANs on the
   IP fabric must also have the same VLAN access across the RoCE
   fabric.  In other words, the SMC-R connectivity will follow the same
   virtual network access permissions as normal TCP/IP traffic.

5.2. Firewall considerations

   As mentioned above, the RoCE fabric inherits the same VLAN
   topology/access as the IP fabric. RoCE is a layer 2 protocol that
   requires both end points to reside in the same layer 2 network (i.e.
   VLAN).  RoCE traffic can not traverse multiple VLANs as there is no
   support for routing RoCE traffic beyond a single VLAN. As a result,
   SMC-R communications will also be confined to stacks that are members
   of the same VLAN.  IP based firewalls are typically inserted between
   VLANs (or physical lans) and rely on normal IP routing to insert
   themselves in the data path. Since RoCE (and by extension SMC-R) is
   not routable beyond the local VLAN, there is no ability to insert a
   firewall in the network path of two SMC-R peers.

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5.3. IP Filters

   Because SMC-R maintains the TCP three-way handshake for connection
   setup before switching to RoCE out of band, existing IP filters that
   control connection setup flows remain effective in an SMC-R
   environment.  IP filters that operate on traffic flowing in an active
   TCP connection are not supported, because the connection data does
   not flow over IP.

5.4. Intrusion Detection Services

   Similar to IP filters, intrusion detection services that operate on
   TCP connection setups are compatible with SMC-R with no changes
   required.  However once the TCP connection has switched to RoCE out
   of band, packets are not available for examination.

5.5. IP Security (IPSec)

   IP Security is not compatible with SMC-R because there are no IP
   packets to operate on.  TCP connections that require IP security must
   opt out of SMC-R.

5.6. TLS/SSL

   TLS/SSL is preserved in an SMC-R environment.  The TLS/SSL layer
   resides above the SMC-R layer and outgoing connection data is
   encrypted before being passed down to the SMC-R layer for RMDA write.
   Similarly, incoming connection data goes through the SMC-R layer
   encrypted and is decrypted by the TLS/SSL layer as it is today.

   The TLS/SSL handshake messages flow over the TCP connection after the
   connection has switched to SMC-R, so are exchanged using RDMA writes
   by the SMC-R layer, transparently to the TLS/SSL layer.

6. IANA considerations

   The scarcity of TCP option codes available for assignment is
   understood and this architecture uses experimental TCP options
   following the conventions of draft-ietf-tcpm-experimental-options-
   01.txt.

   If this protocol achieves wide acceptance a discrete option code may
   be requested by subsequent versions of this protocol.

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7. References

7.1. Normative References

   [ROCE] RDMA over Converged Ethernet specification, URL,
             http://members.infinibandta.org/kwspub/spec/Annex_RoCE_fina
             l.pdf

   [IBTA] Infiniband Architecture specification, URL,
             http://www.infinibandta.org/specs

   [RFC793] University of Southern California Information Services
             Institute, "Transmission Control Protocol", RFC 793,
             September 1981.

   [RFC4727] Fenner B., "Experimental Values in IPv4, IPv6, ICMPv4,
             ICMPv6, UDP, and TCP Headers", RFC 4727, November 2006.

7.2. Informative References

    [Tou2012] Touch, J., "Shared use of Experimental TCP Options", draft
             URL, http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-tcpm-
             experimental-options-01

8. Acknowledgments

   This document was prepared using 2-Word-v2.0.template.dot.

9. Conventions used in this document

   In the rendezvous flow diagrams, dashed lines (----) are used to
   indicate flows over the TCP/IP fabric and dotted lines (....) are
   used to indicate flows over the RoCE fabric.

   In the data transfer ladder diagrams, dashed lines (----) are used to
   indicate RDMA write operations and dotted lines (....) are used to
   indicate RDMA messages with inline data.

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Appendix A.                 Formats

A.1. TCP option

   The SMC-R TCP option is formatted in accordance with draft-ietf-tcpm-
   experimental-options-01.txt.  The magic number is IBM-1047 (EBCDIC)
   encoding for 'SMCR'

     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |   Kind = 253  | Length = 6    |   x'E2'       |   x'D4'       |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |    x'C3'      |    x'D9'      |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                     Figure 24 SMC-R TCP option format

A.2. CLC messages

   The following rules apply to all CLC messages:

   General rules on formats:

   o  Reserved fields must be set to zero and not validated

   o  Each message has an eyecatcher at the start and another eyecatcher
      at the end.  These must both be validated by the receiver.

   o  SMC version indicator:  The only SMC-R version defined in this
      architecture is version 1.  In the future, if peers have a
      mismatch of versions, the lowest common version number is used.

A.2.1. Peer ID format

   All CLC messages contain a peer ID that uniquely identifies an
   instance of a stack.  This peer ID is required to be universally
   unique across stacks and instances (including restarts) of stacks.

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    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |          Instance ID          |  RoCE MAC (first two bytes)   |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                RoCE MAC (last four bytes)                     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                          Figure 25 Peer ID format

   Instance ID

      A two-byte instance count that ensures that if the same RNIC MAC
      is later used in the peer ID for a different stack, for example
      if an RNIC is redeployed to another stack, the values are unique.
      It also ensures that if a stack is restarted, the instance ID
      changes.  Value is implementation defined, with one suggestion
      being two bytes of the system clock.

   RoCE MAC

      The RoCE MAC address for one of the stack's RNICs.  Note that in
      a virtualized environment this will be the virtual MAC of one of
      the stack's RNICs.

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A.2.2. SMC Proposal CLC message format

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |   x'E2'       |   x'D4'       |     x'C3'     |     x'D9'     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  Type = 1     |           Length              |Version| Rsrvd |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +-                       Client's Peer ID                      -+
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                Client's preferred GID                       -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  Client's preferred RoCE                                      |
   +- MAC address                  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                               |         Reserved              |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                         IPv4 Subnet Mask                      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   | IPv4 Mask Lgth|           Reserved            |Num IPv6 prfx  |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   :                                                               :
   :        (Variable length) array of IPv6 Prefixes               :
   :                                                               :
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |   x'E2'       |   x'D4'       |     x'C3'     |     x'D9'     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                 Figure 26 SMC Proposal CLC message format

   The fields present in the SMC Proposal CLC message are:

   Eyecatchers

      Like all CLC messages, the SMC Proposal has beginning and ending
      eyecatchers to aid with verification and parsing.  The hex digits
      spell 'SMCR' in IBM-1047 (EBCDIC)

   Type

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      CLC message type 1 indicates SMC Proposal

   Length

      The length of this CLC message.   If this an IPv4 flow, this
      value is 52. Otherwise it is variable depending upon how many
      prefixes are listed.

   Version

      Version of the SMC-R protocol.  Version 1 is the only currently
      defined value

   Client's Peer ID
                                                                             Delet
      As described in A                           ..2.1. above

   Client's preferred RoCE GID

      This is the IPv6 address of the client's preferred RNIC on the
      RoCE fabric

   Client's preferred RoCE MAC address

      The MAC address of the client's preferred RNIC on the RoCE
      fabric. It is required as some operating systems do not have
      neighbor discovery or ARP support for RoCE RNICs.

