Switch port analyzers
First Claim
1. A network device for use in a Fibre Channel network, the network device configured to do the following:
- receive a first Fibre Channel packet at an ingress port, a header of the first Fibre Channel packet indicating that the first Fibre Channel packet should be transmitted to a first egress port;
store a copy of the first Fibre Channel packet in a buffer associated with the ingress port;
transmit a first replica of the first Fibre Channel packet to the first egress port; and
transmit a second replica of the first Fibre Channel packet to a second egress port, the second egress port configured to disregard the buffer-to-buffer credit flow control mechanism of the Fibre Channel protocol.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and devices are provided for non-disruptive monitoring of network traffic through one or more ports of a Fibre Channel network device. Preferred embodiments of the invention are used in conjunction with the switched port analyzer (“SPAN”) and/or remote SPAN (“RSPAN”) features. SPAN mode operation allows traffic through any Fibre Channel interface of a network device to be replicated and delivered to a single port on the same network device. Ingress SPAN allows the monitoring of some or all packets that ingress a specified port or ports. Egress SPAN allows the monitoring of some or all packets that egress a specified port or ports. RSPAN allows the delivery of the replicated traffic to a port on a remote network device. Filtering may be applied, for example, to SPAN packets having selected virtual storage area network numbers.
171 Citations
55 Claims
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1. A network device for use in a Fibre Channel network, the network device configured to do the following:
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receive a first Fibre Channel packet at an ingress port, a header of the first Fibre Channel packet indicating that the first Fibre Channel packet should be transmitted to a first egress port;
store a copy of the first Fibre Channel packet in a buffer associated with the ingress port;
transmit a first replica of the first Fibre Channel packet to the first egress port; and
transmit a second replica of the first Fibre Channel packet to a second egress port, the second egress port configured to disregard the buffer-to-buffer credit flow control mechanism of the Fibre Channel protocol. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for use in a Fibre Channel network, the method comprising:
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receiving a first Fibre Channel packet, a header of the first Fibre Channel packet indicating that the first Fibre Channel packet should be transmitted to a first egress port;
storing a copy of the first Fibre Channel packet;
transmitting a first replica of the first Fibre Channel packet to the first egress port; and
transmitting a second replica of the first Fibre Channel packet to a second egress port, the second egress port configured to disregard the buffer-to-buffer credit flow control mechanism of the Fibre Channel protocol. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer program embodied in a computer-readable medium, the computer program comprising instructions for controlling a network device to perform the following steps:
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receiving a first Fibre Channel packet at an ingress port of the network device, a header of the first Fibre Channel packet indicating that the first Fibre Channel packet should be transmitted to a first egress port of the network device;
storing a copy of the first Fibre Channel packet in a buffer associated with the ingress port;
transmitting a first replica of the first Fibre Channel packet to the first egress port; and
transmitting a second replica of the first Fibre Channel packet to a second egress port, the second egress port configured to disregard the buffer-to-buffer credit flow control mechanism of the Fibre Channel protocol. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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14. A network device for use in a Fibre Channel network, the network device configured to do the following:
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receive a Fibre Channel packet at an ingress port;
determine, based on a header of the Fibre Channel packet, that the Fibre Channel packet should be transmitted to a first egress port and that the Fibre Channel packet has been assigned a virtual storage area network number;
store a copy of the Fibre Channel packet in a buffer associated with the ingress port;
transmit a first replica of the Fibre Channel packet to the first egress port; and
transmit a second replica of the Fibre Channel packet to a second egress port when the fabric to which the Fibre Channel packet belongs is allowed for SPAN. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. A method for use in a Fibre Channel network, the method comprising:
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receiving a Fibre Channel packet;
determining, based on a header of the Fibre Channel packet, that the Fibre Channel packet should be transmitted to a first egress port and that the Fibre Channel packet has been assigned a virtual storage area network number;
storing a copy of the Fibre Channel packet;
transmitting a first replica of the Fibre Channel packet to the first egress port; and
transmitting a second replica of the Fibre Channel packet to a second egress port when the virtual storage area network number is within a predetermined range. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. A computer program embodied in a computer-readable medium, the computer program comprising instructions for controlling a network device to perform the following steps:
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receive a Fibre Channel packet at an ingress port;
