Patent attributes
Disclosed are mechanisms to support integrating network semantics into communications between processor cores operating on the same server hardware. A network communications unit is implemented in a coherent domain with the processor cores. The network communications unit may be implemented on the CPU package, in one or more of the processor cores, and/or coupled via the coherent fabric. The processor cores and/or associated virtual entities communicate by transmitting packet headers via the network communications unit. When communicating locally compressed headers may be employed. The headers may omit specified fields and employ simplified addressing schemes for increased communication speed. When communicating locally, data can be moved between memory locations and/or pointers can be communicated to reduce bandwidth needed to transfer data. The network communications unit may maintain/access a local policy table containing rules governing communications between entities and enforce such rules accordingly.