Version 1.1 2009 Features PEX 8613 General Features o 12-lane, 3-port PCIe Gen 2 switch - Integrated 5.0 GT/s SerDes o 19 x 19mm2, 324-pin PBGA package o Typical Power: 1.74 Watts PEX 8613 Key Features o Standards Compliant - PCI Express Base Specification, r2.0 (backwards compatible w/ PCIe r1.0a/1.1) - PCI Power Management Spec, r1.2 - Microsoft Vista Compliant - Supports Access Control Services - Dynamic link-width control - Dynamic SerDes speed control o High Performance - Non-blocking switch fabric - Full line rate on all ports - Packet Cut-Thru with 140ns max packet latency (x4 to x4) - 2KB Max Payload Size - Read Pacing (bandwidth throttling) - Dual cast o Flexible Configuration - Registers configurable with strapping pins, EEPROM, I2C, or host software - Lane and polarity reversal - Compatible with PCIe 1.0a PM o Dual-Host & Fail-Over Support - Configurable Non-Transparent port - Moveable upstream port - Crosslink port capability o Dual-Clock Domain - SSC clock isolation o Quality of Service (QoS) - Two Virtual Channels - Eight traffic classes per port - Weighted round-robin source port arbitration o Reliability, Availability, Serviceability - All ports Hot-Plug capable thru I2C (Hot-Plug Controller on every port) - ECRC and Poison bit support - Data Path parity - Memory (RAM) Error Correction - INTA# and FATAL_ERR# signals - Advanced Error Reporting - Port Status bits and GPIO available - Per port error diagnostics - Performance Monitoring • Per port payload & header counters - JTAG AC/DC boundary scan PEX 8613 PCIe Gen 2, 5.0GT/s 12-lane, 3-port Switch The ExpressLaneTM PEX 8613 device offers PCI Express switching capability enabling users to add scalable high bandwidth, non-blocking interconnection to a wide variety of applications including workstations, storage systems, communications platforms, embedded systems, and intelligent I/O modules. The PEX 8613 is well suited for fan-out, aggregation, and peer-to-peer applications. High Performance & Low Packet Latency The PEX 8613 architecture supports packet cut-thru with a maximum latency of 140ns (x4 to x4). This, combined with large packet memory and non-blocking internal switch architecture, provides full line rate on all ports for performance-hungry applications such as servers and switch fabrics. The low latency enables applications to achieve high throughput and performance. In addition to low latency, the device supports a max payload size of 2048 bytes, enabling the user to achieve even higher throughput. Data Integrity The PEX 8613 provides end-to-end CRC (ECRC) protection and Poison bit support to enable designs that require end-to-end data integrity. PLX also supports data path parity and memory (RAM) error correction as packets pass through the switch. Flexible Register & Port Configuration The PEX 8613’s 3 ports can achieve link up to lane widths of x1, x2, or x4. Flexible buffer allocation, along with the device's flexible packet flow control, maximizes throughput for applications where more traffic flows in the downstream, rather than upstream, direction. Any port can be designated as the upstream port, which x4 x4 can be changed dynamically. The PEX 8613 also provides several ways to configure its PEX 8613 PEX 8613 NT registers. The device can be configured through strapping pins, I2C x4 x4 x4 x4 interface, host software, or an optional serial EEPROM. This allows for easy debug x4 during the development phase, performance PEX 8613 monitoring during the NT operation phase, and driver or software upgrade. Figure x4 1 shows some of the PEX 8613’s common port Figure 1. Common Port Configurations configurations. Dual-Host & Failover Support The PEX 8613 product supports a Non-Transparent (NT) Port, which enables the implementation of multihost systems and intelligent I/O modules in storage, communications, and blade server applications. The NT port allows systems to isolate host memory domains by presenting the processor subsystem as an endpoint rather than another memory system. Base address registers are used to translate Primary Secondary Primary Host Host Secondary Host Host addresses; CPU CPU doorbell registers are Root used to send Complex interrupts between the address NT domains; and scratchpad