determine, based on a header of the Fibre Channel packet, that the Fibre Channel packet should be transmitted to a first egress port and that the Fibre Channel packet has been assigned a virtual storage area network number;
store a copy of the Fibre Channel packet in a buffer associated with the ingress port;
transmit a first replica of the Fibre Channel packet to the first egress port; and
transmit a second replica of the Fibre Channel packet to a second egress port when the virtual storage area network number is within a predetermined range. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
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23. A network device for use in a Fibre Channel network, the network device configured to do the following:
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receive a Fibre Channel packet at an ingress port;
determine that the Fibre Channel packet should be transmitted to a first egress port and that the Fibre Channel packet has been assigned a virtual storage area network number;
store a copy of the Fibre Channel packet in a buffer associated with the ingress port;
transmit a first replica of the Fibre Channel packet to the first egress port; and
apply a rule to determine whether to transmit a second replica of the Fibre Channel packet to a second egress port. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
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27. A method for use in a Fibre Channel network, the method comprising:
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receiving a Fibre Channel packet;
determining that the Fibre Channel packet should be transmitted to a first egress port and that the Fibre Channel packet has been assigned a virtual storage area network number;
storing a copy of the Fibre Channel packet;
transmitting a first replica of the Fibre Channel packet to the first egress port; and
applying a rule to determine whether to transmit a second replica of the Fibre Channel packet to a second egress port. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30)
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31. A computer program embodied in a computer-readable medium, the computer program comprising instructions for controlling a network device to perform the following steps:
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receive a Fibre Channel packet at an ingress port;
determine that the Fibre Channel packet should be transmitted to a first egress port and that the Fibre Channel packet has been assigned a virtual storage area network number;
store a copy of the Fibre Channel packet in a buffer associated with the ingress port;
transmit a first replica of the Fibre Channel packet to the first egress port; and
apply a rule to determine whether to transmit a second replica of the Fibre Channel packet to a second egress port. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34)
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35. A method of creating a Fibre Channel tunnel, the method comprising:
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receiving a Fibre Channel packet, the Fibre Channel packet having a first Fibre Channel header; and
adding a second Fibre Channel header to the Fibre Channel packet. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A computer program embodied in a computer-readable medium, the computer program comprising instructions for controlling a network device to perform the following steps:
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receive a Fibre Channel packet, the Fibre Channel packet having a first Fibre Channel header; and
add a second Fibre Channel header to the Fibre Channel packet. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A computer program embodied in a computer-readable medium, the computer program comprising instructions for controlling a port of a network device for use in a Fibre Channel protocol network to perform the following steps:
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ignore the buffer-to-buffer credit flow control mechanism of the Fibre Channel protocol; and
allow data traffic only in the port'"'"'s egress direction. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48)
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49. A method for controlling a port of a network device for use in a Fibre Channel protocol network, the method comprising:
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ignoring the buffer-to-buffer credit flow control mechanism of the Fibre Channel protocol; and
allowing data traffic only in the port'"'"'s egress direction. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52)
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53. A network device for use in a Fibre Channel network, the network device comprising:
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an ingress port configured to receive a Fibre Channel packet, a header of the Fibre Channel packet indicating that the Fibre Channel packet should be transmitted to a first egress port, wherein the ingress port is further configured to;
store a copy of the Fibre Channel packet in a buffer associated with the ingress port;
transmit a first replica of the Fibre Channel packet to the first egress port; and
transmit a second replica of the Fibre Channel packet;
an ST port configured to;
receive the second replica of the Fibre Channel packet;
encapsulate the second replica of the Fibre Channel packet with routing information such that the Fibre Channel packet can traverse an intervening network to a second network device; and
transmit the encapsulated second replica of the Fibre Channel packet to a second egress port of the second network device, the second egress port configured to disregard the buffer-to-buffer credit flow control mechanism of the Fibre Channel protocol. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55)
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Specification