   IPv4 Subnet mask

      If this message is flowing over an IPv4 TCP connection, the value
      of the subnet mask associated with the interface the client sent
      this message over.  If this an IPv6 flow this field is all zeroes

   IPv4 Mask Lgth

      If this message is flowing over an IPv4 TCP connection, the
      number of significant bits in the IPv4 subnet mask. If this an
      IPv6 flow, this field is zero.

   Num IPv6 prfx

      If this message is flowing over an IPv6 TCP connection, the
      number of IPv6 prefixes that follow, with a maximum value of 8.
      if this is an IPv4 flow this field is zero and is immediately
      followed by the ending eyecatcher.

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   Array of IPv6 Prefixes

      For IPv6 TCP connections, a list of the IPv6 prefixes associated
      with the network the client sent this message over, up to a
      maximum of 8 prefixes.

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +                                                               +
   |                                                               |
   +                  IPv6 Prefix value                            +
   |                                                               |
   +                                                               +
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   | Prefix Length |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

               Figure 27 Format for IPv6 Prefix array element

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A.2.3. SMC Accept CLC message format

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |   x'E2'       |   x'D4'       |     x'C3'     |     x'D9'     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  Type = 2     |    Length = 68                |Version|F|Rsvd |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +-                       Server's Peer ID                      -+
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                Server's RoCE GID                            -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  Server's RoCE                                                |
   +- MAC address                  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                               |     Server QP (bytes 1-2)     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+---+
   |Srvr QP byte 3 |         Server RMB Rkey (bytes 1-3)           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |Srvr RMB byte 4|Server RMB indx| Srvr RMB alert tkn (bytes 1-2)|
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   | Srvr RMB alert tkn (bytes 3-4)|Bsize  | MTU   |   Reserved    |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +-                     Server's RMB virtual address            -+
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   | Reserved      |    Server's initial packet sequence number    |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |   x'E2'       |   x'D4'       |     x'C3'     |     x'D9'     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                  Figure 28 SMC Accept CLC message format

   The fields present on the SMC Accept CLC message are:

   Eyecatchers

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      Like all CLC messages, the SMC Accept has beginning and ending
      eyecatchers to aid with verification and parsing.  The hex digits
      spell 'SMCR' in IBM-1047 (EBCDIC)

   Type

      CLC message type 2 indicates SMC Accept

   Length

      The SMC Accept CLC message is 64 bytes long

   Version

      Version of the SMC-R protocol.  Version 1 is the only currently
      defined value.

   F-bit

      First Contact flag: A 1-bit flag that indicates that the server
      believes this TCP connection is the first SMC-R contact for this
      link group

   Server's Peer ID
                                                                             Delet
      As described in A                           ..2.1. above

   Server's RoCE GID

      This is the IPv6 address of the RNIC that the server chose for
      this SMC Link

   Server's RoCE MAC address

      The MAC address of the server's RNIC for the SMC link. It is
      required as some operating systems do not have neighbor discovery
      or ARP support for RoCE RNICs.

   Server's QP number

      The number for the reliably connected queue pair that the server
      created for this SMC link

   Server's RMB Rkey

      The RDMA Rkey for the RMB that the server created or chose for
      this TCP connection

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   Server's RMB element index

      This indexes which element within the server's RMB will represent
      this TCP connection

   Server's RMB element alert token

      A platform defined, architecturally opaque token that identifies
      this TCP connection.  Added by the client as immediate data on
      RDMA writes from the client to the server to inform the server
      that there is data for this connection to retrieve from the RMB
      element

   Bsize:

      Server's RMB element buffer size in four bits compressed
      notation: x=4 bits. Actual buffer size value is (2^(x+4)) * 1K.
      Smallest possible value is 16K. Largest size supported by this
      architecture is 512K.

   MTU

      An enumerated value indicating this peer's QP MTU size.  The two
      peers exchange this value and the minimum of the peer's value
      will be used for the QP.

      The enumerated MTU values are:

      0:  reserved

      1:  256

      2:  512

      3:  1024

      4:  2048

      5:  4096

      6-15: reserved

   Server's RMB virtual address

      The virtual address of the server's RMB as assigned by the
      server's RNIC.

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   Server's initial packet sequence number

      The starting packet sequence number that this stack will use when
      sending to the peer, so that the peer can prepare its QP for the
      sequence number to expect.

A.2.4. SMC Confirm CLC message format

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |   x'E2'       |   x'D4'       |     x'C3'     |     x'D9'     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  Type = 3     |    Length = 60                |Version| Rsrvd |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +-                       Client's Peer ID                      -+
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                Client's RoCE GID                            -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  Client's RoCE                                                |
   +- MAC address                  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                               |     Client QP (bytes 1-2)     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+---+
   |Clnt QP byte 3 |         Client RMB Rkey (bytes 1-3)           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |Clnt RMB byte 4|Client RMB indx| Clnt RMB alert tkn (bytes 1-2)|
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   | Clnt RMB alert tkn (bytes 3-4)|Bsize  | MTU   |   Reserved    |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +-                  Client's RMB Virtual Address               -+
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   | Reserved      |    Client's initial packet sequence number    |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |   x'E2'       |   x'D4'       |     x'C3'     |     x'D9'     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                  Figure 29 SMC Confirm CLC message format

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   The SMC Confirm CLC message is nearly identical to the SMC Accept
   except that it contains client information and lacks a first contact
   flag.

   The fields present on the SMC Confirm CLC message are:

   Eyecatchers

      Like all CLC messages, the SMC Confirm has beginning and ending
      eyecatchers to aid with verification and parsing.  The hex digits
      spell 'SMCR' in IBM-1047 (EBCDIC)

   Type

      CLC message type 3 indicates SMC Confirm

   Length

      The SMC Confirm CLC message is 60 bytes long

   Version

      Version of the SMC-R protocol.  Version 1 is the only currently
      defined value.

   Client's Peer ID
                                                                             Delet
      As described in A                           ..2.1. above

   Clients's RoCE GID

      This is the IPv6 address of the RNIC that the client chose for
      this SMC Link

   Client's RoCE MAC address

      The MAC address of the client's RNIC for the SMC link. It is
      required as some operating systems do not have neighbor discovery
      or ARP support for RoCE RNICs.

   Client's QP number

      The number for the reliably connected queue pair that the client
      created for this SMC link

   Client's RMB Rkey

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      The RDMA Rkey for the RMB that the client created or chose for
      this TCP connection

   Client's RMB element index

      This indexes which element within the client's RMB will represent
      this TCP connection

   Client's RMB element alert token

      A platform defined, architecturally opaque token that identifies
      this TCP connection.  Added by the server as immediate data on
      RDMA writes from the server to the client to inform the client
      that there is data for this connection to retrieve from the RMB
      element

   Bsize:

      Client's RMB element buffer size in four bits compressed
      notation: x=4 bits. Actual buffer size value is (2^(x+4)) * 1K.
      Smallest possible value is 16K. Largest size supported by this
      architecture is 512K.

   MTU

      An enumerated value indicating this peer's QP MTU size.  The two
                                                                             Delet           peers exchange this value and the minimum of the peer's value
      will be used for the QP. The values are enumerated in .                                                                 A.2.3.

   Client's RMB virtual address

      The virtual address of the server's RMB as assigned by the
      server's RNIC.

   Client's initial packet sequence number

      The starting packet sequence number that this stack will use when
      sending to the peer, so that the peer can prepare its QP for the
      sequence number to expect

      .

