Virtual Lane (VL)
Multiplex multiple independent data streams onto a single physical link to provide:
- Differentiated services (QoS) on a packet-boundary basis
- InfiniBandTM architecture defines VL arbitration mechanics but not arbitration policy
- Mitigate impacts of head-of-line blocking on a given VL per link
- Architecture defines 16 VLs - 1 VL reserved for subnet mgmt
- Implementations shall support at least 1 VL for application usage and 1 VL for subnet management
- InfiniBand architecture defines SL-to-VL mapping algorithm to insure inter-operability between endnodes, switches, and routers that support different numbers of VLs