Multifabric global header

• US 20060023751A1
• Filed: 07/30/2004
• Published: 02/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chung, Daniel Ji Yong Park, McClanahan, Edward D., Wilson, Steven L., Makishima, Dennis Hideo, Snively, Robert Norman
• Granted Patent: US 8,059,664 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/474
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/60 Router architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers

Abstract

A Fibre Channel router used to join fabrics. EX_ports are used to connect to the fabrics. The EX_port joins the fabric but the router will not merge into the fabric. Ports in the Fibre Channel router can be in a fabric, but other ports can be connected to other fabrics. Fibre Channel routers can be interconnected using a backbone fabric. Global, interfabric and encapsulation headers are developed to allow routing by conventional Fibre Channel switch devices in the backbone fabric and simplify Fibre Channel router routing. Phantom domains and devices must be developed for each of the fabrics being interconnected. Front phantom domains are present at each port directly connected to a fabric. Each of these is then connected to at least one translate phantom domain. Zoning is accomplished by use of a special LSAN zoning naming convention. This allows each administrator to independently define devices are accessible.

Claims

1. A carrier signal modulated with an augmented Fibre Channel frame that comprises:

a start of frame field;

a global header field for interfabric routing;

a frame header;

a data field; and

an end of frame field

2. The carrier signal of claim 1 wherein the global header field comprises a global source identifier.

3. The carrier signal of claim 1 wherein the global header field comprises a global destination identifier.

5. The carrier signal of claim 2 wherein the global source identifier comprises a source fabric identifier that identifies an originating fabric of the frame and a source device identifier that identifies an originating device of the frame within the originating fabric.

6. The carrier signal of claim 3 wherein the global destination identifier comprises a destination fabric identifier that identifies a target fabric of the frame and a destination device identifier that identifies a target device of the frame within the target fabric.

8. The carrier signal of claim 1 wherein the global header field comprises a timestamp indicating an expiration time of the frame.

11. The carrier signal of claim 1 wherein the global header field is part of the data field.

4. The carrier signal of 2 wherein the global header field also comprises a global destination identifier.

7. The carrier signal of claim 4 wherein the global source identifier comprises a source fabric identifier that identifies an originating fabric of the frame and a source device identifier that identifies an originating device of the frame within the originating fabric and wherein the destination fabric identifier comprises a destination fabric identifier that identifies a target fabric of the frame and a destination device identifier that identifies a target device of the frame within the target fabric.

9. The carrier signal of claim 4 wherein the global header field comprises a timestamp indicating an expiration time of the frame.

10. The carrier signal of claim 7 wherein the global header field comprises a timestamp indicating an expiration time of the frame.

12. A carrier signal modulated with an augmented Fibre Channel frame that comprises:

a start of frame field;

a frame header;

a data field; and

an end of frame field;

wherein the frame header comprises a global header field for interfabric routing.

13. The carrier signal of claim 12 wherein the global header field comprises a global source identifier and a global destination identifier.

14. The carrier signal of claim 13 wherein the global source identifier comprises a source fabric identifier that identifies an originating fabric of the frame and a source device identifier that identifies an originating device of the frame within the originating fabric and wherein the destination fabric identifier comprises a destination fabric identifier that identifies a target fabric of the frame and a destination device identifier that identifies a target device of the frame within the target fabric.

15. The carrier signal of claim 12 wherein the global header field comprises a timestamp indicating an expiration time of the frame.

16. The carrier signal of claim 13 wherein the global header field comprises a timestamp indicating an expiration time of the frame.

17. The carrier signal of claim 14 wherein the global header field comprises a timestamp indicating an expiration time of the frame.

18. A method for routing Fibre Channel packets between a first device on a first fabric and a second device on a second fabric, the method comprising:

receiving a Fibre Channel packet from the first device, wherein a frame header of the packet includes a source identifier corresponding to the first device in the first fabric and a destination identifier corresponding to a phantom representation in the first fabric of the second device;

changing the destination identifier of the packet to correspond to the second device in the second fabric; and

passing the packet to the second fabric.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

receiving the packet in the second fabric; and

changing the source identifier of the packet to correspond to a phantom representation in the second fabric of the first device.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

adding a global header to the Fibre Channel packet comprising a global source identifier and a global destination identifier.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

changing the source identifier of the packet to correspond to a phantom representation in the second fabric of the first device.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the source identifier corresponding to a phantom representation in the second fabric of the first device is determined from information contained in the global header.

30. A switching device for routing Fibre Channel packets between separate interconnected fabrics, wherein the switching device is configured to implement a method according to claim 18.

31. A switching device for routing Fibre Channel packets between separate interconnected fabrics, wherein the switching device is configured to implement a method according to claim 21.

23. A method for routing Fibre Channel packets between a first device in a first fabric and a second device in a second fabric, the method comprising:

receiving a packet in the second fabric, the packet comprising;

a frame header including a source identifier corresponding to the first device in the first fabric and a destination identifier corresponding to the second device in the second fabric; and

a global header comprising a global source identifier and a global destination identifier;

changing the source identifier to correspond to a phantom representation in the second fabric of the first device; and

passing the packet to the second device.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the source identifier corresponding to a phantom representation in the second fabric of the first device is determined from information contained in the global header.

25. The method of claim 23 further comprising removing the global header from the packet before passing the packet to the second device.

32. A switching device for routing Fibre Channel packets between separate interconnected fabrics, wherein the switching device is configured to implement a method according to claim 23.

26. A switching device for routing Fibre Channel packets between a first device in a first fabric and a second device in a second, interconnected fabric, the switching device comprising an ingress module connected to the first fabric configured to receive a Fibre Channel packet from the first device and change a destination identifier of the packet from a phantom representation of the second device in the first fabric to correspond to the second device in the second fabric.

27. The switching device of claim 26 further comprising an egress module configured to change a source identifier of a packet received from the second device in the second fabric to correspond to a phantom representation in the first fabric of the second device

28. The switching device of claim 27 wherein the ingress module and the egress module are the same module.

33. A network comprising one or more switching devices according to claim 26.

29. A switching device for routing Fibre Channel packets received from a source device in a remote fabric to destination device in a local fabric, the switching device comprising an egress module configured to change a source identifier of the packet to correspond to a phantom representation in the local fabric of the source device.

34. A network comprising one or more switching devices according to claim 29.