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A.2.5. SMC Decline CLC message format

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |   x'E2'       |   x'D4'       |     x'C3'     |     x'D9'     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  Type = 4     |    Length = 28                |Version| Rsrvd |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +-                       Sender's Peer ID                      -+
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    Reason code                |                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+      Reserved                -+
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |   x'E2'       |   x'D4'       |     x'C3'     |     x'D9'     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                  Figure 30 SMC Decline CLC message format

   The fields present on the SMC Decline CLC message are:

   Eyecatchers

      Like all CLC messages, the SMC Decline has beginning and ending
      eyecatchers to aid with verification and parsing.  The hex digits
      spell 'SMCR' in IBM-1047 (EBCDIC)

   Type

      CLC message type 4 indicates SMC Decline

   Length

      The SMC Decline CLC message is 28 bytes long

   Version

      Version of the SMC-R protocol.  Version 1 is the only currently
      defined value.

   Sender's Peer ID
                                                                             Delet
      As described in A                           ..2.1. above

   Reason Code

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      A two byte reason code set by the sender.

      Values tbd

A.3. LLC messages

   LLC messages are sent over an existing SMC-R link using RoCE message
   passing and are always 44 bytes long so that they fit into the space
   available in a single WQE without requiring the receiver to post
   receive buffers.  If all 44 bytes are not needed, they are padded out
   with zeroes.  LLC messages are in a request/response format.  The
   message type is the same for request and response, and a flag
   indicates whether a message is flowing as a request or a response.

   The two high order bits of an LLC message opcode indicate how it is
   to be handled by a peer that does not support the opcode.

   If the high order bits of the opcode are b'00' then the peer must
   support the LLC message and indicate a protocol error if it does not.

   If the high order bits of the opcode are b'10' then the peer must
   silently discard the LLC message if does not support the opcode. This
   requirement is inserted to allow for toleration of advanced, but
   optional function.

                                                                             Delet        High order bits of b'11' indicate an RMBE control message as
   described in A                     ..4.

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A.3.1. CONFIRM LINK LLC message format

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  type = 1     |  length = 44  |Version| Rsrvd |R|  Reserved   |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  Sender's RoCE                                                |
   +-   MAC address                +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                               |                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                               +
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                 Sender's RoCE GID                             |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                              +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                               |Sender's QP number, bytes 1-2  |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |Sender QP byte3| Link number   |Sender's link userid, bytes 1-2|
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |Sender's link userid bytes, 3-4| Max links     |  Reserved     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +-                         Reserved                            -+
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                 Figure 31 CONFIRM LINK LLC message format

   The CONFIRM LINK LLC message is required to be exchanged between the
   server and client over a newly created SMC-R link to complete the
   setup of an SMC link.  Its purpose is to confirm that the RoCE path
   is actually usable.

   On first contact this flows after the server receives the SMC Confirm
   CLC message from the client over the IP connection. For additional
   links added to an SMC link group, it flows after the ADD LINK and ADD
   LINK CONTINUATION exchange.  This flow provides confirmation that the
   queue pair is in fact usable. Each peer echoes its RoCE information
   back to the other.

   Type

      Type 1 indicates CONFIRM LINK

   Length

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      All LLC messages are 44 bytes long

   Version

      Version of the SMC-R protocol.  Version 1 is the only currently
      defined value.

   R

      Reply flag. When set indicates this is a CONFIRM LINK REPLY

   Sender's RoCE MAC address

      The MAC address of the sender's RNIC for the SMC link. It is
      required as some operating systems do not have neighbor discovery
      or ARP support for RoCE RNICs.

   Sender's RoCE GID

      This is the IPv6 address of the RNIC that the sender is using for
      this SMC-R Link

   Sender's QP number

      The number for the reliably connected queue pair that the sender
      created for this SMC-R link

   Link number

      An identifier assigned by the server that uniquely identifies the
      link within the link group.  This identifier is ONLY unique
      within a link group.  Provided by the server and echoed back by
      the client

   Link User ID

      An opaque, implementation defined identifier assigned by the
      sender and provided to the receiver solely for purposes of
      display, diagnosis, network management, etc.  The link user ID
      should be unique across the sender's entire stack, including all
      link other link groups.

   Max Links

      The maximum number of links the sender can support in a link
      group.  The maximum for this link group is the the smaller of the
      values provided by the two peers.

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A.3.2. ADD LINK LLC message format

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  type = 2     |  length = 44  |Version|RsnCode|R|Z| Reserved  |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  Sender's RoCE                                                |
   +-   MAC address                +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                               |                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                               +
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                 Sender's RoCE GID                             |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                              +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                               |Sender's QP number, bytes 1-2  |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |Sender QP byte3| Link number   |Rsrvd  |  MTU  |Initial PSN    |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  Initial PSN, continued       |                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                              -+
   |                          Reserved                             |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                   Figure 32 ADD LINK LLC message format

   The ADD LINK LLC message is sent over an existing link in the link
   group when a peer wishes to add an SMC-R link to an existing SMC-R
   link group.  It sent by the server to add a new SMC-R link to the
   group, or by the client to request that the server add a new link,
   for example when a new RNIC becomes active.  When sent from the
   client to the server, it represents a request that the server
   initiate an ADD LINK exchange.

   This message is sent immediately after the initial SMC link in the
                                                                             Delet        group completes, as described in 3                                         ..4.1. First contact. It can also be
   sent over an existing SMC-R link group at any time as new RNICs are
   added and become available.  Therefore there can be as few as 1 new
   RMB RTokens to communicate, or several.   Rtokens will be
   communicated using ADD LINK CONTINUATION messages.

   The contents of the ADD LINK LLC message are:

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   Type

      Type 2 indicates ADD LINK

   Length

      All LLC messages are 44 bytes long

   Version

      Version of the SMC-R protocol.  Version 1 is the only currently
      defined value.

   RsnCode

      If the Z (rejection) flag is set, this field provides the reason
      code.  Values can be:

      X'1' - no alternate path available: set when the server provides
      the same MAC/GID as an existing SMC-R link in the group, and the
      client does not have any additional RNICs available (i.e., server
      is attempting to set up an asymmetric link but none is available)

   R

      Reply flag. When set indicates this is an ADD LINK REPLY

   Z

      Rejection flag.  When set on reply indicates that the server's
      ADD LINK was rejected by the client.  When this flag is set, the
      reason code will also be set.

   Sender's RoCE MAC address

      The MAC address of the sender's RNIC for the new SMC-R link. It
      is required as some operating systems do not have neighbor
      discovery or ARP support for RoCE RNICs.

   Sender's RoCE GID

      The IPv6 address of the RNIC that the sender is using for the new
      SMC-R Link

   Sender's QP number

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      The number for the reliably connected queue pair that the sender
      created for the new SMC-R link

   Link number

      An identifier for the new SMC-R link.  This is assigned by the
      server and uniquely identifies the link within the link group.
      This identifier is ONLY unique within a link group.  Provided by
      the server and echoed back by the client

   MTU

      An enumerated value indicating this peer's QP MTU size.  The two
                                                                             Delet           peers exchange this value and the minimum of the peer's value
      will be used for the QP. The values are enumerated in .                                                                 A.2.3.

