[openib-general] infiniband.sourceforge.net ?

Tue Apr 13 14:33:09 PDT 2004

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Abhijit Karmarkar [mailto:abhijitk at veritas.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2004 1:21 PM
> 
> is openib.org related to infiniband.sourceforge.net?

Not really.  The SF InfiniBand project predates OpenIB by a couple of
years.  It was started by Intel and was supposed to pave the way for a
vendor-neutral IB stack for Linux.  The transport as part of that
project is known as IBAL.  OpenSM originated from the SF InfiniBand
project, and was modified to operate over VAPI/TSAPI and has now found
its way into OpenIB.

> the latter too aims to provide IB support for Linux.

Yes, it does, but the architecture of the stacks are quite different.
Fujitsu developed an HCA driver for IBAL.  Mellanox at one time
supported it, but have since pulled support.

> 
> i'd appreciate if someone could clarify.
> hope its not similar to NGPT/NPTL scenario.

The intent of OpenIB, at least the way I understand it, is to bring
together all IB vendors in the quest for a "best of breed" InfiniBand
stack for Linux.  This means that the different stacks (TopSpin,
InfiniCon, Voltaire, and IBAL, to name a few) would be evaluated and
merged somehow to form something that meets the requirements of HPC, DB
clustering, and the Linux Kernel community.

Perhaps the OpenIB site could be updated with a "Mission Statement", a
brief history of IB efforts for Linux, how the industry go to where it
is, and maybe a FAQ answering the questions above.  Maybe a timeline of
IB would be helpful too, starting at the pre-NGIO time frame, to show
the evolution of this technology.

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