System and method of providing network node services

• US 20050232285A1
• Filed: 04/04/2005
• Published: 10/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marvell Asia Pte Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Original Assignee: QLogic Corporation (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Inventors: Jeong, Wayland, Chow, William W., Larimer, Gordon, Terrell, William Clinton
• Granted Patent: US 7,447,197 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A network node for processing messages transmitted via a network, the node including: a first circuit providing a processor-based node path; a second circuit, coupled to the first circuit, providing a switch-based node path; and a memory storing mapping information accessible by the first and second circuits, wherein the processing of messages received by the network node is allocated between the first and second circuit based on the mapping information.

Claims

1. A method of processing messages in network, comprising:

receiving a message via a network;

accessing mapping information stored in a memory, the mapping information comprising control data for processing the message;

determining if the message is to be processed by a first device coupled to memory and the network, based at least in part on the control data;

if so, processing the message with the first device;

otherwise, forwarding the message to a second device for processing.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first device comprises a switch port and the second device comprises a processor.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the switch port forwards the message to the processor via a host bus adaptor.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising changing temporarily a destination address of the message to correspond to an address associated with the host bus adaptor while saving the original destination address in a control field contained in the message.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the message comprises at least one frame of data, the at least one frame of data comprising a header portion and a payload portion, the header portion containing header data used to process the message.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the header data comprises a source identifier indicating an identity of a first network entity as the source of the message and a destination identifier indicating the identity of a second network entity as the intended destination of the message.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the header data further comprises a logical unit number.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the header data further comprises a logical address range associated with the second network entity.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein a logical address range associated with the second network entity is implied, wholly or in part, by processing of previous messages, with header data contained in the current message providing any additional necessary logical address information.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein the second network entity is a virtual entity.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the mapping information comprises information correlating a virtual network entities to physical network entities and the step of processing the message comprises accessing the mapping information to identify at least one physical network entity corresponding to a virtual entity for which the message is intended, and routing the message to the at least one physical entity.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein, if the mapping information is insufficient to identify at least one physical network entity corresponding to the virtual entity, the message is forwarded to the second device.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the second device updates the mapping information to correlate at least one physical device with the virtual entity.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second devices are both coupled to the memory and capable of accessing the mapping information stored therein.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the message comprises a SCSI protocol message

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the message is transmitted in accordance with a Fibre Channel Network protocol.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the message is transmitted in accordance with a TCP/IP protocol.

18. A method of providing service tasks for devices communicating via a network, the method comprising:

receiving a message at a first device via the network;

reading overhead data contained in the message indicative of a requested service task;

accessing mapping information from a memory, the mapping information comprising service task information that identifies the requested service task as one of a plurality of service task types;

performing the requested service task with a first device, coupled to the memory, if the requested service task corresponds to a first service task type; and

performing the requested service task with a second device, coupled to the memory, if the requested service task corresponds to a second service task type.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the first device comprises a switch port and the second device comprises a processor, coupled to the switch port.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising forwarding the message from the switch port to the processor via an intermediate port.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the intermediate port comprises a host bus adapter.

22. The method of claim 18 wherein the requested service task comprises a request to write data to a virtual storage device.

23. The method of claim 18 wherein the requested service task comprises a request to read data from a virtual storage device.

24. The method of claim 18 wherein if the mapping information further comprises information correlating a plurality of virtual network entities with a plurality of physical network entities, the requested service task comprises a request to access data from a virtual network entity.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein if the mapping information is insufficient to identify at least one physical entity associated with the virtual network entity, identifying the requested service task as the second type.