   Initial PSN

      The starting packet sequence number that this stack will use when
      sending to the peer, so that the peer can prepare its QP for the
      sequence number to expect.

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A.3.3. ADD LINK CONTINUATION LLC message format

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  type = 3     |  length = 44  |Version| Rsrvd |R|  Reserved   |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |   Linknum     | NumRTokens    |         Reserved              |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                  Rkey/Rtoken Pair                           -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                  Rkey/Rtoken Pair or zeroes                 -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                        Reserved                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     Figure 33 ADD LINK CONTINUATION LLC message format

   When a new SMC-R link is added to an SMC-R link group, it is
   necessary to communicate the new link's RTokens for the RMBs that the
   SMC-r link group can access.  This message follows the ADD LINK and
   provides the RTokens.

   The server kicks off this exchange by sending the first ADD LINK
   CONTINUATION LLC message, and the server controls the exchange as
   described below.

   o  If the client and the server require the same number of ADD LINK
      CONTINUATION messages to communicate their RTokens, the server
      starts the exchange by sending the client the first ADD LINK
      CONTINUATION request to the client with its RTokens, then the
      client responds with an ADD LINK CONTINUATION response with its
      RTokens, and so on until the exchange is completed.

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   o  If the server requires more ADD LINK CONTINUATION messages than
      the client, then after the client has communicated all its
      RTokens, the server continues to send ADD LINK CONTINUATION
      request  messages to the client. The client continues to respond,
      using empty (number of RTokens to be communicated = 0) ADD LINK
      CONTINUATION response messages.

   o  If the client requires more ADD LINK CONTINUATION messages than
      the server, then after communicating all its RTokens the server
      will continue to send empty ADD LINK CONTINUATION messages to the
      client to solicit replies with the client's RTokens, until all
      have been communicated.

   The contents of this message are:

   Type

      Type 3 indicates ADD LINK CONTINUATION

   Length

      All LLC messages are 44 bytes long

   Version

      Version of the SMC-R protocol.  Version 1 is the only currently
      defined value.

   R

      Reply flag. When set indicates this is an ADD LINK CONTINUATION
      REPLY

   LinkNum

      The link number of the new link within the SMC link group that
      Rkeys are being communicated for

   NumRTokens

      Number of RTokens remaining to be communicated (including the
      ones in this message). If the value is less than or equal to 2,
      this is the last message. If it is greater than 2, another
      continuation message will be required, and its value will be the

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      value in this message minus 2, and so on until all Rkeys are
      communicated.

   Up to 2 Rkey/RToken pairs

      These consist of an Rkey for an RMB that is known on the SMC-R
      link that this message was sent over (the reference Rkey), paired
      with the same RMB's RToken over the new SMC link.  A full RToken
      is not required for the reference because it is only being used
      to distinguish which RMB it applies to, not address it.

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                         Reference Rkey                        |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                            New Rkey                           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +-                       New Virtual Address                   -+
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                     Figure 34 Rkey/Rtoken pair format

   The contents of the RKey/RToken pair are:

   Reference Rkey

      The Rkey of the RMB as it is already known on the SMC-R link over
      which this message is being sent. Required so that the peer knows
      which RMB to associate the new Rtoken with.

   New Rkey

      The Rkey of this RMB as it is known over the new SMC-R link

   New Virtual Address

      The virtual address of this RMB as it is known over the new SMC-R
      link.

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A.3.4. DELETE LINK LLC message format

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  type = 4     |  length = 44  |Version| Rsrvd |R|A|O| Rsrvd   |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |   Linknum     |         Reason code (bytes 1-3)               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |RsnCode byte 4 |                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                                              -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                          Reserved                           -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     Figure 35 DELETE LINK LLC message format

   When the client or server detects that a QP or SMC-R link goes down
   or needs to come down, it sends this message over one of the other
   links in the link group.

   When the DELETE Link is sent from the client it only serves as a
   notification, and the client expects the server to send a DELETE LINK
   Request in response.  To avoid races, only the server will initiate
   the actual DELETE LINK Request and Response sequence that results
   from notification from the client.

   The server can also initiate the DELETE Link without notification
   from the client if it detects an error or if orderly link termination
   was initiated.

   The client may also request termination of the entire link group and
   the server may terminate the entire link group using this message.

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   The contents of this message are:

   Type

      Type 4 indicates DELETE LINK

   Length

      All LLC messages are 44 bytes long

   Version

      Version of the SMC-R protocol.  Version 1 is the only currently
      defined value.

   R

      Reply flag. When set indicates this is an ADD LINK CONTINUATION
      REPLY

   A

      All flag.  When set indicates that all links in the link group
      are to be terminated.  This terminates the link group.

   O

      Orderly flag. Indicates orderly termination.  Orderly termination
      is generally caused by an operator command rather than an error
      on the link.  When the client requests orderly termination, the
      server may wait to complete other work before terminating.

   LinkNum

      The link number of the link to be terminated

   RsnCode

      The termination reason code.  Currently defined reason codes are:

      Request Reason Codes:

      o X'00010000' = lost path

      o X'00020000' = operator initiated termination

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      o X'00030000' = stack (program) initiated termination (link
      inactivity)

      o X'00040000' = LLC protocol violation

      o Others TBD

      Response Reason Codes:

      o X'00100000' = Unknown Link ID (no link)

      o X'00200000' = Unknown Link Group (no links)

      o Others TBD

A.3.5. CONFIRM RKEY LLC message format

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  type = 6     |  length = 44  |Version| Rsrvd |R|D|Z| Rsrvd   |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |   NumLinks    |  New RMB Rkey for this link (bytes 1-3)       |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |ThisLink byte 4|                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                                              -+
   |           New RMB virtual address for this link               |
   +-              +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |               |                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                                              -+
   |                                                               |
   +-   Other link RMB specification or zeros                     -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                              +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                               |                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                              -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |      Other link RMB specification or zeroes                   |
   +-                                              +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                               |  Reserved     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     Figure 36 CONFIRM RKEY LLC message format

   The CONFIRM_RKEY flow can be sent at any time from either the client
   or the server, to inform the peer that an RMB has been created or
   deleted.  The creator of a new RMB must inform its peer of the new

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   RMB's RToken for all SMC-R links in the SMC-R link group.  The
   deleter of an RMB must inform its peer of the deleted RMB's RToken
   for all SMC-R links.

   For RMB creation, the creator sends this message over the SMC link
   that the first TCP connection that uses the new RMB is using.  This
   message contains the new RMB RToken for the SMC link that the message
   is sent over, then it lists the sender's SMC links in the link group
   paired with the new RToken for the new RMB for that link.   This
   message can communicate the new RTokens for 3 QPs: the QP this
   message is sent over, and 2 others.  If there are more than 3 links
   in the SMC-R link group, CONFIRM_RKEY_CONTINUATION will be required.

   For RMB deletion, the creator sends the same format of message with a
   delete flag set, to inform the peer that the RMB's RTokens on all
   links in the group are deleted.

   In both cases, the peer responds by simply echoing the message with
   the response flag set. If the response is a negative response, the
   sender must recalculate the RToken set and start a new CONFIRM_RKEY
   exchange from the beginning.

   The contents of this message are:

   Type

      Type 6 indicates CONFIRM RKEY

   Length

      All LLC messages are 44 bytes long

   Version

      Version of the SMC-R protocol.  Version 1 is the only currently
      defined value.

