Method and system for using extended fabric features with fibre channel switch elements
First Claim
1. A fibre channel frame format used for routing fibre channel frames, comprising:
- a tagging header with a virtual storage area network identifier (“
VSAN_ID”
) field that specifies a virtual storage area network (“
VSAN”
) and a R_CTL field that is set to a certain value to indicate that the tagging header includes a VSAN value.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A fibre channel switch element and method for routing fibre channel frames is provided. The switch element includes a receive segment that can add a virtual storage area network (“VSAN”) tagging header to frames that are received by the receive segment; and strip the VSAN tagging header before frames are sent to ports that do not support virtual fabric capability. The receive segment includes a table used for matching fabric extension parameters. An incoming frame'"'"'s VSAN identity value is compared to a control word entry to generate a value used for routing the incoming frame. The table is used to determine if a frame is part of a virtual fabric. The routing table for each port is used to route frames and the routing table includes entries for supported virtual fabrics.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. A fibre channel frame format used for routing fibre channel frames, comprising:
a tagging header with a virtual storage area network identifier (“
VSAN_ID”
) field that specifies a virtual storage area network (“
VSAN”
) and a R_CTL field that is set to a certain value to indicate that the tagging header includes a VSAN value.
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2. A fibre channel switch element for routing fibre channel frames, comprising:
a receive segment that can add a virtual storage area network (“
VSAN”
) tagging header to frames that are received by the receive segment; and
strip the VSAN tagging header before frames are sent to ports that do not support virtual fabric capability.- View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 23, 24)
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9. A method for routing fibre channel frames at a receive segment of a fibre channel switch element, comprising:
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determining if support for virtual storage area network (“
VSAN”
) capability is enabled;
comparing incoming frames VSAN identifier with plural entries stored in a cache table if encapsulation mode is not set; and
routing incoming frames based on the comparison. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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11. A method for routing fibre channel frames at a transmit segment of a fibre channel switch element, comprising:
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determining if a virtual storage area network (“
VSAN”
) support and encapsulation mode is enabled; and
comparing frame VSAN identifier entry values with a cache table entry values and setting up a multiple hit status if more than one entry matches the frame VSAN identifier. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A fibre channel switch element used for routing fibre channel frames, comprising:
a common segment that includes a look up table that is indexed by port values of a frame'"'"'s D_ID and a bit map to compare a zone mask of a matching entry generated by a virtual storage area network (“
VSAN”
) cache.- View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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20. A fibre channel switch element for routing fibre channel frames, comprising:
a domain table at each port for routing fibre channel frames, wherein a column is selected to route frames based on a virtual storage area network (“
VSAN”
) identifier that is generated from a VSAN cache.- View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
Specification