MVTX2802
Data Sheet
22
Zarlink Semiconductor Inc.
4.2 Detailed Memory Information
Because the memory bus is 64 bits wide, frames are broken into 8-byte granules, written to and read from each
memory access. In the worst case, a 1-byte-long EOF granule gets written to memory Bank. This means that a
7-byte segment of memory bus is idle. The scenario results in a maximum 7 bytes of waste per frame, which is
always acceptable because the interframe gap is 20 bytes.
The CPU management port gets treated like any other port, reading and writing to memory bank.
5.0 Search Engine
5.1 Search Engine Overview
The MVTX2802AG search engine is optimized for high throughput searching, with enhanced features to
support:
Up to 64K MAC addresses
Up to 4K VLAN
Up to 64K IP Multicast groups
4 groups of port trunking
Traffic classification into 8 transmission priorities, and 2 drop precedence levels
Packet filtering
Security
IP Multicast
Per port, per VLAN Spanning Tree
5.2 Basic Flow
Shortly after a frame enters the MVTX2802AG and is written to the Frame Data Buffer (FDB), the frame engine
generates a Switch Request, which is sent to the search engine. The switch request consists of the first 64
bytes of the frame, which contain all the necessary information for the search engine to perform its task. When
the search engine is done, it writes to the Switch Response Queue, and the frame engine uses the information
provided in that queue for scheduling and forwarding.
In performing its task, the search engine extracts and compresses the useful information from the 64-byte
switch request. Among the information extracted are the source and destination MAC addresses, the
transmission and discard priorities, whether the frame is unicast or multicast, and VLAN ID. Requests are sent
to the external SRAM Switch Database to locate the associated entries in the external MCT table.
When all the information has been collected from external SRAM, the search engine has to compare the MAC
address on the current entry with the MAC address for which it is searching. If it is not a match, the process is
repeated on the internal MCT Table. All MCT entries other than the first of each linked list are maintained
internal to the chip. If the desired MAC address is still not found, then the result is either learning (source MAC
address unknown) or flooding (destination MAC address unknown).
In addition, VLAN information is used to select the correct set of destination ports for the frame (for multicast),
or to verify that the frame’s destination port is associated with the VLAN (for unicast).
If the destination MAC address belongs to a port trunk, then the trunk number is retrieved instead of the port
number. But on which port of the trunk will the frame be transmitted This is easily computed using a hash of
the source and destination MAC addresses.
When all the information is compiled, the switch response is generated, as stated earlier. The search engine
also interacts with the CPU with regard to learning and aging.