   R

      Reply flag. When set indicates this is a CONFIRM RKEY REPLY

   D

      Delete flag.  When set indicates that the indicated RMB is being
      deleted

   Z

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      Negative response flag.  Set when an attempt to send CONFIRM RKEY
      collides with a configuration change in the link group. When set
      on a reply, indicates that the sender must recalculate the Rkey
      and and redo this exchange after the current configuration change
      is completed.

   NumLinks

      The number link/RToken pairs, including those provided in this
      message, to be communicated.

      Note: in this version of the architecture, 8 is the maximum
      number of links supported in a link group.

   New RMB Rkey for this link

      The new RMB's Rkey as assigned on the link this message is being
      sent over.

   New RMB virtual address for this link

      The new RMB's virtual address as assigned on the link this
      messages is being sent over.

   Other link RMB specification

      The new RMB's specification on the other links in the link group,
      as shown in Figure 38.

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   | Link number   | RMB's Rkey for the specified link (bytes 1-3) |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |New Rkey byte 4|                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+                                              -+
   |           RMB's virtual address for the specified link        |
   +-              +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     Figure 37 Format of link number/Rkey pairs

   Link number

      The link number for a link in the link group

   RMB's Rkey for the specified link

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      The Rkey used to reach the RMB over the link whose number was
      specified in the link number field.

   RMB's virtual address for the specified link

      The virtual address used to reach the RMB over the link whose
   number was specified in the link number field.

A.3.6. TEST LINK LLC message format

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  type = 7     |  length = 44  |Version| Rsrvd |R|  Reserved   |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                         User Data                           -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                          Reserved                             |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-                                                             -+
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                   Figure 38 TEST LINK LLC message format

   The TEST_LINK request can be sent from either peer to the other on an
   existing SMC-R link at any time to test that the SMC-R link is active
   and healthy at the stack level.  A stack which receives a TEST_LINK
                                                                             Delet        LLC message immediately sends back a TEST_LINK reply, echoing back
   the user data.  Also refer to 4                                      ..5.3. TCP Keepalive processing.

   The contents of this message are:

   Type

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      Type 7 indicates TEST LINK

   Length

      All LLC messages are 44 bytes long

   Version

      Version of the SMC-R protocol.  Version 1 is the only currently
      defined value.

   R

      Reply flag. When set indicates this is a CONFIRM RKEY REPLY

   User Data

      The receiver of this message echoes the sender's data back in a
      TEST_LINK response LLC message

A.4. RMBE control message format

   The RMBE control data is communicated using RDMA message passing
   using inline data, similar to LLC messages. Also similar to LLC
   messages, this data block is 44 bytes long to ensure that it can it
   into private data areas of receive WQEs, without requiring the
   receiver to post receive buffers.

   Unlike LLC messages, this data is integral to the data path so its
   processing must be prioritized and optimized similarly to other data
   path processing.  While LLC messages may be processed on a slower
   path than data, these messages cannot be.

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       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   0  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      | Type = x'FE'  | Length = 44   |      Sequence number          |
   4  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                       SMC-R alert token                       |
   8  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |         Reserved              | Producer cursor wrap seqno    |
   12 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                       Producer Cursor                         |
   16 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |         Reserved              | Consumer cursor wrap seqno    |
   20 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                       Consumer Cursor                         |
   24 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |B|P|U|R| Rsrvd |D|C|A|             Reserved                    |
   28 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                                                               |
   32 +-                                                             -+
      |                                                               |
   36 +-                         Reserved                            -+
      |                                                               |
   40 +-                                                             -+
      |                                                               |
   44 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                   Figure 39 RMBE Control Message Format

   Type = x'FE'

      This type number has the high order bit turned on to enable
      processing to quickly distinguish it from an LLC message

   Length = 44

      The length of inline data that does not require posting of a
      receive buffer.

   Sequence number

      A 2 byte unsigned integer that represents a wrapping sequence
      number. Incremented with every control message send, and used to
      guard against processing an old control message out of sequence.
      If this number is less than the last received value, discard this
      message. If greater, processes this message.  Old control

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      messages can be lost with no ill effect, but cannot be processed
      after newer ones.

   SMC-R alert token

      The endpoint-assigned alert token that identifies which TCP
      connection on the link group this control message refers to.

   Producer cursor wrap seqno

      A 2 byte unsigned integer that represents wrapping counter
      incremented by the producer whenever the data written into this
      RMBE receiver buffer causes a wrap (i.e. the producer cursor
      wraps). This is used by the receiver to determine when new data
      is available even though the cursors appear unchanged such as
      when a full window size write is completed (Producer cursor of
      this RMBE sent by peer = Local Consumer Cursor) or in scenarios
      where the Producer Cursor sent for this RMBE < Local  Consumer
      Cursor).

   Producer cursor

      Unsigned, 4 byte integer that is a wrapping offset into the RMBE
      data area. Points to the next byte of data to be written by the
      sender. Can advance up to the receiver's Consumer Cursor as known
      by the sender. When the urgent data present indicator is on then
      points one byte beyond the last byte of urgent data.

   Consumer cursor wrap seqno

      2 byte unsigned integer that mirrors the value of the Producer
      cursor wrap sequence number when the last read from this RMBE
      occurred. Used as an indicator on how far along the consumer is
      in reading data (i.e. processed last wrap point or not). The
      producer side can use this indicator to detect whether more data
      can be written to the partner in full window write scenarios
      (where the Producer Cursor =  Consumer Cursor as known on the
      remote RMBE).  In this scenario if the consumer sequence number
      equals the local producer sequence number the producer knows that
      more data can be written.

   Consumer Cursor

      Unsigned 4 byte integer that is a wrapping offset into the
      sender's RMBE data area.  Points to the offset of the next byte
      of data to be consumed by the peer in its own RMBE. The sender

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      cannot write beyond this cursor into the peer's RMBE without
      causing data loss.

   B-bit

      Writer blocked indicator: Sender is blocked for writing, requires
      explicit notification when receive buffer space is available.

   P-bit

      Urgent data pending: Sender has urgent data pending for this
      connection

   U-bit

      Urgent data present: Indicates that urgent is data present in the
      RMBE data area, and the producer cursor points to one byte beyond
      the last byte of urgent data.

   R-bit

      Request for consumer cursor update: Indicates that a consumer
      cursor update is requested bypassing any window size optimization
      algorithms.

   D-bit

      Sending done indicator: Sent by a peer when it is done writing
      new data into the receiver's RMBE data area.

   C-bit

      Peer Closed Connection indicator: Sent by a peer when it is
      completely done with this connection and will no longer be making
      any updates to the receiver's RMBE, and will also not be sending
      any more control messages.

   A-bit

      Abnormal Close indicator: Sent by a peer when the connection is
      abnormally terminated (for example, the TCP connection was
      Reset). When sent it indicates that the peer is completely done
      with this connection and will no longer be making any updates to
      this RMBE or sending any more control messages. It also indicates
      that the RMBE owner must flush any remaining data on this

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      connection and surface an error return code to any outstanding
      socket APIs on this connection (same processing as receiving an
      RST segment on a TCP connection).