26. The method of claim 18 wherein the message comprises a SCSI protocol message

27. The method of claim 18 wherein the message is transmitted in accordance with a Fibre Channel Network protocol.

28. The method of claim 18 wherein the message is transmitted in accordance with a TCP/IP protocol.

29. A method of handling network messages, comprising:

receiving a message via network;

reading routing data contained in the message, wherein the routing data comprises the identity of a network entity designated to receive the message;

accessing mapping information stored in a memory, the mapping information comprising information correlating a plurality of virtual network entities with a plurality of physical network entities and further control data for processing the message;

determining if the message is to be routed by a first device or a second device, based at least in part on the control data;

determining whether the designated network entity is a virtual network entity or a physical network entity based on the mapping information;

if the designated network entity is a first physical network entity, routing the message to the first physical network entity; and

if the designated network entity is a virtual network entity, identifying at least one second physical network entity corresponding to the virtual network entity and, thereafter, routing the message to the at least one second physical entity.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the first device comprises a switch port and the second device comprises a host bus adapter (HBA) and a processor, coupled to the HBA.

31. The method of claim 29 further comprising:

if it is determined that the message is to be routed by the second device, forwarding the message from the first device to the second device; and

reformatting the routing data to facilitate routing the message to the second device while retaining the identity of designated network entity as the final destination of the message.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein the network comprises a Fibre Channel Network and the identity of the designated network entity is temporarily stored in a CS_CTL field of the message.

33. The method of claim 29 wherein the step of routing the message to the first physical network entity or the at least one second physical network entity, comprises:

routing the message through at least one switch port of a network node, the at least one switch port corresponding to one or more virtual ports; and

wherein the mapping information comprises information correlating the at least one switch port with the one or more virtual ports so as to control routing of the message to the at least one switch port.

34. A method of processing a message, comprising:

receiving the message by a switch port;

parsing the message to extract a routing data, the routing data comprising a network address of an initiating device, a network address of a virtual target port and a logical unit number of a virtual peripheral;

accessing mapping information stored in a memory to determine if the message can be processed by the switch port;

if it is determined that the switch port cannot process the message, then reformatting the routing data to provide an address for an intermediate host port as an intermediate destination address;

forwarding the message to the intermediate host port;

reformatting the routing data a second time to indicate an address corresponding to the virtual target port as the final destination address; and

forwarding the message to a processor for processing.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein:

the first reformatting step comprises storing the address corresponding to the virtual target port in a CS_CTL field contained in the message and assigning the address of the intermediate host port as the temporary destination address; and

after the message has been forwarded to the intermediate host port, the second reformatting step comprises re-assigning the virtual target port address as the final destination address and clearing the CS_CTL field.

36. The method of claim 34 further comprising identifying a physical port corresponding to the virtual target port address and forwarding the message to the physical port for transmission to at least one physical network entity via the network.

37. The method of claim 36 wherein the physical port corresponds to a plurality of virtual port addresses and the mapping table correlates the physical port with the plurality of virtual port addresses.

38. A network node for processing messages transmitted via a network, comprising:

a first circuit providing a processor-based node path;

a second circuit, coupled to the first circuit, providing a switch-based node path; and

a memory storing mapping information accessible by the first and second circuits, wherein the processing of messages received by the network node is allocated between the first and second circuit based on the mapping information.

39. The network node of claim 38 wherein the first circuit comprises at least one processor;

and the second circuit comprises a plurality of switch ports coupled to each other via a fabric, the plurality of switch ports each coupled to the network.

40. The network node of claim 39 further comprising an intermediate host port coupled to the at least one processor and the plurality of switch ports so as to provide a communication path between the at least one processor and the plurality of switch ports.

41. The network node of claim 40 wherein the intermediate host port comprises a host bus adapter.

42. The network node of claim 40 wherein the first circuit is located remotely from the second circuit and the intermediate host port is coupled to said plurality of switch ports via a network.

43. The network node of claim 38 wherein the mapping information comprises the identity of remote ports, registered peripherals, virtual network ports, page tables, segment tables, connection flows, virtual peripheral flows and exchange flows.

44. The network node of claim 38 wherein the memory comprises a first memory storing a first subset of the mapping information and a second memory storing a second subset of the information, wherein the second circuit has faster access to the second memory than to the first memory.

45. The network node of claim 44 wherein the first memory comprises a random access memory (RAM) and the second memory comprises a content addressable memory (CAM).