PEX 8613 Non-Transparent registers Port (accessible by PCIe both CPUs) allow Figure 2. Non-Transparent Port inter-processor communication (see Figure 2). In a two-port configuration (as in Figure 1), the PEX 8613 can serve as an NT buffer, isolating two host domains via two x4 links. Dual Cast™ The PEX 8613 supports Dual Cast, a feature which allows for the copying of data (e.g. packets) from one ingress port to two egress ports allowing for higher performance in dual-graphics, storage, security, and redundant applications. Read Pacing™ The Read Pacing feature allows users to throttle the amount of read requests being made by downstream devices. When a downstream device requests several long reads back-to-back, the Root Complex gets tied up in serving this downstream port. If this port has a narrow link and is therefore slow in receiving these read packets from the Root Complex, then other downstream ports may become starved – thus, impacting performance. The Read Pacing feature enhances performances by allowing for the adequate servicing of all downstream devices. Hot-Plug for High Availability Hot-Plug capability allows users to replace hardware modules and perform maintenance without powering down the system. The PEX 8613 Hot-Plug capability feature makes it suitable for High Availability (HA) applications. Every port on the PEX 8613 is equipped with a Hot-Plug control/status register to support Hot- Plug capability through external logic via the I2C interface. SerDes Power and Signal Management The PEX 8613 supports software control of the SerDes outputs to allow optimization of power and signal strength in a system. The PLX SerDes implementation supports four levels of power – off, low, typical, and high. The SerDes block also supports loop-back modes and advanced reporting of error conditions, which enables efficient management of the entire system. Interoperability The PEX 8613 is designed to be fully compliant with the PCI Express Base Specification r2.0, and is backwards compatible to PCI Express Base Specification r1.1 and r1.0a. Additionally, it supports auto-negotiation, lane reversal, and polarity reversal. Furthermore, the PEX 8613 is designed for Microsoft Vista compliance. All PLX switches undergo thorough interoperability testing in PLX’s Interoperability Lab and compliance testing at the PCI-SIG plug-fest. Applications & Usage Models Suitable for host-centric as well as peer-to-peer traffic patterns, the PEX 8613 can be configured for a broad range of form factors and applications. Host Centric Fan-out The PEX 8613, with its symmetric or asymmetric lane configuration capability, allows user-specific tuning to a variety of host-centric applications. Figure 3 shows a typical workstation design where the root complex provides a PCI Express link that needs to be expanded to a larger number of smaller ports for a variety of I/O functions. In this example, the PEX 8613 has a 4-lane upstream port and two downstream ports using x4 links. The PEX 8613 can also be used to create PCIe Gen 1 (2.5 Gbps) ports. The PEX 8613 is backwards compatible with PCIe Gen 1 devices. Therefore, the PEX 8613 enables a Gen 2 native Chip Set to fan-out to Gen 1 endpoints. In Figure 3, the PCIe slots connected to the PEX 8613’s downstream ports can be populated with either PCIe Gen 1 or PCIe Gen 2 devices. Conversely, the PEX 8613 can also be used to create Gen 2 ports on a Gen 1 native Chip Set in the same fashion. CPU CPU CPU CPU CPU CPU CPU CPU Memory Chip Set ASIC Chipset x16 PEX 8613 FPGA x4 Endpoint memory PEX 8613 Figure 5. Embedded Systems x16 x4 x4 Figure 3. Fan-in/out Usage Network Interface Cards The PEX 8613 can also be utilized in communications applications such as Network Interface Cards (NICs). NICs, like the one shown in Figure 4, can utilize the PEX 8613 for its fan-out capabilities. In the example below, the PEX 8613 is being used on a Dual-port 10Gigabit Ethernet (GE) NIC card. The PEX 8613 utilizes a x4 link to connect to the host and two x4 downstream links to fan-out to the 10GE ports. The peer-to-peer communication feature of the PEX 8613 allows the endpoints to communicate with each other without any intervention or management by the host. Failover Storage