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Appendix B.                 Socket API considerations

   A key design goal for SMC-R is to require no application changes for
   exploitation. It is confined to socket applications using stream
   (i.e. TCP protocol) sockets over IPv4 or IPv6. By virtue of the fact
   that the switch to the SMC-R protocol occurs after a TCP connection
   is established no changes are required in socket address family or in
   the IP addresses and ports that the socket application are using.
   Existing socket APIs that allow the application to retrieve local and
   remote socket address structures for an established TCP connection
   (for example, getsockname() and getpeername()) will continue to
   function as they have before.  Existing DNS setup and APIs for
   resolving hostnames to IP addresses and vice versa also continue to
   function without any changes. In general all of the usual socket APIs
   that are used for TCP communicates (send APIs, recv APIs, etc.) will
   continue to function as they do today even if SMC-R is used as the
   underlying protocol.

   Each SMC-R enabled implementation does however need to pay special
   attention to any socket APIs that have a reliance on the underlying
   TCP and IP protocols and ensure that their behavior in an SMC-R
   environment is reasonable and minimizes impact to the application.
   While the basic socket API set is fairly similar across different
   Operating Systems, when it comes to advanced socket API options there
   is more variability.  Each implementation needs to perform a detailed
   analysis of its API options and SMC-R impact and implications. As
   part of that step a discussion or review with other implementations
   supporting SMC-R would be useful to ensure a consistent
   implementation.

   setsockopt()/ getsockopt() considerations

   These APIs allow socket applications to manipulate socket, transport
   (TCP/UDP) and IP level options associated with a given socket.
   Typically, a platform restricts the number of IP options available to
   stream (TCP) socket applications given their connection oriented
   nature. The general guideline here is to continue processing these
   APIs in a manner that allows for application compatibility.  Some
   options will be relevant to the SMC-R protocol and will require
   special processing under the covers.  For example, the ability to
   manipulate TCP send and receive buffer sizes is still valid for SMC-
   R.  However, other options may have no meaning for SMC-R.  For
   example, if an application enabled the TCP_NODELAY option to disable
   Nagle's algorithm it should have no real effect in SMC-R
   communications as there is no notion of Nagle's algorithm with this
   new protocol.  But the implementation must accept the TCP_NODELAY
   option as it does today and save it so that it can be later extracted

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   via getsockopt() processing. Note that any TCP or IP level options
   will still have an effect on any TCP/IP packets flowing for an SMC-R
   connection (i.e. as part of TCP/IP connection establishment and
   TCP/IP connection termination packet flows).

   Under the covers manipulation of the TCP options will also include
   the SMC layer setting and reading the SMC-R experimental option
   before and after completion of the 3 way TCP handshake.

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Appendix C.                 Rendezvous Error scenarios

   Error scenarios in setting up and managing SMC-R links are discussed
   in this section.

C.1. SMC Decline during CLC negotiation

   A peer to the SMC-R CLC negotiation can send SMC Decline in lieu of
   any expected CLC message to decline SMC and force the TCP connection
   back to IP fabric.  There can be several reasons for an SMC Decline
   during the CMC negotiation including: RNIC went down, SMC-R forbidden
   by local policy, subnet (IPv4) or prefix (IPv6) doesn't match, lack
   of resources to perform SMC-R.  In all cases when an SMC Decline is
   sent in lieu of an expected CLC message, no confirmation is required
   and the TCP connection immediately falls back to using the IP fabric.

   To prevent ambiguity between CLC messages and application data, an
   SMC Decline cannot "chase" another CLC message. SMC Decline can only
   be sent in lieu of an expected CLC message.  For example, if the
   client sends SMC Proposal then its RNIC goes down, it must wait for
   the SMC Accept for the server and then it can reply to that with an
   SMC Decline.

   This "no chase" rule means that if this TCP connection is not a first
   contact between RoCE peers, a server cannot send SMC Decline after
   sending SMC Accept - it can only either break the TCP connection.
   Similarly, once the client sends SMC Confirm on a TCP connection that
   isn't first contact, it is committed to SMC-R for this TCP connection
   and cannot fall back to IP.

C.2. SMC Decline during LLC negotiation

   For a TCP connection that represents first contact between RoCE
   pairs, it is possible for SMC to fail back to IP during the LLC
   negotiation. This is possible until the first contact SMC link is
   confirmed.  For example, see Figure 40.  After a first contact SMC
   link is confirmed, fallback to IP is no longer possible.  The rule
   that this translates to is: a first contact peer can send SMC Decline
   at any time during LLC negotiation until it has successfully sent its
   CONFIRM LINK (request or response) flow.  After that point, it cannot
   fall back to IP.

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       Host X -- Server                           Host Y -- Client
    +-------------------+                      +-------------------+
    | PeerID = PS1      |                      |    PeerID = PC1   |
    |            +------+                      +------+            |
    |       QP 8 |RNIC 1|    SMC-R link 1      |RNIC 2| QP 64      |
    | RKey X |   |MAC MA|<-------------------->|MAC MB|   |        |
    |        |   |GID GA|   attempted setup    |GID GB|   | RKey Y2|
    |       \/   +------+                      +------+  \/        |
    |+--------+         |                      |        +--------+ |
    || RMB    |         |                      |        | RMB    | |
    |+--------+         |                      |        +--------+ |
    |       /\   +------+                      +------+  /\        |
    |        |   |RNIC 3|                      |RNIC 4|   | Rkey W2|
    |        |   |MAC MC|                      |MAC MD|   |        |
    |       QP 9 |GID GC|                      |GID GD| QP65       |
    |            +------+                      +------+            |
    +-------------------+                      +-------------------+

            SYN / SYN-ACK / ACT TCP 3-way handshake with TCP option
         <--------------------------------------------------------->

            SMC Proposal / SMC Accept / SMC Confirm exchange
         <-------------------------------------------------------->

           CONFIRM LINK(request, link 1)
         .........................................................>

                           CONFIRM LINK(response, link 1)
                              X...................................
                                :
                                : ROCE write faliure
                                :.................................>

           SMC Decline(PC1, reason code)
          <--------------------------------------------------------

              Connection data flows over IP fabric
          <------------------------------------------------------->

                          Legend:
                   ------------   TCP/IP and CLC flows
                   ............   RoCE (LLC) flows

                Figure 40 SMC Decline during LLC negotiation

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C.3. The SMC Decline window

   Because SMC-R does not support fall-back to IP for a TCP connection
   that is already using RDMA, there are specific rules on when SMC
   Decline, which signals a fall-back to IP because of an error or
   problem with the RoCE fabric, can be sent during TCP connection
   setup.  There is a point of no return after which a connection cannot
   fall back to IP, and RoCE errors that occur after this point require
   the connection to be broken with a RST flow in the IP fabric.

   For first contact, that point of no return is after the Add Link LLC
   message has been successfully sent for the second SMC-R link.
   Specifically, the server cannot fall back to IP after receiving
   either a positive write completion indication for the Add Link
   request, or after receiving the Add Link response from the client,
   whichever comes first.  The client cannot fall back to IP after
   either sending a negative Add Link response, receiving a positive
   write complete on a positive Add Link response, or receiving a
   Confirm Link for the second SMC-R link from the server, whichever
   comes first.

   For subsequent contact, that point of no return is after the last
   send of the CLC negotiation completes.  This, in combination with the
   rule that error "chasers" are not allowed during CLC negotiation,
   means that the server cannot send SMC Decline after sending an SMC
   Accept, and the client cannot send an SMC Decline after sending an
   SMC Confirm.