46. A network node for processing messages transmitted in a network, comprising:

a plurality of switch ports, each coupled to the network for receiving and sending messages via the network;

at least one intermediate host port, coupled to the plurality of switch ports;

at least one processor, coupled to the at least one intermediate host port and to the plurality of switch ports; and

a memory, coupled to the plurality of switch ports and the at least one processor, the memory containing mapping information for controlling how messages are handled by at least one of the plurality of switch ports and the at least one processor.

47. The network node of claim 46 further comprising at least one intermediate switch port for coupling the at least one intermediate host port to the plurality of switch ports.

48. The network node of claim 46 further comprising at least one data bus for coupling the at least one processor to the plurality of switch ports and coupling the memory to the at least one processor and the plurality of switch ports.

49. The network node of claim 46 wherein the intermediate host port is coupled to the plurality of switch ports via a second network.

50. The network node of claim 46 wherein the at least one processor is located on a first circuit card and the plurality of switch ports are located on a second circuit card.

51. A system for processing messages in network, comprising:

means for receiving a message via a network;

means for accessing mapping information stored in a memory, the mapping information comprising control data for processing the message;

means for determining if the message is to be processed by a first processing means, coupled to memory and the network, based at least in part on the control data;

first processing means for processing the message if it is determined the message is to be processed by the first processing means; and

means for forwarding the message to a second processing means for processing.

52. The system of claim 51 further comprising means for changing temporarily a destination address of the message to correspond to an address associated with the host bus adaptor while saving the original destination address in a control field contained in the message.

53. The system of claim 51 wherein the mapping information comprises information correlating a virtual network entities to physical network entities and the means for processing the message comprises means for accessing the mapping information to identify at least one physical network entity corresponding to a virtual entity for which the message is intended, and means for routing the message to the at least one physical entity.

54. A system for providing service tasks for devices communicating via a network, the system comprising:

means for receiving a message at a first device via the network;

means for reading overhead data contained in the message indicative of a requested service task;

means for accessing mapping information from a memory, the mapping information comprising service task information that identifies the requested service task as one of a plurality of service task types;

first means for performing the requested service task if the requested service task corresponds to a first service task type; and

second means for performing the requested service task if the requested service task corresponds to a second service task type.

55. The system of claim 54 further comprising means for forwarding the message from the first means to the second means.

56. The system of claim 54 wherein the message comprises a SCSI protocol message

57. The system of claim 54 wherein the message is transmitted in accordance with a Fibre Channel Network protocol.

58. The system of claim 54 wherein the message is transmitted in accordance with a TCP/IP protocol.

59. A system for handling network messages, comprising:

means for receiving a message via network;

means for reading routing data contained in the message, wherein the routing data comprises the identity of a network entity designated to receive the message;

means for accessing mapping information stored in a memory, the mapping information comprising information correlating a plurality of virtual network entities with a plurality of physical network entities and further control data for processing the message;

means for determining if the message is to be routed by a first device or a second device, based at least in part on the control data;

means for determining whether the designated network entity is a virtual network entity or a physical network entity based on the mapping information;

means for routing the message to a first physical network entity if the designated network entity is the first physical network entity;

if the designated network entity is a virtual network entity, means for identifying at least one second physical network entity corresponding to the virtual network entity; and

means for routing the message to the at least one second physical entity.

60. A system for processing a message, comprising:

means for receiving the message by a switch port;

means for parsing the message to extract a routing data, the routing data comprising a network address of an initiating device, a network address of a virtual target port and a logical unit number of a virtual peripheral;

means for accessing mapping information stored in a memory to determine if the message can be processed by the switch port;

first means for reformatting the routing data to provide an address for an intermediate host port as an intermediate destination address if it is determined that the switch port cannot process the message;

means for forwarding the message to the intermediate host port;

second means for reformatting the routing data a second time to indicate an address corresponding to the virtual target port as the final destination address; and

means for forwarding the message to a processor for processing.