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MVTX2803
Data Sheet
25
Zarlink Semiconductor Inc.
The MVTX2803AG does provide a system-wide option of permitting normal QoS scheduling (and buffer use) for
frames originating from flow control enabled ports. When this programmable option is active, it is possible that
some packets may be dropped, even though flow control is on. The reason is that intelligent packet dropping is
a major component of the MVTX2803AG’s approach to ensuring bounded delay and minimum bandwidth for
high priority flows.
7.9.1 Unicast Flow Control
For unicast frames, flow control is triggered by source port resource availability. Recall that the MVTX2803AG’s
buffer management scheme allocates a reserved number of FDB slots for each source port. If a programmed
number of a source port’s reserved FDB slots have been used, then flow control Xoff is triggered. Xon is
triggered when a port is currently being flow controlled, and all of that port’s reserved FDB slots have been
released.
Note that the MVTX2803AG’s per-source-port FDB reservations assure that a source port that sends a single
frame to a congested destination will not be flow controlled.
7.9.2 Multicast Flow Control
When port based Vlan is not used, a global buffer counter (64 packets) triggers flow control for multicast
frames. When the system exceeds a programmable threshold of multicast packets, Xoff is triggered. Xon is
triggered when the system returns below this threshold. MCC register programs the threshold. When port based
Vlan is used, each Vlan has a global buffer counter.
In addition, each source port has an 8-bit port map recording which port or ports of the multicast frame’s fanout
were congested at the time Xoff was triggered. All ports are continuously monitored for congestion, and a port is
identified as uncongested when its queue occupancy falls below a fixed threshold. When all those ports that
were originally marked as congested in the port map have become uncongested, then Xon is triggered, and the
8-bit vector is reset to zero.
The MVTX2803AG also provides the option of disabling VLAN multicast flow control.
Note:
If port flow control is on, QoS performance will be affected. To determine the most efficient way to
program, please refer to the QoS Application Note.
7.10 Mapping to IETF Diffserv Classes
The mapping between priority classes discussed in this chapter and elsewhere is shown below.
As the table illustrates, P7 is used solely for network management (NM) frames. P6 is used for expedited
forwarding service (EF). Classes P2 through P5 correspond to an assured forwarding (AF) group of size 4. Finally,
P0 and P1 are two best effort (BE) classes.
Features of the MVTX2803AG that correspond to the requirements of their associated IETF classes are
summarized in the following below.
MVTX2803AG
P7
P6
P5
P4
P3
P2
P1
P0
IETF
NM
EF
AF0
AF1
AF2
AF3
BE0
BE1
Table 4 - Mapping between MVTX2803AG and IETF Diffserv Classes for Gigabit Ports