C.4. Out of synch conditions during SMC-R negotiation

   The SMC Accept CLC message contains a "first contact" flag that
   indicates to the client whether or not the server believes it is
   setting up a new link group, or using an existing link group.  This
   flag is used to detect an out of synch condition between the client
   and the server.  The scenario detected is as follows: There is a
   single existing SMC-R link between the peers.  After the client sends
   the SMC Proposal CLC message, the existing SMC-R link between the
   client and the server fails.  The client cannot chase the SMC
   Proposal CLC message with an SMC Decline CLC message in this case
   because the client does not yet know that the server would have
   wanted to choose the SMC-R link that just crashed.  The QP that
   failed recovers before the server returns its SMC Accept CLC message.
   This means that there is a QP but no SMC link.  Since the server had
   not yet learned of the SMC link failure when it sent the SMC Accept
   CLC message, it attempts to re-use the SMC link that just failed.
   This means the server would not set the "first contact" flag,
   indicating to the client that the server thinks it is reusing an SMC-

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   R link. However the client does not have an SMC-R link that matches
   the server's specification.  Because the "first contact" flag is off,
   the client realizes it is out of synch with the server and sends SMC
   Decline to cause the connection to fall back to IP.

C.5. Timeouts during CLC negotiation

   Because the SMC-R negotiation flows as TCP data, there are built-in
   timeouts and retransmits at the TCP layer for individual messages.
   Implementations also must to protect the overall TCP/CLC handshake
   with a timer or timers to prevent connections from hanging
   indefinitely due to SMC-R processing.  This can be done with
   individual timers for individual CLC messages or an overall timer for
   the entire exchange,  which may include the TCP handshake and the CLC
   handshake under one timer or separate timers.  This decision is
   implementation dependent.

   If the TCP and/or CLC handshakes time out, the TCP connection must be
   terminated as it would be in a legacy IP environment when connection
   setup doesn't complete in a timely manner.  Because the CLC flows are
   TCP messages, if they cannot be sent and received in a timely
   fashion, the TCP connection is not healthy and would not work if
   fallback to IP were attempted.

C.6. Protocol errors during CLC negotiation

   Protocol errors occur during CLC negotiation when a message is
   received that is not expected.  For example, a peer that is expecting
   a CLC message but instead receives application data has experienced a
   protocol error, and also indicates a likely software error as the two
   sides are out of synch.  When application data is expected, this data
   is not parsed to ensure it's not a CLC message.

   When a peer is expecting a CLC negotiation message, any parsing error
   in that message must be treated as application data.  The CLC
   negotiation messages are designed with beginning and ending
   eyecatchers to help verify that they are actually the expected
   message.  If other parsing errors in an expected CLC message occur,
   such as incorrect length fields or incorrectly formatted fields, the
   message must be treated as application data.

   All protocol errors must result in termination of the TCP connection.
   No fallback to IP is allowed in the case of a protocol error because
   if the protocols are out of synch, mismatched, or corrupted, then
   data and security integrity cannot be ensured.

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C.7. Timeouts during LLC negotiation

   Whenever a peer sends an LLC message to which a reply is expected, it
   sets a timer after the send posts to wait for the reply. An expected
   response may be a reply flavor of the LLC message (for example
   CONFIRM LINK REPLY) or a new LLC message (for example an ADD LINK
   CONTINUATION expected from the server by the client if there are more
   Rkeys to communicate).

   On LLC flows that are part of a first contact setup of a link group,
   the value of the timer is implementation dependent but should be long
   enough to allow the other peer have a write complete timeout and 2-3
   retransmits of an SMC Decline on the TCP fabric.     For LLC flows
   that are maintaining the link group and not part of first contact
   setup of a link group, the timers may be shorter.  Upon receipt of an
   expected reply the timer is cancelled.  If a timer pops without a
   reply having been received, the sender must initiate a recovery
   action

   During first contact processing, failure of an LLC verification timer
   is a should-not-occur which indicates a problem with one of the
   endpoints.  The reason for this is that if there is a "routine"
   failure in the RoCE fabric that causes an LLC verification send to
   fail, the sender will get a write completion failure and will then
   send SMC Decline to the partner.  The only time an LLC verification
   timer will expire on a first contact is when the sender thinks the
   send succeeded but it actually didn't. Because of the reliable
   connected nature of QP connections on the RoCE fabric, this is
   indicates a problem with one of the peers, not with the RoCE fabric.

   After the reliable connected QP for the first SMC-R link in a link
   group is set up on initial contact, the client sets a timer to wait
   for a RoCE verification message from the server that the QP is
   actually connected and usable.  If the server experiences a failure
   sending its QP confirmation message, it will send SMC Decline, which
   should arrive at the client before the client's verification timer
   expires.  If the client's timer expires without receiving either an
   SMC Decline or a RoCE message confirmation from the server, there is
   a problem either with the server or with the TCP fabric.   In either
   case the client must break the TCP connection and clean up the SMC-R
   link.

   There are two scenarios in which the client's response to the QP
   verification message fails to reach the server.  The main difference
   is whether or not the client has successfully completed the send of
   the CONFIRM LINK response.

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   In the normal case of a problem with the RoCE path, the client will
   learn of the failure by getting a write completion failure, before
   the server's timer expires. In this case, the client sends an SMC
   Decline CLC message to the server and the TCP connection falls back
   to IP.

   If the client's send of the Confirmation message receives a positive
   return code but for some reason still does not reach the server, or
   the client's SMC Decline CLC message fails to reach the server after
   the client fails to send its RoCE confirmation message, then the
   server's timer will time out and the server must break the TCP
   connection by sending RST.   This is expected to be a very rare case,
   because if the client cannot send its CONFIRM LINK RSP LLC message,
   the client should get a negative return code and initiate fallback to
   IP.  A client receiving a positive return code on a send that fails
   to reach the server should be extremely rare.

C.7.1. Recovery actions for LLC timeouts and failures

   The following table describes recovery actions for LLC timeouts.  A
   write completion failure or other indication of failure to send on
   the send of the LLC command is treated the same as a timeout.

   LLC Message: CONFIRM LINK from server (first contact)

      Timer waits for: CONFIRM LINK reply from client

      Recovery action: Break the TCP connection by sending RST and
      clean up the link.  The server should have received an  SMC
      Decline from the client by now if the client had an LLC send
      failure.

   LLC Message: CONFIRM LINK from server (not first contact)

      Timer Waits for: CONFIRM LINK reply from client

      Recovery action:  Clean up the new link and set a timer to retry.

   LLC Message: CONFIRM LINK REPLY from client (first contact)

      Timer waits for: ADD LINK from server

      Recovery action: Clean up the SMC-R link and break the TCP
      connection by sending RST over the IP fabric.  There is a problem
      with the server.  If the server had a send failure, it should
      have have sent SMC Decline by now.

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   LLC Message: ADD LINK from server (first contact)

      Timer waits for: ADD LINK reply from client

      Recovery action: Break the TCP connection with RST and clean up
      RoCE resources.  The connection is past the point where the
      server can fall back to IP, and if the client had a send problem
      it should have sent SMC Decline by now.

