Method and system for reducing deadlock in fibre channel fabrics using virtual lanes
First Claim
1. A method for processing fibre channel frames, comprising:
- assigning a virtual lane for a frame based on a hop count for the frame;
determining if the assigned virtual lane has available credit; and
transmitting the frame if credit is available.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for processing fibre channel frames is provided. The method includes, assigning a virtual lane for a frame based on a hop count for the frame; determining if the assigned virtual lane has available credit; and transmitting the frame if credit is available. The system includes, a fibre channel fabric switch element including a receive port for receiving fibre channel frames, which includes a look up table to assign a virtual lane based on a hop count of the frame; and a transmit port that receives a primitive with the assigned virtual lane by the receive port and the transmit port includes a credit control module that determines if an assigned virtual lane can transmit a frame based on available credit.
119 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A method for processing fibre channel frames, comprising:
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assigning a virtual lane for a frame based on a hop count for the frame;
determining if the assigned virtual lane has available credit; and
transmitting the frame if credit is available. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method for processing fibre channel frames using a fabric switch element having a receive port and a transmit port, comprising:
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assigning a virtual lane in the receive port based on a hop count for the frame; and
sending a primitive to a transmit port with the assigned virtual lane. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system for processing fibre channel frames, comprising:
a fibre channel fabric switch element including a receive port for receiving fibre channel frames, which includes a look up table to assign a virtual lane based on a hop count of the frame; and
a transmit port that receives a primitive with the assigned virtual lane by the receive port and the transmit port includes a credit control module that determines if an assigned virtual lane can transmit a frame based on available credit.- View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A fibre channel fabric switch element for processing fibre channel frames, comprising:
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a receive port for receiving fibre channel frames, which includes a look up table to assign a virtual lane based on a hop count of the frame;
and a transmit port that receives a primitive with the assigned virtual lane by the receive port and the transmit port includes a credit control module that determines if an assigned virtual lane can transmit a frame based on available credit. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A system for processing fibre channel frames, comprising:
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means for assigning dedicated virtual lanes for transmitting frames, where the virtual lanes are assigned based on a hop count of a frame;
means for maintaining a credit count for each virtual lane used for transmitting frames; and
means for determining if credit is available for a particular virtual lane that is assigned based on the hop count. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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27. A fibre channel fabric switch element for processing fibre channel frames, comprising:
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means for assigning dedicated virtual lanes for transmitting frames, where the virtual lanes are assigned based on a hop count of a frame;
means for maintaining a credit count for each virtual lane used for transmitting frames; and
means for determining if credit is available for a particular virtual lane that is assigned based on the hop count. - View Dependent Claims (28)
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Specification