LAN9303MI-AKZE Datasheet, PDF (67/386 Pages) SMSC Corporation – Small Form Factor Three Port 10/100 Managed Ethernet Switch with Dual MII/RMII/Turbo MII

Small Form Factor Three Port 10/100 Managed Ethernet Switch with Dual MII/RMII/Turbo MII
Datasheet
Chapter 6 Switch Fabric
6.1
6.2
Functional Overview
At the core of the device is the high performance, high efficiency 3 port Ethernet Switch Fabric. The
Switch Fabric contains a 3 port VLAN layer 2 Switch Engine that supports untagged, VLAN tagged,
and priority tagged frames. The Switch Fabric provides an extensive feature set which includes
spanning tree protocol support, multicast packet filtering and Quality of Service (QoS) packet
prioritization by VLAN tag, destination address, port default value or DIFFSERV/TOS, allowing for a
range of prioritization implementations. 32K of buffer RAM allows for the storage of multiple packets
while forwarding operations are completed, and a 512 entry forwarding table provides room for MAC
address forwarding tables. Each port is allocated a cluster of 4 dynamic QoS queues which allow each
queue size to grow and shrink with traffic, effectively utilizing all available memory. This memory is
managed dynamically via the Buffer Manager block within the Switch Fabric. All aspects of the Switch
Fabric are managed via the Switch Fabric configuration and status registers (CSR), which are indirectly
accessible via the system control and status registers.
The Switch Fabric consists of four major block types:
„ Switch Fabric CSRs - These registers provide access to various Switch Fabric parameters for
configuration and monitoring.
„ 10/100 Ethernet MACs - A total of three MACs are included in the Switch Fabric which provide
basic 10/100 Ethernet functionality for each Switch Fabric port.
„ Switch Engine (SWE) - This block is the core of the Switch Fabric and provides VLAN layer 2
switching for all three switch ports.
„ Buffer Manager (BM) - This block provides control of the free buffer space, transmit queues, and
scheduling.
Refer to Figure 2.1 Internal Block Diagram on page 16 for details on the interconnection of the Switch
Fabric blocks within the device.
Switch Fabric CSRs
The Switch Fabric CSRs provide register level access to the various parameters of the Switch Fabric.
Switch Fabric related registers can be classified into two main categories based upon their method of
access: direct and indirect.
The directly accessible Switch Fabric registers are part of the main system CSRs and are detailed in
Section 13.2.4, "Switch Fabric," on page 164. These registers provide Switch Fabric manual flow
control (Ports 0-2), data/command registers (for access to the indirect Switch Fabric registers), and
switch MAC address configuration.
The indirectly accessible Switch Fabric registers reside within the Switch Fabric and must be accessed
indirectly via the Switch Fabric CSR Interface Data Register (SWITCH_CSR_DATA) and Switch Fabric
CSR Interface Command Register (SWITCH_CSR_CMD), or the set of Switch Fabric CSR Interface
Direct Data Registers (SWITCH_CSR_DIRECT_DATA). The indirectly accessible Switch Fabric CSRs
provide full access to the many configurable parameters of the Switch Engine, Buffer Manager, and
each switch port. The Switch Fabric CSRs are detailed in Section 13.4, "Switch Fabric Control and
Status Registers," on page 228.
For detailed descriptions of all Switch Fabric related registers, refer to Chapter 13, "Register
Descriptions," on page 148.
SMSC LAN9303M/LAN9303Mi
67
DATASHEET
Revision 1.5 (07-08-11)