   LLC Message: ADD LINK from server (not first contact)

      Timer waits for: ADD LINK reply from client

      Recovery action: Clean up resources (QP, RMB keys, etc) for the
      new link and treat the link that the ADD LINK was sent over as if
      it had failed.

   LLC Message:  ADD LINK REPLY from client (and there are more Rkeys to
   be communicated)

      Timer waits for: ADD LINK CONTINUATION from server

      Recovery action: Treat the same as ADD LINK timer failure

   LLC Message: ADD LINK REPLY or ADD LINK CONTINUATION reply from the
   client (and there are no more Rkeys to be communicated)

      Timer waits for: CONFIRM LINK from the server, over the new link

      Recovery action: Clean up any resource allocated for the new link
      and set a timer to send ADD LINK to the server if there is still
      an unused RNIC on the client side. The new link has failed to set
      up, but the link that the ADD LINK exchange occurred over is
      unaffected.

   LLC Message: ADD LINK CONTINUATION from server

      Timer waits for: ADD LINK CONTINUATION REPLY from client

      Recovery action: Treat the same as ADD LINK timer failure

   LLC Message: ADD LINK CONTINUATION reply from client (first contact,
   and RMB count fields indicate that the server owes more ADD LINK
   CONTINUATION messages)

      Timer waits for: ADD LINK CONTINUATION from the server

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      Recovery action: Clean up the SMC link and break the TCP
      connection by sending RST. There is a problem with the server.
      If the server had a send failure, it should have have sent SMC
      Decline by now.

   LLC Message: ADD LINK CONTINUATION reply from client (not first
   contact and RMB count fields indicate that the server owes more ADD
   LINK CONTINUATION messages)

      Timer waits for: ADD LINK CONTINUATION from server

      Recovery action: Treat as is if client detected link failure on
      the link the ADD LINK exchange is using.   Send DELETE LINK to
      the server over another active link if one exists, otherwise
      clean up the link group.

   LLC Message: DELETE LINK from client

      Timer waits for: DELETE LINK request from server

      Recovery action: If the scope of the request is to delete a
      single link, the surviving link, over which the client sent the
      DELETE LINK is no longer usable either.  If this is the last link
      in the link group, end TCP connections over the link group by
      sending RST packets.   If there are other surviving links in the
      link group, resend over a surviving link.  Also send a DELETE
      LINK over a surviving link for the link that the client attempted
      to send the initial DELETE LINK message over.  If the scope of
      the request is to delete the entire link group, try resending on
      other links in the link group until success is achieved.  If all
      sends fail, tear down the link group and any TCP connections that
      exist on it.

   LLC Message: DELETE LINK from server (scope: entire link group)

      Timer waits for: Confirmation from the adapter that the message
      was delivered.

      Recovery action: Tear down the link group and any TCP connections
      that exist over it.

   LLC Message: DELETE LINK from server (scope: single link)

      Timer waits for: DELETE LINK reply from the client

      Recovery action: The over which the client sent the DELETE LINK
      is no longer usable either.  If this is the last link in the link

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      group, end TCP connections over the link group by sending RST
      packets.   If there are other surviving links in the link group,
      resend over a surviving link.  Also send a DELETE LINK over a
      surviving link for the link that the server attempted to send the
      initial DELETE LINK message over.  If the scope of the request is
      to delete the entire link group, try resending on other links in
      the link group until success is achieved.  If all sends fail,
      tear down the link group and any TCP connections that exist on
      it.

   LLC Message: CONFIRM RKEY from the client

      Timer waits for: CONFIRM RKEY REPLY from the server

      Recovery action: Perform normal client procedures for detection
      of failed link.  The link over which the message was sent has
      failed.

   LLC Message: CONFIRM RKEY from the server

      Timer waits for : CONFIRM RKEY REPLY from the client

      Recovery action: Perform normal server procedures for detection
      of failed link.  The link over which the message was sent has
      failed.

   LLC Message: TEST LINK from the client

      Timer waits for: TEST LINK REPLY from the server

      Recovery action: Perform normal client procedures for detection
      of failed link.  The link over which the message was sent has
      failed.

   LLC Message: TEST LINK from the server

      Timer waits for : TEST LINK REPLY from the client

      Recovery action: Perform normal server procedures for detection
      of failed link.  The link over which the message was sent has
      failed.

   The following table describes recovery actions for invalid LLC
   messages. These could be misformatted or contain out of synch data.

   LLC Message received: CONFIRM LINK from server

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      What could be bad: Incorrect link information

      Recovery action: Protocol error.  The link must be brought down
      by sending a DELETE LINK for the link over another link in the
      link group if one exists.  If this is first contact, fall back to
      IP by sending SMC Decline to server.

   LLC Message received: ADD LINK reply from client

      What could be bad: Client side link information that would result
      in a parallel link being set up

      Recovery action: Parallel links are not permitted.  Delete the
      link by sending DELETE LINK to the client over another link in
      the link group.

   LLC Message received: ADD LINK CONTINUATION from the server or ADD
   LINK CONTINUATION REPLY from the client

      What could be bad: Number of RMBs provided doesn't match count
      given on initial ADD LINK or ADD LINK reply message

      Recovery action: Protocol error. Treat as if detected link outage

   LLC Message received: DELETE LINK from client

      What could be bad: Link indicated doesn't exist

      Recovery action: assume timing window and ignore message.

   LLC Message received: CONFIRM RKEY form either client or server

      What could be bad: No Rkey provided for one or more of the links
      in the link group

      Recovery action: Treat as if detected failure of the link(s) for
      which no RKEY was provided

   LLC message received: TEST LINK reply

      What could be bad: User data doesn't match what was sent in the
      TEST LINK request

      Recovery action: Treat as if detected that the link has gone
      down.  This is a protocol error

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   LLC message received: any unambiguously incorrect or out of synch LLC
   message

      What it indicates: Link is out of sync

      Recovery action: Treat as if detected that the link has gone
      down. Note that an unsupported or unknown LLC opcode whose two
      high order bits are b'10' is not an error, and must be silently
      discarded. Any other unknown or unsupported LLC opcode is an
      error.

C.8. Failure to add second SMC-R link to a link group

   When there is any failure in setting up the second SMC-R link in an
   SMC-R link group, including confirmation timer expiration, the SMC-R
   link group is allowed to continue, without available failover.
   However this situation is extremely undesirable and the server must
   endeavor to correct it as soon as it can.

   The server peer in the SMC-R link group must set a timer to drive it
   to retry setup of a failed additional SMC-R link.  The server will
   immediately retry the SMC-R link setup when the first of the
   following events occurs:

   o  The retry timer expires

   o  A new RNIC becomes available to the server, on the same VLAN as
      the SMC-R link group

   o  An "Add Link" LLC request message is received from the client,
      which indicates availability of a new RNIC on the client side.

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Authors' Addresses

   Mike Fox
   IBM
   3039 Cornwallis Rd.
   Research Triangle Park, NC 27709

   Email: mjfox@us.ibm.com

   Constantinos (Gus) Kassimis
   IBM
   3039 Cornwallis Rd.
   Research Triangle Park, NC 27709

   Email: kassimis@us.ibm.com

   Jerry Stevens
   IBM
   3039 Cornwallis Rd.
   Research Triangle Park, NC 27709

   Email: sjerry@us.ibm.com

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