Systems The PEX 8613’s Dual Cast feature proves to be very useful in storage systems. In the example shown in Figure 6, the Dual Cast feature enables the PEX 8613 to copy data coming from the host to two downstream ports (see yellow traffic patterns) in one transaction as opposed to having to execute two separate transactions to send data to the backup chassis. By offloading the task of backing up data onto the secondary system, processor and system performance is enhanced. CPU CPU CPU CPU Chipset Memory Dual-Port Dual-Port NIC NIC 10 GE PEX 8613 MAC/PHY x4 10 GE MAC/PHY x4 PEX 8613 PEX 8613 x4 x4 FC FC PEX 8613 x4 x4 FC FC Figure 4. 10GE NIC Fan-Out Embedded Systems The PEX 8613 is well suited for embedded applications as well. Embedded applications, like the example shown in Figure 5, commonly use a number of independent modules for functions such as control plane processing, data acquisition, or image processing to name a few possibilities. Figure 5 represents an embedded system utilizing a PEX 8613 to fan-out to two ASICs/FPGAs. Backup Chassis x4 8 Disk Chassis 8 Disk Chassis Figure 6. Dual Cast in Storage Systems Software Usage Model Development Tools From a system model viewpoint, each PCI Express port is a virtual PCI to PCI bridge device and has its own set of PCI Express configuration registers. It is through the upstream port that the BIOS or host can configure the other ports using standard PCI enumeration. The virtual PCI to PCI bridges within the PEX 8613 are compliant to the PCI and PCI Express system models. The Configuration Space Registers (CSRs) in a virtual primary/secondary PCI to PCI bridge are accessible by type 0 configuration cycles through the virtual primary bus interface (matching bus number, device number, and function number). PLX offers hardware and software tools to enable rapid customer design activity. These tools consist of a hardware module (PEX 8613BA-AIC 4U4D RDK), hardware documentation, and a Software Development Kit (available at www.plxtech.com). Interrupt Sources/Events The PEX 8613 switch supports the INTx interrupt message type (compatible with PCI 2.3 Interrupt signals) or Message Signaled Interrupts (MSI) when enabled. Interrupts/messages are generated by PEX 8613 for HotPlug events, doorbell interrupts, baseline error reporting, and advanced error reporting. ExpressLane PEX 8613BA-AIC4U4D RDK The PEX 8613RDK is a hardware module containing the PEX 8613 which plugs right into your system. The PEX 8613RDK can be used to test and validate customer software, or used as an evaluation vehicle for PEX 8613 features and benefits. The PEX 8613RDK provides everything that a user needs to get their hardware and software development started. For more information, please refer to the PEX 8613RDK Product Brief. Software Development Kit (SDK) PLX’s Software Development Kit is available for download at www.plxtech.com/sdk. The software development kit includes drivers, source code, and GUI interfaces to aid in configuring and debugging the PEX 8613. For more information, please refer to the PEX 8613RDK Product Brief. Product Ordering Information PLX Technology, Inc. 870 Maude Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94085 USA [email protected] www.plxtech.com Part Number Description PEX8613-BA50BC PEX8613-BA50BC G PEX8613BA-AIC4U4D RDK 12-Lane, 3-Port PCI Express Switch (19x19mm2) 12-Lane, 3-Port PCI Express Switch, Pb-Free (19x19mm2) PEX 8613 Rapid Development Kit Please visit the PLX Web site at http://www.plxtech.com for sampling. © 2009 PLX Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. PLX and the PLX logo are registered trademarks of PLX Technology, Inc. ExpressLane is a trademark of PLX Technology, Inc., which may be registered in some jurisdiction. All other product names that appear in this material are for identification purposes only and are acknowledged to be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Information supplied by PLX is believed to be accurate and reliable, but PLX Technology, Inc. assumes no responsibility for any errors that may appear in this material. PLX Technology, Inc. reserves the right, without notice, to make changes in product design or specification. PEX8613-SIL-PB-1.1 5/09