Apparatus and method for preventing disruption of fibre channel fabrics caused by reconfigure fabric (RCF) messages

• US 20030218986A1
• Filed: 05/24/2002
• Published: 11/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Andiamo Systems Inc. (RWS Holdings Plc)
• Inventors: DeSanti, Claudio, Di Benedetto, Marco
• Granted Patent: US 7,808,924 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/250
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0005 Switch and router aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0039 Electrical control

Abstract

An apparatus and method for preventing the disruption of Fibre Channel Fabrics caused by ReConfigure Fabric (RCF) messages is disclosed. The apparatus includes a storage area network and a plurality of Fibre Channel Switches arranged in a Fabric. Each of the plurality of Switches includes logic to selectively configure their Ports to either reject or accept RCF messages. When configured to reject RCF messages, the Switch Port that receives an RCF message will generate a reject message along with a reason code explanation “E_Port Isolated”, and then transition into an Isolated state. When the Switch that generated the RCF message receives the reject message, its Port also transition into the Isolated state. In accordance with the method of the present invention, either a Storage Service Provider or a client can access the Switches of the Fabric through either a command line interpreter or a management application. Once access to the Fabric is established, the logic of the Ports of the Switches can be selectively configured to reject or accept RCF messages as described above.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

configuring Ports of Fibre Channel Switches of a Fabric of a storage area network to reject RCF messages.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuring of the Ports to reject RCF messages is performed by a Storage Service Provider.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuring of the Ports to reject RCF messages is performed by a client.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

preventing the Fabric from being disrupted by configuring the Ports of the Switches to reject the RCF messages; and

enabling a plurality of clients to access the Fabric.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the Switches of the Fabric are capable of rejecting RCF messages by configuring the Ports of the Switches to reject the RCF messages.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the Ports of the Switches of the Fabric are configured to generate a reject message with a reason code explanation “

E_Port Isolated”

when RCF messages are received.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising configuring the Switches of the Fabric through a command line interpreter or a management application.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising using a management action for configuring the Ports of the Switches of the Fabric to reject the RCF messages.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising reconfiguring the Ports of the Switches of the Fabric of the storage area network to accept RCF messages by an explicit management action.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the Switches relies on one of the following types of protocols for communication:

Fibre Channel, or Fibre Channel over the Internet Protocol (FCIP), or Fibre Channel over any other technology.

11. A method comprising:

providing a Fabric including a plurality of Switches;

permitting a plurality of clients to use the Fabric; and

denying the clients the ability to disrupt the Fabric when performing actions that invokes RCF messages.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the Fabric relies on one of the following types of protocols for communication:

Fibre Channel, or Fibre Channel over the Internet Protocol (FCIP), or Fibre Channel over any other technology.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising configuring the Ports of the Switches of the Fabric to reject the RCF messages.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising logically isolating an E_Port which received an RCF message from a client Switch.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the Ports of the Switches of the Fabric are configured to generate a reject message with a reason code explanation “

E_Port Isolated”

when RCF messages are received.

16. A method for an administrator to configure a plurality of Fibre Channel Switches arranged in a Fabric of a storage area network, comprising:

establishing a connection to the Fabric; and

configuring one or more of the Ports of the plurality of Switches of the Fabric to reject RCF messages.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising preventing the Fabric from being disrupted when an RCF message occurs by configuring the one or more of the Ports of the plurality of Switches to reject RCF messages.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising configuring the one or more Switches to reject RCF messages by configuring the Ports of the one or more Switches to reject the RCF messages.

19. The method of claim 18, further configuring the Ports of the one or more Switches to generate a reject message with a reason code explanation “

E_Port Isolated”

when RCF messages are received.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising establishing the connection to the Fabric through a command line interpreter or a management application.

21. The method of claim 16, further comprising reconfiguring the Ports of the Switches of the Fabric to accept RCF messages by an explicit management action.

22. An apparatus comprising;

a storage area network with a Fibre Channel Fabric; and

a plurality of Switches arranged in the Fabric, each of the Ports of the plurality of Switches including;

logic to selectively reject RCF messages.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the logic for the Switches is further configured to substantially prevent the Fabric from being disrupted by RCF messages when the logic is selected to reject RCF messages.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the logic for each Switch causes the E_Port of each Switch to reject RCF messages when the logic is selected to reject RCF messages.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the logic for each Switch causes the E_Port of each Switch to generate a reject message with a reason code explanation “

E_Port Isolated”

when RCF messages are received and the logic is selected to reject RCF messages.

26. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the logic for each Switch is further configured to selectively allow each E_Port to accept RCF messages respectively.

27. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising a connection to provide access to the Fabric, the connection providing access from a command line interpreter or a management application.

28. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the Fabric relies on one of the following types of protocols for communication:

Fibre Channel, or Fibre Channel over the Internet Protocol (FCIP), or Fibre Channel over any other technology.

29. A Switch configured to be included in the Fabric of a storage area network, the Switch comprising:

logic to selectively reject RCF messages.

30. The Switch of claim 29, wherein the logic is configured to selectively cause an E_Port of the Switch to reject RCF messages when the logic is selected to reject RCF messages.

31. The Switch of claim 30, wherein the logic is further configured to cause an E_Port to generate a reject message with a reason code explanation “

E-Port Isolated”

if an RCF message is received and the logic is selected to reject RCF messages.

32. The Switch of claim 29, wherein the logic can be configured to allow RCF messages to be accepted.